Piss poor quality control.

[spacies]

This is a C&P from another site but I thought I should be post here as well.

Today I had a bad experience with a Power Supply in a JAMMA machine.


I had finsihed wiring on a new Cocktail Machine and I always do a test before installing game PCB.
When I turned the power on, a bright flash came from the inside the machine and I saw the power light on the PS die out..
I checked the fuse in the AC entry module and it was good.
I then opened the power supply and looked at the fuse, it was also good.

I waited for 10 mins then put power back to the machine hoping it was a power protection and it was automatic reset, but it was dead.
I checked the AC Voltage from the module to PS and it was ok, but there was no output.
I removed the top cover from PS again and looked around inside to make sure I hadn't missed anything.

After a few swear words I then removed the PCB from the bottom chassis of the Power supply hoping to see a burn mark if something had shorted or blowen and saw the problem.
The PCB, surprisingly, had a crack on it and it caused the 2 of the circuit tracks to blow out which made the flash.

I think this is very bad quality control from the manufacturer of these.

To break a fibreglass PCB would take a lot of force and I really can't figure out how they did this?
Maybe they had not pre-drilled the PCB and the screw made the crack?

Do they even check these?



The give away:



I tinned a couple of wires:



Soldered them in place:



And hey presto!



Its alive!

I really felt sick when this blew because the machine was booked for shipping the next day and the only spare was on my test bench. Identical model but used for a couple of hours or so. I swapped them over so don't tell anyone ok!

I have just sent an email to the supplier and told them to forward it to the Manufacturer. Trust me, it wasn't kind.

I know the workers get paid less per week than a bag of my nice plunger coffee, but come on!

Rant over.

[Ken Layton]

Looks more like rough handling in transport to me. I'd bet that somewhere along the line this power supply must have traveled by UPS. A couple of months ago I shipped out a perfectly good tested monitor circuit board that I repaired for a guy back east. He insisted on UPS shipping. Well guess what folks? When it arrived at his end he opened the well packed box and the neck board was cracked! It wasn't cracked when I sent it out and the neckboard was wrapped seperately too.

Anyway, a couple of other things I noticed about your power supply:

1. It's not a Peter Chou. You've got an el cheapo.

2. You only have one +5 volt and one ground wire going from the power supply to the game board. Shame on you. There should be at least four +5 wires and 6 ground wires connected to the power supply.

[spacies]

You are probably right.
Although, as you would know, its in a metal chassis so breaking it from the outside would take a fairly big blow.

Why would I need all those wires?

The looms come pre-made and thats how I wire them up.
All the old machines I have ever seen here are the same as that.

1 5+ and 1 ground. The wire isn't thin guage.

[MaximRecoil]

Looks more like rough handling in transport to me. I'd bet that somewhere along the line this power supply must have traveled by UPS. A couple of months ago I shipped out a perfectly good tested monitor circuit board that I repaired for a guy back east. He insisted on UPS shipping. Well guess what folks? When it arrived at his end he opened the well packed box and the neck board was cracked! It wasn't cracked when I sent it out and the neckboard was wrapped seperately too.

Anyway, a couple of other things I noticed about your power supply:

1. It's not a Peter Chou. You've got an el cheapo.

2. You only have one +5 volt and one ground wire going from the power supply to the game board. Shame on you. There should be at least four +5 wires and 6 ground wires connected to the power supply.

Where do you get new Peter Chou power supplies?

[Ken Layton]

Peter Chou power supplies (and repair parts for them) are sold through www.betson.com

[SavannahLion]

Peter Chou power supplies (and repair parts for them) are sold through www.betson.com

Are you referring to "Peter Chou" as a power supply type aka Switching Regulator PS, is are you referrring to it as a brand name?

[Ken Layton]

Peter Chou is a brand name. Peter Chou himself designed his own line of switching regulator power supplies and calls them---what else, Peter Chou. They're made at his factory (U-San Electron Company Limited) in Taiwan. You'll see a longish number on many of his power supply cases and circuit boards. That's his own personal identification number (their equivalent of our Social Security numbers) so that nobody else can legally copy his boards, cases, or schematics.

[MaximRecoil]

Peter Chou power supplies (and repair parts for them) are sold through www.betson.com

Is this is? -- http://www.betson.com/products/parts/IMP-44-1011

They don't mention the brand there but if you click on the "view larger image" link, it looks like it might say Peter Chou on it. That seems to be the only power supply of that type they sell -- and why only 12 amp? The Happ one that Bob Roberts sells is 15 amp -- http://therealbobroberts.net/80-0064.jpg

Who makes the Happ one? Is it any good?

I can't remember the exact article, but I seem to remember Bob Roberts talking about how newer JAMMA games need bigger than 12 amp power supplies.

[Ken Layton]

You want Betson's # 44-1015 which is a Peter Chou 15 amp power supply with screw terminals. The 44-1011 is a 12 amp Peter Chou. 44-1011 was replaced by 44-1015 several years ago. Look at the stock status and you'll see "call for availability" on the 12 amp and "in stock" on the 15 amp.

[SirPeale]

I dunno about a drop, but it looks like someone might have tightened the screw down too tightly.

Not arcade related, but an overtightened screw story...

The alternator seized on my car, so I ordered a rebuilt one.  When it came in, it was the wrong one!  I asked the car parts place to tell me where the nearest one was, I'd go pick it up.  It was 100 miles away.  Bah...fine.  I needed to get this done.  Called the place before I drove down to make sure it was the correct alternator.  Verified it was over the phone with visual clues.

Drove down the next day, brought the wrong alternator with me.  They brought out the one they had, it was the correct one!  But...the guy behind the counter said "wait a second, look at this," and pointed out the screws that held it together.  It was obvious they'd been overtightened, as the case was cracked!  They'd also overtightened the pulley, it was not turnable.  At that point I had them ship the remainder of the alternators they had in the whole chain (all three of them) to my local store as this was clearly unacceptable.

(yes, the first one they brought out was fine)

[MaximRecoil]

You want Betson's # 44-1015 which is a Peter Chou 15 amp power supply with screw terminals. The 44-1011 is a 12 amp Peter Chou. 44-1011 was replaced by 44-1015 several years ago. Look at the stock status and you'll see "call for availability" on the 12 amp and "in stock" on the 15 amp.

That's perfect, thanks.

Is Betson the only distributor you know of for Peter Chou power supplies?

[Ken Layton]

As far as I know, Betson has the exclusive rights to selling brand new Peter Chou brand power supplies in the USA.

[Texasmame]

And here I thought this was a thread about M$ and the 360.