Troubleshooting - Ramsey Electronics PG13 Instruction Manual

TROUBLESHOOTING

PROBLEM: The LED doesn't light up.
SOLUTION: Not much can go wrong in the circuit that prevents this other than
you forgot to turn the circuit breaker back on after fiddling with the wall socket,
or you forgot to turn on the AC power. Check all of your connections again. It
is quite possible you have a dead short someplace, so you had better check it
out without the power applied! Also check diode orientation.
PROBLEM: The LED lights, but no high voltage. Also, the neon light will not
light.
SOLUTION: There is probably an assembly problem. The components
included in this kit are very rugged, so it is very unlikely that any were
accidentally damaged during assembly. You will definitely want to check
component orientation.
PROBLEM: The neon light lights, but I can't draw a spark.
SOLUTION: Check assembly and the wiring of your high voltage section.
PROBLEM: It was working fine for a while when I ran it off of 16 VAC or more,
then it quit.
SOLUTION: You are on your own here, but I will give you some pointers. With
the power off, use an ohm meter to test the secondary. It should read about
600 ohms +- 50 ohms. If it is significantly less or more, you have damaged
your transformer and will need to order a new one. Otherwise you have
probably popped one of the power transistors since not much else can go
wrong. Next time don't run at such a high supply voltage!
PROBLEM: I see a lot of blue corona discharge under the transformer, or to
nearby parts.
SOLUTION: You may be running with too much supply voltage; take it easy
there Sparky! Otherwise you may have a piece of metal trapped under the
transformer. This will cause some serious problems if not removed, so it will
be worth desoldering the transformer to get it out. The blue corona emits quite
a bit of Ozone, which is highly corrosive. Also the corona can be very hot,
setting the circuit board or transformer on fire!
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