symptom 2

Symptom 2:

Record trips as soon as it starts to play.

This could be a mechanical or an electrical problem. The first thing to do is to figure out which it is. Watch how the mechanism cycles. Just to the right of the pickup arm you will see a lever, with an elongated slot. This is the trip lever, as you can see in the photo at left. It flips up each time the trip solenoid energizes, to pick up a record for play, or to put it back in the magazine once play is complete. Put your finger on this lever, and apply a light pressure in the downward direction. CAUTION! There will be 120 Volts on several of the switches in the close vicinity of this lever, so be careful not to get a shock! Note that applying too much downward pressure may cause the trip lever to correctly move, resulting in normal record play. As the lever moves when incorrectly tripping, you may feel a buzzing on the lever. This indicates that it is an electrical problem (see the next paragraph). If there is no buzzing, it probably means that the clutch shifting lever is gummed up due to aging lubrication, and the mechanism needs to be degreased and fresh lubrication applied. Your machine's manual includes a lubrication chart. For those wanting to degrease and re-apply lubrication, I recommend you get Ron Rich's Seeburg Mechanism Guide, for tips from his forty years of Seeburg jukebox experience.

The rest of this article talks about electrical problems which can cause this symptom. The mechanism trip solenoid is used to trip from scan into play and from play into scan. Thus there are two circuit paths to energize the solenoid, one for Select Trip and the other for reject (also called Mute) Trip. There are wiring differences between mechanisms used in the various jukeboxes, so I'll refer you again to the manual for yours. Generally, mechanism switch contact 3M12 (contact V in machines built prior to the LPC480) is closed in play to complete the record reject path from the amplifier's Mute/Trip Relay, for the machines using a Mute/Trip relay in the amplifier. Machines using a Mute/Trip relay include all 100-selection machines starting with the S100, and all 160-selection machines starting with the LPC1. Another switch, 3M11, is closed in Scan and Transfer to energize the Mute/Trip Relay, which mutes the amplifier so that all the clicks and pops of record transfer are not heard. If either switch is misadjusted so that both are closed at the beginning of record play, the record will reject as soon as the tonearm sets down.

Switch S1103 is the switch mounted to one side of the Pickup Arm Cradle Frame. It closes when the pickup arm reaches the lead-out groove of the record, to begin the transfer cycle to put the record back into the magazine. If this switch is shorted, or the cabling between it, the reject switch in the Volume Control Assembly, optional PRVC, or the Mute Trip Relay in the Amplifier is grounded this can occur. To check for this, turn the power off and manually put the mechanism in play with a record on the turntable. Turn the motor coupling until the pickup needle just sets down, and rotate the coupling a few turns more to insure that the mechanism is completely in play while observing the movement of the 3M12 and 3M11 contacts. Make sure that 3M11 opens before 3M12 closes. If not, perform the appropriate adjustments as listed in the mechanism manual. trip switches

For the earlier machines, the trip micro-switch on the side of the pickup arm frame directly energizes the trip solenoid, as does the reject switch on the back of the cabinet, or on the optional PRVC. See part (b) of the photo at left for the location of the microswitch. Any of these switches shorted, or a problem in the wiring could cause this problem.

Don't have a manual? You can get a copy from: Always Jukin', Victory Glass, or Stamann Musicboxen for those in Europe.

Use your ohmmeter set for continuity to check between the non-grounded end of S1103 and ground. If there is continuity, either a switch is misadjusted, or a switch or the wiring is shorted. To narrow down the cause, eliminate the amplifier/volume control from consideration by unplugging the Mechanism cable (usually a 6-pin orange connector) from the amplifier. If the short goes away, the problem is in the amplifier, volume control, or PRVC (a likely candidate). Otherwise the problem is in the mechanism. If the problem is in the mechanism, first make sure the pickup arm is away from the magnet. If you still get continuity to ground, the problem is probably in the wiring.

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