Moon Patrol: Where to start...

TCinTEXAS

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I picked up a dead Moon Patrol today. Monitor is dead, and no signs of life from the game; the power supply has lights, though.

What I know so far:

The monitor is getting power. It had a blown fuse soldered to the board. I replaced it with a good fuse in an inline fuse holder. Monitor is still dead. No neck glow. I'm getting 130v to the monitor on the output side of the transformer.

The board is making no game sounds. The power supply LEDs are all lit. The input connector is broken; half of it is missing, and a green wire is soldered to a header pin. All of the power supply fuses are good. I haven't checked the output voltage from the power supply or at the board, yet. I'll dig through the manual and do that tomorrow evening.

So... the big question is, "Where do I start?" Should I tackle the monitor, PCB, power supply? I'm thinking I should test the power supply and address any problems with it, first, then move to the monitor. Address the PCB last.

Suggestions?

By the way, I have a Defender Switching Power supply adapter. Will that work with Moon Patrol?
 
I picked up a dead Moon Patrol today. Monitor is dead, and no signs of life from the game; the power supply has lights, though.

What I know so far:

The monitor is getting power. It had a blown fuse soldered to the board. I replaced it with a good fuse in an inline fuse holder. Monitor is still dead. No neck glow. I'm getting 130v to the monitor on the output side of the transformer.

The board is making no game sounds. The power supply LEDs are all lit. The input connector is broken; half of it is missing, and a green wire is soldered to a header pin. All of the power supply fuses are good. I haven't checked the output voltage from the power supply or at the board, yet. I'll dig through the manual and do that tomorrow evening.

So... the big question is, "Where do I start?" Should I tackle the monitor, PCB, power supply? I'm thinking I should test the power supply and address any problems with it, first, then move to the monitor. Address the PCB last.

Suggestions?

By the way, I have a Defender Switching Power supply adapter. Will that work with Moon Patrol?


Start with clean up. Replace broken connectors, fix broken wires, replace missing parts, get rid of extra stuff if it's there, etc...

After that you should be at a good starting point. If you have a spare monitor you can test your boards with it and see if they have any life, or you can take the current monitor and test it in a working game.
 
Moon Patrol, as it is Irem hardware, not Williams, shouldn't be held to the same drawbacks of going the switcher route. you'll wanna dig up a manual for that to get the wiring colors though. as it's an edge connector game, here's the pinout here: https://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/spies.cgi?action=url&type=pinout&page=MoonPatrol.txt

I imagine it's grey for +5, grey-yellow for +12, and black for ground.

if you're interested in selling the power supply in its non-working condition from the machine let me know.

the 2 types of Williams power supplies I think have the exact same pinout, they actually have a majority of the same parts, just arranged a little differently. as you've described I'm guessing your messed up plug is the one coming off the transformer. if any voltages were missing off that, then at least one shouldn't be working at the board. if it's the plug that goes out to the game board harness, then that's another issue. that would be the plug that goes into the adapter, permitting the adapter is an identical pinout between Defender and the later model Joust/Robotron/Sinistar style that Moon Patrol uses.

your monitor is undoubtedly a G07, which I think all these games came with cause they had a custom width cap. my advice is to replace the caps, and along with that you HAVE TO replace the flyback as well. do not buy this rebuild from Bob Roberts, get the Raster Blaster kit from Arcadecup, and get a replacement HOT as well as it's probably blown too. since you tried running the monitor with the F901 fuse blown (I'm assuming) the large filter cap will have a very strong charge trapped in it. you can be crazy and try to discharge this (your methods of action may vary) or you can leave it go for a couple weeks while you sort out your control panel situation. though honestly, it might still hold then too. :)

hope this helps. do look up that Defender adapter and see if there's a specific one for Joust/Robotron/Sinistar. if there is, then it's probably different.

also, post pictures of your hacked power supply.
 
