Pole Position 2 just exploded!

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Pole Position 2 just exploded! (SOLVED)

Hi, I have a PP2, which is generally a fairly reliable game, it usually works when I turn it on, though sometimes I need to give it a few tries before it will come all the way up. Lately, though, it's been rock solid and I've been playing a lot with no issues. Until today that is... I was in my game room working on one of my other games and there was a loud bang like someone literally fired a gun in the room. A few seconds later I saw smoke streaming through the PP2 coin door, so I killed all power and opened up the back. My whole house smells like toxic chemicals, there was a fair bit of smoke. When it cleared, this is what I found:

Did my beloved PP just become a MAME project? Or is this something that's feasible to repair? I'm not experienced with repairs of electronics at the component level, but I'm not afraid to try, can anyone give me some direction on this one?

Thanks,
Ryan
 

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Host them externally to the site and just include the URLs in the post - I use photobucket.com
 
Hi, I have a PP2, which is generally a fairly reliable game...
I chuckled a little at this :)

The wrapper you have in the first photo appears to be from an electrolytic capacitor. It is not completely unusual for these to fail in an explosive way, creating the "pop" and smoke you described. They are very easy to replace. The problem is that I don't think the area you are showing normally has a capacitor it in. That's where the battery goes to save the high scores. It has been removed, which is good, since the acid from the battery can damage the boards. It's possible that someone hooked up a cap in place of the battery. This may seem like a dumb question, but does it still work?
 
It was funny, when the noise happened, the game was still running the attract mode, or at least it looked like it was, but since killing the power, I haven't been able to get it to boot up since, just starts and freezes with nonsense on the screen.

It was saving high scores, though, pre-combustion. But they would clear if I didn't play for a few weeks...

Is there a logical reason someone would put such a component there after pulling the suicide battery?

Should it work ok with nothing there?
 
That was a battery. Something went wrong with it or the charging circuit. You should probably get as much of the bits that blew apart out of the cab as it will be highly corrosive.
 
If you copy and paste the IMG code from the photobucket page for each image it will show up like below.

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any chance the original battery was still on there and that's what exploded? I see what looks like a melted/ burnt up IC chip and maybe a transistor. As mentioned the first pic shows the covering from a capacitor. Where the battery normally goes it just looks strange because one end where the battery connects appears to still have a piece of the battery. I guess it could have corroded and fell off that way though.
 
WOOHOO!!!

Talk about toxic!!!

What you have there is a LITHIUM BATTERY. It is NOT rechargeable and 2 to 1 says they didn't neuter the charging circuit on the board. If you attempt to charge a lithium battery they can explode with some great force.

The liquid mess in them is HIGHLY corrosive.

Looks like that CPU and the other chip right above where the battery was has taken some of that liquid hit.

RJ
 
I took a good look, and these are all the parts or debris I could find. I can't honestly say whether or not there was a battery in there or not, I didn't realize PPs had the suicide battery like Omega Race does.

Can you tell from the photos what it was? I've tried coaxing the game back on, but it's not feeling like working... The game should work ok with no battery, correct? If so, I'll pull the boards out and see if I can re-seat everything, maybe something got jarred in the concussion of the explosion.

Would this piece exploding point to a bigger problem elsewhere, perhaps?

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So it looks like that part number is a battery for sure. Assuming I can clean up the damage before it eats away at all the internal components of my game, and assuming I can get the thing to work again, what's the best solution for saving high-scores in this thing without having any more battery-related issues?

Thanks for all the help, by the way!
 
Very very nasty, you need to clean that up immediately, you probably have less than an hour before you start to lose tracks on the board. By the looks of it you may also need to replace that CPU socket.
 
Once you clean it all up you'll need to neuter the charge circuit...

Looks like R89, a 100 ohm resistor needs to be clipped to neuter it.

RJ
 
I cleaned the board with white vinegar, gave it a liberal dose with a toothbrush. Will that be ok to mitigate the corrosive properties present? It cleaned up ok, but there is evidence of some damage from the "blast". The pic isn't how it looks now, it's much cleaner, but here are the affected parts. Do you think the lifting on that socket was due to the battery bursting, or from acid working on the contacts underneath it? Where can I get a replacement socket like that?

I'm actually somewhat pleased to see that there are physical issues, gives me some hope of getting the board working again if I can repair the damaged bits.

DamagePP2PCB.jpg
 
Once you clean it all up you'll need to neuter the charge circuit...

Looks like R89, a 100 ohm resistor needs to be clipped to neuter it.

RJ

Will cutting this off render the game with no ability to save high scores? I guess that wouldn't be the end of the world, but is there any solution I could use that would safely allow me to keep that functionality? I'd be willing to hardwire a remote battery, if nothing else, just isolate it in a shoe box or something so it won't give grief in the coming years...
 
If you put a NiCd or NiMH battery back in the circuit leave R89.

If you want to put another one of those lithium batteries or an alkaline... (NON rechargeable) in the circuit then you MUST remove R89.

Leave the diode next to it alone. That diode is what the voltage from the battery flows through to power the circuit when the power supply is OFF. It conducts current one way so when power is turned ON, the voltage on the far side of the diode is higher than the battery side so no current flows across the diode.

Once you clip R89 check the diode to make sure it isn't shorted. If it is, then +5v is going to the battery.
 
If you were to replace this with a remote battery pack that takes rechargeable AA's, would you opt for 3x1.5 = 4.5V or 4x1.5V = 6V?
 
If you put a NiCd or NiMH battery back in the circuit leave R89.

If you want to put another one of those lithium batteries or an alkaline... (NON rechargeable) in the circuit then you MUST remove R89.

Leave the diode next to it alone. That diode is what the voltage from the battery flows through to power the circuit when the power supply is OFF. It conducts current one way so when power is turned ON, the voltage on the far side of the diode is higher than the battery side so no current flows across the diode.

Once you clip R89 check the diode to make sure it isn't shorted. If it is, then +5v is going to the battery.

Cool, I think I understand what you're saying. I'd probably opt to use a rechargeable battery for the sake of simplicity. Sounds like the guy who put the last battery in should have cut that resistor...

Thanks very much for that info!
 
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