Is 4.95 volts enough to keep a Pole Position happy?

Teknotoyz

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Is 4.95 volts enough to keep a Pole Position happy?

I need to decide if a ATX power supply (450 watt) is good enough to power a pole position?
It has plenty of amps (30) available, but I've heard 5.1v is "normal".
I was using the ATX as a test supply, but hate to buy another if I don't have to.

The game plays well using this supply except some abnormal audio in the music after a game, but I plan to rewire using test points to avoid power on the edge connectors.

So, do I need to buy an "arcade" supply, or should I proceed using the ATX?
 
Pole Position's are power pigs. If your ATX can push 5.1V then great, go for it. If your ATX is only pushing 4.95V measured at the board level even after adjusting your power supply as high as it will go, then you are going to have problems down the road.
 
4.95v should be fine. I just converted a Pole Position to a switcher and used a AT style computer supply. Voltage is about 4.9 at the boards. Game works fine. I am, however, using the test points to supply power, as well as the edge connector.

The reason people like to wind up the voltage in games it to overcome the losses due to bad connectors.

-Ian
 
4.95v should be fine. I just converted a Pole Position to a switcher and used a AT style computer supply. Voltage is about 4.9 at the boards. Game works fine. I am, however, using the test points to supply power, as well as the edge connector.

The reason people like to wind up the voltage in games it to overcome the losses due to bad connectors.

-Ian

Thanks Ian, I agree as I had some time to play tonight.
I pulled the boards and cut the battery off (leaked pretty bad)
I still have the shield board which has bad burns on ALL +5v edge connectors.
I pulled and reseated the connectors and retried the game.
All audio is good now including the music.
I am going to run wires to the test points as well.

Have you read the "Confidential" Atari memo's about Pole Position??

http://www.ionpool.net/arcade/atari_docs/atari_docs.html

It's no wonder the machine has so many problems...
Atari knew the design was bad, but lots of good pointers in the memo's to understand.
Looks like the power supply was known to be bad, 2 AR boards was an after thought not an original design. Connectors at the bridge rectifier were "to be soldered in the field" due to heat buildup. A 20 amp fuse was changed to 25 amp after the fact too. Also there are several custom chips that overheat at low temps which is why the cage fan was added . One memo complained that "our $4,000+ product just needed a $10 fan to avoid most of these problems". They detail 8 machines pulled right from the production line and 5 failed within 3 hours. One distributer got 50 machines, ALL of which failed.

So, last question, is the shield board needed and what are the caps function on it?
 
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