Asteroids Deluxe without 5v

Altan

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I'm picking up a nice (but sight unseen) Asteroids Deluxe. I've been told that it doesn't work and, at minimum, has no 5v.

I'm traveling and only have smartphone Internet access, which is making it hard to do research. It seems tapatalk searches return only a small number of results :( Anyway...

When I get it I'm thinking...

1) check fuses on power supply
2) visually inspect ar/2 board. It is an ar/2, right?
3) see what other voltages are good/bad such as the 12v
4) check connectors

Assuming nothing obvious, is a straight ar/2 rebuild suggested? Do these kits typically include a new "big blue"?

Any other quick thoughts?

... Altan
 
I'm picking up a nice (but sight unseen) Asteroids Deluxe. I've been told that it doesn't work and, at minimum, has no 5v.

I'm traveling and only have smartphone Internet access, which is making it hard to do research. It seems tapatalk searches return only a small number of results :( Anyway...

When I get it I'm thinking...

1) check fuses on power supply
2) visually inspect ar/2 board. It is an ar/2, right?
3) see what other voltages are good/bad such as the 12v
4) check connectors

Assuming nothing obvious, is a straight ar/2 rebuild suggested? Do these kits typically include a new "big blue"?

Any other quick thoughts?

... Altan

Yeah, start with an AR rebuild, reflow all the joints at the connectors on the AR, double check wiring to make sure that all connectors from the AR all the way to the game boards are solid, and clean the edge connectors (board side and harness side).

... and no, the rebuilds don't come with a BigBlue, they're extra.
 
Thanks... Will check it out before ordering anything...
 
Check the Diodes or Bridge Rectifier on the bottom of the brick. That is your initial DC voltage going into the AR board. If that has failed you will not get DC voltage.
 
Check the Diodes or Bridge Rectifier on the bottom of the brick. That is your initial DC voltage going into the AR board. If that has failed you will not get DC voltage.

Thanks. Will check that out during initial triage.
 
Bob Roberts sells a Atari Power Supply rebuild kit that includes Big Blue (now black, incidentally) and new connectors, a fuse block, fuses, rectifier, etc.

I have used one on my Dig Dug and Millipede and they are great! If your machine has a blue "Big Blue" it is probably a good place to start.

-scott
 
Bob Roberts sells a Atari Power Supply rebuild kit that includes Big Blue (now black, incidentally) and new connectors, a fuse block, fuses, rectifier, etc.

I have used one on my Dig Dug and Millipede and they are great! If your machine has a blue "Big Blue" it is probably a good place to start.

-scott

More good info. Thanks Scott.
 
Well... got the machine. It's very nice. I've got some good news and some bad news that happened while I was checking it out.

When powered on, nothing would happen. The translite florescent wouldn't even turn on. After some checking, I found there was something wrong with J2 or the wiring between J2 and the interlock switch. For a temporary solution, I made a jumper and connected it into J2.

(Side note: at this time I have cable to the monitor and the cable to the main PCB disconnected).

I power on the machine and the florescent bulb turns on! Yeah!

I then check the voltages at P5.

1/2/3 to 4/5 was a little high @ 15vdc, but I figured that was ok given the stuff wasn't connected

6 to 7 was good, about 36 VAC

8 to 9 was good, about 6 VAC

10 to 14 was odd... about 37 VAC (should be about 80)

11 to 13 was also odd, about 17.6 VAC (should be 65)


In retrospect, apparently feeling like an idiot, I decided to connect to the main PCB and power it on. Well, as soon as I powered it on... either CR9 or CR10 on the main board blew up. CRAP. I wasn't expecting a low voltage situation to do anything like that.

Any thoughts on the 10->14 or 11->13 voltages? Or how this is linked to CR9/10? (I'll start looking at the schematics...)
 
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After PM with Dokert, I realized that the last two sets of pins I was a checking were wrong for an Asteroids Deluxe. I should be checking 10 -> 12 and 13 -> 15 and should get about 60 VAC. I got 65 VAC on both, so that's good.

I also measured the AR-1 pins 5,6 -> 1,4 on P7 and got a 9 VDC reading. That might be a bit high --- perhaps causing the magic smoke I saw yesterday?
 
FWIW, an A/R rebuild kit is on the way... Should address the 9VDC issue.

I'll replace CR9/10 with 1N4004s...

Then I'll cross my fingers!

... Altan
 
DO NOT plug that main board back in until all of your supply voltages are correct. Also, check the remaining two diodes that did not blow up for shorts or opens. Those two larger electrolytic caps near the diodes like to explode when overvoltaged (don't ask me how I know, but it also smells like cat urine when they do).

