Nice job, well explained. I did stand ups and cocktails in bars and 7-11’s for a living in late 70’s, through the 80’s in Vancouver BC, when our biggest problem believe it or not was getting to the games before coin mechs jammed up because coin box was full, average income was 400$ a week per game, game cost back then was $400-$1000. When game got tired the knock off conversion kits were dirt cheap to buy. Just retired and started putting out some cocktails and they are doing well. You explain things very well. and love seeing a guy that is practical.
I am a "game tech" for an arcade. I know a bit about technology. I love tech. But there is a lot I need to learn. I worked for the company for a couple years but I was in a different position. Took about a year but finally ended up where I wanted. Most of the stuff I'll learn is while working and coworkers teaching me but I'm trying to learn as much as possible on my own. While watching this, I almost wanna buy an older console like a Gameboy or something that's not working and try fixing it. I have a DS somewhere with a broken hinge so I'm considering looking into that. The best way for me to learn is hands on.
I run a game room and our guy that fixes our games just passed away. My bosses want to send me to a class to take over his job since I always try to figure out what's wrong. I'm really excited! Going to watch everything I can before the class starts! 👍
Also a good addition to the tool box would be an ESR meter, or even better yet, an old school capacitor tester which allows you to test the capacitor through it's entire voltage range, testing for DC leakage.
"As time goes by".... lol had me laughing. Great video man. I'm starting at an arcade. Needed a few pointers and see some of these boards, interested in the capacitor draining videos, too. Thank you
Not quite how I would proceed but thanks for taking the time to make this. Rather than trust a static cap meter apply power and look for ripple with an oscilloscope. When a resistor goes and you replace it test run it and see just how hot it gets there may be a reason why it failed.
Really good information. When checking the power supply You might be better off using a clip to ground and only put one hand in the box at a time. Electricity can kill.
The replacement capacitance could theoretically be within 20% of the original. I say "theoretically" because the timing may be critical in some circuits, but probably less so for electrolytics (unless it was specifically designed with a tight tolerance).
Will you make some more of these? I'm not trying to repair any arcade games but it's still super interesting and also exciting to see somebody breathing some life into these things!
I know Im asking randomly but does anybody know of a way to get back into an instagram account? I was stupid forgot my password. I would love any help you can offer me.
@Austin Jalen Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site thru google and im waiting for the hacking stuff atm. Takes quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
I wish you would make a video about what kind and what brand of digital multimeter is best for working on video arcade games. I need some professional advice. I don't want to spend $500 if I don't have to. I would be doing this as a hobby or just flipping machines. Thanks
I have a double axle game and some graphics on the intro and background during the game are distorted. I dont know how to check to know which chip i have to change
"I used to think electrolytic capacitors were cool, but... they suck. They don't last very long." Well, I mean, we're talking about 40-year-old hardware here, so they've lasted that long at least ;)
ok well you basically just said it yourself SHORT CIRCUIT A SHORT CIRCUIT is a LOW RESISTANCE path , which, in itself is not a bad thing but, when a circuit is DESIGNED TO HAVE AN ELECTRICAL LOAD, and then something BYPASSES that load, this is called a short circuit it causes dangerous situations because current is allowed to flow faster than what it normally would, or.. youc an view it like this.... a certain amount of energy is supposed to be consumed / used up by the components as a function of RESISTANCE since your short circuit has caused a scenario where the energy can bypass the components IT DOESN'T GET USED UP hence.. THINGS OVERHEAT THINGS BLOW UP Most common causes - Capacitors are usually the first things we pick on dont' just check with a DMM for capacitance.. Check with an ESR Meter to see if they pass or fail now... WHAT IS A PASS and WHAT IS A FAIL haha well, that has to do with the Cap Value, the Model the specs... all sorts of shit in a nutshell to keep it simple.... IF YOU LIKE.... tell me the capacitor values and i'll tell you what the ESR should be - Check your fuses for low resistance - Diodes are a culprit for Short circuit... so..... if it's going through a rectification bridge and 2 of the diodes are shorted the circuit won't work. Diodes need to be tested OUT OF CIRCUIT - you can check resistors as well Look for burn marks to give you an indiaction of the area of concern, ALSO.. DO THE SMELL TEST - your transformer could have a short as well But it's most likely going to be Capacitors of Diodes if you need further help i can shoot you my email address and we can skype and do a video troubleshooting session if you like HAPPY TO HELP NO PRESSURE, ok but to be realistic , in order to troubleshoot it , i need to see it , Unless you really know what you're doing but, if you really did, you wouldn't be asking this question, would you so.. yeah.. think about it get back to me
im late to the party i see but ill ask , i cant understand how you identify which circuit sections are for sprites ,background and forground , ive seen lots of schemats that dont tell you any of this its a real pain when one is missing and you dont know where its generated ps id love to see how to deal with a faulty color palette gal/pal ive had to give up at that point.
if you test a diode in circuit the meter current is going to take the path of least resistance. meaning it may not go through the diode but around it. you should remove one side out of the board to test.
You seem very knowledgeable so I wan't to ask you a question. So, I purchased a Cinematronics World Series "The Season" arcade. My first "real" arcade. I have a couple of MAME machines. Anyway, the whole reason why I loved this game back in the day was that it saved your stats. Well, this machine is not doing that, I checked the service menu and everything is good on that end. It has a tadiran lithium inorganic battery 3.6 volts AA battery on the PCB. Do you think that is the culprit? Thanks in advance.
Not a arcade guy, but the old school Nintendo cartridges(the ones that had one) would save your progress with a battery in the cart. It would make sense that if you move the machine you would need power to keep your high score alive in memory somewhere. Your score is probably on a chip somewhere like R.A.M.? So maybe the battery or connection from your battery. Without knowing how the circuits work(schematics/diagram) its a stab in the dark. hope you got it working
The cool kids didn't play Pacman, they let all the other kids pop their quarters into the machine before they broke into it with a crowbar and took all of the sweet, sweet Washington's inside. Then they'd buy marijuana cigarettes and smoke them in the boy's room. So cool.
Hi. Do you still repair arcade games? I have an Outrun Bootleg that cames with three pcb layers and it stuck still in the reset-circuit. Can you give me some support to fix the board? :-)
