Battlezone Monitor Won't Come On =(

TheOpus

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I bought a Battlezone machine about a month ago. The guy I bought it from said that it just needed a PCB auxiliary board. OK, so I got one of those from Bill on these forums. I put that in and hooked it up. Now when I turn on the machine, the monitor doesn't come on. The marquee lights up and inside of the machine lights up, but nothing on the monitor.

I don't know very much about these machines other than that I love them. But apparently, my love is not enough. =/ I need to know what steps I should take to figure out what the problem here is. If you could talk to me like I'm five, that would really help things out on my end. Thanks!

~ Mary
 
Wow. This is going to take a while. If you have power to the cabinet, we can rule out the interlock switch.

Is the monitor plugged into the harness.?

Do you have power going to the monitor?

Do you have a wiring diagram/manual so that you can follow along?

Do you hear the game playing when you coin it up?

Is there any neck glow to the tube neck on the monitor?
 
I recently repaired my Battlezone.

On vector monitors you might not have neck glow, it's powered a little different. My problem was very simple, both of the monitor chassis had about 30-40 cold solder joints. I touch them all up and like magic it worked. My next step was a Bob Robers x-y monitor cap-kit.

Good luck,
Steve
 
You will have neck glow. You have to have the heater powered. Yours was probably hidden by dust.
 
Wow. This is going to take a while.

Yeah, no kidding.

If you have power to the cabinet, we can rule out the interlock switch.

Is the monitor plugged into the harness.?

Yes.

Do you have power going to the monitor?

How can I tell this?

Do you have a wiring diagram/manual so that you can follow along?

I have the set-up/maintenance manual for the game.

Do you hear the game playing when you coin it up?

When I hit start or when I flip that little flippy thing on the coin slot, nothing happens. I hear nothing.

Is there any neck glow to the tube neck on the monitor?

I guess that would mean does the neck of the monitor light up when I turn the machine on? I'm not sure. I'll check.

Thank you SO MUCH for your help.
 
Have you ruled out an open safety/interlock switch?

I'm not sure. What is this safety/interlock switch of which you speak? Is that the thing where if you pull it all the way out or something that the game totally shuts off? That thing seems to be in the right position, as I moved it once and all the lights went off. Figured that was wrong, so I put it back to where it was. There is another switch on the side that has a zip tie holding it in. Not sure what that is/does.

Thanks for your help! I totally appreciate it!
 
Yea, the white things you pull out, or which are pushed in when the coin door is closed (or back door on) - I've seen ones kill monitor power but leave the game running, so you could troubleshoot things without the monitor looking overhead ready to strike you down...but sounds like you can probably rule this out
 
+1

This is your issue.

I have owned several V2000 monitors, and everyone of them had cold solder joints.

I recently repaired my Battlezone.

On vector monitors you might not have neck glow, it's powered a little different. My problem was very simple, both of the monitor chassis had about 30-40 cold solder joints. I touch them all up and like magic it worked. My next step was a Bob Robers x-y monitor cap-kit.

Good luck,
Steve
 
Start googling :p

Learn how to solder, buy a cheap multimeter to check voltages, buy a soldering iron (not a huge one), get solder with lead in it The new unleaded stuff will destroy your board and will to repair

All the best
 
I have worked on 2 problematic Battlezones lately and could make a house call for you if you really need me to. It won't be free or even cheap, but your game will be fixed right.

That said, edge connectors are a MUST on Battlezone. Period.
Monitor rebuild.
High Score Save Kit.
Power Supply rebuild.
Edit: You can save a few bucks by bringing it to my house if you want and dropping it off.
 
I have worked on 2 problematic Battlezones lately and could make a house call for you if you really need me to. It won't be free or even cheap, but your game will be fixed right.

That said, edge connectors are a MUST on Battlezone. Period.
Monitor rebuild.
High Score Save Kit.
Power Supply rebuild.
Edit: You can save a few bucks by bringing it to my house if you want and dropping it off.

