Hello all,
I'm looking for some help from the Amplifone experts here to get my newly purchased Star Wars upright going. It plays blind, but there's no picture.
Now, before you go, "Great. Use the damn search function and read the Amp FAQ", I've done both. I've also done a fairly extensive amount of rebuilding and repair. I'll list everything I've done so far below.
On initial inspection, I found that the Amp has the blue HV and deflections boards. The HV board had the red flyback and burn marks under the ceramic resistors from VR1 to the edge of the ceramic resistor near (but not up to) VR2. The yolk appeared to have been bent off of the back of the tube, which bent the pins, but there wasn't any obvious damage to the neck of the tube. There were no other obvious signs of damage.
I've purchased and installed the following:
* Amp HV cap kit from Arcadeshop
* Amp HV CineLabs flyback from Arcadeshop
* Amp deflection cap/transistor kit from Arcadeshop
* New Big Blue from Arcadeshop
I've also taken these steps:
* Replaced all eight W jumper resistors with straight wire on the deflection board
* Replaced the one W jumper resistor with straight wire on the HV board
* Reflowed all of the harness connections on the deflection board
* Reflowed some areas on the HV board that I could see a bit of light passing through. Not surprisingly, most were in the burn path.
Electrically, here's where I'm at:
* Checked continuity on the HV board anywhere there was a brown spot from prior overheating. All checked out.
* Checked for deflection chatter, seems to have it.
* Listened for high voltage "sizzle", seems to have it, but not with much intensity. I hear the sizzle more on power off than at power up.
* Checked the resistance of R12 and the two ceramic resistors (all passed)
* Checked the voltages from the deflection board, ~+30 & -30
* Checked the voltages at VR1 and VR2 on the HV, ~+24 and -24
* Checked the voltages at CV3 (diode), ~170 volts, but spikes over 200+ from time to time. Seems related to the intensity of the deflection chatter.
* Checked Q3 (BU406D), tests out good in-circuit (followed instructions from FAQ).
* Checked voltage at Q3, ~48v DC.
* Replaced all fuses on the deflection board.
I may have done some very minor other maintenance work. If I think of it, I'll add it in.
*** Two things I goofed up:
* I installed C4 backwards (yeah, I know). It smoked, but didn't explode because I was there to kill the power right away. I soldered back in the red cap that was originally there.
* I installed WHT HTR wire from the new flyback into the WHT spot, then realized later that it belonged in the WHT HTR spot. WHT is a ground, so probably not much issue there, but worth mentioning.
I've got to be close here. I haven't been able to test the HV at the anode yet because I don't yet have the HV probe, but that'll be coming soon. I'm just feeling like something should be showing up on the screen with all of the other things seemingly lining up, but that just ain't the case. It seems like there's something simple here that, once uncovered, will bring this thing to life.
Any ideas? What am I overlooking here? Along with my burning desire to play Star Wars, I have a five year old that has been playing it blind, just waiting for daddy to fix it.
By the way, it's a warehouse find, and it only has 18,000 plays on it. It's a looker too!
Thanks for looking at this, all suggestions are welcome!
Blaine
I'm looking for some help from the Amplifone experts here to get my newly purchased Star Wars upright going. It plays blind, but there's no picture.
Now, before you go, "Great. Use the damn search function and read the Amp FAQ", I've done both. I've also done a fairly extensive amount of rebuilding and repair. I'll list everything I've done so far below.
On initial inspection, I found that the Amp has the blue HV and deflections boards. The HV board had the red flyback and burn marks under the ceramic resistors from VR1 to the edge of the ceramic resistor near (but not up to) VR2. The yolk appeared to have been bent off of the back of the tube, which bent the pins, but there wasn't any obvious damage to the neck of the tube. There were no other obvious signs of damage.
I've purchased and installed the following:
* Amp HV cap kit from Arcadeshop
* Amp HV CineLabs flyback from Arcadeshop
* Amp deflection cap/transistor kit from Arcadeshop
* New Big Blue from Arcadeshop
I've also taken these steps:
* Replaced all eight W jumper resistors with straight wire on the deflection board
* Replaced the one W jumper resistor with straight wire on the HV board
* Reflowed all of the harness connections on the deflection board
* Reflowed some areas on the HV board that I could see a bit of light passing through. Not surprisingly, most were in the burn path.
Electrically, here's where I'm at:
* Checked continuity on the HV board anywhere there was a brown spot from prior overheating. All checked out.
* Checked for deflection chatter, seems to have it.
* Listened for high voltage "sizzle", seems to have it, but not with much intensity. I hear the sizzle more on power off than at power up.
* Checked the resistance of R12 and the two ceramic resistors (all passed)
* Checked the voltages from the deflection board, ~+30 & -30
* Checked the voltages at VR1 and VR2 on the HV, ~+24 and -24
* Checked the voltages at CV3 (diode), ~170 volts, but spikes over 200+ from time to time. Seems related to the intensity of the deflection chatter.
* Checked Q3 (BU406D), tests out good in-circuit (followed instructions from FAQ).
* Checked voltage at Q3, ~48v DC.
* Replaced all fuses on the deflection board.
I may have done some very minor other maintenance work. If I think of it, I'll add it in.
*** Two things I goofed up:
* I installed C4 backwards (yeah, I know). It smoked, but didn't explode because I was there to kill the power right away. I soldered back in the red cap that was originally there.
* I installed WHT HTR wire from the new flyback into the WHT spot, then realized later that it belonged in the WHT HTR spot. WHT is a ground, so probably not much issue there, but worth mentioning.
I've got to be close here. I haven't been able to test the HV at the anode yet because I don't yet have the HV probe, but that'll be coming soon. I'm just feeling like something should be showing up on the screen with all of the other things seemingly lining up, but that just ain't the case. It seems like there's something simple here that, once uncovered, will bring this thing to life.
Any ideas? What am I overlooking here? Along with my burning desire to play Star Wars, I have a five year old that has been playing it blind, just waiting for daddy to fix it.
By the way, it's a warehouse find, and it only has 18,000 plays on it. It's a looker too!
Thanks for looking at this, all suggestions are welcome!
Blaine


