Chinon 3000 GL projector trips house breaker!

[Aaron Ohrt]

Hello community. This is post # 1 for me.

I acquired a Chinon 3000 GL CineProjector many years ago from a former co-worker and have finally dusted it off to start using it. However, there is a big problem! Every time I plug the projector in to wall power...my circuit breaker trips and I lose house power. It’s quite frightening! I don't know the prior history of the projector. Could this be wired wrong, an issue with the power cable or converted to 220V? The co-worker I received it from was an Australian working in the US. I believe he acquired it in the US and all the information on the projector states that (see attached photos). The overall conditions of the projector is very good. This is quite bizarre to me as one can imagine and I would like to get it up and running.

Has anyone experienced such a thing…or have any ideas?

Thanks so much!
-Aaron

[Steve Klare]

Hi Aaron,

Troubleshooting an AC short is tricky! The problem you run into is according to an ohmmeter, the transformer is always a short circuit, so that won't help at all.

The basic theme here is divide and conquer: round up the usual suspects and alibi each one until the guilty party confesses!

If you suspect it's the line cord, try the projector with a different line cord or try the same line cord without the projector. (Note: an Ohmmeter will work just fine on a line cord by itself.)

A funny thing about a transformer: if any one winding (or group of windings) becomes short circuited, every last winding in there acts like a short. To me it looks like there has been some...creative rework on your transformer. Hopefully nothing is bridging any two of the three secondary side terminals.

If you de-soldered and insulated two of those three wires, plugged it in with a trusted line cord and you still popped the breaker, you probably have a shorted transformer. Could plugging the machine into Australian line voltage fry the primary winding? Could be! This machine doesn't look convertible to other line voltages.

If the machine has a good cord and transformer, it shouldn't be able to blow a breaker on it's own. In the resting state the lamp and motor are both unpowered and shouldn't be able to short anything. Beyond that you have the possibility of funky wiring at the terminals of the transformer or main switch to consider.

[Maurice Leakey]

It looks like there has been some...creative rework on your transformer

Steve makes a good comment.

The soldered terminals on the transformer secondary do not look like any original soldering. I see the power input plug wiring goes direct to the transformer primary.

If this was mine I would make a note of the secondary terminal wiring, and then carefully unsolder all the connections there.

This will isolate everything from the mains except the transformer. If the circuit breaker still pops when it's plugged in, the transformer has had it.


Maurice

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

That "cable ties" would only make it even more suspicious to me.

[Aaron Ohrt]

Thank you Steve, Maurice and Nantawat for your thoughts and input!

It looks like I have a project ahead of me!

-Aaron