Wells-Gardner 6100, or circuit problem?

tybrad

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Hi guys,
A week ago, my Tempest machine stopped showing video. The game can be played blind, but the monitor shows nothing. I can swap parts all day long but do not have the troubleshooting horsepower necessary on this machine. I will be in looking at it today and can/will post pics if necessary.

What should I be looking for?

Thanks,
Tyler
 
Oh....and a lot of times you can tell just by inspecting the monitor deflection board that there are fried components near one corner. It's a fairly common problem. If that's the case then I usually buy a rebuild kit from Bob Roberts and an LV2000 to replace that section of the circuitry. It's relatively inexpensive and I've never had one go bad.
 
Open the back door, look to see if the spot killer is on (on the 6100 chassis).

Report back once you do that. We'll get it fixed.
 
Thank you jehuie and Drake. I will report back once I get in. Incidentally, where IS the spot killer LED?
 
Found someone else's pic. Added an arrow.

PF4ws6yl.jpg
 
OK guys, no flashing spot killer LED. Here are some big pics for close inspection...

_DSC1065_zps718f238f.jpg


_DSC1066_zps476c587a.jpg


_DSC1067_zps8973acf8.jpg


I can tell you that something smelled hot after 4-5 mins 'on'/ C901 looks bulged on its top. Do you see anything else?

Thanks again for all your help!
Tyler
 
If you have a two channel oscilloscope you can hook it up to the x and y output on the PCB and see if the Tempest PCB is working.

-Grant
 
Okay. No spot killer, and an HV cap is bulging..

Something is way wrong with your chassis.

If C901 is bulging, your positive side HV supply has AC in it.

Replace that cap, then check D101-103 for shorts on the LV supply board.

Then check Q102 for a short, along with ZD100, D104, and Q100.
 
That is one of the weirdest capacitor setups I've ever seen on your deflection PCB. I've never seen those types of caps used there before . . . also you are going to want to install a LV2000 kit onto that deflection PCB, it will safe you a ton of time and heartache in the future!
 
If you have a two channel oscilloscope you can hook it up to the x and y output on the PCB and see if the Tempest PCB is working.

-Grant

Hi Grant,
That game board was refurbed/rebuilt by Talon2000- very good work so I do not believe that its a problem.
 
Hi Grant,
That game board was refurbed/rebuilt by Talon2000- very good work so I do not believe that its a problem.

I wasn't implying it wasn't working, more of I haven't seen those types of caps before. Just more of an observation. Also check to see if there is continuity between transistors and the metal frame.

-Grant
 
I wasn't implying it wasn't working, more of I haven't seen those types of caps before. Just more of an observation. Also check to see if there is continuity between transistors and the metal frame.

-Grant
Oh, sorry. I thought you meant the game and video boards on the lower wall of the unit. You meant the upper board at the monitor, right?
 
Okay. No spot killer, and an HV cap is bulging..

Something is way wrong with your chassis.

If C901 is bulging, your positive side HV supply has AC in it.

Replace that cap, then check D101-103 for shorts on the LV supply board.

Then check Q102 for a short, along with ZD100, D104, and Q100.

That is one of the weirdest capacitor setups I've ever seen on your deflection PCB. I've never seen those types of caps used there before . . . also you are going to want to install a LV2000 kit onto that deflection PCB, it will safe you a ton of time and heartache in the future!

I am confused now. Drake refers to the LV board, disjaukifa says install an LV2000 kit. Are you guys speaking about the same thing? I don't really know. If I remember correctly (and might be wrong), the seller said that he installed the low voltage driver for the monitor.
 
The larger monitor board with the 2 blue capacitors on their side is the low voltage "lv" or deflection board. There is a small board made to replace a small section of parts on that board called an lv2000 or lv6100 depending on who makes it. You can google for it. By replacing some resistors, diodes, and capacitors in that section of the deflection board, you prevent a lot of troubleshooting issues.

If you look at the metal box, that is the Hv section or high voltage cage. You have a bulging capacitor in there. It needs replacing. I would imagine there are other issues. Looks like it has been gone thru but you need to check the work that was done. I would recommend reading the 6100faq to get an idea of the mods that are recommended.
 
Also, if something smelled hot......it was probably the resistor on the deflection board smoking because you didn't have the degaussing coil /circuit hooked up. It is the small two hole connector hooked up to the tube near the back of the deflection board.
 
Ugg...

I am only NOW getting into repair mode. I replaced the caps on the bulged cap board. I turned the monitor/driver boards unit over and found one yellow wire undone from its transistor (one of the four mounted on the metal chassis), so I re-soldered that back together.

What are those trannys driving?

I reconnected the degaussing plug and all else. I have not started it up yet but I will report back...
 
I just started it up and I heard a pop. It was C901 giving up the ghost. It (or something) has a strange odor- sort of bleachy- ideas?

It's polarity on the board is/was correct. Ideas?

Also, still no video and the game has a hum now that I believe is new. I heard no audio in the short time that I had it up before 901 blew.
 
The cap C901 is a 35V rated cap

It needs replacing, as it's blown

If more than 35V comes through (from the deflection board) to the HV board, C901 will blow again.
The diagram says there is meant to be 26.5V across that cap

So you need to check the things WindDrake said
Okay. No spot killer, and an HV cap is bulging..

Something is way wrong with your chassis.

If C901 is bulging, your positive side HV supply has AC in it.

Replace that cap, then check D101-103 for shorts on the LV supply board.

Then check Q102 for a short, along with ZD100, D104, and Q100.


AC is Alternating current, and isn't meant to be present, since there is a bridge rectifier (of 4 diodes) to convert the AC to DC
Diodes are cheap

Good luck
 
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