What does this mean???

> That said, edge connectors are a MUST on Battlezone. Period.
 
TheOpus,

The good news is that this line is hilarious and I repped you for it.

> I don't know very much about these machines other than that I love them. But apparently, my love is not enough.

The bad news is that it probably won't be cheap for Arc to fix it for you.

The good news is that he can fix it. :)
 
What does this mean???

> That said, edge connectors are a MUST on Battlezone. Period.

It means that both of the edge connectors need to be replaced on a Battlezone. I have now seen several different problems caused by bad connectors. I really think troubleshooting a BZ with old connectors is almost pointless.

Edit: Could be a bad power supply putting out 6+ volts and you just nuked your new Aux board. Really need to test voltages before sticking in rare expensive boards.
 
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TheOpus,

The good news is that this line is hilarious and I repped you for it.

> I don't know very much about these machines other than that I love them. But apparently, my love is not enough.

The bad news is that it probably won't be cheap for Arc to fix it for you.

The good news is that he can fix it. :)

Well, all of this seems like pretty good (albeit costly) news. And thanks for the rep! I appreciate it! Sounds like I need to talk to Arc.
 
Well, all of this seems like pretty good (albeit costly) news. And thanks for the rep! I appreciate it! Sounds like I need to talk to Arc.

There are some things you can do cheaply yourself. Start by buying a decent multimeter -- that'll let you check to see what has power and what doesn't and if you're getting too much or too little. That won't solve your problems but it'll help narrow things down. It may be that you just have a power supply problem. Ask for help, it's easy to learn how to use one.

Ideally find someone else nearby with a BZ game and try your boards in their cabinet. That'll tell you whether the boards are your problem or the monitor or power supply.

So far you've only spent about $20 and have greatly narrowed the problem down.

I'd start with these simple steps and see where they take you.
 
All of the above is right (arc's post)

I changed both edge connectors on mine, rebuilt the power board, put new molex connectrs on the power board and the wiring harness that connects to the power board. High score save kit, rebuilt the monitor, cleaned up the pwoer brick and replaced the big blue. Eventually had to send my board off for repair (it worked for months though prior to shipping it out).

Now $700+ and 40+hours I"ve got myself a sweet battlezone. It was at CAX and went through the 14 hour days and stood strong so if there were such a thing as being bullet-proof, mine is pretty close.

Now if brian can show me how to break 30,000 on it that would be awesome.


to the original poster of this thread:
Some games you have to put big money and big time into, others you won't. It evens out and it is worth it. You could buy a 100% working battlezone for $200 more than you spent on yours and all of this stuff could still crap out if it hadn't been rebuilt before. One thing I have decided is that I am not going to be afraid to pay real good money for a game (that I really want) that has been electronically restored/rebuilt, and is in good cosmetic shape.
 
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I'm not sure. What is this safety/interlock switch of which you speak? Is that the thing where if you pull it all the way out or something that the game totally shuts off? That thing seems to be in the right position, as I moved it once and all the lights went off. Figured that was wrong, so I put it back to where it was. There is another switch on the side that has a zip tie holding it in. Not sure what that is/does.

Yes, I have a video on my blog below on the interlock switches. I call them kill switches. Your Battlezone should have two of them. One in the back, on the back edge and one in the coin door. They both have to be either in or pulled out for the game to work. I'm sure the zip tie is because someone didn't know you can just pull them out for them to work.

Steve
 
You could really end up going down the rabbit hole - or not - on this, and there's no way to tell until you begin. So, you should ask yourself if you want to take the long, frustrating, but ultimately rewarding journey to become a self-sufficient owner capable of fixing her own game(s), or if you go the game in order to actually play it and therefore want it to work reliably and soon.

Path A requires patience, persistence, interest in fault diagnosis and repair of electronics, and money for test equipment, parts, etc. Path B requires money and access to a good tech (and Arc is one).
 
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