It's so hard to test Arcade Equipment!!! (Especially when you're selling it)

SteveJ

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It's so hard to test Arcade Equipment!!! (Especially when you're selling it)

Sorry to vent, but I saw a something this week that made me laugh.

"THIS IS A CINEMATRONICS STAR CASTLE POWER SUPPLY. WORKED WHEN PULLED OUT OF THE MACHINE, BUT THERE IS NO WAY TO RETEST THE ITEM, SO SOLD AS IS"

Yeah, this is priceless. I guess he doesn't own a multimeter? How did he know it worked when he pulled it? I mean, I can see not being able to test an optical joystick if you found one in the street, but a fricking POWER SUPPLY?
 
damage can be done to "some" power supplies if there isnt a "load" on the outputs.

also "some" power supply outputs will test bad/low with no load and then will test good all connected up.

i bought 12 games a year ago that were water damaged real, real bad. they were not salvageable except some did work. i removed the boards, power supplies and monitors and took the cabs to the dump.

if and when i do sell the parts, i will list them as "working when pulled". that was a year a ago, if i sell the parts 5 years from now will they still work? how will i know?
what kind of contraption will i have to make to test them without damaging them so you dont give me a negative on ebay for no reason ?
 
lol

i gotta say it does make sense to me.
If you have a working game,.which powers up fine,.and you take it apart,.the power supply worked when pulled.
I personally have no tools, other than a hammer and screw driver, but i still own 8 games.
I too just disassembled a cabinet thnx to the previous owners water problems,.
It was a Double D, everything worked fine, the cabinet just wasnt worthy of housing thw pcb,.so off came the exterior and interior lovin',.and to the dumpser went about 15 pieces of wood.
If i never find an empty cab to plug it all back into,.i will sell it "tested when pulled"
because while i theoretically "could" test it with the right instruments,.i dont have them.
The parts should all work,.but you know how old electronics are!
Dont mean to argue,.or choose sides,.but i understand both sides.
 
hi

Me?
I just started,..not working,.so my budget is usually about $100 to $150 a game.
This is all i have found so far (4 months??)

Mortal Kombat (non original)
Beastorizer (non)
Danny Sullivans Indy Heat
World Series Baseball the Season
Phoenix
Final Fight
(Had a Double Dragon,.dismantled)
I know it isnt much,.but they were trades,.trade ups..i originally had

Kangaroo
Vindicators
Rolling Thunder
Mr Do

And those games bored the hell out of me. Now i want a Street Fighter.
Thankyou for the advice on the boards...
where would i fond these static free type bags?
 
Sorry to vent, but I saw a something this week that made me laugh.

"THIS IS A CINEMATRONICS STAR CASTLE POWER SUPPLY. WORKED WHEN PULLED OUT OF THE MACHINE, BUT THERE IS NO WAY TO RETEST THE ITEM, SO SOLD AS IS"

Yeah, this is priceless. I guess he doesn't own a multimeter? How did he know it worked when he pulled it? I mean, I can see not being able to test an optical joystick if you found one in the street, but a fricking POWER SUPPLY?

I wouldn't want to call something working unless I could test it under load. Older power supplies are especially prone to odd behavior when unloaded. Heck, with some machines (I'm looking at YOU Atari!) the power supply board auto-regulation features can cause the board to damage itself if not properly connected.

I'm gonna say he's not really wrong on this one (assuming he's being honest, of course).
 
Its different if they no longer have an appropriate cabinet to test the parts in. However, if they are selling something like a JAMMA board and say that they can't test it but have a JAMMA cabinet in the background of the photo, that's usually just laziness. I haven't sold parts for a while but I make a habit of testing everything that I can.
 
How did he know it worked when he pulled it?

Because the machine played fine? It's not rocket science.

Maybe he just can't be bothered. I can hardly blame the guy. Spend a bunch of time testing something you're going to make nothing on. Sounds great.
 
If someone doesn't have the means to test, or if it is not worth the time to test, then just sell as untested. It is not a working board that demands a premium price, it is the fact that the board has been tested and is guaranteed to be a working replacement.

If I buy a working when pulled board, it is absolutely going to become a returned when found not to work board. If I buy an untested board, it is my responsibility to fix. I take that responsibility because I received a discount on the board by accepting that it may not work.
 
If someone doesn't have the means to test, or if it is not worth the time to test, then just sell as untested. It is not a working board that demands a premium price, it is the fact that the board has been tested and is guaranteed to be a working replacement.

If I buy a working when pulled board, it is absolutely going to become a returned when found not to work board. If I buy an untested board, it is my responsibility to fix. I take that responsibility because I received a discount on the board by accepting that it may not work.

Well, try not to ever buy anything from me then. If I pull something from a working machine, I take a pic of it in the machine and it working before I pull. Then I label it as working, wrap it up so it won't get damaged and put it on the shelf. If it is a board, I will test it again before shipping, but if it's something like an Atari power brick, it was "working when pulled" along with a pic, and that's how I sell it. No discounts just bcause I don't have an Atari in the gameroom at the moment. And if I have to drive over to a friend's just to test it AGAIN just for you, then the price is going up.

Plus, I have no problem refunding if it arrives not working, but I don't advertise something as working if I'm not sure...
 
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