I just spent about 2 hours fully cleaning, servicing, polishing and even rebuilding one of my boxes and was so proud not to have damaged anything. I plugged a cable in and sweet music started to come out... for about 10 seconds then nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I looked all around, switched switches, twiddled knobs but no. Then I noticed the Voltage Selector switch was on 110V. We in Europe use 220 - 240. I must have accidently knocked the switch, or it move while I place te boombox innards on the floor, whatever. What I want to know is if this is where the problem lies. Have I blown something, fried some circuitry or other? How serious is this and is it easily fixable?

Also, there was no smell by the way. It just don't turn on anymore though.

Thanks for any help and assistance in advance!

Oh noes! It's probably defnitely damaged as a 110 volt supply (US type) has a frequency of 60 Hz, European 220 volt has a frequency of 50Hz - therefore there is a good chance that the box might have drawn too much current because of the voltage difference and drawn this current at the wrong frequency as well. Which box was it?

Sorry to hear beatbox but looks like the mains transformer has fried.Its very rare that you may have damaged anthing else after the transformer.
if you have another box the same model you can swap transformers over to isolate.

Oh no beatbox that sucks. I have the opposite issue (110v-120v in the US)so I've never damaged my boxes when I've had them switched wrong. My guess is you have fried something, probabl in the power supply hopefully since that is an easier fix than the main board.

Have you checked the output on the power supply to see if it's dead?

I did the same thing many years ago on
a sweet and heavy Sanyo Cassette Radio Mono box.

I plugged a 220V set box onto a 3-phase high voltage outlet. Great and very loud sound for
2 minutes and then poof, the transformer bye bye.

It is only the transformer, for sure.

Maybe you can take one from a donor box.

Try to see if they are same in battery usage
9V or 12V DC is most common.

If you find another similar size transfomer
that came from a donor box using same amount
of batteries....then you have a close match.


But be careful always working with AC
and especially 220Volts, it is not fun to
get a shock.

Disconnect AC , then do your transformer
transplant and step back....back

and then connect the AC using a long extension
cord and see if it comes to life again.

If it does not or have issues , disconnect AC
and maybe try again....but again be careful

If you did not have the funky smell of the adhesive that binds the windings and magnet of the transformer together, you may be lucky(didn't cook it)...check for a fuse, resistor or in line capacitor. Most multi-volt units had these so that it would be a "small" failure. What type of box was it? Most JVC's, Panasonics, and others had this feature depending on the level of the box(mid-high end). The cycling (60 to 50hz) would not hurt it, just make the cassette play slow.

WOW! Thanks guys, thats somehow good news to think it may just be the transformer. Its actualy one of the smaller boxes. The Casio with the keyboard on top. I have quite a few small boxes lying around the house, so I will try and change out the transformer.

Is it possible for me to connect the radio up directly to some batteries bypassing the transformer? I think this could be easily done and will let me know if anything else other than the transformer is damaged. What do you think?

Thanks again to all!

no internal fuse protection i would suppose.
i know some of the keyboards i have have a fuse for this exact reason.

You can power the BBX from baterries or dc jack to test if something in the BBX get damaged moreover the transformer. Not blown fuse suposed
Feeding from batteries override the transformer, ie even when it was burned, the BBX most operate with batteries. If a fuse has blown you need to ckeck the supply PCB
Take care of the transformer you will use. Use one with the same oouput voltage than the original. The output would be at least the same that you obtain with batteries, but it could be more for BBX that specifies two output powers, one with bateries and one with AC (lie the Sony FH series).
If it's a medium or small BBX I think that a transformer with a DC output equal to the battery would work OK. Current rating it's a little complex
What is its power output in watts ?. That the most important thing to guees current rating of the transfomer.



Pedro.

Success is right about the wattage. But make sure the amperage matches also. Too much amperage will fry something in the circuitry down the line if it is too high.

Hey beatbox,

I'd check tha fuses first, rectifier diodes etc. If your lucky the transformer is not cooked. How many boxes are you fixing at once dude..??

Roddy

Thanks a lot again people. Well, I didn't see a fuse and I wish there had been one, so I guees I'll have to have a good look at all my parts boxes for a transformer if that is indeed the case that it needs changing. I thank you all again for your help and suggestions.

quote:

Originally posted by roddy@RADIOHIER:
Hey beatbox,

I'd check tha fuses first, rectifier diodes etc. If your lucky the transformer is not cooked. How many boxes are you fixing at once dude..??

Roddy

I wasn't even fixing this one before yesterday, but thats how it goes!! I was so happy after cleaning this one up and installing-building a new aerial post for it. And now this.

yes damaged transformer 220volts into the transformer would fry.