Battlezone Problem w +/-22VDC

DYuck

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I'm pretty new to this and was hoping someone could help me diagnose this problem with my BZ. Just picked it up a few weeks ago and have been cleaning it up before moving into my basement. It was working 100% yesterday. Turned it on to start working on adjusting the monitor today to line up image with the cardboard bezel and I got nothing on the monitor. I know the monitor was capped recently. I also see neck glow. So I don't think that's the issue.

I took out my DMM and check the voltages at the ARII and both boards. 5VDC and 12VDC look good, but I'm not getting any reading for 22VDC at the ARII and Auxiliary PCB.

Does this sound like I just need to rebuild the ARII?
Anything else I should check?

I just want to make sure I'm on the right track before I order a rebuild kit from BR.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
- Dave
 
I'm pretty sure the +/-22vdc on the ARII is just for the high score save?

As for your monitor, is the spot killer on? If not, try turning up your brightness...
 
I'm pretty sure the +/-22vdc on the ARII is just for the high score save?

As for your monitor, is the spot killer on? If not, try turning up your brightness...

The 22V is for graphics IIRC... need that to get vector from the board. (found that out when I tried testing my boards in my o-scope by hooking it up to a switcher... need the extra juice for the boards to make the vectors ... atleast I think that's what the problem was, I really need to start paying attention)

I'm willing to bet the spot killer is on because he's getting no real signal to the monitor.

Reflow your connectors on the A/RII and double check the cabinet wiring.

If need be (and probably will be), get an A/RII rebuild kit from Bob Roberts and rebuild the PS. It'll need it eventually, so might as well get that out of the way and have one less thing to worry about in the future.
 
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The 22 is regulated down to +/- 15v for the output section of the AVG, spot killer will be lit and you will not not see anything unless it is present.

It's a very simple circuit.. it's just 36VAC CT fused fed from the power brick, and a diode bridge and a couple caps on the ARII before being sent back out as +/- 22VDC. If you have 36VAC but no 22VDC you probably have a bad diode on the ARII.
 
No spot killer on screen (haven't turned up the brightness yet to be sure), but the red led on the monitor deflector board is lit. Does the lit red led mean that the spot killer is activated?

If so, is a rebuild on the ARII and power supply the way to go?
 
No spot killer on screen (haven't turned up the brightness yet to be sure), but the red led on the monitor deflector board is lit. Does the lit red led mean that the spot killer is activated?

If so, is a rebuild on the ARII and power supply the way to go?

Yep, when that LED is lit, that means the spot killer is on.

Double check the AR board to make sure everything getting good contact and everything else... always do the cheap stuff first. But, yeah... odds are you'll want to get a rebuild kit.
 
Yep, when that LED is lit, that means the spot killer is on.

Double check the AR board to make sure everything getting good contact and everything else... always do the cheap stuff first. But, yeah... odds are you'll want to get a rebuild kit.

Thank you very much for the suggestions. I'll check the AR board first and go on from there.
- Dave
 
BZ working again!

Finally got my BZ working again! Quite a victory for me, since I've not had to deal with board problem until now. Here's what I did after reading the suggestions and a lot of previous BZ help posts on the forum:

- tried a known working ARII from my Centipede, but still had problems, so I ruled out the ARII
- checked and reseated all power connectors, chips, edge connectors and interconnect
- now ALL voltages check out
- finally able to get into self test mode and it indicates a bad ROM at E1
- reseated E1 ROM, still not working
- guy I bought BZ from gave me extra incomplete boardset and a half (1 main PCB/2 AUX boards) in non-working condition
- so I check the spare PCB - YES it has an E1 ROM, so I pull it, hoping it works
- installed the E1 ROM, power up and all is good again! I was surprised I was actually able to get it working again. I thought for sure I'd have to send the boardset out to get fixed if that ROM swap didn't work. I was almost ready to give up. It pays to be persistent and search/read previous posts here on the forum.

Now I just need to:

- install the correct black light bulb (should be here by end of week)
- readjust the monitor so it aligns within the radar/cardboard bezel correctly
- put the shroud back on

Thanks for the help everyone. I appreciate it. I'll post pics once I have it all together again.
- Dave
 
- readjust the monitor so it aligns within the radar/cardboard bezel correctly

I've got to do the same to mine again... ... hate it. It's a two person job most of the time, and it's hard finding a second person that speaks English.

"left... no, my left, no! your left! Up, no... my up!"
 
