All of a sudden, not picking selection, carriage keeps going

My NSM Festival, it's been playing songs all day today. Son went to make a selection, carriage moves all way left, then back to right, and back to left and over and over again.

Any ideas?

Tim

Weird, resolved itself. Powered it off, unplugged it, let it sit 5 minutes and made another selection and it is playing now. Heat related somehow? (A/C is on in house, nice and cool in here)

Tim

Heat related or, maybe computer got confused (so to speak), Re-boot!

Tim, I don't lie to bear bad news -but, any unexplained failure like this means that some component(s) are operating near their failure point. This is a general statement and heavily computerized equipment can get 'confused" when electrical noise messes with the clock. I don't think there is any danger of damage in using the machine, but be aware that a rebuild is probably not far off.

Rob/NYC

Thanks! Thank you Rob, am prepared if it ever came down to that. Was certainly an odd occurrence, probably first time juke has been used this length of time while in my possession. Maybe it got "confused", luckily the credit control unit is one of the ones that parts are more readily available.

Tim

After a full day of songs playing, it's decided to keep this symptom permanently it seems. It's between two things, the control and credit unit or the carriage. Doubt it is the CCU, as the one in there is professionally worked on by George Sammons (still under warranty though).

So what is occurring is that it scans back and forth non stop unless powered off, then carriage parks. Noticed that it was not counting down as it scanned, so the optical sensors? Opened that up, cleaned the optical sensors and still same issue. Unless there is a problem on the bottom PCB board of the carriage, or am thinking easiest/cheapest way may be to buy a complete optical unit that is known working first. Now to find one!

Tim

Tim, if the opto unit uses an infrared you can check if the exciter LED is working by using a video or still camera viewfinder to see the light from it.

Another trick that can sometimes generate some response is to aim a standard remote at the receptor while pushing random buttons and checking for any response.

Rob/NYC

Rob-NYC wrote:Tim, if the opto unit uses an infrared you can check if the exciter LED is working by using a video or still camera viewfinder to see the light from it.

Another trick that can sometimes generate some response is to aim a standard remote at the receptor while pushing random buttons and checking for any response.

Rob/NYC

Cool, thanks Rob! Would a digital SLR, or iPhone/Blackberry for video, work to see it? If I use a TV remote, I should/may see some numbers show up on the display of the juke?

My concern was if it was the CCU, but can't see how it would be bad, especially since it was refurbed/tested and guaranteed by George. So only thing now is the optical unit. Luckily I've found a couple for a decent price, so can purchase a replacement at least.

Tim

Yes, anything with a standard CDS or similar cell will show the infrared.

As for the remote, the point is that the counting function isn't coded -it is just regular interrupts so exciting it with a remote may produce some sort of activity on the readout to show it at least is active.

If the LED is dead measure the voltage across it's leads. If there is correct voltage then you may be able to use a generic I-R LED from a place like Radio Shack if you have one nearby. I have seen them there. See if it fits the assembly.

Rob.

Much appreciated. There's an electronics store near by that most likely has everything needed to replace both the IR and the CNY, I'll test it tonight first since I've taken it off of carriage, I can just plug it in and run some tests.

Tim

So I don't know what exactly should be found for voltage. But here's what I did. Hooked it all up, first checked for IR and this appears to be working (constant purple light). So I tested voltage on the power going into the receiving sensors. Voltage shows up on the inbound side on both, power out through one receiver/sensor tests same on its other side. Not for the second one however, leading to a grey wire back to the plug on the PCB.

Assuming both should have flow of power through them the same way, sounds like one sensor not working. I may go pick one up tomorrow and swap it out.

Tim

Tim, I can't speak to the specific situation but, those sorts of "count-up" logic designs all have some form of zero or null point So, this probably means that one sensor gets light at each space and the other (the zero-er) gets light only at one specific point to establish the zero or starting point.

Rob

Rob-NYC wrote:Tim, I can't speak to the specific situation but, those sorts of "count-up" logic designs all have some form of zero or null point So, this probably means that one sensor gets light at each space and the other (the zero-er) gets light only at one specific point to establish the zero or starting point.

Rob

Understood. Yes, that is the case with this. However, the voltages are a constant I am reading. I can't see if I could easily test for changes in voltages if the sensors are getting hit with the light or not, I don't think it actually has a voltage fluctuation to indicate that. (rather that it sends more likely a signal back to the CCU unit)

No harm in a few bucks to swap out one of the sensors at least, with a worst case scenario that I spend $50-$70 range for a complete working optical unit (at least if a replacement does the same, then issue lies in the CCU).

Tim

Found and ordered a new old stock optical unit. Hoping this fixes it. Local electronics shop here did not have any IR receiver/sensor that would fit/work with the circuit board of my current one.

Here's hoping!

Tim

Update: So a NOS optical part (still in original box, with resistors and instructions) fixed the issue. (knock on wood)

Juke is working again!

Tim