Rodotron 666

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Labelled 666A chassis

Compatibility

  • Rodotron 666A-29PDF = Wei Ya C3129D

Modifications

Longevity

The Rodotron 666 can have its normal service life extended dramatically with some modifications. Joey at http://www.jomac.net.au suggests the following servicing:

My best advice for both of these chassis is take them off the plastic base and resolder everything using normal 60/40 solder, not the unleaded rubbish they are made with, take your time and use a hot iron at about 350C. When you are done put it back on the base using all the screws, you don't want these flexing in any way, then most importantly put a 12V fan blowing over the chassis and also the neck board, I use two fans. Doing just this alone I have had a heap of these out on location for over 3 years going 18+ hours a day without ever coming out.

The only difference between the Wei Ya and Rodotron is the neck boards, they both use the same quality components on the same type of PCB material, a lot of the tracks are too thin and the solder pads too small. Making it worse is the poor soldering using lead free solder.
The next major reason for failure on all of the these chassis is a dirty CRT around the anode. Trust me even if you think it's clean it usually isn't. I suggest soaking a rag in methylated spirits and clean all around the anode hole and all the side of the tube before connecting the chassis, it only takes one big discharge between the anode and the yoke to blow these chassis up. These models have very little protection for this type of discharge and it kills these chassis more than any others!

So the secret is: good solder, clean and cool :)

Side Compression in 15KHz

Test grids showing 15KHz side compression fix

Swapping the 0.43uF capacitor at C86 for a 1uF capacitor eliminates the side compression usually seen displaying 15KHz games. Thanks to monouchi for identifying the fix.

Instructions

Switch for 15KHz side compression fix

  • You need a ON-ON switch that can take high voltage. (ex : 250VAC)
  • You need one 1uF 400v Metallized Polyester Capacitor. (Blue in the picture)
  • The holes on the board are already there.
  • The purple cable goes directly to the switch.
  • The brown cables go to each capacitor and are what you switch between. (Purple + brown or purple + other brown.)

Geometry and colour configuration

  1. Set remote board pots to neutral
  2. Zero RGB cutoffs and gains on neckboard
  3. Set B+ for frequency
  4. Adjust screen for black level
  5. Adjust geometry
  6. Adjust focus
  7. Adjust RGB cutoffs on neckboard
  8. Increase brightness on remote board if required

Documentation

666A chassis pots manual

Specifications and B+ voltages

Schematic