Monitor in Candycab shuts off in play, then 'tries to turn on' repeatedly. help!

[McMasters]

Here's my issue -
I've got an Atomiswave SD cabinet with a Wei-Ya monitor in it.

During play, the monitor will 'shut down', and then either come back on right away, or more likely, 'try to turn on' (that high-pitched 'turning on noise') every second (pshh.. pshh.. pshh..) unsuccuessfully.

While in play, monitor is fine - a horizontal line or two for a split-second when the screen gets really really bright, but not even that often.

Can anyone help? What might it be / what should I test out / try?

-- More info --

The 'tick tick tick' noise is the same as the one in this thread (Horiz. OT is the issue):

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=37090.0

BUT, it doesn't tick all the time - only after a while.

Another question - could 'low voltage' be the problem?

Also, if I remove the front of the cab, where the power supply is, it seems to not happen. Overheating, perhaps? It doesn't -feel- hot..

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

[Ken Layton]

If this is an older monitor it may be time for capacitors. It's also possible the cabinet is too hot internally (lack of ventilation) thus overheating the monitor.

Does this cabinet have a fan?

[McMasters]

First, no fan.

Second, what would be getting hot? The power supply (the one giving off the 5/12/3.3)? the back of the monitor? With the front off (where the power supply is) it seems fine, the back off (where the monitor bac is) it still clicks off.

I'm not too thrilled about cap kitting my monitor, so I want to check other things first.

When you mean "if this is an older monitor it may be time for capacitors. " do you mean on the monitor, or on the 'supply' attached to it?

--UPDATE--
 After letting the monitor cool down, it starts up again fine. I've got the machine full open now, to see if it cuts out at all.

--UPDATE 2--
During play, after abuot anhour, the monitor cuts out, and that high pitched 'ticsqueee(of a turning-on-monitor)..ticsqueee... ticsquee' happens again.

I'm not comfortable to 'cap kit' this. If anyone know what I would buy to fix this (new power supply? new monitor?) I'd love to know.

[McMasters]

Monitor  Info:
Wei Ya   29"   15k/24k/31k   Model: C3129A

[Ken Layton]

How old is the monitor?

[McMasters]

Few years, maybe - the cab shows 3300 plays. The picture on it (other than the whole click-click thing) is fine, nice and vibrant, no issues.

[grantspain]

probably just a cold solder joint if not a cap

[McMasters]

"probably just a cold solder joint if not a cap"

Can you explain this in detail, please?

[grantspain]

cap=capacitor which ken mentioned
cold solder joint=a bad solder connection on the monitor board,when the monitor is cold the connection is somewhat ok but with heat the connection expands and breaks

[McMasters]

How would I test for that joint? Thanks again for your help!

[grantspain]

the professional way is by removing the monitor chassis from the tube and checking all the connections using a magnifying lens,the amateur way is bang the side of the cabinet hard to see if you get any affect

[McMasters]

Ha!

Banging the cabinet either removes the horizontal bright-lines, or kicking into clic-click-click power off mode.

Makes it better, or worse. is that proof enough?

[grantspain]

yep,thats the proof-don't do it too much or your chassis will die completely.
now its up to you whether you get someone in to fix this or do it yourself but be warned there are some pretty serious voltages on those chassis,99% of the time you can resolder the bad connections by just unbolting the chassis and safely placing it in a position to work on without disconnecting anything,and another warning be very,very careful of the neck of the tube-if you break that you will be crying mate
best bet now is to google as much as possible on this particular matter

[McMasters]

"do it yourself"

I googled up a bunch, and see how to discharge teh chassis, etc.

Assuming I am careful, how does one tell a joint is 'cold solder' with a lens?

[grantspain]

because it has a crack around it

[SirPeale]

http://www.agthompsonfamily.com/vw/DoorLocks9.jpg

This is an example.  They don't always look like that.  They can look like this:

http://resnet.uoregon.edu/~gurney_j/kenwoodrepair/img_0462.jpg

Keep an eye out around normally hot components: large resistors, transistors, power connectors.

[McMasters]

Sound good. I'll take a look - or get an electrician to take a look - post-haste.

[Rickn]

I may have missed it, but do you have any other source for a signal, such as a PC with a video card that will do 31Khz.

