Space Invaders monitor help

RUP

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HI Guys, I'm new here and this is my first post. I just picked up a Space Invaders upright to restore. There's a list of things to do but the first thing is getting my monitor working properly. I was having problems with the screen being torn (see pic) and I e-mailed John at flippers.com and he pointed me in the direction of the horizontal hold control and that seemed to fix that problem. (John is great and very helpful)! The latest problem I have is that the screen fades in and out after a few minutes of play. If I tap on the cabinet by the audio speaker sometimes the picture becomes brighter and other times the picture goes out completely...However the game will play blind. After turning the game off for a few minutes I can turn it back on again and it will appear fine for a while. Did anyone have this problem and any and all help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Here's my "to do" list on the cabinet
Remove bezel and replace all bulbs (COMPLETE)
Clean Screen / Two way mirror / Moon, Cardboard background & Blacklight (COMPLETE)
Fix Monitor problems
Fix "explosion" sound when player base is destroyed
Fix coin mech / coin up problems
Restore cabinet
 

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I sense a cap kit in your future. That game is over 30 years old - if you haven't done a cap kit, you probably need one.

The fade out could be a cap shorting out - the thump breaks the short (gets brighter) or causes it to go "hard" (screen goes out).
 
Thanks! I've never done a cap kit before but I guess it's time to learn! Anyone have any helpful hints? The chassis looks like it will be a challenge just to remove it from the monitor. Here's a picture of my monitors make & model label.
 

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Also might think about one of these:
Space Invaders Multigame Kit
http://www.brasington.org/arcade/products/sim/

sim-kit.jpg


"Space Invaders Multigame" is an easy to install kit that extends your Midway Space Invaders or Midway Space Invaders Deluxe boardset to play 8 games.
Space Invaders
Space Invaders Deluxe
Jatre Specter
Lunar Rescue
Space Laser
Balloon Bomber
Galaxy Wars
Super Earth Invasion
Plus many extras features such as Free Play, High Score Save, powerup Diagnostics, on-screen configuration Settings, and a interactive testmode.
 
Discharging Black & White monitor

Does anyone have any tips on discharging the black & white monitor in my Space Invaders? I'm a complete noob at this and I've heard that you don't discharge a B&W monitor the same way you discharge a color one? Is this true? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Does anyone have any tips on discharging the black & white monitor in my Space Invaders? I'm a complete noob at this and I've heard that you don't discharge a B&W monitor the same way you discharge a color one? Is this true? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I discharged my SI monitor the same way I do all my other monitors. She's doing just fine.

IIRC, there was a little article that Bob Roberts did on this... basically be pointed out that the diode's (the part that is "supposed" to be in danger when you discharge the monitor) sole job is fighting voltage back... and with the juice doing everything it can to get to the point of least resistance, the idea of it ignore'ng a clear path to ground (the discharge) and instead heading to/through ANYTHING but the wire going to ground is a long shot (to say the least).

That said, YMMV. But I had no issues with mine.

As far as doing a capkit... these monitors are amazingly easy to cap. I don't remember 100%, but I don't think I even -had- to remove the chassis from the frame to do the cap. I did anyways to put some dielectric grease on the headers that the chassis plugs into... but I don't remember if I -had- to or not.

While you have the chassis off, it'd probably be a good time to either clean or replace the pots. I've dealt with 3 US Space Invaders and a Japanese one... on all 3 of the US machines, the far left pots (as you're looking at the front) were dirty and would cause the picture to randomly fade out. Might just be a weird coincidence, but that's what I've ran into. Even on my machine, I have to flick them once and a while to get the picture to pop back up... I'm too lazy to take the chassis out again and replace or clean them.
 
From memory, and if it's a M5000 chassis, you don't need to remove it from the frame - the frame is open on the bottom, and all the connections are exposed.

Make sure you absolutely note the cap polarity - if you screw that up, you can do everything from fry the monitor or end up chasing monitor "ghost" issues.
 
Ok I stumbled on this so here goes. I turned on the machine to show someone WITHOUT PLAYING ANY GAMES and I forgot to turn it off. When I went into the basement a few hours later it was still running so I played a few games and it kept working!?!?! A few days later I tried the same thing and I must have played it for 45 mins with no problems. The coin mech even worked (Before I had to open the coin door and flip the micro switch but it wouldn't accept coins with the door closed). I have now tried this a bunch of times with the same result? Could it be that my power supply is on it's way out and it needs to warm up? I did buy a power supply rebuild kit from Bob Roberts when I bought the machine as simple maintenance I just haven't had the time to rebuild it. Does anyone have any ideas what's going on? Thanks!
 
