50 + monitors and no clue

aftershock

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I have about 41 games and about half have monitor issues. I was told to recap them and they would be fine. I need to know if I should replace the flyback and other components. I have go7s and many other brands. The ones that scare me are the vector and tempest color vector. I have a working asteroids(sonic) and was wondering if I can remove that monitor and test battlezone due to the fact that the board set works but no image. I have never capped a monitor and was wondering how hard it is and is it worth doing to all games for the peace of mind if it only costs 45.00 in parts and 2 hrs labor in theory. I could use all the help I can get and would appreciate any links and tricks many of you have picked up or developed thru the years of your addiction. Thank you for your help.
 
I made a discharge tool and have gotten over the fear of the big shock. I discharged gorf twice so I could clean the tube and to get my nerve up to do some real work on them. I have checked out the bob roberts site and was not sure if that is the best one to use or due to the amount of monitors is there a better way to buy in bulk or just shut up and do what everybody else is doing.
 
If you are sure you will be doing a bunch then sure, buy a bunch of kits first. I would just inventory all the monitors and ship Bob a list and ask him what the total would be. Zanen also has good kits. Most are pretty inexpensive....a lot of them are under $15 depending on what you need.

However, if you are unsure then just pick one of your games that you really want to try it out on and just order a kit for that. After you have an idea of the effort involved you can decide how far to go with this whole thing.

If you are fairly handy then you should have no trouble doing one of these. They get easier with each one. Some models are harder than others though so perhaps start with one that has a single simple board to work on and which is easy to remove.
 
I was told by some that I should replace the flyback on every monitor I do because it will go after I do the recap. Is it true or just of the go7s.
 
I personally wouldn't replace flybacks if they're working. The only exception is possibly a G07 since they seem to die quite often (and explosively), though that's up to you whether you mind the nasty smell of a blown G07 flyback, and having to pull the chassis again.

DogP
 
I was told by some that I should replace the flyback on every monitor I do because it will go after I do the recap. Is it true or just of the go7s.

No.. But if the flyback dies in a G07, you should also replace the HOT (horizontal output transistor) as it likely got fried due to the flyback dying, or vise-versa), but it is pretty easy to test the HOT once out of circuit--however taking it out of circuit usually means it's just as easy to pop in a new HOT, and a HOT is 20% the cost of a flyback anyway. Also the small fuse likely will be blown, and you will want to take extra care in discharging the large grey filter capacitor BEFORE working on the board. It can hurt a heck of a lot more than the tube will.


Cap kits alone should not cause a flyback to die, unless improperly installed. Someone telling you half-truths in order to sell more?


Order cap kits from BobRoberts.. $5-$6 each for most, same as Zanen / ArcadeShop but at the least cost.

If you have multiple G07's (~5+), might be worth ordering ONE deluxe kit with HOT and fuse and Flyback because one of them will die within a resonably short time period. If you only have 1 or 2 then it probably isn't worth having an extra one on hand just in case.
 
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90% of the people out there that say "all it needs is a cap kit" are clueless. Just keep that in mind when you are going about recapping these things... ;)
 
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I was told to recap them and they would be fine.

I was told by some that I should replace the flyback on every monitor I do because it will go after I do the recap.

Do not take any more advice from whoever told you that stuff. They don't know what they're talking about and they're just parroting incorrect advice that some other idiot gave them.

You've come to the right place. There are a lot of good monitor experts on this forum.
 
A cap kit is not a cure-all. A new flyback into every monitor isn't a good investment either, it is wasteful.

A new engine might cure some ails with my '92 Oldsmobile, but that isn't going to happen...
 
If you attempt capping them all, work slowly and concentrate.

Use a pad of paper and draw the one your doing, its location and note the positive end. When all done, cross it off the paper and draw the next and so on. This really helps me!

Also while you are at it, re-flow solder to all connector joint pins.
 
Theres lots of how to discharge and how to cap a monitor videos on youtube. Some were even made by a fellow klover iirc. Read up and go for it.

The best advice i could give you is to try soldering etc on a old tv or something first untiull you get the hang of it.

when it comes time to do a monitor pick one you dont particularly care about and work your way up form there. The more you do, the more confidence youll get. I wouldnt replace flybacks unless theres a reason to.. (cracks, arcing, buzzing, focus issue etc)

Best of luck!
 
I think people tend to be a tad bit too "old school" in their thinking. These monitors are getting old enough that more and more "typically don't fail" parts are now starting to fail. This means a "standard" or "typical" cap kit won;t have all the neccesary parts to fix your issue. The same logic applies to flybacks.

You need to read - and read some more. Learn what typical symptons of needing a cap kit look like.

Also make list of what monitors you do have. When you place your order just order a couple extra flyback for each type. Commonly seen are the G07, K7XX, K4600 and K4900 series.

Make a test bench for yourself. It is miserable to yank out, fix and then put certain chassis back in only to find out the bastard still doesn't work. For arguments sake if you have 3 different monitor types then yank 3 out of the games and leave them sitting on the bench so you can use those tubes to test all the chassis you work on.

That's a hell of a lot of games to work on so just make it as easy as you can and setup a work bench.
 
Let's put a financial spin on things and see what your thoughts are.

If you have to send each chassis out for repair, you will spend a conservative minimum of $75 per chassis with parts, labor and shipping both directions.

Option B: Pull one of each of your dead monitors, make a test rig and learn how to do it yourself. This is going to be your least expensive and most gratifying option. Your time is free and with that many machines, you'll have a pretty good grasp on repairing these when you're all done. There will be hair pulling, lots of swearing, spouse bitching etc.
 
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I want to thank everybody for taking the time to send me on the right path. I will build a test bench and work on getting lit up on my kangaroo go7. I was wondering are vectors as scary as their rep makes them out to be or is it something a novice could handle with time and patience?
 
Depends on the vector. If it's a G08 or a Cinematronics vector, those can be big hassles. 6100's and G05's or V2000's aren't that difficult.

I'd say - if you don't have a lot of experience with monitor repair, but want to learn, and don't feel like spending a lot of money having someone else fix them for you, you could always pay to have one of each model repaired (if you have difficulties) and use that repaired chassis as a model for testing and repairing your others....
 
>I think people tend to be a tad bit too "old school" in their thinking. These monitors are getting old enough that more and more "typically don't fail" parts are now starting to fail.



+1 to this... it is better to have the knowledge rather than using the shotgun repair approach which do not always work... especially if you have 50+ monitors...
I only have 1 game, but I tried all shotgun approaches (flyback, cap kit) and then went on to change video IC and deflection transistors... after all this I just junked the monitor... I am an electrical engineer but I actually know very little about how crt's work... wish that I did, cause I'd have a working monitor right now :-( It might be in your best interest to buy a book on crt's, but I don't have one I can recommend
 
Working on 41 monitors at once would be pretty overwhelming. j/k.. you should prioritize and recap/bulletproof as needed, documenting what you do for future reference.
 
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