6/1/94 Series III Rockola Bubbler with S-5 Control system

6/1/94 Series III Rockola Bubbler with S-5 Control system and a overnight Memory problem - Ni-Cd vs Lithium

Hi,

I just picked up a nice Rockola CD-8 Bubbler with black components off of Craigslist.

The elderly gentleman that sold it to me said that he bought it new in the 1970’s (LOL) and had it at his summer lake house until just recently.

All the lights and bubblers worked great and that was about it… He said that in the many years that he had owned it, aside from having a battery replaced, he never had any work done to it. It was mainly used as a night light in his family room.

He was firm with his asking price of $400.00 Since the cabinet was in really nice condition, the original Mechanism shipping bolts were never removed and it had about 30 CD’s included in it, I jumped at the opportunity to buy it.

At that time I knew that it was a Series III Bubbler based on the Craigslist photograph showing a rectangular keyboard and the manual thumb wheel for the pages. It was also missing the RMC icon to the right of the Rockola name plate that’s found on the newer models so I knew it was an early Rockola machine after the AMI Rowe guts period.

When I got the machine home I found out that the AGC 8/10 fuse on the Mechanism Control PCB was blown. I replaced that fuse and the machine started mapping all the CD’s.

It was extremely dirty and gummed up…. I used the CD mapping routine process to aid me while I lubed everything up. I also cleaned the CD player’s lens and the cue tip was the dirtiest that I had ever seen.

When I realized that it was set on coin play, I put 4 quarters in it to get a total of 3 plays to show up in the window, I made a selection and low and behold it selected and played really well…

My problem now is that it will not retain the Free Play 99 status after the machine is turned off for the evening.

I removed in my opinion a non original Panasonic 3.6 Volt 110 mAh Ni-Cd AA size battery from the rear of the Control Unit PCB.

I soldered 2 leads to the existing Battery tabs on the rear of the PCB so that I can have a remote AA size Battery holder outside of the Control Center PCB.

I purchased a 3.6 Volt TADIRAN High Energy Lithium Battery and put it in the new battery holder that is now velcro’d to the inside rear of the cabinet and set the machine to Free Play 99.

I then turned the machine on and off a few times and the Free Play 99 status stayed… However the next morning the memory was lost again… and it defaulted back to coin play.

The new Lithium battery still registers 3.6 volts…. The terminals on the Battery holder read 0 when the machine was off and read .25 to .33 when the machine was turned back on, both with no battery in the holder. Is that what would be expected for a Ni-Cd charging rate?

So here are my questions:

My manual says it takes a Lithium Battery, When exactly was the changeover, the cabinet say that this machine was manufactured 6/1/94?

Do I have a machine that needs a NiCd battery that recharges (found on pre 1995 machines) or do I have a machine that uses a Lithium battery that does not get recharged (found on S-5 machines and up)?

I understand that if I have a Ni-Cd machine, I need a 3.6 volts, 500 - 700MAH, AA size type battery

Could the non-original Panasonic 3.6 Volt 110 mAh Ni-Cd have not worked due to only having 110 mAh’s instead of the required 500 – 700 mAh’s?

If the new Lithium battery still registers 3.6 volts why didn’t it save the memory?

Jeorge over at Rockola was pretty positive that it should take a Lithium battery too, but that did not work?

In addition, I can’t find a Ni-Cd AA battery locally for sale to see if that’s the problem , so before I order one online, I thought that I should send this out to the group for some feedback.

Or do you think I possibly could have some other problem that is not allowing the memory to be held overnight etc…

Thanks in advance for any and all help…

Jeff P.

P.S. I will be making another batch of 1954 Seeburg HF100R Cabinet Restoration Veneer kits that will be available around the holidays if anyone is interested.


Specs:
Antique Apparatus/Rock-Ola - CD8 Bubbler

Serial # 562318

Manufactured 6/1/94

Black Control Center that has a RED sticker on the cover that says 57000-1A System 5A Control Unit
The PCB inside the Control Center has a white sticker on it that says PCB Assy #57001-A, If you remove that sticker, printed on the board underneath it, it says 56215-A.

