Question about power supplies for older arcade games
Pinballed
things, I'm not. Been repairing pinball machines for awhile now and
I'm no stranger to electronics. However...video stuff, monitors, so
many different machines, yikes. Its a whole new world for me.
I have many questions...as I have come into a pile of boards and
monitor stuff. Most of it's older stuff...like 1980-1986.
So far I've sorted out whats what, for the most part and my first
question applies to power supplies.
In older machines like Pacman, Galaxian, etc, the power supply looks
pretty archaic. Two big transformers, some fuses, not much to look at
but big and mean. Then I was looking at some peoples restorations on
the net for their Pacman and Mrs. Pacman and they are all running
newer looking power supplies, the ones in the standard metal box with
all the terminals on the one side.
Can you rig up a Pacman and the monitor board to one of those power
supplies? Or do you have to have an old dedicated Pacman power supply
to operate the old monitor and everything? Because in each of the
restorations, in went a new monitor and monitor board to go with the
new power supply. So I'm just wondering.
Thank you and sorry if this question seems totally amateur but as I
said before...video and monitors...new to me!
I'll have more questions to come and believe me, trying to do any
research I can on my own too.
Stan
Carl
It's all really separate. The monitor runs off of AC and has nothing
to do with the power supply, old linear or solid state. You can run
the original power supply with brand new monitor or vice versa.
In addition, some like to rebuild the old power supply and some go
with a new switcher. Some say a properly repaired original p/s is
more reliable than a new switcher, etc... I probably spent the same
amount on the repair 'kit' for my Gorf p/s and header pins as I would
have on a new switcher.
Joey
warp9pinball
You can also buy conversion kits for power supplies, such as:
http://www.arcadeshop.com/pics/pac-mspac-ps-kit.jpg
James Sweet
Sure, you can bypass the old linear regulator and install a modern
switchmode power supply, you do get improved efficiency. The original
transformer often serves as the isolation transformer for the monitor so
it is required unless the new monitor doesn't need one, and even then it
is recommended because someone down the road might install a monitor
that does require isolation without realizing it isn't there.
That said, linear power supplies are generally very dependable, and it's
not uncommon for them to go 20+ years without service. Switchmode
supplies are much more highly stressed and are lucky to last 5 years of
heavy use. Either one is probably just fine in home use, each has
advantages and disadvantages so it's a tossup really as to which is
"better".
Personally originality is very important to me and I always use the
original linear power supply. They are simple, dependable, and work just
fine. I use the original monitors whenever possible too. Those old
Electrohomes and Wells Gardners are great monitors, cap kit and adjust
them and they're good for another 20 years.
James Sweet
>
> It's all really separate. The monitor runs off of AC and has nothing
> to do with the power supply, old linear or solid state. You can run
> the original power supply with brand new monitor or vice versa.
>
> In addition, some like to rebuild the old power supply and some go
> with a new switcher. Some say a properly repaired original p/s is
> more reliable than a new switcher, etc... I probably spent the same
> amount on the repair 'kit' for my Gorf p/s and header pins as I would
> have on a new switcher.
>
> Joey
As I said earlier, in home use this is probably a non-issue, but we had
some arcade games in the hallway at work that were on 24/7, and quite
heavily used. One (Robotron) had a switcher installed and I think I
replaced it 3 times over the period of years I was there. The other
(Asteroids) had a linear power supply and I never touched it, only
repaired the monitor.
Pinballed
ok, good stuff. That answers that question. Thank you.
Now, regarding switching power supplies, I have a few different kinds
here I could use. Just to throw out a few examples theres the Happ
Controls one with 8 terminals (dont see a model #), the Jetco with 7
terminals and this Midway one I have with 8 terminals...only ID on the
Williams is from the williams serial number tag still on it 40019 wich
identifies the game (the first set of numbers, the other IS the serial
number) Oh, and I just saw, it says Peter Chou model USP-9
Anyways, I have all kinds of these, and they're all different makes
but similar in function. Seems the 8 terminals have one extra ground.
Is that really the only difference? And are all of these good for any
arcade game? As in, swapping the linear power supply for one of
these?
Oh, one more question...in a working game with a working power supply,
is it ok to test other power supplies (swap them) in that unit? Can
this cause damage if the power supply is fried? Or will things just
not work? I have to test these power supplies to see what I have, and
I have some old counter top games, some work, some dont, that I can
use to test these things. I dont really care if I end up toasting one
of them either. They're just old poker games.
Stan
James Sweet
>
> ok, good stuff. That answers that question. Thank you.