Moon Patrol, as it is Irem hardware, not Williams, shouldn't be held to the same drawbacks of going the switcher route. you'll wanna dig up a manual for that to get the wiring colors though. as it's an edge connector game, here's the pinout here: https://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/spies.cgi?action=url&type=pinout&page=MoonPatrol.txt

I imagine it's grey for +5, grey-yellow for +12, and black for ground.

if you're interested in selling the power supply in its non-working condition from the machine let me know.

the 2 types of Williams power supplies I think have the exact same pinout, they actually have a majority of the same parts, just arranged a little differently. as you've described I'm guessing your messed up plug is the one coming off the transformer. if any voltages were missing off that, then at least one shouldn't be working at the board. if it's the plug that goes out to the game board harness, then that's another issue. that would be the plug that goes into the adapter, permitting the adapter is an identical pinout between Defender and the later model Joust/Robotron/Sinistar style that Moon Patrol uses.

your monitor is undoubtedly a G07, which I think all these games came with cause they had a custom width cap. my advice is to replace the caps, and along with that you HAVE TO replace the flyback as well. do not buy this rebuild from Bob Roberts, get the Raster Blaster kit from Arcadecup, and get a replacement HOT as well as it's probably blown too. since you tried running the monitor with the F901 fuse blown (I'm assuming) the large filter cap will have a very strong charge trapped in it. you can be crazy and try to discharge this (your methods of action may vary) or you can leave it go for a couple weeks while you sort out your control panel situation. though honestly, it might still hold then too. :)

hope this helps. do look up that Defender adapter and see if there's a specific one for Joust/Robotron/Sinistar. if there is, then it's probably different.

also, post pictures of your hacked power supply.

I'll post some photos of the monitor and the power supply. I believe the monitor, or at least the tube has been swapped. It has "Joust" burn in.

I did replace the fuse, but nothing changed. I'm getting 130vac from the transformer to the monitor. Isn't that a bit high?

I want to get the pinouts and replace the connectors and headers on the power supply. I don't know that it's not working; I haven't tested outputs yet.

Thanks.
 
Download all the manuals etc.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/dipswitch-settings/8747.html

Start with the power (logic +5V, etc and 120VAC).
If you get a working monitor in there, then ->

SELF TEST is DIP #8.
Turn switch #8 of DIP switch #2 to the ON position and turn power ON. After RAM and ROM test have run, press the 2 player button for an index of other tests.
 
Download all the manuals etc.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/dipswitch-settings/8747.html

Start with the power (logic +5V, etc and 120VAC).
If you get a working monitor in there, then ->

SELF TEST is DIP #8.
Turn switch #8 of DIP switch #2 to the ON position and turn power ON. After RAM and ROM test have run, press the 2 player button for an index of other tests.

Ok. I'm fairly certain I recall hearing it's a bad idea to connect the monitor directly to a wall outlet; it should always go through the transformer. Correct?
 
I have pics!

Rear Left Monitor: You can see my temporary inline fuse holder. I'll put in a better one when I pull the chassis to recap.
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Rear Right Monitor
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Power Supply Overview
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Power Supply Input Connector Hack
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Power Supply: Random Wire; not sure what this is
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Ok. I'm fairly certain I recall hearing it's a bad idea to connect the monitor directly to a wall outlet; it should always go through the transformer. Correct?

Damn, right, that's why there is a 1:1 isolation transformer at the bottom of the cabinet. Never plug into the wall directly.

If your monitor fuse blew, then you need to find out which monitor and then buy new HOT, new flyback-transformer (perhaps), and a capkit

EDIT: monitor is a WG 4900.
 
Find WG4901 manual here ->

https://www.mikesarcade.com/arcade/monitors.html

For the WMS power supply at the bottom, I'd also buy an overhaul kit and replace the caps and perhaps the headers (or at least reflow them) and new harness pins/connectors. No soldering to header pins - yuck.

