Viscount Dilemma--Is it time to "pull the plug' and head to the landfill?

[moller3x]

After reading many posts about power supply issues in early 1990s Viscount organs, I took both power supply boards from my Wurlitzer C-320 to a local electronics repair service and had them check all of the circuits. They replaced defective Darlington transistors and fuses as needed.

Previously the organ would not stay on, but it would shut down after about 5 seconds. Today when I reinstalled the boards I got a different reaction. The organ didn't turn itself off, but within 10 seconds many of the pistons and stop controls flashed momentarily, followed by a loud pulsating buzzing sound like that of a shorted circuit through the speakers. I turned the organ "off", turned it back on, same results PLUS a hint of smoke coming from boards behind the power supply so I quickly turned the organ off. Now I'm alarmed and frustrated.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what next to investigate? Or what is causing the new problems?

It's a nice little AGO specification practice instrument with MIDI and six memories for the combination action, but I'm hesitant to invest a lot more money. Would I be wiser to give the Wurlitzer a decent burial and save myself further stress, frustration, and expense?

So many of you have been so helpful in my past practice organ troubleshooting efforts. I really appreciate any knowledge and advice you care to share.

Merry Christmas!

[rjsilva]

Merry Christmas!

I’m not sure how similar your organ is to mine (I have the C400), but on mine the board behind the main power supply boards is for the amp, lamps and relay power supply, and pedal lamps circuit. A little while back mine had an issue on that board with the fuse holder overheating and blowing the fuse which (if I remember correctly) would make the organ stop fully turning on. I received assistance from those on this forum in figuring out a solution.

Personally I’d say it’s worth repairing especially if you can do the work yourself, or if a shop isn’t too expensive to repair. Hopefully that shop didn’t make some error with their repair of the boards you gave them.

I’d suggest you start by taking photos of the smoking board in question. If it’s the same as mine I can post schematics for others to look at. Or if it’s not the same maybe someone else has the schematics for your organ. But we need to know what the smoking board is.