Neo Geo mini marquee light repair?

AUSyTyIN

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Is it possible to repair the lights on the mini marquee on a Neo Geo? I've got 2 that work, one that tries to light, and a dead one. Is there any way to repair these? If not, does anyone sell replacements? Yes, I've seen the florescent light swap, but I love how it illuminates the game you are playing...
 
You need to buy new EL panel material. You can find it on eBay and there's a thread over on the neo-geo.com forums about how to rebuild the lights.

RJ
 
Ok, follow up question. Can you remove working EL panels from one board and put them on another? I'm assuming the install process is the same as putting in a new one, but I"m concerned that I will damage the EL panel by removing it (I've got 3 different panels each with one working...)
 
Yes you could but eventually they will be dead too. They have a finite amount of minutes used in their lifespan. The tutorial on relacing them is mine but the source I had listed went out of business. The material can be found but is quite expensive.
 
Yes you could but eventually they will be dead too. They have a finite amount of minutes used in their lifespan. The tutorial on relacing them is mine but the source I had listed went out of business. The material can be found but is quite expensive.

What about the ebay ones?
 
It almost seems that going the EL route is almost not worth it, because of the high cost, and their fairly short life-span...they're also known to yellow the MM's. I know there was someone over at Neo-geo.com working on a plug-in LED replacement but I havnt checked up on it for a while. Looks like there's a few options:
EL replacement
LED replacement (if it ever gets worked out)
digital picture frame replacement
and a single tube to light it.

I'm dealing with the same problems as you (and every neo geo owner), and I'm not sure what I'm going to do, yet.
 
It almost seems that going the EL route is almost not worth it, because of the high cost, and their fairly short life-span...they're also known to yellow the MM's. I know there was someone over at Neo-geo.com working on a plug-in LED replacement but I havnt checked up on it for a while. Looks like there's a few options:
EL replacement
LED replacement (if it ever gets worked out)
digital picture frame replacement
and a single tube to light it.

I'm dealing with the same problems as you (and every neo geo owner), and I'm not sure what I'm going to do, yet.

I'm not opposed to swapping out the EL panels with something else, but I won't go with the digital picture frame or single tube idea. Any clue what the supply voltage and amperage is for the EL panels? It seems like it would be easy to use that power to light up each MM separately (or is that what the LED idea is trying to do?)
 
It basically comes down to two choices:

Purist: EL Replacement which will probably run you anywhere from $100-350 depending how many slots you have. It would be nice to have it original, but like others have said, it's still only temporary as the bulbs will eventually die out again. That's a hefty price to pay. From my understanding, no one has been able to hack the EL power line to work with LED or any other type of bulb. Though, it's apparently in the works and would still cost a pretty penny if successful. But maybe worth it if it's a long-term fix.

Value: Light fixture that will cost you less than $10. It's not original, but it's cheap. Don't get me wrong, the original setup is nice to be able to light up the game you're playing, but is it really that necessary? This way you're simply showcasing all of the games that you have running. To top it all off, if a bulb goes out, replace it for a couple of bucks.

I don't even count the digital frame option. That just seems a little overboard and tacky. I feel it takes away from the original look of the cabinet and you still don't have the ability to show a specific marquee when you load its game. But to each his own. :)

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How do you power that light? Is there a spare outlet on the power supply? I may go that route for a temp solution, but I really like how it only lights up the game you are playing.
 
How do you power that light? Is there a spare outlet on the power supply? I may go that route for a temp solution, but I really like how it only lights up the game you are playing.

Yup, just the spare outlet. The light fixture I got at Walmart for $8. I would love to have it original too, but hey, you do what you can do. :)
 
Is that outlet controlled by the on/off switch?

Yup, it only turns on when you flip the power switch. The only problem is that the outlet is on the back of the cabinet next to where the power cord is. So once I install replacement back panels (missing), I'll need to cut a small hole on the bottom of one panel to stick the plug through. Not a huge deal for me though. How often do you look on the bottom back of your cabinet?
 
On the Neo-Geo forum there's a guy who's sucsessfully made LED replacements. He created new PCB's and LED panels. Last I heard he was having computer trouble that was delaying progress. The new PCB's function exactly like the EL panels and they actually run of of the same line as the original one, so they're essentially "Plug-and-play". He (last I heard) hasn't started selling them, but they were expected to cost 150-200 dollars, which in some cases is cheaper than EL, but the LED's basically last forever (compared to the EL's). I'll edit in a link when I find it!

*EDIT* Here it is, it's an interesting read. The pictures are on page 5.
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209601
 
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On the Neo-Geo forum there's a guy who's sucsessfully made LED replacements. He created new PCB's and LED panels. Last I heard he was having computer trouble that was delaying progress. The new PCB's function exactly like the EL panels and they actually run of of the same line as the original one, so they're essentially "Plug-and-play". He (last I heard) hasn't started selling them, but they were expected to cost 150-200 dollars, which in some cases is cheaper than EL, but the LED's basically last forever (compared to the EL's). I'll edit in a link when I find it!

*EDIT* Here it is, it's an interesting read. The pictures are on page 5.
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209601

Yea, he's still getting his computer back together. Also, if you look toward the end of the thread you get the information that his solution also requires a bit of depth behind the mini-marquees. Thus, it won't work for every type of cab without some cutting.
 
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