P4 Position Install and troubleshooting

[yukonblaze]

Installed my P4 board in my PP Sit Down over the weekend. No problems with the installation and functionality, with the exception of having to swap out the original wheel encoder opto board with the new one provided along with the P4 board. I noted that observation in earlier posts in this thread, so no surprise there and was anticipating swapping the OG out. New opto board works perfect with the OG Atari game board. Love the ability to adjust the screen horizontal and vertical positioning in the sub menu. Great product and looking forward to any audio updates (especially for PP2) or any other updates when they surface.

Just got a P4 board to install for a friend. His cockpit wiring in hacked and having to rewire all new edge connectors. Just took multimeter to P4 board to confirm wiring and as front pcb is number 1-22, my front video is S-A. Can any on confirm this for me?
Thanks

sfspanky could you post pic of yours connected in your sit down cab?

 

[sfspanky]

Just got a P4 board to install for a friend. His cockpit wiring in hacked and having to rewire all new edge connectors. Just took multimeter to P4 board to confirm wiring and as front pcb is number 1-22, my front video is S-A. Can any on confirm this for me?
Thanks

sfspanky could you post pic of yours connected in your sit down cab?

I am on the road and away from my machine. I'm sure @ArcadeJason or others can jump here and post photos but the parts side of the P4 is facing towards the back door in a sit down. If in a stand up, the parts side would be facing the right wall. In either scenario, you are looking at he back side of the P4 board when installed in a cage. In the photo you posted, flip the board over to the right and that is what you would be looking at when feeding it into the cage. Parts side away from you and pin 1 at the top.

 

[yukonblaze]

Thanks
Will give it a shot.
Jason

 

[coinopper]

Arcadeshop has the P4 boards back in stock.

 

[TheShanMan]

Got my P4 Position today. Mostly working well but colors are way off on my k4900 so I have some adjusting to do. Also, the games say they're set for MPH but while playing it's actually KPH. Seems to be a bug?

 

[MikeHartman]

I installed mine the other day. Game play is really great (light years better than Pi Position - which was awesome at the time). All in all, it is an awesome and competitively priced product that I highly recommend. I was able to put up a US PP1 66660 game and did a 54.96 Qualifying Lap within a few tries without problem -- it feels like the original.

Minor things that I noticed that are slightly different than the original boards:

1. While the sounds are legit to the original (again far better than Pi Position), the levels between the sounds are a bit off. The engine sound, explosion and voice are all low as compared to the other game sounds. It's not bad by any means, but if you're used to an original, you will notice right off.
2. The car formations are a bit different than the originals on PP1 and PP2. This probably only matters for those of you who are competitive at higher levels (i.e., you've played so much that you've memorized the various formations/positions of the enemy cars) and who reset and coin up before attract mode (which, for example, gives "cars out" positioning on PP1 as compared to coining up after attract mode which gives "cars in" positioning)

These probably matter for .01% of users.

Oh yeah, it is also really nice for home use cabinets because you can disconnect the noisy pole position PCB fan (I'm assuming it isn't needed for this board). My games are run fairly quiet unless I'm having a party with music, so it is appreciated.

[edit] Oh yeah, almost forgot. The horizontal screen adjustment is great. Original PCBs on my Matsushita sits off center, which is annoying. The P4 let's you dial that out no problem.

Really great job Arcade Jason (and team)!

 

[TheShanMan]

Got my P4 Position today. Mostly working well but colors are way off on my k4900 so I have some adjusting to do. Also, the games say they're set for MPH but while playing it's actually KPH. Seems to be a bug?

Turns out my green and blue pins were a little flaky, particularly due to my original boards being a bit thicker. Had to replace one pin and stretch the other so it would make more firm contact with the board. Looking pretty good now.

That said, it would be nice if you could add one or more test patterns for color adjustment.

 

[Djm]

Finally repinned the ground and +5v pins and tried out my p4 position.. it's playing blind monitor is just full red.. but with my original board it works for the picture.. any idea?

It's a cockpit btw

 

[TheShanMan]

Make sure the video pins are making good contact. P4 edge connector might be a tad thinner than your original.

 

[Djm]

Make sure the video pins are making good contact. P4 edge connector might be a tad thinner than your original.

