Viva la Amplifone !

ArcRevival

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
10,147
Reaction score
1,099
Location
RAPID CITY, South Dakota
After running on an aftermarket HV board that Arcadeshop used to sell for the past 6-8 years, (i lost track of how long it's been) , i decided it was time to rebuild the original one that has been collecting dust in my garage. I read the Amplifone upgrade faq a few times and ordered all the parts from Bob Roberts. Teamed up with Dan ( Hatrick) and we copied Level 42's idea of the resistors mounted on the heat sink. I put in a new flyback and followed all the suggestions on the guide and now have a fully working HV board. The deflection board was working but had not really been touched. I did about 98% of the upgrades on it and have an incredibly stable picture now. Replacing the 10k pots on the deflection board made a HUGE difference in the stability of the picture. That was the last thing i did and saw a tremendous improvement with the new pots. Over all it was pretty easy and the only problem i had was when i first fired up the game and could not focus it. The lower focus wire ( not the one that comes from the flyback) had broken off and needed to be reattached. Once I did that I had a fully working HV board. What a difference !
 
Excellent

I am a newby here on Amps, but I have built an Amplifone site(below) to help me out

I have looked for info on these "aftermarket" HV boards, and one appeared on eBay a few weeks ago, for a WG 6100 though - Unfortunately the guy didn't know if the item would work in an Amplifone . :(

Are they possibly the same item you have?

Got any pics on the screen? or even the Aftermarket HV for my site (I can post a link to this site too :D

Good work
 
I can get you a picture of the after market one. It will be my back up unit now. i don't think it was meant to work in a 6100, if i remember right they made a separate unit for that monitor.
 
Nice to see my idea gets copied. Did you use discrete resistors like me or the even nicer solution with TO220 resistors ?

The 10K pots on the deflection board mmm, might need to do that to !
 
Nice to see my idea gets copied. Did you use discrete resistors like me or the even nicer solution with TO220 resistors ?

The 10K pots on the deflection board mmm, might need to do that to !

We used the aluminum resistors exactly like the ones you used. I liked the idea of having them up on the heat sink far away from any other components. Thanks for the idea!
 
This is the aftermarket one. It will be my back up unit now. the heat sink that came on it was pretty ghetto from what i remember so we used the original heat sink :

P1020187.jpg

P1020189.jpg


This is the original one back in the game where it belongs :
P1020199.jpg
 
Nice to see my idea gets copied. Did you use discrete resistors like me or the even nicer solution with TO220 resistors ?

The 10K pots on the deflection board mmm, might need to do that to !

You would not believe the difference the pots made. I completed all the work except for the pots. Didnt feel like bothering with them. I fired up the game and it was jittery. Replaced the pots and it was totally stable. Can't recommend it enough.
 
Maybe it's time to bust out the G05-802 from the Battlezone and replace those pots... I'm getting a bit of jitters in the BZ...

So when you guys coming over HERE to help ME fix stuff? Sheesh... I never get any love... have to figure stuff out on my own (and with the help of folks here)...

I'm feeling ... left out ...

:004_scry:
 
lol i offered to come over plenty of times when you were dealing with all your bulk buy games. You never took me up on it. What else do you need to have fixed ? And ya, i am ordering pots for all my vectors now lol.
 
After running on an aftermarket HV board that Arcadeshop used to sell for the past 6-8 years, (i lost track of how long it's been) , i decided it was time to rebuild the original one that has been collecting dust in my garage. I read the Amplifone upgrade faq a few times and ordered all the parts from Bob Roberts. Teamed up with Dan ( Hatrick) and we copied Level 42's idea of the resistors mounted on the heat sink. I put in a new flyback and followed all the suggestions on the guide and now have a fully working HV board. The deflection board was working but had not really been touched.

I am working on an Amplifone repair right now.. no high voltage, BU406D is shot. No way to test the flyback (that I know of).

Does anyone sell a full "kit"? Or do I have to hunt down each part?

Bob Roberts responded back that the parts in the FAQ are not necessary (so they are not included in his "kit") and does not have the TO220 resistors.. Although, I like those other ones you used too.

