Centipede Asteroids by Atari

roburt

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Hello,
I am very new to the arcade "garage repair" field. I became addicted to these things in the early '80s as a 12 year old. I have a background working on slot machines. I am looking at buying an early Asteroids and an early Centipede game from the same person. They do not know much about these (selling for a sick Uncle) except they won't stay powered up as they are "both" blowing fuses when turned on. Price is $75 each. Can anyone recommend what I may look for at purchase time? Any help would be very much appreciated. I've been cruising KLOV, searching all night and have some vague ideas of issues. These are a couple of my favorite games (from back in'a day) and I'd love to have them. Thanks to all who respond.
 
If they look good and aren't all water-damaged, repainted, or completely looking like crap, then don't even bother looking at them. RUN - don't walk - over and pay your $75 each and get home quick before they change their mind.

Then you can try to figure out what is wrong....
 
I super appreciate that you guys are up at this time of night. Thanks for the info. I'm definately not what you call rich, in fact the opposite. I thought this would be a good deal. I'm grabbing them up on Thursday. 110 miles from home. The guy I'm getting them from said they worked before he got them. Plugged them in to a non grounded outlet & started blowing fuses. Sounds funny to me, but I'm thinking possibly fixable.
 
I've been a member at newlifegames.net for a few years. Not plugging here. Just an FYI. Mostly a slot machine sight. That's why I came here. It's my real passion anyway, from an early teen. (40 this year). I happened into slots as I had three dealers that were customers of mine. I got a couple for really cheap & started working on them. The main differences I can see are ...most older slots have no monitors and you have to make sure they can pay out the $ put in. Monitors seem scary! Close to 30,000 v I hear.
 
I super appreciate that you guys are up at this time of night.

Haha, im not awake by choice. :p

Monitors are nothing to worry about as long as you have guidance and practice. I dreaded the thought of working on monitors when I first got started in this hobby. Then the one day I discharged my first monitor (Look this up before you work on monitors, by the way), It wasnt nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I thought I was going to hear something like a gunshot going off. But it was just a cute little *insert raspberry sound here*

Once you get your feet wet, youll be more comfortable. And us here at KLOV are here for you every step of the way.
 
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I work 3 - witching hour. This is my normal schedule. I wish I didn't work on the Dark Side. I seem far away from most of the postees on the site I've seen. Help and support is what I'm all about. Works both ways. Karma is my King. BTW, Chuck E Cheese's was my Favorite place (parent's wouldn't take me to a dark & smokey arcade) as a kid.
 
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First and foremost, welcome, it's always good to have another night owl here. I work 1500-2300 eastern, so I'm usually browsing the forums pretty late before going to bed around 0500.

For those two titles, unless they're physically falling apart (water damage, etc as mod said) pray to the arcade gods that they're still there Thursday and pick 'em up, that's a fantastic deal. :) Water damage (and someone correct me here if I'm wrong) is most obvious if some of the wood on the machine (bottom of the side/back/front panels, etc) looks swollen, thicker than the rest of the cab, or if there's pieces that've come off. Little strips on the bottom that may have just come off from the game being moved is one thing, if there's something more than that it may be worth taking a close look. Realistically if it's just a small area that's swollen which won't compromise the physical integrity of the machine (load-bearing corners, etc), you can probably fix it with wood epoxy/putty/whatever.

Blowing fuses could be a number of things (the ungrounded outlet likely isnt helping), quite possibly having nothing to do with the monitor. At that point it's basic electronics, likely not anything much more complicated than what you're used to dealing with for the slots. Just put together differently. Once you get them home and get fresh fuses in there (we can help with IDing the fuses, or someone will probably already know values for these specific games), try plugging one in and seeing if the fuse goes. Could be they're just plugging them into a wonky outlet in their house. Next step would probably be checking voltages w/ a multimeter to make sure that more power isn't going to the boards than should be. At some point I'd probably try to get rid of the ungrounded power cord going to the power supply in the cab and get a 3 prong one in there, but it may not be necessary to get them running. You can get a 10' one from bob roberts (therealbobroberts.net) for 5 bucks, and similarly priced elsewhere so it's a pretty affordable bit. That reminds me I need to replace the power cord on one (or both? can't remember offhand) of my machines.

Realistically if you post with a description of what's going on and the voltage checks, someone here will probably point you towards the source or at least the next step in troubleshooting to get the issue tracked down. There's a hell of a lot of information collectively in the brains of the folks who post here and most will be more than happy to help out, it's always good to get a classic risen from the dead. :)
 
Asteroids was gone when I got there. Picked up the Centipede for $75. He also had a Cyberball game with two monitors & two control panels. Twice the size of a "normal" arcade. . Never seen one. Wouldn't fit in my van so I didn't get it (maybe later). The Centipede is a little rough. Some minor cabinet wear & damage but overall I think it's pretty decent. Inside is very dusty. mfg date is Nov , 1981 according to the label. Again, I don't know anything about video arcades but want to learn. Some wires on the coin door are disconnected and both are female. ??!! The main board (I'm calling it) has some epoxy on it where the main wire harness is attached. Nothing inside the cabinet visually looks burnt, bulged, leaking or otherwise bad. I cannot find a test switch if anyone can help. Lastly, there is a fuse box on the bottom which is missing one fuse. The furthest inside. It's late & I just got it home. Of course I had to plug it in. Made the Hmm sound like a TV powering up. Got a red LED light on the main board to light up. I was trying to attach some pics but my file sizes are too big. Even after downsizing 50%. I'll try later.
 

