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Nintendo PlayChoice 10
Question from Shane: Hi guys, I recently purchased a PlayChoice 10 that was having some graphical issues so I figured that I would give it a good cleaning and see if that helped. The cleaning didn’t help so I asked around and found that it could be a display issue. Some said it could not be getting enough power to the monitor, so I made a rookie mistake (I have never done a cabinet restoration before) and plugged both monitors into an extension cord run straight from my wall socket instead of the ones on the power supply. Now I’m getting no glow in the tubes. Nothing at all. Not even a sound like it’s trying. Are my monitors toast? Or maybe a fuse? Any help is greatly appreciated as I’m very new to this. Thanks, Shane
1 answer
Response from Jonathan: Shane,
Nintendo cabinets such as your PlayChoice 10 usually have Sanyo 20ez monitors in them. The Sanyo 20ez monitor uses 100 VAC instead of the normal 120 VAC that comes out of our wall plugs here in the United States. We discuss the voltage differences in our post on Working With Nintendo Arcade Games. We highly recommend checking out that post as it has some information that you might find helpful.
When you plugged the monitors into the extension cord, it probably blew some parts in the power supply section of the monitor chassis on both monitors. We would definitely start off by checking the fuses on each monitor chassis and making sure they are good. There should be 2 fuses on the monitor chassis at locations F301 and F302. More than likely you probably blew F302 and you might need to replace the fuse and some diodes to get the monitors working again. If your F302 fuse is indeed blown, check the diodes at locations D601-D604 and replace them if they are bad. Check out our post on Checking Diodes On An Arcade Monitor for more information on this process.
Now, if you replace the F302 fuse and the diodes and your monitor is still not working then you could have other issues with the power supply on your monitors. At this point, probably want to check the F301 fuse to see if it’s blown. If your F301 fuse is blown (and continues to blow when you replace it), then you could have an issue with your HOT (or Horizontal Output Transistor) or your flyback. Check out our post on Troubleshooting Games That Are Playing Blind for more information on how to repair this issue.
If you don’t feel comfortable doing this type of repair yourself, we do have several people we recommend for arcade monitor repair services. Chad at arcadecup.com is a very reputable guy and has a pretty fast turn around time. You could also contact our friend Arthur at highscoresrepair.com. He has answered several questions on our Facebook page in the past and definitely knows what he’s doing. There is a list of additional monitor repair technicians on our resources page under the Monitor Repair Services & Information heading as well. Keep in mind that you will need to remove the monitor chassis to send it off for repair. Check out our post on Safely Discharging An Arcade Monitor and Removing And Installing A Monitor Chassis for more information on this process.
Hope that helps. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.
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