Bill
 
DO NOT plug that main board back in until all of your supply voltages are correct. Also, check the remaining two diodes that did not blow up for shorts or opens. Those two larger electrolytic caps near the diodes like to explode when overvoltaged (don't ask me how I know, but it also smells like cat urine when they do).

Bill

Will do!

And I won't ask how you know about the cat urine.
 
I just repaired the blown up diode. It turned out to be only CR9, the others tested fine. However, CR9 "blew up" from its underside and destroyed a trace that ran between it and CR8. I ended up removing both CR9 and CR8, inserting a jumper, and putting the two diodes back.

While looking at the schematic, I realized that CR8/9 have nothing to do with the regulated 5VDC. Rather, one image shows +25VAC coming in. However, I don't see +25VAC anywhere. Actually, it looks like the source feeding the +25VAC isn't actually +25VAC but rather 36VAC.

Do others agree with this? The schematic seems inconsistent in this area.

I measured the voltage between pins 6 and 7 on P5 (on the power brick) and got 37VAC, which I think is expected.

So assuming 36VAC is expected (and not 25VAC), since I was getting 37VAC... well... I'm not sure why CR9 blew up.

Any thoughts out there?

... Altan
 
While looking at the schematic, I realized that CR8/9 have nothing to do with the regulated 5VDC. Rather, one image shows +25VAC coming in. However, I don't see +25VAC anywhere. Actually, it looks like the source feeding the +25VAC isn't actually +25VAC but rather 36VAC.

Do others agree with this? The schematic seems inconsistent in this area.

I measured the voltage between pins 6 and 7 on P5 (on the power brick) and got 37VAC, which I think is expected.

So assuming 36VAC is expected (and not 25VAC), since I was getting 37VAC... well... I'm not sure why CR9 blew up.

Any thoughts out there?

... Altan

I agree with you reading of the schems; the "25VAC" on the main PCB appears to be supplied by "36VAC" from the xformer ass'y. Don't worry about unregulated voltage too much, they're not exact. Notice also that "10.6V" out of the xformer ass'y becomes "10.3V" at the AR board input... They aren't alwas consistent.

Diodes sometimes fail for no apparent reason, and usually they fail sort, which can cause them to burn out. Or it could be one of the regulators downstream of it pulling too much current thru the diode. Make sure all of your fuses are the proper value; ideally they should blow before you burn a diode. And check filter caps just after the diodes for shorts.
 
I agree with you reading of the schems; the "25VAC" on the main PCB appears to be supplied by "36VAC" from the xformer ass'y. Don't worry about unregulated voltage too much, they're not exact. Notice also that "10.6V" out of the xformer ass'y becomes "10.3V" at the AR board input... They aren't alwas consistent.

Diodes sometimes fail for no apparent reason, and usually they fail sort, which can cause them to burn out. Or it could be one of the regulators downstream of it pulling too much current thru the diode. Make sure all of your fuses are the proper value; ideally they should blow before you burn a diode. And check filter caps just after the diodes for shorts.

Darren, thanks for verifying my schematic voltage question and for the idea about checking the caps just after the diodes. I'll definitely do that...

My A/R rebuild should have arrived today, so I'll do that also...
 
Great news!

After the A/R rebuild, and the diode replacement on the main board, my asteroids deluxe now plays blind!

After the A/R rebuild, I went from getting 9VDC to getting 5.2VDC.

While it's certainly not fixed, it has gone from doing nothing (or worse, smoking) to playing blind.

I'll see what threads exist on asteroids deluxe playing bind... FWIW, there is an LED on the board by the monitor and it is illuminate...

... Altan
 
More good news...

I took out the monitor PCB. It had cracks on the input pins and R100 was fried. I reflowed all the input pins and replaced both R100 and R101 with jumpers...

And...

Woo Hoo! I have video!

Even after adjusting the brightness all the way up, it's still pretty dark. However, the monitor itself may be terribly dirty. I'm going to figure out how to get the front off (the anti-glare version) and clean the monitor and the blue overlay.

Progress progress :)
 
Adding a little closure here... don't you hate threads that just stop?

I went over to the monitor tech area and started a thread over there to aid in my monitor issue. With assistance for KLOVers and others, I've got a beautiful working Asteroids Deluxe.

Thanks to all!

I've written up the entire process on my web site. If interested, check out

Asteroids Deluxe

... Altan
 
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