Here I am in 2022 and now I have ran into this issue...boy, these issues never go away...lol.....anyway, with mine, there is a molex connector that goes from the harness into the chassis....you can get to it from the front through the coin door....basically, if I jiggle that or remove and replug, the screen comes up sharp and crisp....so in my case, my theory is that molex connector......anyone else had this happen?
 
Wow! My screen issue was the weird L shaped type edge connectors that connected to the logic PCB. I cleaned the board edge and ever so slightly tightened the pins in the connector and I haven't had the problem since! 🤞 I did recently lose my laser base explosion sound though. At some point I'll fix that!
 
I don't think those monitors discharge. I never got them to pop. they have the somewhat cool feature of the anode coming apart in the middle cause the anode cups are very stiff and a nuisance to take in and out. just be sure you don't damage that coupling gadget in the middle.

I encourage replacement of the entire edge connector as the Midway one kind of sucks, especially in contemporary times now that they're almost 45 year old games. :) I bought my replacements from Twisty Wrist Arcade https://twistywristarcade.com/edge-connectors/450-18-36-pin-edge-connector-sec.html I think is what you want. a nice bonus with this is you can run your own power wiring to it and use a switching power supply instead of those (arguably in my opinion) troublesome linear boards. you have to do a simple mod if you go this route, seen here (under the ground the reset circuit part): https://www.thedefenderproject.com/...-a-midway-space-invaders-deluxe-test-harness/

I also encourage replacement of all the 10 uf caps on the edge/CPU board; had one in the past lose sync and it was fixed with a garbocaca Bob Roberts kit :p
 
Wow! My screen issue was the weird L shaped type edge connectors that connected to the logic PCB. I cleaned the board edge and ever so slightly tightened the pins in the connector and I haven't had the problem since! 🤞 I did recently lose my laser base explosion sound though. At some point I'll fix that!
likely it was the AMP Duo-Tyne edge connector which most B&W games use and the only problem with replacing the AMP with the suggested one by @mecha listed is some of the PCBs have a narrow edge connector as there is no pcb on either side of the end fingers so it allows you to almost put that edge connector on either bridging the fingers or off a whole position. when i use these in that case i always put a .100 thick key on each end so you can't accidently pull it off and put it back on the pcb incorrectly.
 
i'd rather bend the duo tyne flag pins back then buy the cheap new eyelet connectors. nothing wrong with em.
 
i'd rather bend the duo tyne flag pins back then buy the cheap new eyelet connectors. nothing wrong with em.
that would be great but that isn't always a choice since its common they are let go for so long they melt the housing of the duo tyne connector or you have the wires damaged or pulled out. i have seen that many times and i even have a Sea wolf in the warehouse that needs a replacement due to that problem.
 
sea wolf seems to be more of a common offender than SI. i still bent them back on Sea Wolf. have yet to see a melted pin, crazy
 
likely it was the AMP Duo-Tyne edge connector which most B&W games use and the only problem with replacing the AMP with the suggested one by @mecha listed is some of the PCBs have a narrow edge connector as there is no pcb on either side of the end fingers so it allows you to almost put that edge connector on either bridging the fingers or off a whole position. when i use these in that case i always put a .100 thick key on each end so you can't accidently pull it off and put it back on the pcb incorrectly.
When I replaced the edge connector on my SI, I also noticed that. I just cut up some q tips and glued them in the ends of the connector so it can't be inserted off center.
 
My Space Invaders picture is coming and going too. A cap kit did not help. I need to check out that connector next. Also, the worst shock I ever got was on one of these old B&W monitors. I was lifting the monitor board off those pins it sits down on and got zapped really good so beware.
 
When I replaced the edge connector on my SI, I also noticed that. I just cut up some q tips and glued them in the ends of the connector so it can't be inserted off center.
yes putting anything in there to where you CAN'T accidently put it on wrong is the best thing to do.
 
Took another look at mine today. When the pic "disappeared" i noticed it actually was still there but VERY faint. I turned the machine off and obviously still had high voltage due to the flash when I shut it down. I worked the brightness pot back and forth a few times and turned it on the pic was back. I am thinking the pot could be sus. Stay tuned.
 
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