Pole Position 5v Mod question

charmer37

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Hello , I wanted to know if anyone know how to do the 5v MOD to a Pole Position, Or are there any youtube videos on how to do it? Thanks
 
the Sense mod is a subject of debate. do you defeat it? do you keep it? the answer is if you're doing the test point mod, you can just leave it alone. you'll effectively eliminate any voltage differential from the power supply by tapping into the test points, and thus it will never trigger Sense.

(the test point mod works on later Atari games as well, but you may not have actual test points available to solder to. I used the 5 volt pins on ICs spread into three thirds of the board and the empty ground pads on Atari System 2. zero voltage drop. no more burned up plugs.)

outside thinking: alternatively, you can use a box style Happ Power Pro with the test point mod, simply remove the 2N3055 transistor from the AR2s and it will run as a standalone amplifier instead. do not use a single screw terminal power supply, the CPU and video boards of Pole Position require too much wattage to operate. this goes for the later Atari games as well, the single power supply setups they had were a very reckless design.
 
the Sense mod is a subject of debate. do you defeat it? do you keep it? the answer is if you're doing the test point mod, you can just leave it alone. you'll effectively eliminate any voltage differential from the power supply by tapping into the test points, and thus it will never trigger Sense.

(the test point mod works on later Atari games as well, but you may not have actual test points available to solder to. I used the 5 volt pins on ICs spread into three thirds of the board and the empty ground pads on Atari System 2. zero voltage drop. no more burned up plugs.)

outside thinking: alternatively, you can use a box style Happ Power Pro with the test point mod, simply remove the 2N3055 transistor from the AR2s and it will run as a standalone amplifier instead. do not use a single screw terminal power supply, the CPU and video boards of Pole Position require too much wattage to operate. this goes for the later Atari games as well, the single power supply setups they had were a very reckless design.
I purchased rebuilt AR-II's so my voltage are on the money 5volts to the board, I just wanted a way to bypass the edge connector. My edge connector is in good shape but i still would like to replace the the old connector and pins.
 
I purchased rebuilt AR-II's so my voltage are on the money 5volts to the board, I just wanted a way to bypass the edge connector. My edge connector is in good shape but i still would like to replace the the old connector and pins.

Unless theres something out of the ordinary that happened to that edge connector the only pins that might be in need of changing are the ground, +5 and maybe the sense pins. If you do the test point mod you will be bypassing the bad connections.

In other words, replacing the edge connectors might be work you dont need to do.
 
If you search for "pole position bulletproof" you should find some information.

here's one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_tPYWLJr_s

Yep, you can skim through the rest of the comments here but the answer to your question is in this video. He explains exactly what you want to do. He solders them on, while I just used crimp spade connectors to make it easier to remove the mod from the boards. He also brings wires to a number of points throughout the board (which he acknowledges many would call "overkill"), but if the goal is to bypass the power at the edge connector, all you really need to do is to wire it up to the +5 and GND lugs near the front of each board. You can do the sense mod or not, but bypassing the edge connector makes it kind of a moot point.

Note that you can still leave the power to the edge connector in place, the boards will just now get power through both the edge connector and the modded connector, which lessens the load put on the edge connector. Use these little dealies to tap into the proper wires going to the edge connectors, you'll need four (+5 and GND on both the CPU and video board).

908075_primary_225px.jpg
 
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I like to use a 12" 4 pin hard drive power extension cable when doing these mods. Cut the cable in half so you now have two sides. The black wires of one side get connected to ground (do it however you want, I like to solder them) then the red and yellow get connected to +5 (again do it how you want to). The other side gets connected to the board as you see fit. What you end up with is an un molested hardness that will still support other boards of the same type but an effective way to bypass the bad pins on the harness.
 
Unless theres something out of the ordinary that happened to that edge connector the only pins that might be in need of changing are the ground, +5 and maybe the sense pins. If you do the test point mod you will be bypassing the bad connections.

In other words, replacing the edge connectors might be work you dont need to do.
Cool, I'll do the test mod, My connectors are tight and not burnt..Thanks.
 
Yep, you can skim through the rest of the comments here but the answer to your question is in this video. He explains exactly what you want to do. He solders them on, while I just used crimp spade connectors to make it easier to remove the mod from the boards. He also brings wires to a number of points throughout the board (which he acknowledges many would call "overkill"), but if the goal is to bypass the power at the edge connector, all you really need to do is to wire it up to the +5 and GND lugs near the front of each board. You can do the sense mod or not, but bypassing the edge connector makes it kind of a moot point.

Note that you can still leave the power to the edge connector in place, the boards will just now get power through both the edge connector and the modded connector, which lessens the load put on the edge connector. Use these little dealies to tap into the proper wires going to the edge connectors, you'll need four (+5 and GND on both the CPU and video board).

908075_primary_225px.jpg
That idea is better than just splicing into the wire, Who sells the splice connectors?
 
Ahh home Depot, I purchased a few game parts there..fluorescent lights, ballast, etc. Very convenient, Thanks.
 
My Atari AR-II's are rebuilt, The Atari Brick have all new parts..Fuse block holder and fuses, Connectors and a bridge rectifier, I didn't replace the big blues, I'm waiting for my boards now and i'll be up and running. The funny thing about it is my Pcb wasn't to bad as far as repairing from what i was told. The one thing i always wanted to know about board repair is where do you guys get some of the custom chips? Atari Pole Position boards have a lot of custom chips
 
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