Finally got my BZ working again! Quite a victory for me, since I've not had to deal with board problem until now. Here's what I did after reading the suggestions and a lot of previous BZ help posts on the forum:

- tried a known working ARII from my Centipede, but still had problems, so I ruled out the ARII
- checked and reseated all power connectors, chips, edge connectors and interconnect
- now ALL voltages check out
- finally able to get into self test mode and it indicates a bad ROM at E1
- reseated E1 ROM, still not working
- guy I bought BZ from gave me extra incomplete boardset and a half (1 main PCB/2 AUX boards) in non-working condition
- so I check the spare PCB - YES it has an E1 ROM, so I pull it, hoping it works
- installed the E1 ROM, power up and all is good again! I was surprised I was actually able to get it working again. I thought for sure I'd have to send the boardset out to get fixed if that ROM swap didn't work. I was almost ready to give up. It pays to be persistent and search/read previous posts here on the forum.

Now I just need to:

- install the correct black light bulb (should be here by end of week)
- readjust the monitor so it aligns within the radar/cardboard bezel correctly
- put the shroud back on

Thanks for the help everyone. I appreciate it. I'll post pics once I have it all together again.
- Dave

Well done

Excellent :cool:
 
Pics of the BZ

Here's a couple of pics of the finished product in my basement. My 10-yr old son helped spot for me while I made the monitor adjustments to align with the cardboard bezel background. Its not perfect but way better than it was. I'm not going to mess with it. He already has me beat on the highscore board. Now I just need to get a highscore save kit sometime.
 

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Here's a couple of pics of the finished product in my basement. My 10-yr old son helped spot for me while I made the monitor adjustments to align with the cardboard bezel background. Its not perfect but way better than it was. I'm not going to mess with it. He already has me beat on the highscore board. Now I just need to get a highscore save kit sometime.

Remember, once you get the size right on the monitor, use (what would be) the convergence rings to fine tune the pictures location. You can't screw up convergence, since there is none (color wise), all it does is move the picture up/down/left/right so you can get it riiiiiiight where you want it.

As far as the save kit, I just did a "how to" a few days ago.
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=127458

It's REALLY simple to do and well worth the time IMO. Should only take about 10 mins or so.
 
Remember, once you get the size right on the monitor, use (what would be) the convergence rings to fine tune the pictures location. You can't screw up convergence, since there is none (color wise), all it does is move the picture up/down/left/right so you can get it riiiiiiight where you want it.

As far as the save kit, I just did a "how to" a few days ago.
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=127458

It's REALLY simple to do and well worth the time IMO. Should only take about 10 mins or so.

Cool, I didn't use the convergence rings at all. I'll try that. Should I be concerned about getting a jolt from the monitor if I move them while its on?

I was considering buying the Braze HS save kit because, IIRC, it also bypasses(?) some or all of the ROM chips?
 
Cool, I didn't use the convergence rings at all. I'll try that. Should I be concerned about getting a jolt from the monitor if I move them while its on?

I was considering buying the Braze HS save kit because, IIRC, it also bypasses(?) some or all of the ROM chips?

Na, just watch your fingers... there are two little tabs that you'll have to move... they seem to move the screen diagonally (one is up-left/down-right, the other is up-right, down-left... IIRC) so if you want the screen to move just up, down, left, or right you'll have to move them both at the same time... it takes a minute to get used to. How I did it was just looking at the "1980 Atari" thing at the bottom of the screen... you should be able to see that from the back. Just look at the screen when it's in attract mode... check the radar, and remember what direction is has to go. Then, from the back, look at the Atari copyright and move it as you wanted the radar to go.

The Braze kit is an EPROM eliminator as well... it'll completely take your existing EPROMs out of the picture (IIRC). But what threw me off of it was having to remove the CPU... I don't have any spares laying around, and my CPU looked a liiiiitle rough. I have spare EPROMs, so I just did this one. Works fine for me... I think you can edit the code to make it keep all the scores (I'm not 100% on that), but I'm really only interested in the highest scores on my machine, so the top 3 was good enough for me.
 
Na, just watch your fingers... there are two little tabs that you'll have to move... they seem to move the screen diagonally (one is up-left/down-right, the other is up-right, down-left... IIRC) so if you want the screen to move just up, down, left, or right you'll have to move them both at the same time... it takes a minute to get used to. How I did it was just looking at the "1980 Atari" thing at the bottom of the screen... you should be able to see that from the back. Just look at the screen when it's in attract mode... check the radar, and remember what direction is has to go. Then, from the back, look at the Atari copyright and move it as you wanted the radar to go.

The Braze kit is an EPROM eliminator as well... it'll completely take your existing EPROMs out of the picture (IIRC). But what threw me off of it was having to remove the CPU... I don't have any spares laying around, and my CPU looked a liiiiitle rough. I have spare EPROMs, so I just did this one. Works fine for me... I think you can edit the code to make it keep all the scores (I'm not 100% on that), but I'm really only interested in the highest scores on my machine, so the top 3 was good enough for me.

Thank you Scucci for the detailed info on the convergence rings. I saw the tabs before but didn't feel comfortable messing with them, so just stuck to dialing in the X and Y on the board. I will definitely give it a try within the next couple of days.
 
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