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Here's a couple of quick pics or the cabinet. I have found the trackball feels a little loose too. I'll mess with it once I get things working. The cyberball game I've found rates a 6 on the 1 to 100 scale of rare games. Maybe I ought to pick it up? Thanks again!
 

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Damn dude, looks like you got a really nice 'pede, looks very clean. Sideart is really nice and the inside looks like it's been well loved, cobweb-wise at the least, though dusty. :) If you've got the sound like a TV, power's getting to the monitor, I'd imagine an led lighting up on the centipede board is a good thing though don't take that as gospel. The fuse missing is obviously going to cause some issues, that'll need to be replaced (again, hopefully someone familiar with centipede will jump in with what the value for that one should be) and you'll definitely want to check the rest of the fuses that are there to make sure none are blown (continuity setting on a multimeter across the ends of the fuse would be a start, though not always right) and maybe replace all of those.

Do you mean both the connector and where's it's supposed to go are female or the connectors that are detached are all female? Most arcade games use .187" spade connectors, the connections on the microswitches (buttons, coin switches) are going to be male, so the connectors on all the wires going to things are going to be female. Hard to tell at that distance which ones are disconnected, a closer picture of that coin door will be helpful in trying to figure out what is disconnected and where it should go.

This looks like a great source of basic info about Centipede (dip settings, a link to a place w/ a manual for it): http://www.davesclassicarcade.com/centipede/centipede.html . Get some reading done, might get you headed in the right direction until someone who knows specific stuff about centi (what voltages to measure for and where, values of those fuses, etc) jumps in here. Overall looks like a great score at a great price, I'm jealous. :)
 
Thanks. I appreciate the remarks. I got a manual and some other docs from mikesarcade.com after some searching. At least I found my fuse values so I have a place to start now. I'm busy all weekend so it'll have to wait for now.
 
Okay, here's what I've got. Dead game. Replaced all the fuses. Powered up, & nothing. No sounds, sights, or blown fuses. Don't know where to start.
 
make sure you have both of the interlock switches turned "on." they're the (usually) white pressure switches, one inside the cabinet in the back where the rear door pushes on it, and one inside the coin door.

the trick with these is that, while they turn "on" when depressed, they'll pop right back out when the door [or tape, or you finger] is removed. but by pulling them out instead of pushing them in they'll click into place and stay on.
 
Thanks for the hints. I guess I shouldn't have said dead. Both interlocks are working fine. I can "hear" the monitor kick on when I turn on the power but the screen is dark / blank. When I open the interlock, you can hear a click from the monitor. Marquee light comes on and the red LED on the main board upon powering up.
 
New discovery!

I've been randomly working on this Centipede arcade. I found a couple of loose and broken wires. repaired and now the game plays blind. It'll quarter up & all buttons, sound seems to work. Voltages seem good. Power to the flyback, but no monitor. Neck does not glow. About every other time I power up, I can hear the "TV" sound. I found this handy flow chart (cannot upload, google g07 flowchart & select the first one) and found that I have a cracked transformer. Next question. To disassemble, I need to discharge the monitor correct? I understand the discharge tool construction (grounded to chassis). Should the line in (cord) be plugged in & power switch off when I do this? Please let me know. It may save me a lot of grief (and pain). Thanks.
 
... Power to the flyback, but no monitor. Neck does not glow. About every other time I power up, I can hear the "TV" sound. I found this handy flow chart (cannot upload, google g07 flowchart & select the first one) and found that I have a cracked transformer. Next question. To disassemble, I need to discharge the monitor correct? I understand the discharge tool construction (grounded to chassis). Should the line in (cord) be plugged in & power switch off when I do this? ...

NO!

Leave the game unplugged if you're messing with the monitor.
The power switch being off should suffice, but it leaves nothing to question if it's unplugged.

What in the flowchart led you to a cracked transformer? You mean the flyback is cracked, or is that small four-legged transformer in the horizontal driver path cracked?

Nice job so far. What does the epoxy on the edge connector look like?

K
 
Wow sounds like you are doing pretty good.. If the flyback is bad you can usually visually see the crack. If you have identified it as a GO7 you can buy a new flyback from Bob roberts or arcadeshop. Usually when the flyback goes it takes out one or two of the trasistors on the chassis and a fuse. Also while your at it might want to put a cap kit on the chassis.

http://www.pinrepair.com/g07/

that is a good repair site for that monitor. Make sure you identified it as a GO7 first.

Dave
 
Thanks for the info on the cap kit from Bob Roberts. I've already found the flyback. I didn't know it may take fuses etc with it. While I've got it apart...I may as well take the time to do it all. Thanks for the pinrepair link. It'll definately be handy. The flyback is the transformer (I call it) that is cracked. The epoxy on the edge connecter is a grass green colored stuff. Poorly done I might add.
 
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