Bulb behind marquee only works if I play with it

john rainbo

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So, I replaced my bulb behind a marquee of a new game I just got, and it worked. Then I turned the machine off... came back, turned it on. Dead. If I play with it in the socket, it WILL turn back on when I adjust it in, then out again. It consistently does this, every time. Because of how consistent it is, I would assume the socket's fine. What is this? Bad ballast? Starter? When I move it in and out of position, it stays on bright for the entire time. I can even jiggle it and it stays strong. What IS this?
 
Replace the starter first. If the ballast was bad, your bulb would blow.

And you could check the sockets to make sure they're not dirty or bent...
 
where would i purchase a starter? I'm out of the house and would like to pick one up. Any model number I should know.
 
FS-2

You can buy a 2-pack at any hardware store, home depot, lowes, wal-mart, etc for a couple bucks...
 
Yup, it sounds like you have a bad starter. Replace it with the correct one (probably an FS-2). Buy more than one since you can have a bad one right out of the package.
 
A bad starter is almost a given when the marquee light doesn't work. The only other problem I've ever had (excluding the bulb obviously) was a bad connection of the crimp on wires to the fuse block tabs on the power brick assembly.
 
A bad starter is almost a given when the marquee light doesn't work. The only other problem I've ever had (excluding the bulb obviously) was a bad connection of the crimp on wires to the fuse block tabs on the power brick assembly.

Wait until you have a bulb flash and blow when you put it in. Then you'll do a search here on how to test a ballast before chancing an $8 bulb.

And thanks, Ken, for that info, btw...
 
Wait until you have a bulb flash and blow when you put it in. Then you'll do a search here on how to test a ballast before chancing an $8 bulb.

And thanks, Ken, for that info, btw...

Probably. But until then....I'm a gamblin man and I like my odds. Not the best advice, but many inexperienced people (most asking for advice on this subject) are uneasy about testing the ballast and would rather take their chances that an $8 light might on rare occasion blow due to a bad ballast. Now blacklights on the other hand, are a little more pricey. I suppose this site should have a prompt system when creating a help request thread with questions like, "What is your skill and knowledge level?" "What is your level of willingness to make repairs on your game?" "How comfortable are you with electricity?" and so on. It can be difficult to determine how best to give advice on a posted question and word it effectively without knowing a little about the requestor.
 
Probably. But until then....I'm a gamblin man and I like my odds. Not the best advice, but many inexperienced people (most asking for advice on this subject) are uneasy about testing the ballast and would rather take their chances that an $8 light might on rare occasion blow due to a bad ballast. Now blacklights on the other hand, are a little more pricey. I suppose this site should have a prompt system when creating a help request thread with questions like, "What is your skill and knowledge level?" "What is your level of willingness to make repairs on your game?" "How comfortable are you with electricity?" and so on. It can be difficult to determine how best to give advice on a posted question and word it effectively without knowing a little about the requestor.


Undoubtedly, but at the risk of pissing you off, your advice typically sounds like someone who has limited experience or as someone who only works on newer games. The fact that you have never seen a blown ballast means you haven't spent a lot of time working with many older cabinets. Try doing this as a job and finding out that of the ten cabinets you just picked up from an operator, 6 have bad ballasts. That's $50 in bulbs.

And I don't know how uneasy it makes anyone feel to test a ballast, considering you shut the power off, and just do a quick ohm reading with a multimeter. So, no electricity involved.

While you may feel comfortable throwing $8 in the trash, I don't. Perhaps you should add the question: "How much money do you feel like wasting while making multiple trips to the hardware store instead of taking a couple minutes to check something that's easy and safe to do?"
 
Undoubtedly, but at the risk of pissing you off, your advice typically sounds like someone who has limited experience or as someone who only works on newer games. The fact that you have never seen a blown ballast means you haven't spent a lot of time working with many older cabinets. Try doing this as a job and finding out that of the ten cabinets you just picked up from an operator, 6 have bad ballasts. That's $50 in bulbs.

