Spy Hunter Help!

DK1

New member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Messages
259
Reaction score
3
Location
Hilversum, Hillywood, Netherlands
So i bought a non working Spy Hunter Cab for a good price. After turning the machine on, I get this blue garbage on screen and sparks flying out the back of the monitor. The marque and coin-door light work but there is no sound, already tried to coin the game up but that didn't help.

What do you guys think could be the problem?

I'm still very much a technical noob, and worrying a little bit that this cabinet is just (far) too complicated for me. But it's alway worth a try, so all the help is appreciated.

imag3370.jpg


I posted some more pic's here: http://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2311.0
 
Last edited:
SH

Sparks? Before I saw the pic, I was thinking a broken neck but since you have an image, that is not the case. Maybe a flyback failing? Would love to see pics or video of that. Spyhunters are very sensitive to voltage requiremenrs. It has a linear power supply that puts out 5v and 12v dc to the PCB, If you dont have at least the 5v. It wont boot. Start by checking your voltages.
 
I would definately look for where the sparks are coming from. The image you posted looks like the horizontal frequency/hold is off.

Edward
 
Just checked again. The spark are coming from the round thing you use to discharge (name?) the monitor. There are also orange sparks flying around glass part (neck?) of the monitor. All this firework is going on while the monitor makes a loud hiss sound.

It's a bit scary, like something is going to explode. ;)

I have a brand new Wells-Garnder monitor laying around, so i don't really care about the monitor. I also read in other topics that the MCR Power supply causes a lot of headaches, would't it be easier to just change it to a switcher from arcadeshop?
 
Monitor

That is the anode connection on the tube. Discharge the monitor, remove the rubber cup and clean the area with denatured alcohol or similar and reinstall. See if that is a solution. Sparks around the neck.... Not sure on that. Please dont hack this and put in a switcher. Check your voltages first to see if the PS is your problem in the first place.
 
our biggest concern is the sparks you say are coming out the back of the tube. The crack is a possibility. Another thought I had was that the anode cap may not have been properly attached to the tube. At any rate if you have sparks coming off anywhere on a game you have an issue and a fire hazard that needs to be addressed.
 
Plenty of people here to help and parts are widely available for the game.

If you have a bit of persistence you'll work your way through all of the issues.

Keep plugging away!
 
okay, small update. I cleaned the inside of the cab, the pcb and the monitor.
Next time i started the game it played (still garbage on the screen but i could make out the playfield/car).
There was some music and i could control the car. But the fun didn't last long. When i turn the game on for the second time, the music was gone. I can still see the playfield (although it looks really bad) but can't coin the game up. I can put the game in service mode though.

I also cleaned the monitor but that didn't solve the problem, there is still a loud hiss sound and there are still flying sparks out of the monitor (near the anode connection).

I still have to get a multimeter but i think it's save to say the monitor needs to be replaced??
 
You monitor works and does not need to be replaced, it just has issues to work through.

I cannot help on this one, but just keep working at it. Check connections and remove boards to reflow solder joints to connections. Start with the basics. You could even have circuit board issues contributing to the screen garbage. You need to rule the monitor or the board issues out separately first...

The marquee and coin door operate independantly from the rest of the game too BTW.
 
Last edited:
our biggest concern is the sparks you say are coming out the back of the tube. The crack is a possibility. Another thought I had was that the anode cap may not have been properly attached to the tube. At any rate if you have sparks coming off anywhere on a game you have an issue and a fire hazard that needs to be addressed.

I was thinking the same...

OP, Have you dischaged the monitor and checked that the anode cap has both legs INSIDE the hole???

- Mike
 
Hey there,

I just bought a SH cab that wasnt working ether... got it working. It ended up being a power supply issue.

From what i see, it looks as if you have the same problem.

Just make sure you get that monitor sparking issue solved before you start doing anything back there.
 
Okay, another small update:

You guys were right (of course), i took off the anode cap again and installed
it for the second time, but this time correctly, and the sparks are gone!

So this is were we are right now:

1- The machine powers up, marque light is working but the coin door light isn't (it did work for sometime).

2- The screen is a mess, i can see the playfield/car but colors and graphics are way of.

3- There is no sound.

4- I can't coin the game up, but i can put it in testmode (although it's kinda hard to see with the bad graphics).

So, what's the next stap i should take??
 
Test the voltage on the sound board for 5.1 volts dc. Red lead on + side of capacitor near top edge of board, black lead on ground of board. (negative lead on same capacitor will work for it leads to ground)
 
Okay, got myself a multimeter today and checked the voltages. Remind you, this is the first time i used this little machine, so maybe i did something wrong.

I checked the voltages on the connectors going from the power supply the rest of the machine.
I did this by putting the black test lead on the ground (Y-W) and the red lead on one of the 5v or 12 openings.
Is this the right way? I checked the manual for the right colors of the wire.

The voltages one the most left connector that should be +5v (3 times) read 5.8v and the one that should be 12V reads 0.10V.
The other connector: the one that should be 5V is 5.6V and the one that should be 12V is 0.11V.

So the 12V is way off?? Or did i do something wrong?

Oh, and i discovered something else: There are a lot of grounding wires going from the power supply chassis to pcb's and other parts, but one wire isn't going anywhere because the end is broken, could it be that this wire has to go to the power supply board?

Hope you guys understand what i'm trying to say and again thanks for the help!
 
Last edited:
Next step is to do what the previous poster suggested and check the voltages on the sound board. What really counts with the 5v is how much of it is getting to the game boards and checking it on the sound board will answer that question for you.

If you want to check the output of the power supply you can do that using this information:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=75603

There's an even better one that I've saved off somewhere but can't find at the moment...
 
Back
Top Bottom