Transformer sizzling, who can rebuild?

DRecovery

Pants-wearer
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I have a STR-6120 I am repairing that has quite a sizzle when you first turn it on. No smoke, no smell, and no ozone. But it's enough that it kills a lot of the FM stations below a certain signal threshold and it completely kills my ethernet-over-powerline thing I have in the garage. I can see it just by putting my scope probe to the chassis so it's getting everywhere.

It has to a winding arcing through the paper in the transformer. Does anyone know of some place that might rebuild this transformer for me?
 
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Hmmmm... No. It sounds like it's coming from the transformer, but... I'll jumper the switch and try it.
 
Well in chasing the red herring, I snapped this picture of the transformer. It's laminated and it's round. Is it a toroid?
 

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This is a toroid or toroidal transformer.
toroidal-transformer-00027(1).jpg
 
where was that switch mounted ? is it for mains on/off ?
i am concerned with the very low rating of it .. unit draws 320 watts maximum so at 120v unit draws about 2.7 amps . i would be putting at least a 5 amp switch in there .
i am also a bit confused as power switch looks like a toggle type in the manual .

It is the mains switch. It's bolted to the toggle mechanism and there is an arm on the toggle that actuates it. There is also another section that looks like a conventional rotary switch attached to the toggle with much smaller wires that must handle some kind of auxiliary power switching.

It says it's rated for 12A on AC or 1/2A-1/4A on DC. The replacement I got is rated for 15A AC... Obviously the switch failed so that may be an indication of the rating. However, it is also missing the large ceramic capacitor I am used to seeing on a power switch. I wonder if I should add one?

The datasheet for the replacement breaks down the current rating into various types of loads. It's rated for 15A into a resistive load, just 2A into a "lamp load," 10A into an inductive load, and 3A into a "motor load." I'd expect the transformer to be somewhere between a motor load and an inductor load, I guess. Of course, it also has two auxiliary switched outlets in the back that say they are rated at 300W total in combination with the single unswitched outlet. That sounds more like a wire rating than a switch rating though...
 
damn i wish whatever i was typing stayed right there and not get instantly posted .
i had answered my own questions before i even hit the post button .so what you replied to shouldn't have even been there .
maybe i can change a setting to stop it happening . i will look now .
 
What do you think about putting a capacitor across the switch? Maybe help improve the life.
 
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Good DPDT toggle switches are the gold standard in my book. Lotta mfgs who penny pinch won't use them. The raison d'etre is the solidity & intergrity of the connection.
 
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