Asteroids Deluxe cabaret HV help, PLEASE!!

YODAinMN

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I was thinking of the monitor forum but most likely it's got to be something in the HV area.

The symptoms I had originally was I bought a Bob Roberts Big Blue 6 months ago to resolve the buzzing in the audio as well as the monitor dimming. Anyway long story short(er), I replaced that and all I got was the game playing blind. Thinking it was a monitor issue, I had that checked out too but actually discovered that if I replaced the original BB back in the game would display again.
I noticed that I keep the brightness up on the monitor I see the retrace lines for about 5 minutes then it will cool down. There's still buzzing in the audio as well.
I just got done reordering another BB and it is doing the same exact thing (playing blind) anywhere I should check out other than the transformer block, possible AR issues? I know that this is the Ireland cabinet and the transformer assembly is a little different wiring than the US counterpart.
Please help... thanks!
 
Replying to subscribe. I have an Omega Race cocktail that just started blooming last night. I'm thinking HV diode for mine.

If you want to get rid of a Big Blue, let me know, I'll take one for my Missile Command.
 
Asteroid deluxe

Before changing bb you need to measure the ac on the 5v connector on the board, should not be more than 1.5 -2.0 .Also you say the game plays blind and is the spot killer on?? or when you turn up the brightness is there a white dot in the middle of the screen ? measure your voltages.. as for your audio 1 step at a time.
 
After replacing the BB the monitor is dead, no neck glow, no spot killer (I should have mentioned that ;) ) Pretty much a dead monitor in a working game. Speaker buzz is still present but not as bad when the original BB is in. When I put the original one back, monitor is working but as stated earlier, have to adjust the brightness on it to see retrace lines until it warms up, then the picture looks fine.

STG , I just offed the new old BB thinking that was bad.. I'll keep you in mind if I can get this thing figured out!
 
Asteroid deluxe

Make sure the bb is making good contact in the power block and wired correctly also resolder the diodes ,and for gp do a cap kit , on the connector of the hv cage ,not sure of the pin adj the voltage for 89-90 volts , measure voltage to the power of the monitor to see if still there when the new bb is installed.
 
Hey Yoda,

What's the background on this game? Have you previously rebuilt the A/R board, rebuilt the monitor, recapped the game board, replaced the edge connector, etc?

The big blue doesn't have anything to do with the monitor power. The monitor runs off the 6.1VAC and 60VAC that come right out of the transformer.
The big blue filters the unregulated 10.6VDC that comes out of the bridge rectifier. This then gets regulated to 5VDC on the A/R board.

To start troubleshooting, measure the unregulated DC voltage on the A/R board. If it's significantly lower than 10.6, you may have a flaky bridge rectifier.
Also measure your +5VDC on both the A/R and game pcb.

And, this is a dumb question, but did you get the polarity right when you installed the new big blue? The orange wires should be going to the positive terminal.

Your audio buzzing could be the speaker, or the volume rheostat, or dried-up electrolytic caps on the game pcb, or a bad part in the audio circuits (see sheet 2, side B of the schematics).
 
Thanks Alan,

Yes polarity is correct. I just got the schematics busted out and will be doing continuity checks in the harness plugs, and voltages per recommendations.
After the kids take their nap/lunch-- I'll get crackin' on it this afternoon-- results will be later, thanks for the help thus far!

-Jim
 
quick measurement on the AR:

12.8V at test point 10.3V

5.9V at test point 5V

on the mainboard it shows 5.3V right by the LED...
 
quick measurement on the AR:
12.8V at test point 10.3V
5.9V at test point 5V
On the mainboard it shows 5.3V right by the LED...

Those are all really high, and that's a big voltage drop from the A/R to the game pcb. I pretty much never see that unregulated voltage above ~11vdc.

Try adjusting the pot on the A/R board so that you have about 5.05vdc on the game board. Try measuring the unregulated voltage with the connector pulled off the game board (a no load situation). Try re-seating the edge connector and cleaning the contacts on the game pcb. If you pull the transformer block out, do a diode test on the four legs of the bridge rectifier.
 
Those are all really high, and that's a big voltage drop from the A/R to the game pcb. I pretty much never see that unregulated voltage above ~11vdc.

Try adjusting the pot on the A/R board so that you have about 5.05vdc on the game board. Try measuring the unregulated voltage with the connector pulled off the game board (a no load situation). Try re-seating the edge connector and cleaning the contacts on the game pcb. If you pull the transformer block out, do a diode test on the four legs of the bridge rectifier.

Alan,

I got good news with regard to the monitor. I found that the blue leads (center on the connector) that supply power to the monitor weren't seating correctly-- fixed that and got it going. I did a no-load test on the AR and it's up to 14.4 V. That is after adjusting the game PCB down to 5.05V while under load initially. I'll clean the edge connector of the main PCB. Do you think rebuilding the AR with a cap kit would help bring down the other voltages at all??
 
Alan,
I got good news with regard to the monitor. I found that the blue leads (center on the connector) that supply power to the monitor weren't seating correctly-- fixed that and got it going. I did a no-load test on the AR and it's up to 14.4 V. That is after adjusting the game PCB down to 5.05V while under load initially. I'll clean the edge connector of the main PCB. Do you think rebuilding the AR with a cap kit would help bring down the other voltages at all??

The unregulated voltage should go higher when there isn't a load on it.

The game is working again now? (with the new big blue and the adjusted +5v)

If you haven't done them to this game already, I'd really recommend the following:
Rebuild the A/R board
Replace the bridge rectifier in the transformer block
Replace the electrolytic caps on the game board
Replace the main pcb connector on the wiring harness

From Bob Roberts, you'd need:
Atari A/R or A/R II-01 Repair Kit (Caps+Q2/3+R29) $9.00
Atari 35A bridge rectifier KBPC 3502 $3.00
Asteroids Deluxe PCB Cap Kit $6.00
22/44 pin Molex edge connector $6.00

Odds are fairly decent that doing that stuff would take care of your sound problem, too.
(Unless it's a bad speaker, a bad TDA2002 on the A/R, or an issue on the game pcb.)
 
Game is working with the adjusted 5V. I'm just worried now on the other voltages being too high. I'll take your advice Alan and rebuild the AR and go through the TX assembly and replace the rectifier as well as capping everything else
I guess I'll be putting an order with Bob. Thanks for the help. Nice to see the monitor working (at least)..

-Jim
 
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