I guess I can get most of the parts a la carte from Bob, other than the resistors and flyback?? Arcadeshop has the flyback, and I need to go to mouser for the resistors?

Thanks
 
Correct. And they may not be necessary, but some of my parts tested bad too so i just went with the FAQ list. Bob does have them all ala carte minus resistors and flyback. I seriously thought about making up kits with all the FAQ parts and selling them. Maybe I will at some point.
 
Correct. And they may not be necessary, but some of my parts tested bad too so i just went with the FAQ list. Bob does have them all ala carte minus resistors and flyback. I seriously thought about making up kits with all the FAQ parts and selling them. Maybe I will at some point.

If that "some point" is not the next week or so, I need to get going! :)

I found the part number for the TO220 resistors on another thread, but I think I like the larger ceramic ones better. Any opinion? Do you have the part number for the ceramic ones?

Mouser/Newark and the likes usually have a minimum order, so I may be better off ordering all of the parts from them instead of Bob (I hate to do that, as I think supporting the vendors that support us is important)... But, if I do go that route, is there a complete parts list for the "kit" available? All of the parts that typically go bad or age..
 
Mouser/Newark and the likes usually have a minimum order, so I may be better off ordering all of the parts from them instead of Bob (I hate to do that, as I think supporting the vendors that support us is important)... But, if I do go that route, is there a complete parts list for the "kit" available? All of the parts that typically go bad or age..

If you want, I wouldn't mind "piggy-backing" on your order for a few parts to help you get to the minimum. Especially, if you are going to get some of those resistors to mount to the heat sinks. Then you can just ship 'em to me locally in NJ.
 
lol i offered to come over plenty of times when you were dealing with all your bulk buy games. You never took me up on it. What else do you need to have fixed ? And ya, i am ordering pots for all my vectors now lol.

Actually... nothing major these days. On my to-do list: Pots on the G05-802... I have to figure out why a K4900 has the jitters (probably the freakin' pots as well, eh?)... I need to bust out both my PP and PPII boardsets and add the cap & diodes Mark recommends to stop the HS save corruption I'm experiencing from time to time... and I have two pinball machines to shop (Secret Service & Whirlwind).

Most of the reason why I didn't take you up on your offers prior was because I was a pothead and my gameroom tended to smell sort of... aromatic... and well, I'm an anti-social S.O.B.... being I've not smoked herb in quite some time now I think I can stop being paranoid about that crap and actually invite non-tokers over.

Now to try to get over my tendency to be introverted.

Alright...bring on the booze!

:D

EDIT: Damn... I forgot... I am not really drinkin' these days either. Sheesh... Responsibility sucks. ;)
 
Last edited:
If you want, I wouldn't mind "piggy-backing" on your order for a few parts to help you get to the minimum. Especially, if you are going to get some of those resistors to mount to the heat sinks. Then you can just ship 'em to me locally in NJ.

If I can make the minimum with an extra set of resistors, I will do that and order the rest from Bob.
 
Digi-Key has no minimum order.. I just placed an order for 2 x MP930-50.0F-ND

Waiting to hear back from Bob on the rest of the parts..
 
Still waiting for some of the parts to fix the HV board, but I read a bit more about the deflection board..

Lots of talk about the "diode modification", but no information on what it does...

So, what does it do?

I also see 2 different "diode modifications". One uses 4 X 1N5342B, and 4 X 1N4002... The other uses 6 X 1N4002, 2 X 1N754A, 2X 1N756A, and 2 X 12ohm resistors..

The second one I found an official Atari document about, the first one only appears on the FAQ. My guess would be to do the official Atari version??
 
Last edited:
Still waiting for some of the parts to fix the HV board, but I read a bit more about the deflection board..

Lots of talk about the "diode modification", but no information on what it does...

So, what does it do?

I also see 2 different "diode modifications". One uses 4 X 1N5342B, and 4 X 1N4002... The other uses 6 X 1N4002, 2 X 1N754A, 2X 1N756A, and 2 X 12ohm resistors..

The second one I found an official Atari document about, the first one only appears on the FAQ. My guess would be to do the official Atari version??

Have a look in the link in my signature

Almost every link available for the amplifone monitor

Let us know if you find one there
 
Back
Top Bottom