Phonoland

I just got in a Rockola 490 jukebox for service. I have never seen this system they used in this model before. The newest Rockola we ever had on our route back in the day was a 480. This 490 is completely foreign to me. The manuals are of no help and are nothing compared to the detailed manuals of previous models.

Anyway, it came in with the symptoms of no motors operating except the turntable motor. Gripper and magazine motor not getting power. The +26 volts LED was out so I pulled out the power supply chassis (boy it's heavy). Found the two 1 amp slo blo fuses blown. No shorted parts on the pc board, but the LM317K regulator on the heat sink was bad. Replaced the regulator with an NTE 970 and replaced the two fuses. Now have the +26 volt LED lit, but still no power to the gripper or magazine motors. Operating the normal-off-scan slide switch makes a relay on the power supply board click, but nothing else. You can put credits on the machine, make selections, but nothing else happens.

Does the power supply board get a "power good" signal back from the System 2 computer before power can be applied to the motors?

Is it possible my replacement NTE 970 is bad out of the package? Or do I have a bad computer? The troubleshooting info on this system is nil.

Too bad Rockola Charlie is gone.

Hi Ken,
I have worked on a few "system 2's" --not R/O's best effort !
The LED only indicates voltage--NOT necessarily the correct voltage, so find a place on that heavy PS to check it ---
Ron Rich

Ron:

I got it running. Turns out I had two problems.

#1 problem was the NTE 970 regulator was BAD right out of the package. Got another original LM317K regulator and it worked. That got the magazine motor running.

#2 Then I found out the gripper bow was seized up. Took a couple of hours to get it loosened up and then worked it back and forth a bunch of times. I've got the system test mode set to play every record on it. So it's going to get a good workout all night.

Jukebox is operational and sounds good.

Ken,
Glad you got it--Don't like hearing that the reg was bad- am having problems with an amp that has both - and + regs in it--picked up two this AM--wouldn't work--went "crazy" for a few hours----looked at the new reg and saw the number on it did not match what I had removed--- went back and got more, will try again tomorrow !! Ron

Something to note:

The +26 volt LED lights up because it gets it's power before the regulator. It does not assure you that 26 volts is coming out the regulator. You actually have to put a meter on the regulator and read the voltage. It's a little tricky to do inside the machine, but it can be done if you're careful.

If a person is working on one of these jukeboxes for the first time, be aware that there are several fuses inside the power supply unit on the back wall of the jukebox. The two 1 amp slo blo fuses are for the +26 volts dc to the gripper motor and magazine motor.

Ken & Ron, I am having the same issue with a Rockola 490 that I have had since '97. It's worked fine up until about 2 years ago. The magazine is not spinning and I get the same clicking noise and LED flash as indicated in the original post. I was working with Rockola Charlie a year ago and he had me clean/rebuild the motor and it did not solve the issue. I was ready to spend $100 to buy a new motor when I saw your post. Can I try this fix on my own? Where can I get the part you referenced? I gotta get the box working or my wife wants it gone. I have had no luck finding anyone one in Central NY to look at this for me. One Guy I did find wanted $80 an hour including travel time from Rochester (1.5 hours from Syr). I am very handy with electronics and not afraid to try anything. If you can help me it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Richard Syracuse NY