JQuest64

Hey all, here is the deal. My Bulldog has a weird problem and I cannot seem to locate what is the cause. With the sound on it will sporadically drop the volume way down.
You can still hear it but barely. Then for no apprent reason, it goes back to normal.
I checked all connections and they seem fine. I am wondering is it possibly the speaker, or the volume control? Is this the sound board going bad?
Anyone run into this problem or one similar? The problem is very hard to diagnose as it clears itself up. Thanks for any help you can offer.

This is the only glitch we have run into so far with our tanks in two days of good usage. TBQH, even this has not put a damper on the fun we are having. What a blast.

swathdiver

Probably the speaker, drop in your spare... You do have a spare don't you?

colonelchimp

Hi there, i just fitted a brand new board into my bulldog, and had it running as i fitted it all back in, just to make sure nuthinn stopped as i tightened it all down, and mine did exactly the same, but it went louder when i did the circuit board screw up as the board shifted over a tiny bit, whether that was co incidence or not i dunno, but it has worked just fine since, also i noticed that if i have the sound setreal low, sometimes it did the same thing but not when i have it loud, but the only way to know for sure is to ignore it and when it dies completely you can track it down! sad but true, ya have to be real lucky to find an intermittent fault! so dont worry just get a spare verything and you will be ready for when it dies.......and it will! cheers, CC

pzrwest

It is possible there is a "cold" solder joint, or a transistor that is heat sensitive, a leaky capcitor. Intermittant problems are hard to track down. to find a cold solder join take a good "loop"(magnifying eye glass) and look at the solder joints if you see what looks like a fine circular crack around the end of the soldered componant that could be the problem. you might try resoldering all the solder points in the audio section

JQuest64

Thanks for all the replies.

Colonel mentioned something that is happening with mine as well. If I leave the volume up past a certain point it does not happen.

Guess I will just play loud till something fries!!
Thanks again to one and all.

pzrwest

That could be a problem there may be a bad spot on the control pot for the volume. Sometimes a squirt of tuner/control cleaner and rotateing the control from min to max will clean it. With the sound on do you get a crackleing sound when you adjust the sound up and down if so this is an indication of a dirty control pot. I have used wd40 to clean control pots but recomend the cleaner

JQuest64

Pzr, I do hear crackling when adjusting. I even hear it when you go through the start up sequence. Thanks.

pzrwest

Crackleing when adjusting the sound control is usually a sign of a dirty control pot. Vibration in the chassis on start up can cause a dirty pot to also make the crackleing sound