Let's save a very rough Robotron.

Well done!!!

Now get the lamps installed under the P1 / P2 buttons.
 
Thanks. It's not letting me go yet though. CP isn't working. I've tested continuity from the sticks and buttons to the harness connector.

I have two interface boards but no idea if either of them are working. So that's the next fun part.

Yay.
 
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Pretty sure it's the good old crappy interface board dead on this, I had an old spare but it seems bad too.

I found a guy in Australia that makes a new replacement that is apparently much more reliable so I'm going to put one of those in.

If I find someone to repair my spare board set I'll include the interface boards and get them all done together to keep on hand.
 
IMG_3924.jpeg

The aftermarket interface board arrived quickly from Australia. Very nice piece just drop in place of the original and everything worked straight away. Also did the battery mod so we can call this one done.

Played a few rounds and remembered how very awful I am at this game. 😂
 
Well in keeping with the general flow of this project we have a classic Williams reset situation once things warm up for a while.

Time to address power issues, headers, connectors yadda yadda.
 
I picked up one of these Paradise Arcade drop in switcher supplies for this cab. Really nice, has all the headers for original harness, pass thru power plug, coin lights all working. $85 is a no brainer.

IMG_3997.jpeg
 
I picked up one of these Paradise Arcade drop in switcher supplies for this cab. Really nice, has all the headers for original harness, pass thru power plug, coin lights all working. $85 is a no brainer.

View attachment 833593
You can repair it for less and keep it original :D
 
You can repair it for less and keep it original :D
I know. Rebuild kits run about $55 plus shipping.

I've never been a purist. If I can replace old tech with newer pieces that will support the game and its reliability I don't have an issue with it. It's the age old KLOV battle between purists and gamers. Neither is wrong but they are different approaches. I also don't tumble every screw and bolt in walnut shells for 3 days.

Live and let live as long as you enjoy the reason these cabinets exist which is to enjoy the experience of the game it delivers.

Do you think these companies wouldn't have put switching supplies in these machines if they could? They were money making objects nothing more.
 
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I know. Rebuild kits run about $55 plus shipping.

I've never been a purist. If I can replace old tech with newer pieces that will support the game and its reliability I don't have an issue with it. It's the age old KLOV battle between purists and gamers. Neither is wrong but they are different approaches. I also don't tumble every screw and bolt in walnut shells for 3 days.

Live and let live as long as you enjoy the reason these cabinets exist which is to enjoy the experience of the game it delivers.

Do you think these companies wouldn't have put switching supplies in these machines if they could? They were money making objects nothing more.
While I speak the truth and tend to err on the side of authenticity, I'm just giving you shit dude. The goal should be to get these damn refrigerators operating by all means necessary!
 
I know. Rebuild kits run about $55 plus shipping.

I've never been a purist. If I can replace old tech with newer pieces that will support the game and its reliability I don't have an issue with it. It's the age old KLOV battle between purists and gamers. Neither is wrong but they are different approaches. I also don't tumble every screw and bolt in walnut shells for 3 days.

Live and let live as long as you enjoy the reason these cabinets exist which is to enjoy the experience of the game it delivers.

Do you think these companies wouldn't have put switching supplies in these machines if they could? They were money making objects nothing more.
buy the parts yourself. I'm sure APAR's business will continue to flow selling other things. of course we'll get shamed some more for buying elsewhere because they don't have mega ultra super best caps ever or something.

the input boards probably just have bad ribbon cables. it's in my experience that when these games have sat for a long time with the cables in their natural position and then you go about unplugging and bending them around, the wires break internally. I used to buy my ribbon cable sets from Quarter Arcade. there's another source but I'm uncertain if I should reveal who they are still.
 
While I speak the truth and tend to err on the side of authenticity, I'm just giving you shit dude. The goal should be to get these damn refrigerators operating by all means necessary!
Right. Sorry I may have gotten a little triggered on that one. 😆
 
Right. Sorry I may have gotten a little triggered on that one. 😆
No worries. However, I'd say most of the problems on the PS stem from those horrible IDC connections and round header pins, which your new solution only half solves. I'd cut those IDCs off and re-pin with trifurcons for a long lasting fix.
 
I picked up one of these Paradise Arcade drop in switcher supplies for this cab. Really nice, has all the headers for original harness, pass thru power plug, coin lights all working. $85 is a no brainer.

View attachment 833593
I think you need a ~330uF 10v capacitor across the 5vdc. This keeps the saved settings in the CMOS RAM from getting corrupted during power down. (I can explain if needed, but it should be well documented elsewhere.) FWIW, I'd vote for keeping it original instead of riding the replace/throwitaway PSU treadmill.
 
I picked up one of these Paradise Arcade drop in switcher supplies for this cab. Really nice, has all the headers for original harness, pass thru power plug, coin lights all working. $85 is a no brainer.

View attachment 833593

For my reproduction Defender this is the PS I'm using. I'm a software guy. I can do some minor electronics stuff but it's not something I'm willing to do extensively. I just want to get those old boards up and working, which I've done off of the Paradise PS. I'll drop the old non-working original PS in the bottom of my cabinet for anyone in future who wants to fix it. For the monitor I'm trying to keep things light so there's a 19" arcade LCD mounted to an original WG CRT mount. Again. If a purist ultimately gets this after I'm gone they can correct it back to a CRT. :)

And I fully get the purists. I'm just not one.
 
I've never seen someone trash K4900s like that either lol. must be a bigger G07 fan than even tron guy. but yes I don't think the yokes match at all.

there's multiple people that fix K4900s, there's kind of no excuse for not using it.

@Griffin is the signal plug wired for negative H+V sync, cause the Williams games all use positive H+V sync. post pictures of the signal plug. otherwise your cabinet restore looks good, I probably need to read the old posts closer to understand the popsicle stick joke.

Clearing this up, I got mixed up with K4600s with all those little daughter boards, 4900 is a different beast. The brain cells get a bit fuzzy sometimes these days.
 
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