>
> Now, regarding switching power supplies, I have a few different kinds
> here I could use. Just to throw out a few examples theres the Happ
> Controls one with 8 terminals (dont see a model #), the Jetco with 7
> terminals and this Midway one I have with 8 terminals...only ID on the
> Williams is from the williams serial number tag still on it 40019 wich
> identifies the game (the first set of numbers, the other IS the serial
> number) Oh, and I just saw, it says Peter Chou model USP-9
>
> Anyways, I have all kinds of these, and they're all different makes
> but similar in function. Seems the 8 terminals have one extra ground.
> Is that really the only difference? And are all of these good for any
> arcade game? As in, swapping the linear power supply for one of
> these?
>
> Oh, one more question...in a working game with a working power supply,
> is it ok to test other power supplies (swap them) in that unit? Can
> this cause damage if the power supply is fried? Or will things just
> not work? I have to test these power supplies to see what I have, and
> I have some old counter top games, some work, some dont, that I can
> use to test these things. I dont really care if I end up toasting one
> of them either. They're just old poker games.
>
> Stan
They're all pretty much the same, the voltages are pretty well
standardized and even the circuits inside don't vary much. The only
difference you're likely to see that can matter is the wattage rating,
but if it's just a poker game, you probably don't need anything special.
It's just about impossible to fry one as long as you don't do something
like connect the AC power line to one of the outputs. They all have
short circuit protection and will shut down. You generally ought to turn
down the voltage adjust pot if they have one and then turn it up while
measuring the voltage at the board. If it was set too high to compensate
for resistive loss in a game with a long wiring harness or high load, it
can damage the board you hook it up to.
Pinballed
Thanks James,
The power supplies I'm testing out are going to eventually end up in a
few other games. I came into a few countertops, a couple of
cocktails...strange generic looking things...one is quite nice, and 4
video arcade games. I have a pile of those power supplies in that load
too. I suspect some work and some dont. So I'm going to test those and
then put them in the countertops and two of the vids. Non of them had
linear power supplies except maybe the Seawolf II. Its 1978 so I think
its must have the old one but it powered up, the monitor didnt, long
story, I wont get into it right now.
The cocktails...they both had pacman or mrs pacman in it, can tell by
the burn although they have switching power supplies and look put
together, as in way not original. I dont care, But the monitors didnt
fire up in either...I'll eventually get to that pile of monitor boards
and yokes etc that I have and have to start figuring what can go with
which monitor. Either that or the monitors were ripped from a pacman
because the game in there is something else. The games fired up...put
in the credits and started the game playing blind. Just no monitor. My
first and only attempt was to reset the yoke, turn the adjustments,
this got 4 of the counter tops' monitors working. Originally they all
had dead monitors. But the cocktial monitors didnt come on.
Lemme ask you this. If you're getting an orange glow at the back of
the tube by the yoke, but no picture...does this mean that monitor
would probably be working, just something on the monitor board?
One of the vids is a single slot Neo Geo. The guy said he saw the
monitor working but I couldnt get it to come on. And it was dead dark
at the back by the yoke too. I'm not complaining, he threw it in for
free. The game plays, just no monitor. But THAT monitor has somewhat
of an enclosed male connection...for lack of what its called, as
opposed to having the pins at the back of the tube all exposed. Out of
the 20 or so monitor boards and yokes that came with everything...came
from a parts bin...so some work, some wont...I cant find that type
that would connect to the monitor itself. Its a 19 inch monitor in
there and I have one spare working one with the more common pins and I
can test it with a working monitor board when I figure out which ones
work and what can power which monitor. Theres alot of stuff and alot
of sorting out still to do.
Well, out of all that there was really only the one question so I have
another to add...
I have a few pacman boards and mrs pacman daughter cards and all. I
want to put together one of those cocktails with one of those. But I
have a feeling its not as simple as hooking up a power supply and
getting a Jamma adapter, although maybe it is with this generic
cocktail? I'm trying to remember if I read something about the pacman
board used both ac and dc voltages? I could be way off..been scanning
way too many posts for info on all this.
Stan
James Sweet
>
> Lemme ask you this. If you're getting an orange glow at the back of
> the tube by the yoke, but no picture...does this mean that monitor
> would probably be working, just something on the monitor board?
>
>
That means that the horizontal deflection circuit is working. There are
a multitude of other things that can go wrong, but as long as the glass
is not broken, the monitors can usually be fixed fairly easily. In more
than a decade that I've been collecting and working on others games,
I've never replaced a monitor, but I have replaced 5 or 6 picture tubes
that were either severely burned or had shorts in the gun that caused
one color to be stuck on.