Dispair and delight - I got an Asteroids upright

[fedexin]

I have a confession; I like to think I can fix anything I get my hands on. That being said, I jumped at the opportunity to obtain an original Asteroids upright arcade machine at a VERY good price. It apparently needed some work, but I optimistically thought a little percussive maintenance (hit it hard) would cure any ailments. It was garage kept for the last 20 years, and I was told it just started to get flakey. I got it home and plugged it in, no monitor. I opened it up, and wiggled some wires in the Wells-Garner 19V2000 and lo! It was kinda working.

Some more fidgeting and lo! Full screen graphics, a little squigglyness in the middle of the screen, but completely playable! And this game is FUN. I mocked the potentially bad fortune I was to have and entered crude 3-letter dirty words for my high scores. (ASS, BUT, SHT, FUK... etc)

Then I decided to tempt fate. Sure it needed some work to be 100%, but at least it was playable! I'll leave it on the rest of the day in the heat we're having here in California. No Biggie?!


Then fate bit my a$$.


The screen died completely, a red LED on the "deflection board" inside the monitor stayed lit. I could hear the game fine and it played blind. Now I'm forced into a full service for the monitor. De and Re soldering capacitors, transistors, and diodes, checking traces on circuit boards, determining if a part is bad with a bottle of compressed air held upside down. And here is my problem. I get so effing depressed when I look at what is involved in fixing this thing because I know I'm going to have to dig through layers of instruction on disperate message boards to get a layman's explanation of HOW exactly I should remove and reinstall a transistor/capacitor/diode on a 30 year old machine. But I'm still so effing drawn to it!

My Dad passed last year, and was an electrical engineer by trade. Because of that I have a desolder gun. I have multimeters up the yin-yang. I have all the tools needed, including the desire. I just get bummed at the completely analog nature of the repair. There is no acute problem to look for, just general ideas and thoughts from others to go off of in search of the answer(s). I'm not giving up, just wanted to share my thoughts on this journey. I have to fix and sell it soon too, I need the space in my garage!

Anyone else have the bug to do what isn't easy instantly, but still persevere through it in the name of your hobby?

[CRTGAMER]

Sorry about your father.

Monitor replacement is out since you are dealing with a Vector Arcade Monitor setup. Rare Vector monitor replacement very expensive unless you can cannibalize one.

Since you can hear the game, hopefully you are right, that it might be a bad capacitor.
Worse case is the monitor itself may be bad. But go the cheap route first.

BE CAREFUL HIGH VOLTAGE AROUND MONITOR EVEN UNPLUGGED!

Where to start? First its hard to tell a bad capacitor from a good one, sometimes you might get lucky and visually see a fried one. Think of a capacitor as a temporary surge-holding area for electrical. Its kinda like a chargeable battery.

As far as removing individual capacitors and other components, simply "tin" your plugged in hot soldering iron with a little solder. Then heat up connection and gently remove part while solder is in liquid state. The de-soldering tool is great for removing the melted solder to open up the holes. Very important not to force parts off, risk of damage to the circuit board.

Capacitor test, verify the surge and hold of that electrical charge:
http://www.applianceaid.com/micro4.html

Once you verify the bad cap, get a replacement at your friendly commercial electrical supplier.

Others here have ideas so keep checking your post. Good luck, keep us posted.

[fedexin]

A tough go especially since you are dealing with a Vector Arcade Monitor setup.

Since you can hear the game, hopefully you are right, that it might be a bad capacitor.
Worse case is the monitor itself may be bad. But go the cheap route first.

BE CAREFUL HIGH VOLTAGE AROUND MONITOR EVEN UNPLUGGED!

Where to start? First its hard to tell a bad capacitor from a good one, sometimes you might get lucky and visually see a fried one. Think of a capacitor as a temporary surge-holding area for electrical kinda like a battery.

As far as removing individual capacitors and other components, simply "tin" your plugged in hot soldering iron with a little solder. Then heat up connection and gently remove part while solder is in liquid state. The de-soldering tool is great for removing the melted solder to open up the holes. Very important not to force parts off, risk of damage to the circuit board.

Capacitor test, verify the surge and hold of that electrical charge:
http://www.applianceaid.com/micro4.html

Once you verify the bad cap, get a replacement at your freindly commercial electrical supplier.

Thanks for the tips! I ordered all new caps and transistors from Bob Roberts, along with a transistor mounting hardware kit. I'm not as bad off as I sounded above I guess, I just needed to vent, and I miss my Dad.

Discharging the monitor tube is always a thrill! Got a good spark and flash this time. I took apart a TV once to use in a MAME cabinet installation. But that was modern electronics, nothing this vintage or valuable.

[CRTGAMER]

Reworded my first reply and posted same time you replied.

Sorry about your father.

Oh and please post pics of your Asteroids collectable.

[Pringles]

How DOES one discharge a monitor? I am curious.

[fedexin]

Reworded my first reply and posted same time you replied.

Sorry about your father.

Oh and please post pics of your Asteroids collectable.

Thanks for the kind words.

Here are the pics I have so far...

Headed home! I got a bunch of thumbs-ups on the way. =)

















Here it is fully working, but with the garbled graphics in the middle of the screen. The top and bottom graphics were clean and sharp.




The (probably) offending board and chassis transistors. I ordered new fuses too, why not?

[fedexin]

How DOES one discharge a monitor? I am curious.

Take a long, rubber handled screwdriver and wrap a heavy gauge wire around it. Connect the other end of the wire to the metal chassis, and gently lift up the suction cup with the screwdriver. Pop! Make sure to keep your free hand in your pants pocket, if the voltage arcs across your heart, it could stop it!

[Ziggy]

BE CAREFUL HIGH VOLTAGE AROUND MONITOR EVEN UNPLUGGED!

Just wanted to quote for emphasis. I would discharge a monitor even when working around it and not necessarily on it. You can most definitely die.

[CRTGAMER]

A Flyback install PDF, just in case.
http://www.cinelabs.com/amp/Amplifone_Install.pdf

That PCB looks clean, hope you find a bad cap for easy fix.

I'm drooling, see leaf switches under the buttons! The only way to spin that ship!

[DaGamingMonkey]

I'm drooling, see leaf switches under the buttons! The only way to spin that ship!

Looks so nice. I want to get an Asteroids upright pretty bad. My favorite retro arcade game.