If so connect it and see if it ticks.

Secondly, is the ticking noise really ticking, or more like clicking.

I ask this because the monitor is a tri-res, if it is getting a poor sync signal it will become confused and start switching between resolutions. This can be caused by poor connection of sync, or ground wires. It can be the result of some irregular sync signal such a DC Bias on the sync line.

I kind of rule this out because I am assuming the game has been running for sometime with no problems and has only recently started this- is this so??

If this assumption is right, then back to the caps.
You are dealing with a switch mode power supply, these problems can be tricky to sort out as the load (HOT) and it's circuit can cause the problem, but based on you turning it off to cool and then turning it on to normal I am thinking the start up capacitor in the primary circuit that feeds the first pulse to the oscillator.

This will be an electroltytic capacitor near the switch mode oscilator- likely 150 to 220 ufarad.

I do not have thge schematic for your monitor so I cannot tell you the exact one.

By the way, any chance you contacted WeiYA, I am not sure what level of support they give, but if they are like us, they would try to tell you the top suspects

This is where I would start.

Good Luck

Rick Nieman
www.niemandisplays.com
Rick@niemandisplays.com

[McMasters]

"I kind of rule this out because I am assuming the game has been running for sometime with no problems and has only recently started this- is this so??" This is not so. This cab has been doing this since I got it a couple days ago. However, prior to this, the cab was in use, with no problems, as far as I can tell.

The other minor issue, which may be part of the problem, is that bright areas sometimes (mostly on startup) have horizontal white and black lines. here's a cobbled up image to explain it - it happens too fast to be caught by my camera.


'tick' and 'click' are subjective. Here is how I can explain it.

Normally, when you power on the monitor, it makes that tick-squeeeeeeeegetshigherandhigherpitched-*fwoomph of monitor turning on* noise. The same noise when you turn on your tv, and the tube powers on.

It does the first half second of that - tick-squueeehigherandhigher - and then 'resets' and does that noise again. and again. every 3/4 of a second. just imagine the first second of a tv tube turning on, over and over.

[Rickn]

Pretty technical explanation - works for me. Your power supply is having trouble starting up" likely the start up cap.

Rick

[McMasters]

A> you mean the monitor power supply, right?

B> here are videos (best I could do) of the lines and the startup noise (when the monitor conks out). NOTE: the monitor one is about 10% slow, as I had to slow the video input so you could hear the sound (it is that high pitched business).

http://www.dubthis.net/extra/lines.divx
http://www.dubthis.net/extra/startup.divx

Do you still think it is the monitro startup cap?

[Rickn]

No I missed an earlier thread- ifd the monitor runs fine with exception to the clicking- definitely not the start-up cap.

Are the extra lines co-incidental in timing to the click??

Rick

[McMasters]

No. The 'click' is the sound of the monitor starting up - by definition, it only happens when the monitor turns itself off. The lines are just 'there' on bright horizontal areas, as the video shows.

The monitor does not click during play - it only clicks as it attempts to restart itself after going out.

 The general 'what happens' with the machine is this:

I turn it on. It starts up fine. It has those lines.
10-15 minutes pass. the lines show up less often, and go away.
people start to play. the rougher they play (or if you whap the side of the cab), the lines come back.

COMPLETELY SEPARATE from lines or no lines: rough play a couple hours into the machine being turned on (or almost any play after about 4 hours) causes the monitor to turn off and click click click. I have never seen it 'just go out' - it needs to be jostled in some small way.

I turn it off.

If I turn it back on right away, it is no power + click click click.
If I wait 15-30 min, it'll work for ab out 30 minutes before it powers off.
If I wait 2 hours, it goes back to step one.


-UPDATE-

Here is the perfect click-noise AVI. While it is doing this the monitor is dark+off (not 'black screen but on', but 'no tube output whatsoever')


http://www.dubthis.net/extra/startupclick.divx

[Rickn]

Ok I found a pix of the board, and as I thought... both WeiYa and my board supplier and who knows how many more copy each other.

We add numerous fixes that we do not always feed back to our supplier for the simple reason... we do not want to help the competition.

e-mail me separately from the forum and I will share some ideas.



Rick Nieman
rick@niemandisplays.com
www.niemandisplays.com

[McMasters]

Contacted. Thanks for your help!