Isolation transformer installation question

Azathoth

Galford's Armourer
20 Year Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2004
Posts
459
Bought a set of shitty cabs last week as fixer-upper projects. One was a poorly converted Centipede cab (I think) with a Konami Ajax board.

Seller had a bunch of stuff but wasn't very technical minded (not that I'm a genius). He said the cab had some monitor problems where the picture came on but was either saturated white or was all white.

This one in particular had the sorriest wiring job I've ever seen in my life. No line filter, no wire nuts, no crimped connectors... nothing but tape and a bit of lampshade cord splices. And no isolation transformer, AC going straight from the wall to the monitor.

Fearing instant death I decided to rewire everything proper. Apparently this setup worked previously because the Ajax logo is burnt into the monitor, as well as DEFEND CITIES and the 3 mounds from Missile Command.

Isolation transformer I purchased has 2 black wires and 1 white on one side, 2 red on the other. I'm assuming the two AC lines go in on the 2 black wires and the two red lines run the AC out to the monitor. Is this correct? Should the white wire be connected to the green earth ground coming in from the AC cord or grounded to the monitor frame/cab, or what?
 

Sypth

Mr. Big's Thug
Joined
Nov 14, 2010
Posts
206
White usually means hot/neutral, while black is ground. I'm assuming the second black wire is for earth/ground (green). Red do go out to monitor.
 

Azathoth

Galford's Armourer
20 Year Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2004
Posts
459
White usually means hot/neutral, while black is ground. I'm assuming the second black wire is for earth/ground (green). Red do go out to monitor.

Here's what's throwing me for a loop: there's continuity between the two red wires sticking out of the back, continuity between the two blacks in the front (none between black/red), and the front white wire has no continuity to anything. The sticker on the front says this:

115v 50/60hz - Black Leads
115v 35VA - Red Leads
Shield - White

My other cabs have a 4 prong connector on their isolation transformers, 2 in and 2 out. It puzzled me that both wires going in are the same color and both going out are the same color, common sense makes you think you'd have a black/white going in and a black/white coming out. Having this third white one labeled as "shield" has left me scratching my head and I don't want to fry a bunch of shit over a stupid mistake.
 
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