I’m not sure what happened. It was working one day, then the next nothing. I thought it may have been the cord, i tried to get a universal cord, but that didnt work. The used the original cord and shook it, it briefly lit up, then back out. Any ideas?
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I would check for loose connections anywhere on the boards–with power cord disconnected of course. Looks like a cool machine. Arcade type games?
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Does the original cord have any electrical specs on it (like Amps or Watts?) [Mechanical engineer here…so not so good with electricity… but if it were mine I would guess a short in the power cord and the replacement wasn’t matching… I would check to see if I could make sure the replacement was good for the application.]
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I only tried a walmarr universal that had the ends you switch. Do you have a recommendation?
See what data the plug has on it: Amps, Watts, Ohms
Try to get one that matches and has the same kind of end on it… might check the ERP lab as there used to be a box of random cords.
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I’d try something else before trying a third power supply.
It looks like the power jack is directly on the circuit board and that the power switch is off to the side with purple and yellow wires.
With power plugged in take a voltmeter and check for voltage at the power jack connection on the circuit board. … If it’s present the problem is elsewhere. If it’s absent the power supply might be bad or the connection could be poor. A poor or no connection when trying a universal power supply can be from the center pin being the wrong diameter.
Look carefully at both ends of the wires to the power switch for broken wires or bad solder. Likely there is a circuit trace running from the power jack to the connector where the power switch wires go to the switch. With the voltmeter put the black probe on a ground, such as where the power jack is soldered to the board and put the red probe on one of the wires at the power switch. You should either have power as long as there’s a power supply plugged in or only when the power switch is on. Whichever you see, the other wire at the power switch should have the other behavior. ( One side of switch is power in and one side controlled by the switch). If one side has power, but the other side doesn’t ever the switch may be bad. To confirm a bad switch you can bypass it by using something like a clip lead to connect the power switch wires together while they’re still attached to the switch or you can just detach the wires from the switch and twist them together. If the switch is bad you can replace it ir just leave it bypassed and unplug the device to turn it off.
I’ve made some simplifying assumptions that may not be true for this device. The power switch could be implemented other ways not involving the input power running through the switch. The power switch could be on the ground instead of the power. The power supply could have good voltage only while the device is off and that could be from a bad connection or because the device is drawing too much current when on. (The universal power supply could be producing insufficient current and the voltage dropping too low).
If the original power supply no longer has good output and the universal power supply doesn’t have any output, there’s a good chance that their is excessive current draw by the device and that’s when the idea of a short circuit has meaning. That’s when more involved troubleshooting has to be followed. Either a component has gone bad ir somewhere there is an unintended connection due to wiring insulation displaced or something metallic is bridging two paths together.
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