Transformer fried!

[delarge]

Hi all,
had a get together last night and all the machines turned on in the garage for the evening. Around 1:30 I'm playing a pinball machine and I start to smell smoke and my Sega X-Files (concave headbox) has an eerie haze to the playfield under the glass. A smoke machine in pinball sounds like a great idea, but not my work. I see that the DMD is dead and quickly turn the power off. The fumes are terrible and garage door flies up to let the smoke out. Look under the playfield and can't see any coils locked on or anything out of the ordinary. The transformer on the outside seems to be melted with black droplets on the bottom of the cabinet. Great, just when I thought I had this machine running perfectly.....

Besides the obvious transformer replacement, what else do I look for so this won't happen again? I had just replaced the DMD power supply board in the top of the headbox and thought I had a 100% machine.

Cheers!
Adam.

[MartyJ]

I take it the game had been jumpered correctly for 240 v?

[delarge]

Hey Marty,
it's been working for 12 months. Could this still be an issue?

Thanks,
Adam.

[MartyJ]

Ahh ok...  No the jumpers once set stay that way. 
With the game off and unplugged if you put your nose close to transformer it will have a terrible smell..

Unusual maybe you had a power surge in area.

[delarge]

It smells HORRIBLE when you put your nose up to the transformer. Smoke was the same.

Machine was plugged into a power board along with three others. All the other machines kept playing fine.

It has a 5 amp main fuse installed, but is meant to have an 8 amp. The main fuse didn't blow at all, just the DMD went dead. I hope nothing else got fried.....

[MartyJ]

Main fuse should be generally 4 amp. 8amp is when set to USA voltage..

Hard part will be finding a suitable transformer second hand.

I would replace the line filter too just to be sure

[Boots]

Besides the obvious transformer replacement, what else do I look for so this won't happen again?

It's probably just a freak occurance, not very common for transformers to fry especially when there are no fuses blown.

[Homepin]

Don't write the transformer off just yet. Check the bridge rectifiers hat it connects to for shorts. Unplug the secondary side of the TX and plug it in. See if the TX still smolders.

[delarge]

Hi guys,
thanks for all the replies. Here's some photos of the transformer.

Will check the bridge rectifiers.

Cheers!
Adam.

[Pinballer]

Sorry to have to say it, but that looks toasted to me. Once some of the windings over heat and they loose their insulated coating, they short together and the transformer is no longer fit for service. Once you get burning and especially smoke coming from a transformer its usually a right off.

Hopefully someone here has a spare and can help you out. If you do find a replacement, make sure you test the circuits immediately after the transformer for shorts. You don't want to fry the replacment.

Good luck, I feel sorry for you in this situation.

[delarge]

Thanks. Yeah, can't believe it happened. Was such a big let down after having all my boards working and the machine playing flawlessly. Have sent a few e-mail out to dealers already about a replacement to see if anyone has a spare. Will post a wanted ad also.

Will be double checking when I get a new one installed to see if everything else is ok before turning the machine on again. Just did a check of the fuses and everything is ok except the fuse on the DMD power supply board has blown. Bridge Rectifier (BR3) is also testing funny. I just did a quick test inside the machine. Having an early night tonight, but will pull the board out tomorrow night and do a proper test.

Cheers!
Adam.

[Boots]

Sorry to have to say it, but that looks toasted to me. Once some of the windings over heat and they loose their insulated coating, they short together and the transformer is no longer fit for service. Once you get burning and especially smoke coming from a transformer its usually a right off.

Hopefully someone here has a spare and can help you out. If you do find a replacement, make sure you test the circuits immediately after the transformer for shorts. You don't want to fry the replacment.

Good luck, I feel sorry for you in this situation.

Not sure how you fry a transformer if the correct fuses are installed?
Are there fuses between the bridges and the transformer?
I have seen one in an early Stern before but it had the old alfoil style fuses hehe

[Homepin]

I would rewind that transformer - but that's just me - I'm a freak!!!

[delarge]

I need the transformer number 010-5012-00 and have found a brand new Stern transformer for $300. The part number is 010-5012-01. Is this the answer to my problems?

Cheers!
Adam.

[Caveoftreasures]

Email the seller n ask or email terry at pinball life because he would have sold a few otherwise you could try jody dakenberg at stern and ask him to check with engineering but I believe the new stern one will work cause stern built the sega concaves as previously mentioned .  Mark might know as we'll. never had to change one in any of my 6 x sega concaves otherwise wish I could help more.