Rockola 490 help please

A few years back I had a similar issue. It went like this...

My Rockola 490 was playing a record. The song was over and I hear the record return to the carriage. A few minutes later, I walked over to the jukebox to make another selection. I heard the platter still spinning. Weird. I looked at the display, and it was blank. Everything else was lit up.

Hmm.

I opened up the juke and the carriage arm for the records was in the down position around the platter, and the player arm was kinda hovering there above the platter with no record. The record it just played was back in the cassette.

I picked up the arm and pushed it to the middle to trigger the end of record action. The carriage arm acted like it was picking up a record, and the player arm went back to it's resting position. The carriage spun around once and stopped. The display was still off, and moving the carriage advance toggle switch by the door did nothing. The DS3 LED was not lit on the power supply box.

I reset the circuit breakers and power cycled the jukebox a couple of times, checked all the fuses on and in the power supply. Nothing.

I took it to a guy for service and got it back working some time later.

Fast forward to last week.

I was showing a friend my jukebox and it was working just fine. We hung out for a bit, had some beers, we went home, and I went to bed. I had a busy week and didn't go back in to my basement that whole time. When I finally did... D'OH! I left the jukebox on! For a damn week! Now I have the same problem. No display, carriage won't turn, DS3 LED is off. Checked all the fuses... and they are all fine.

Something to note this time, If I disconnect the two low voltage connectors from the power supply(while the power is off), the DS3 light comes on. I still can't make the carriage turn.

Anyone have any ideas?

Perhaps the guy you had service the unit simply didn't address the actual problem, or just jury-rigged something that was a temporary fix.
I'd seek someone else for service.

Darth: Have you checked the battery in your S2 controller? That can cause all kinds of problems. If you have not, turn the unit off first, then open up the S2. The battery is between the two boards. Read up on this forum for more information about this and relocate the replacement (3.6v ni-cd, NOT lithium) outside of the S2 unit.
Patrick

Juke-rocks wrote:Darth: Have you checked the battery in your S2 controller? That can cause all kinds of problems. If you have not, turn the unit off first, then open up the S2. The battery is between the two boards. Read up on this forum for more information about this and relocate the replacement (3.6v ni-cd, NOT lithium) outside of the S2 unit.
Patrick

Thanks Juke-Rocks.

I'll check it out tomorrow and post what I find.

Juke-rocks wrote:Darth: Have you checked the battery in your S2 controller? That can cause all kinds of problems. If you have not, turn the unit off first, then open up the S2. The battery is between the two boards. Read up on this forum for more information about this and relocate the replacement (3.6v ni-cd, NOT lithium) outside of the S2 unit.
Patrick

Dude!!! You ROCK! I just replaced the battery and it fired right up.

Quick question... will a higher voltage cause problems? I went to the local NON closed down Radio Shack and picked up a 4 pack of NiCad solar AA batteries. They only had a 4 battery holder so currently I'm at 5v (1.25 each)

I'm not plugged in or powered on right now so there's no immediate concern if I am going it wrong.

Thanks!

It should be easy enough to modify the 4 cell holder to only use 3 cells. Not sure if you have the square or flat pack, but usually either of them have the terminals visible on the outside. It should be easy to remove the leads and resolder them to eliminate the fourth cell. ( FYI - the batteries are wired in series.



Nelson

Thanks.

Even then ... I'd still be at 3.75v. Think it would be OK ?

VA Bigdog wrote:It should be easy enough to modify the 4 cell holder to only use 3 cells. Not sure if you have the square or flat pack, but usually either of them have the terminals visible on the outside. It should be easy to remove the leads and resolder them to eliminate the fourth cell. ( FYI - the batteries are wired in series.

cells-parallel-series_0013-mod-320x240.JPG

Nelson

darthphunk wrote:Thanks.

Even then ... I'd still be at 3.75v. Think it would be OK ?

VA Bigdog wrote:It should be easy enough to modify the 4 cell holder to only use 3 cells. Not sure if you have the square or flat pack, but usually either of them have the terminals visible on the outside. It should be easy to remove the leads and resolder them to eliminate the fourth cell. ( FYI - the batteries are wired in series.

cells-parallel-series_0013-mod-320x240.JPG

Nelson

Memory batteries are anything between 3 to 5 volts - not that critical.

Thanks man. I'll leave it as is.

MattTech wrote:

darthphunk wrote:Thanks.

Even then ... I'd still be at 3.75v. Think it would be OK ?

VA Bigdog wrote:It should be easy enough to modify the 4 cell holder to only use 3 cells. Not sure if you have the square or flat pack, but usually either of them have the terminals visible on the outside. It should be easy to remove the leads and resolder them to eliminate the fourth cell. ( FYI - the batteries are wired in series.

cells-parallel-series_0013-mod-320x240.JPG

Nelson

Memory batteries are anything between 3 to 5 volts - not that critical.

I'm glad to hear it's working. Here's what I've done with that battery on my Rockolas. I mount a 3 cell AA clip with an inline fuse holder (.5a) on the + side. I attach a male plug to that and mount it, usually with a zip tie. I run a lead to the board with a female plug. For batteries either rechargeable AA ni-cd × 3 or one 3.6v ni-cd cordless phone battery. If you use the phone battery, you'll have to split it open and mount the batteries in the clip because the hair-fine fusible link will fry under charge in the jukebox. This has worked long-term for me in several installations. Patrick.