Ceronix 1492 CRT Repair help

[cpressler]

I am attempting to repair a Ceronix 1492 CRT from an IGT poker machine.

I have 2 questions:
- Does anyone know where I can get the board for the H Size, V Size adjustments (image attached)  Also, what is this called, I wasn't able to find any info but likely not using the right terms? 

- I have done a cap kit on the monitor, and when I power on I see the image for a little bit then it appears to collapse and is black.  What are the next things to check on this as I am very new to repairs.

Any help is Greatly Appreciated!
Chad

[cpressler]

I was able to find out it is the remote control board.  Apparently, Ceronix's website was down when searching so all the links were not working.  Is there a place to source this board, or does anyone know where to get the pots that match this board?  They have 2 prongs on one side and one on the other.
They are:
1K ohm
1K ohm
10K ohm
20K ohm
500 ohm
based on the manual.  I specifically need the 1K as it is the one broken.

Any help is appreciated.

Chad

[Chris-socal]

Commonly referred to as a remote board.
I don’t think that is the cause of your problem. You can test the potentiometers with a voltmeter. If you center them all a Ceronix 1492 automatically makes a lot of the adjustments, the remote board just dials it in.
I might have one I would consider selling but I don’t think it will resolve your issue. Something is making the board shut down, either xray protection or flyback. If you can post some pictures of the board it would help. No need to disconnect everything, just take the cage out of the machine, slide it out as far as you can. Unscrew the circuit board tray out as far as it can go and take pictures.
Also get pics of all sides of the flyback. I might be able to spot any cracks.

Chris

[cpressler]

Thanks Chris!

I assumed the remote control board wasn't the problem, but I had a broken pot on it so figured I should try to address it as well.

I have attached more images, let me know if there are any spots I should focus on and send more.

Thank you for the help!

[Chris-socal]

Those are really good pictures and that board looks clean. I don’t see anything glaring, LA7830 can go out on these but the fact that you are getting picture for a moment is interesting.
Did you see the Ceronix repair log in the File System? It might help.

If I had this I would swap in a known working flyback just to eliminate it as the culprit.

Check the voltage regulator transistors. Verify the ground (green) wire from neck to the tube-strap has continuity, I had one that wasn’t grounding correctly and it shut down right after starting.

The sad news is flybacks are not available. One did show up on ebay a few months ago for around $75.
I don’t know where you are located but if you want to send the board to me I can connect it to a known working tube and see if I can find anything. I am not a professional tech but Im happy to look at it.

Chris

[cpressler]

Thanks for the info again Chris!

That is not what I wanted to hear that a flyback for these are not available anywhere.
I did see a repair log, I have on order LA7830, LA7851 based on the descriptions, thought they could be next best to try.  I expect them by Monday.
I will check the ground to see if I see any problem. also, I'm located near Indianapolis, IN and may have to take you up on your offer:)

Chad

[Chris-socal]

Sure. PM me if you go that way.
Yeah, flybacks are a bummer.
You can check the vertical IC for shorts, I think only one lead should short to ground. If two short to ground you have a problem. Might want to verify that. Be careful un-soldering that, the Ceronix solder pads are really thin.

Chris

[Richard S]

I am attempting to repair a Ceronix 1492 CRT from an IGT poker machine.

I have 2 questions:
- Does anyone know where I can get the board for the H Size, V Size adjustments (image attached)  Also, what is this called, I wasn't able to find any info but likely not using the right terms? 

- I have done a cap kit on the monitor, and when I power on I see the image for a little bit then it appears to collapse and is black.  What are the next things to check on this as I am very new to repairs.

Any help is Greatly Appreciated!
Chad

The broken pot is the master gain (aka brightness) control. It works with both the video gain and vertical blanking circuits. Measure it to be sure it isn't open. With power off and the remote board disconnected, try to center the control and you should read about 500Ω from the single pin to either of the two pins that are close together. If okay, you'll at least be sure that it isn't causing a problem and you can continue troubleshooting while you are waiting for a replacement. They are available from several sources, such as: Arcade Parts and Repair, The Real Bob Roberts, DigiKey, Mouser, and others. Yours appears to be the style with 5mm x 10mm spacing.