And I don't know how uneasy it makes anyone feel to test a ballast, considering you shut the power off, and just do a quick ohm reading with a multimeter. So, no electricity involved.

While you may feel comfortable throwing $8 in the trash, I don't. Perhaps you should add the question: "How much money do you feel like wasting while making multiple trips to the hardware store instead of taking a couple minutes to check something that's easy and safe to do?"

Of course my advice sounds like someone with limited experience. I was trying to put myself in the position of someone brand new to the hobby who knows very little. This was the point of my whole post. You would be more helpful to people if you first thought of how you felt as a newbie. I'm certainly no expert. But I mainly collect early 80's games. I've maybe had 15 with bulbs out. Never had a bad ballast. Never said it didn't happen. And you never explained EXACTLY the steps in testing a ballast. Like someone giving advice on a non working game saying "test all the voltages" that advice is worthless to newbies without more detail.
 
I have this issue with a couple of marquee lights.


entire new flourescents can be had at wal mart for like $6.
 
I assumed that everyone reading my post knew that I wasn't really giving advice just basically saying that I don't mind taking the occassional small risk by not being completely thorough on small matters like this. It would have been careless of me to give advice without acknowledging that "I am a gambling man" and yes by not testing the ballast there is a slight chance that you may throw away 7 or 8 bucks. Hence my comment about if it was a blacklight that might be different.
 
I assumed that everyone reading my post knew that I wasn't really giving advice just basically saying that I don't mind taking the occassional small risk by not being completely thorough on small matters like this. It would have been careless of me to give advice without acknowledging that "I am a gambling man" and yes by not testing the ballast there is a slight chance that you may throw away 7 or 8 bucks. Hence my comment about if it was a blacklight that might be different.


You can lose a lot more then just the bulb. You can take out the Starter and more in the cab. I had bad ballast take out fuses as well.

It's a quick test and since you are messing with the bulb anyway, why not check it?

http://www.arcaderestoration.com/index.asp?OPT=3&DATA=219&CBT=4
 
A quick tip off is to feel the ballast... usually when they are bad they will run extremely HOT.
They usually run warm, but not scorching HOT.

A completely shorted ballast will blow a fuse.

If the bulb flickers or glows a little at each end, then usually it's a bulb or starter.
 
Of course my advice sounds like someone with limited experience. I was trying to put myself in the position of someone brand new to the hobby who knows very little. This was the point of my whole post. You would be more helpful to people if you first thought of how you felt as a newbie. I'm certainly no expert. But I mainly collect early 80's games. I've maybe had 15 with bulbs out. Never had a bad ballast. Never said it didn't happen. And you never explained EXACTLY the steps in testing a ballast. Like someone giving advice on a non working game saying "test all the voltages" that advice is worthless to newbies without more detail.

The reason I didn't explain how to test the ballast in this instance is because that wasn't the problem. If the ballast was bad, the bulb would never have lit up. Since the ballast was not bad, then there is no sense in taking extra steps to check it. That is why I told him to get a new starter.

As for "newbie advice", that's exactly what I gave - a simple answer with no extra info that might confuse them. My "testing a ballast" comment was in response to YOU issuing a blanket statement as to the "only problems" you've ever had being a bad starter, bad ballast, or bad wiring being the cause of a marquee light not working. I simply pointed out that there was another potential problem that could be the cause, but that it was easy to test for. If you (or anyone) don't know how to do that, you can ask, or search the forums for the answer...
 
If playing with it you mean touching it and it magically comes on, I think the static in your hands can assist a weak starter.

I had a weak starter on the florecent lights in my room as a kid and had to wipe them with my hand to get the light to come on every time. It took a long time for my dad to replace it haha.
 
You can lose a lot more then just the bulb. You can take out the Starter and more in the cab. I had bad ballast take out fuses as well.

It's a quick test and since you are messing with the bulb anyway, why not check it?

http://www.arcaderestoration.com/index.asp?OPT=3&DATA=219&CBT=4

Good, now explain in exact detail how to test it. Remember that a person asking about something as simple as a marquee light being out might not know how to check it.
 
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