Black 280 Watt Amp 56180-1A

Black Power Distr. 56205-A, the Rectifier PCB in it says 56257-1A

It has a Philips CDM-4 Industrial CD player

Mech Control PCB Assy P/N 56995-A

Black CD Mech Control Assy 57066-A Interface 9404002423

Jeff,
I dono which one it takes--but to get a NiCad--try Rat Shack--for a phone battery !
Ron Rich

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the tip...

I will probably try that as a last resort, only because that would require me to take the board out again and re-solder new leads onto it because the cordless phone battery is 3 times larger than the single Lithium 3.6c AA battery holder setup that I currently have in place now.

Ideally it would be nice to just replace my Lithium AA battery with a Ni-Cd AA battery and call it a day, But the Radio shack by me does not carry a Ni-Cd battery in a AA size to fit in my current AA battery holder.

Radio Shack by me does have a Enercell 3.6 700 mAh Ni-Cd cordless Phone Battery for around $20.00 but it has three 1.2v Ni-Cd batteries stung together.

To make matters worse, I'm not 100% sure that the battery is my issue... I just wish I knew/understood why my current setup didn't work for me overnight....

3.6 volts stored in a lithium battery vs 3.6 volts stored in a Ni-Cd battery overnight should not make a difference aside from potentially blowing up on a long re-charge.

I'm thinking that maybe I may have another issue somewhere.

Hi Jeff,
I pretty much purchase any 3 volt or higher NiCad that's "fresh stock", as I need them--I "Velcro" it to the outside of the computer, or nearby wall. Never have had any problems--but I don't remember doing it on "system 5" ?
Ron Rich

Update,,,,, I remotely mounted a AA size battery holder off of the rear of the PCB and put a 3.6 v Lithium battery in it and the memory was saved overnight...

My first battery tray I installed had a factory defect in it that did not allow it to make a good connection to the battery which added much time to my troubleshooting of this matter.

All is good now except the fact that I did remove a Panasonic AA size Ni-Cd battery from the rear of the PCB and replaced it with a remotely mounted AA size Lithium...

Could this previously installed Panasonic Lithium battery ever have worked for the previous owner if this PCB does not have charging capabilities?

Do Ni-Cd batteries come charged prior to installing them? If they do, how long would an initial charge last in a jukebox when all it's used for is to hold its memory?

I just wish some one could chime in here and tell me for sure That a 6/1/94 first generation S-5 Rockola needs a Lithium over a Ni-Cd.... Or vise versa.

I know Charlie Maier is probably reading this post fom heaven right about now And wishing he could answer this on for me.

In addition, does anyone know how long it would take for a Lithium battery to blow up if it's being charged like a Ni-Cd.... I guess time will tell. At least it's remotely mounted and won't damage the PCB if or when it leaks.

Thanks in advance for any and all help…

Jeff P.

Specs:
Antique Apparatus/Rock-Ola - CD8 Bubbler

Serial # 562318

Manufactured 6/1/94

Black Control Center that has a RED sticker on the cover that says 57000-1A System 5A Control Unit

The PCB inside the Control Center has a white sticker on it that says PCB Assy #57001-A, If you remove that sticker, printed on the board underneath it, it says 56215-A.

Black 280 Watt Amp 56180-1A

Black Power Distr. 56205-A, the Rectifier PCB in it says 56257-1A

It has a Philips CDM-4 Industrial CD player

Mech Control PCB Assy P/N 56995-A

Black CD Mech Control Assy 57066-A Interface 9404002423

Latest update:

My Lithium 3.6 V AA battery went from 3.66 v to 4.24 v in a matter of a few hours....

So I guess my PCB is charging this battery leading me to beleive that I need the Ni-Cd 3.6 V battery....

Thanks Ron.... Now I'm off to find/buy a 3.6 v Ni-Cd cordless phone battery at Radio Shack LOL