Big Blue Failure. Have you experienced it?

Phetishboy

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I always see debates on the validity of changing the big blue capacitors in (mainly) Atari arcade machines. There are some who say do it to be safe, some who say that type of cap is not prone to failure so don't bother. There are also debates as to what problems a bad big blue could/would cause. How many of you replace them? How many of you leave them if they are working?

I am a big fan of leaving them if they are working. Up to this point, I have held off replacing them in my Marble Madness conversion, even with all the problems I have been having (4 months' worth) including ROM error messages, no power to the motherboard, garbage on the screen, sync issues, trackball control issues, you name it. I rebuilt the ARIII, then replaced the transistors and the v regulator, removed the dead switcher, had my parts all tested in another cab(Thanks Brotherhay), had a new cpo wiring harness made (Thanks Brotherhay), had R29 replaced on the ARIII (thanks Takeman), had my power harness repaired (thanks Takeman) and replaced the fuses. After all this, the game still didn't work, and I was getting 4.83 V at the motherboard test points. So imagine my surprise and shock when on a whim, I decided to replace the floating big blue with a big black replacement and lo and behold the game went into attract mode and coined up. This is after 4 months of frustration and never getting to play one game. I then tested my voltages at the motherboard test points and was now getting 5.75V (yikes!). I almost gained a full volt on the 5V line with the replacement cap. The best part was, now that the new big black was in place, the 5V adj pot finally worked to dial the voltage down to 5.03V (it never did shit before). The moral of this story, if all else fails, look to the big blue.

I was down for a while about this, but my new 'big black' has instilled in me a sultry new sense of purpose and a new love for the hobby (among other things). I guess I should thank the replacement capacitor as well.
 
I have had power problems before (Pole Position) and replacing the big blue resolved them. Of course, I assumed the problems I was having with a Centipede were caused by a big blue problem and it turned out to be a monitor issue. I'd say I am currently 1 and 1.
 
All my Atari machines get a new big blue. Some may not be needed, but it is one less thing to worry about causing issues that mask as something else.

BTW, look in the bottom of the SW cab -- you will find one there too. ;)
 
All my Atari machines get a new big blue. Some may not be needed, but it is one less thing to worry about causing issues that mask as something else.

BTW, look in the bottom of the SW cab -- you will find one there too. ;)

You always take such good care of me, Big Kev. Another thing I don't have to worry about.
 
6 MCs, a BZ and a Xevious never had a problem. Just lucky I guess. Big blue is one of the last things I worry about on Atari games.
Yeah, if it's working, I don't replace it.

OMG! A Bri sighting! How are you buddy?
 
Phet, with all your toys, You have got to get an esr meter. Get the Bob Parker blue one. And also make sure that big blue is discharged before testing it.
 
I don't go around randomly replacing the big blue caps on my games but when they start having issues and everything checks out voltage wise I usually suspect that the blue is failing and the game is not getting clean power. I once had a dead blue in a spy hunter that rendered the game totally lifeless. The worst I have ever heard of was in a cockpit spy hunter where a big blue had exploded. Wasn't mine though, just heard it happen.
 
I was actually just wondering about this today. I was going to ask what kind of preventative maintenance I should be thinking about on my Centipede.
 
I always see debates on the validity of changing the big blue capacitors in (mainly) Atari arcade machines. There are some who say do it to be safe, some who say that type of cap is not prone to failure so don't bother. There are also debates as to what problems a bad big blue could/would cause. How many of you replace them? How many of you leave them if they are working?

I've had 2 Ataris for years with original big blues and have had almost no problems with them. Also had a Centipede that was waterlogged but otherwise worked great, and it had the original. I don't/won't replace it unless I think it's causing an issue. I generally take that approach with all my games though and I'd say my games are more reliable than average (in the last 2 years I think I've had one failure - Crystal Castles $2 socketed RAM chip - out of a dozen various games).

Wade
 
I bought my Return of the Jedi dead (just needed a fuse!) and was able to fix it with a big blue. I've had other Atari machines with bad bridge rectifiers.

As others have said, it's probably not necessary to change on every machine. That said, I have new ones running on my vectors...
 
I've only ever seen 2 big blues that were bad enough to keep the game from running....
 
I've probably owned over 100 games over the years and have never had to replace a Big Blue. I've suspected it many times but it has never ended up being the culprit.
 
Never had a problem but I replaced the BB in my SW Cockpit due to sound hum... but it didn't rectify the situation. I have one on hand just in case any of my other Atari cabs have any issue.
 
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