I tried making sure looks ok but I already have everything out so I'll just repin those as well since I'm all set up for it and report back

 

[Djm]

I tried making sure looks ok but I already have everything out so I'll just repin those as well since I'm all set up for it and report back

Update still no bueno . Anything else?
I triple checked voltages and video pins and the video works with the original board still.. P4 plays sound and can play blind but do es screetch when hit the gas..power light is on and tried dipswitch 1 on and off.. starting to wonder if it's this PCB by chance? But willing to try whatever.
It's from the batch around Halloween time. Anyone else get one around then and working smooth with a cockpit

 

[Djm]

The first image is with the normal PCB and the second image is when I try the P4 pcb

 

[Djm]

Any suggestions? I'd love to get this going or see if I need to return it for a different one

 

[ArcadeJason]

Any suggestions? I'd love to get this going or see if I need to return it for a different one

just seeing this now. i have a theory and if i am wrong then i will exchange the board for you.
do you have the 5v and ground tabs connected together? if so some people connect both ar2 power supplies together using this method. atari designed pole position to use 2 power supplies but if they are wired together one ar2 will still power both boards. the p4 position only uses one of the 2 power supplies. so my suggestion is test both harness connectors for power if you only have power on one of the connectors you can swap ar2s or rebuild a possibly a bad one.

my suggestions:
1. check for 5v on the p4 position there are labeled 5v and gnd tabs next to the usb port
2. check for 5v from both ar2s
3. sometimes people add solder to the edge connector fingers to improve the connection of bad contacts if this was ever done to your board it may not make a proper contact on a new board.


possible fixes:
1. if no power from one of the ar2s you can swap them to power the p4 or fix the bad ar2
2. check the edge fingers
3. check continuity between the harness and the pcb
4. as a test you can power the p4 with an old cell phone charger
5. if none of this works send me a message and i will test /fix or replace it

 

[Djm]

just seeing this now. i have a theory and if i am wrong then i will exchange the board for you.
do you have the 5v and ground tabs connected together? if so some people connect both ar2 power supplies together using this method. atari designed pole position to use 2 power supplies but if they are wired together one ar2 will still power both boards. the p4 position only uses one of the 2 power supplies. so my suggestion is test both harness connectors for power if you only have power on one of the connectors you can swap ar2s or rebuild a possibly a bad one.

my suggestions:
1. check for 5v on the p4 position there are labeled 5v and gnd tabs next to the usb port
2. check for 5v from both ar2s
3. sometimes people add solder to the edge connector fingers to improve the connection of bad contacts if this was ever done to your board it may not make a proper contact on a new board.


possible fixes:
1. if no power from one of the ar2s you can swap them to power the p4 or fix the bad ar2
2. check the edge fingers
3. check continuity between the harness and the pcb
4. as a test you can power the p4 with an old cell phone charger
5. if none of this works send me a message and i will test /fix or replace it

Thanks Jason!! A few errands today and then I will check and try all of this and report back!!!

 

[ArcadeJason]

i didn't read all the messages sounds like you have power if you hear sounds send it to me to test/repair/replace

 

[Djm]

i didn't read all the messages sounds like you have power if you hear sounds send it to me to test/repair/replace

Yes it's powering on for sure I can here it coin up and play just no video at all... And the screetchong when hit the gas. PM me with what you'd like to do and I will follow!
I would follow any of your arcade directions as you are a genius Jason!! Thanks again!!

 

[Djm]

ALERT!! I'm a effing idiot it's all working!! I was looking at the traces on the PCB and realized my video harness was flipped!!! My bad Jason!! All good just need to fix my brake being stuck high and I'm all set!!! Woooooo!!!!!!

 

[TheShanMan]

Got my P4 Position today. Mostly working well but colors are way off on my k4900 so I have some adjusting to do. Also, the games say they're set for MPH but while playing it's actually KPH. Seems to be a bug?

@ArcadeJason Is there a bug with MPH vs KPH? Mine ws showing KPH during game play even though it was set to MPH. I set it to KPH and back to MPH and then it was right during game play. Maybe the stored value for that setting isn't initialized properly out of the box?

 

[Djm]

I don't know why there was 3v on that NO terminal. The schematic shows it as just floating. I connected a ground to the NO and the brake works correctly now

I'm having the same stuck at 90 for the brake. So did putting a ground on NO fix it?