Tempest spinner

TonyH

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Donor 4 years: 2011, 2015-2017
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Need help went through and cleaned my spinner took it apart cleaned bushings and shaft then lightly regressed the shaft, then cleaned optics with alcohol and reassembled now it does nothing when you go to select game and while playing game only goes on way on test the counter goes up no matter how you turn the knob. worked fin until I made it turn smooth so now its super fast but doesn't do anything. Thanks
 
Make sure you put the connector on correctly. Also, I'd reinspect/reclean the optics - they may have a thin layer of grease on them from spinning the wheel after the rebuild.
 
I tried that took it back apart and cleaned it and the wheel with alcohol and a qtip again wire harness is in correctly as well this sucks
 
Check all traces re flowed all solder joints. Is there away to test the sensor? I put one that looks very similar from a pole position and it works but doesn't have the quick back and forth motion the orig had this one I have to stop completely then start the other direction for it to change back and forth.
 
The optic wheel needs to be almost touching the optical sensor to work. Unscrew the optic board and try moving it by hand until it shows game movement when you turn the spinner. You may have to adjust the board to a position outside the mounting holes and figure out a way to re-secure it. Make sure the spinner works in both directions before you re-secure the board to the spinner mounting bracket. Also make sure the optic wheel isn't bent at all.
 
Thanks tried all of that still no difference the orig coupler board only goes one way and the one from a pole position steering works but doesn't respond right.
 
If you want to see if its outputting you should be able to look at the sensor through the display on a digital camera or the camera on a cell phone. Just point the camera at it like you are going to take a pic of it. Try it with the remote from your TV.

brent
 
There is output from both eyes through the camera's screen is there a way to make sure the receivers are working
 
If you want to see if its outputting you should be able to look at the sensor through the display on a digital camera or the camera on a cell phone. Just point the camera at it like you are going to take a pic of it. Try it with the remote from your TV.

brent

I used to test remote controls and stuff this way. You needed a B&W camera for it to work but I dont know about the spinner optics.
 
You can see it through the color screen but what do I do after that. I've tried everything and I'm lost at this point
 
One of your optics has died I suspect. I had the same thing happen where only one direction would be registered by the game. You can easily check it by metering the output of the Optic receivers. They should be somewhere over 4VDC. Any less and the game won't register the inputs.

They're quite easy to replace. I was unable to find a single unit optic like the original. Inside the housing are standard emitters and receivers that run on 5V. Getting the new units in the housing proved too difficult, so I just used two individual units in place to of the single original unit.

Sorry to say, I'm out of town and can't remember part numbers. Can anyone chime in with a part number?

Here are a few pictures of the replacement procedure:

Here's the original curved optic on the board:

Battlezone063.jpg



Here's the board with the optic removed:

Battlezone067.jpg


Here's what's inside the curved optic unit, Just standard emitters and recievers:

Battlezone072.jpg


Here's a pic with replacement emitter/receivers installed Most standard units that run on 5V and fit the board will work:

GloablVR019.jpg
 
Thanks that is very helpfu.l one question I got is I have several of those small boards from crappy cabinet pole positions and a pair from an old centipede track ball like 5 extra and none of them seem to work right the closest thing I could come up with doesn't react fast enough the look exactly the same pin out and traces same resistor's and everything what gives on that and could I steal the emitters or receivers from those or is that a mistake waiting to fail it seams so simple of a problem but it has thoroughly kick me ass. Anyway any part numbers or where you got them from would be great mouser has hundreds of them
 
Not sure I understood all of your response. If you're saying you would like to try switching the optics from other Atari boards, then yes it should work.
 
Maxstang I have tried the others and with at least 5 different optic boards it still doesnt work the track ball unit I pulled 2 of the boards from worked when removed from the centipede so why doesn't it work in my tempest. I thought maybe the oem connector could be the problem so I swapped it out and installed new trifcon connectors that made no difference I,ve moved the encoder wheel up and down and for gods sake all around and the thing still isn't right I guess my spares could be bad but the law of averages makes me think that at least one is good because they worked when removed all I did was clean the damn thing on the outside with alcohol.
I do appreciate all your guys help
 
It's possible that it's not the spinner itself but rather one of the Pokey chips on the math board (the smaller one). Try switching the pokeys positions on the math board and see if the spinner works.
 
Sorry, that wasn't very clear. There are two pokey chips on the math board. They are 40 pin chips numbered C012294. Remove them and exchange their positions.
 
I was thinking pokey when I first read the thread. It would be a strange coincidence for it to happen after taking the spinner apart. Did you have the boards out? Maybe the pokey needs to be reseatted.
 
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