Overall, this cabinet needs a good cleaning. Dust/Dirt is an enemy to electronics. :(
 
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Damn, right, that's why there is a 1:1 isolation transformer at the bottom of the cabinet. Never plug into the wall directly.

If your monitor fuse blew, then you need to find out which monitor and then buy new HOT, new flyback-transformer (perhaps), and a capkit

EDIT: monitor is a WG 4900.

HEY! I'm right about something. I'm calling my wife!!!

Thanks. I thought it was a WG4900. Is the 4900 or K4900 the same as the K4901? Same series, minor differences?
 
Find WG4901 manual here ->

https://www.mikesarcade.com/arcade/monitors.html

For the WMS power supply at the bottom, I'd also buy an overhaul kit and replace the caps and perhaps the headers (or at least reflow them) and new harness pins/connectors. No soldering to header pins - yuck.

Overall, this cabinet needs a good cleaning. Dust/Dirt is an enemy to electronics. :(

Yeah, I vacuumed it and blew it out with my air compressor, but still need to remove parts and clean them, and clean under them. You should have seen it before I did the initial cleaning!!!
 
Question: In the interest of time, what do you think of buying a capped, working K4900 chassis? I see a 3 pot and 4 pot on Ebay for about 120 shipped.

I think I'll be paying at least about 50 bucks in parts, and probably spending at least a couple of hours troubleshooting and making repairs.

Is a working, refreshed chassis worth 120?
 
Question: In the interest of time, what do you think of buying a capped, working K4900 chassis? I see a 3 pot and 4 pot on Ebay for about 120 shipped.

I think I'll be paying at least about 50 bucks in parts, and probably spending at least a couple of hours troubleshooting and making repairs.

Is a working, refreshed chassis worth 120?

Depends on how much your time is worth. I have a hard time believing you'll be paying more than $50 for the caps and HOT. It's a valuable learning experience too.

Can't believe someone did that with the connectors. That's about $2 in parts and 10 min to fix it correctly.
 
Question: In the interest of time, what do you think of buying a capped, working K4900 chassis? I see a 3 pot and 4 pot on Ebay for about 120 shipped.

I think I'll be paying at least about 50 bucks in parts, and probably spending at least a couple of hours troubleshooting and making repairs.

Is a working, refreshed chassis worth 120?

k4900's rarely need much more than caps and a good reflow and this way you get something with quality caps instead of not knowing what you may get off ebay.
 
Depends on how much your time is worth. I have a hard time believing you'll be paying more than $50 for the caps and HOT. It's a valuable learning experience too.

Can't believe someone did that with the connectors. That's about $2 in parts and 10 min to fix it correctly.

Well, I was referring to caps, HOT and Flyback.

Fair point. The monitor appears completely dead, so I don't know if replacing those parts will fix the problem.

For now, I'll concentrate on the power supply. Thanks.
 
k4900's rarely need much more than caps and a good reflow and this way you get something with quality caps instead of not knowing what you may get off ebay.

I have the cap kit I bought from you for my Robotron (same monitor), I believe. Seeing that the monitor is dead (no neck glow), I guess I should order the flyback. Any other parts, while I'm at it?
 
oh wow, it's a Defender power supply after all.

typical hackjob nonsense. drop in a switcher and call it a day, that one's gonna be some work for you.

oh, and a 4900. good call too.
 
I have the cap kit I bought from you for my Robotron (same monitor), I believe. Seeing that the monitor is dead (no neck glow), I guess I should order the flyback. Any other parts, while I'm at it?


the 4900 flybacks don't go out that often so i would cap it, reflow everything and then check it before replacing the flyback in my opinion.
 
the 4900 flybacks don't go out that often so i would cap it, reflow everything and then check it before replacing the flyback in my opinion.

Ok. This may be a stupid question, but can you bake these boards to fix cold solder joints? I know with computers and printers, you can throw the board in the oven at 350 for 8 minutes, and it fixes cold solder problems.
 
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