You wrote that the image appears for "a little bit" and then "collapses".
 - How long is "a little bit"? Obviously long enough for the filaments in the CRT to warm up enough to produce viewable video.
 - I what direction does it collapse? Horizontally, vertically, or all four sides at once? Each of those is a different symptom and requires a different troubleshooting approach.
 - How long does it take to collapse? Nearly immediate? Several seconds? Again, each may be related to a different circuit.

Richard

[cpressler]

I created a video showing it a bit.
https://clipchamp.com/watch/0X2DKa3njCV
After a few minutes it collapses down to just a blue line in middle of screen.

[Richard S]

Your video shows vertical collapse.

Because it is intermittent, it could be heat related or simply deteriorated solder connections.

The simplest thing to do would be to us use a non-conductive tool (maybe a wooden dowel) to lightly press on the circuit board in order to determine is it is a bad connection or crack in a circuit trace that is causing the problem. If you can make the problem come and go with this method, you then need to carefully inspect all the solder connections in that area (likely the vertical circuit), or just reflow all of them.

If that does not do it, an alternative is to purchase a can of circuit cooler/freeze spray. By lightly spraying individual components in the suspect circuit, you may be able to locate a particularly heat-sensitive component that is causing the problem.

If non of that works, then it will require deeper troubleshooting using an oscilloscope to figure out where the vertical deflection signal is being lost, or testing each component in the suspect circuits.

Finally, you can use the Easter egg method - just start searching for parts to change until you happen to stumble on the one that is defective. The problem with this method is that some parts may be difficult to locate or unavailable (for example, the Precision Resistor Arrays - PRAs).

Best of luck.

[Chris-socal]

Intermittent or consistently after start? I agree with the heating component theory if it does this every time after cooling for a few minutes. Transistor or diode open or shorting in V circuit. Something so far out of tolerance that the auto correction circuitry tries to correct until it pushes out of range? Maybe V correction isn’t getting input back to the IC. I don’t understand the circuitry completely but I understand the concept that Ceronix automated a lot of adjustments. They are great until they aren’t!

Nothing on a 1492 board should get really hot so that is certainly a good starting point.

Chris

[cpressler]

Thanks Richard and Chris.  I will try to do as described to see if I can track it down further.
One other question, I got several machines when I got this, and one of them is another IGT poker (table version) with a Ceronix 1490 in it.  Are the 1490 and 1492 interchangeable?  Can I swap them out if need be?

Thanks,
Chad

[Chris-socal]

I would imagine they both use the same color input but I suspect you would need to do some re-wiring. The 1492 I bought that was in a slant top was framed up completely different.
Same wires on the inputs, different connector in a different part of the frame.

Not sure what a 1490 is to be honest. There are several versions of this same design of monitor.

[Chris-socal]

There are two 1492s on ebay. One is a complete monitor that supposedly works, the other is a chassis from a monitor that stopped working. Could be good for parts.

[cpressler]

Thank you all for the help!

I was able to get the monitor working and it is very crisp sharp picture.  Full disclosure this was the first time I attempted a cap kit and missed replacing H24.  The instructions said it wasn't present on some boards and I didn't see / know where to look so assumed it wasn't on my board and missed it.

The topic here pointed me to it with a good picture.
https://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=15961.0

Again, Thanks for all the help, this forum has been amazing!

[Chris-socal]

Congratulations, I just got done fixing a 1492 and I have to say, capacitors are 90% of the problems on this monitor. Overlooking one of the vital ones will make it fail!
I was getting ready to ask if you got yours working.
I wanted to share that there are two or 3 resistors you should check and/or reflow. They might look good but if they don’t have a really good solder connection they will cause the power circuit to go into shut down, which was one of the issue on the one I just fixed. It also had 6 caps that were way out of ESR range so I replaced them all.

Congratulations again.

Chris