[MCP]

Hi !
New member here.I have a 2010 model jason animatronic that is currently not working.
This is my first animatronic so hopefully someone can guide me in the right direction.

I removed the cover and first notised that the red and black wires had some damage and electrical tape on them so i removed that and repaired the wires (soldered and closed each wire with a heat tube).
I took my multimeter and checked the continuity on the wires from the AC input to the board and that is all good.
I also checked with the power on and i'm getting 9.1 v on the AC input and i measured the same on the back of the pcb under load.

I'm wondering if it could be something with the "on-sensor" switch.

Could it possible be that i need a new switch since i'm not getting anything when it's in the "on" or "sensor " position.

All help and tips greatly appreciated🙂

 

[corey872]

Welcome to the forum. Since you have the volt meter, the best thing to do would be to keep on tracing the power. You mention 9V on the 'back of the PCB'- but I'm not sure where that specifically is. Do you have 9V into and coming out of the switch? Does there seem to be any volt regulators on the board? Do they have the proper input / output? Any large electrolytic capacitors, you can check voltage at those too.

In my stash of props, 95% of the time it seems like the switch gets crudded up in the off season. I have to rack it back and forth a couple dozen times to scrub the oxidation off the contacts and get it mostly working again. You might give those a shot for starters!

 

[MCP]

Hi !

Thanks for the reply.
The circuit board and wires looks clean and i also cleaned the back of the circuit board with isopropanol just in case.

The "sensor-on" switch looks good but i also cleaned it with isopropanol and pushed the switch back and forth many times but no change.

Nothing happens when i press the button on top for it to activate and when i hold my hand i front of the sensor.
As i said in my previous post,i have measured the AC input and i'm getting 9.1 V and also on the back of the circuit board where the red and black wires goes from the AC input to the circuit board.

I'm to sure how to measure the "sensor-on " switch to check if it works so please let me know how to do that so i can determin of the switch is good or bad 👍

 

[MCP]

Pics of the switch.

 

[corey872]

I don't know anything about that specific prop. But with a general switch, when it is open/off, you should see a voltage across the terminals. When the switch is closed/on, you should have 0V. If the switch is out of the circuit, you can test conductivity / resistance across the contacts. On typical sensors, you'd have 3 wires - +5V, ground and 'sense' - with the sense going either high (5V) or low (ground) to indicate a 'trigger' event. Though with a prop like this, sometimes the actual sensor may only have two wires leading to some remote spot and the actual drive circuitry would be back on the main board.

The 9V DC is likely good to run motors, etc. But a lot of electronic circuitry, IC's, sensors, etc like to run at 5V do you see any additional voltage regulators on the board? It would be good to check their output if you do. You can also check voltage across those electrolytic caps and if you see any IC's you can often look up the data sheet to find V+ and ground pins, then probe those to make sure you have the proper voltages.