Update on repairing my Nintendo VS. Cab.

[MonoTekETeA]

(Used to previously be titled "Discharged my first Monitor(s) just now.")

(Rick Flair) WHoooooooooooooooooooooooo*cough**wheeze*oooooo*co ugh*

Anyway yeah. Said the Hell with being worried (In a way, still took precautions, rubber gloves, one hand behind back, watched my arms.) Grabbed some gator clipped end wire, clamped it on to a flat head. Clamped the monitor frame, shoved it under the annode cap aaaaaaand...nothing. Tried it on the other monitor (Nintendo Vs. cab ;) ) and nothing still.

Heck no! I tried discharging a monitor before and got no spark. Didn't get shocked when I disassembled it. SO!

I plugged that puppy back it, watched those monitors warm up. Unplugged, redid steps 1 and so on, and *pop* a little flash. Other side *pop* goes a lil' flash again.

OH YEAH! ::Flex::

:P Anyone who is afraid of this, don't be. It is nothing, really. Just do what you read, don't be dumb and like leave it plugged in, and all will be good.
Edit: recent post by Peale. Read this how-to, one of many: Peale's shpeal. (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1634710&postcount=22)

Just wanted to share this. It has been the biggest hurdle in restoring my cabs. Now I am off to replace my chip sockets on the Nintendo Vs. board, because through research, I believe that is what is causing my cab to continually reboot before I even see the game. (Doesn't do the boot flicker when I have the board unplugged ;) )

Peace out!
-Jeremy, now sippin a glass o' wine, because arcades be oh so classy.

[coreys429]

I have no idea what you are talking about.... the thing that made me laugh was the Rick Flair Wooo

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Congrats. While it's not good to be careless when doing this, it's nothing to really be scared about. I've done it several times now and it's no big deal.

[Porksta]

I saw this thread on the front page. It read "I discharged my first..." I was hoping for something sexier.

[SPAZ-12]

Welcome to the club!

Discharging crt's really isn't as scary as people make it out to be. After doing it once, it really isn't scary anymore, just something that you have to be careful doing. Anyone who has an ounce of common sense and any instinct for self-preservation can do this safely and easily. Then again, there are a lot of people without either, so this isn't a procedure that I recommend lightly.

[Ed Oscuro]

First off I should mention that I've never discharged a CRT, but I have poked around inside some (just swiping oily super-condensed dust off various parts like the flyback transformer that usually looks jet black but should be red, maybe with a white cover cable; as far as I know this is a good idea because it's not killed me yet, and more importantly it lessens the chance of dust shorting the monitor). Peale is right of course, especially when you consider that the only way most people can discharge CRTs puts them at risk of damaging it from the too-sudden discharge.

IMO Ken Layton is the person who's posted that people should pay attention to:

[url][...] If you are going to work on the monitor main board, you should discharge the monitor's high voltage. You should remove the boards from the monitor to work on them. Don't try the "balancing act" of trying to work on the boards while still in the monitor. [...]

If you are removing a complete monitor from the cabinet there's no need to discharge it. However, you do need to disconnect the power cable, video/sync input cable, and frame ground wire from the monitor before lifting it out. Always have a helper handy to watch to be sure all cables are clear (not snagging on anything) and to help lift the monitor. Remember that 25" monitors are heavy (heavier than they look) and you don't want to drop it or break the neck of it. If you should decide to lay the monitor "face down", put a blanket or pillow down first. The tube will scratch itself under it's own weight and that is a permanent condition.

Some people remove the monitor to do cabinet work or to install a new or better monitor.

When I discharge a monitor I use a high voltage probe to do it. This is the best and safest way. You bleed the charge off quickly in about 15 seconds and with a proper load. You can see the voltage on the meter as it's discharging and without that dangerous SNAP of doing it with a screwdriver. [Emphasis added]

Sure you can discharge the tube with a screwdriver and a piece of wire. However, that can damage things. That sudden snap discharge can arc/burn the prong contacts inside the rubber suction cup thus making a poor connection later. Inside the flyback transformer is a high voltage diode that can be damaged by this sudden short circuit to ground.

I generally do not discharge a monitor just to move/remove it from a cabinet unless it's one of those oddball "two-piece" jobs where the tube is mounted to a piece of wood and the circuit boards are screwed to the side of the game cabinet.

I've been in this business since 1976 and have literally repaired over 1,000 monitors over the years.
Original post here (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1639265), same thread as Peale's post.

[phreak97]

back when I was starting out I got bitten a couple of times, sure teaches you not to be careles pretty quick. it was a fair while before I could poke around in a monitor without being afraid. I didnt die, and there werent any effects that lasted more than 5 minutes, so dont be afriad youre going to put yourself in hospital doing it wrong (unless you have a heart condition maybe). its just kind of like someone jumping out at you and yelling "BOO!" to scare the crap out of you, only way more sudden, vicious, and unexpected. I think the actual fright i much worse than the electric shock.

[MonoTekETeA]

IMO Ken Layton is the person who's posted that people should pay attention to:

Original post here (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1639265), same thread as Peale's post.

Word. I only popped in really fast and saw that the thread was exactly what I posted about, and saw Peale's post and linked to it. I would also listen to Ken in a heart beat because he does have the knowledge for all of this stuff down pat. I read a lot of his other posts on other forums that helped me out immensely in various things. Thanks Ed for pointing his post out. The VS. cab is doing great by the way. I will be doing a cap kit on the monitors in the next upcoming days, but the socket swap went great...except for the Castlevania pins being so fat and ruining the 42 main rom sockets that I just bought. Lol.

-Jeremy

-Jeremy

[Kid Ice]

Glad to hear this...I might need some help with my cabs at some point and I hate to drag stonic all the way over here.

[Ed Oscuro]

Word. I only popped in really fast and saw that the thread was exactly what I posted about, and saw Peale's post and linked to it.
I would like to point out that Peale is just giving the same advice most DIY home arcade operators use, and there's nothing unusual or dumb about it. But my limited scientific knowledge points towards Prof. Layton's suggestions making that homebrew advice obsolete.

Actually, looking around, it seems to me that the process of discharging a monitor correctly is cheaper than I thought:

http://www.stickycarpet.com/pinx/md.html

Looking at eBay for the multimeter and the high voltage probe, it seems we're talking well less than $60 for most combinations of parts. That $60 could go well in the long run.

I also seriously need to rethink what I'm doing the next time I feel like wiping down a monitor that'd been plugged in hours before. :?

[MonoTekETeA]

I would like to point out that Peale is just giving the same advice most DIY home arcade operators use, and there's nothing unusual or dumb about it. But my limited scientific knowledge points towards Prof. Layton's suggestions making that homebrew advice obsolete.

Actually, looking around, it seems to me that the process of discharging a monitor correctly is cheaper than I thought:

http://www.stickycarpet.com/pinx/md.html

Looking at eBay for the multimeter and the high voltage probe, it seems we're talking well less than $60 for most combinations of parts. That $60 could go well in the long run.

I also seriously need to rethink what I'm doing the next time I feel like wiping down a monitor that'd been plugged in hours before. :?

Yeah, one of these days I will set out and put the money down for like a Fluke 179 or something along those lines. I really just have to peruse ebay.

[phreak97]

I used to work at a proper arcade repair workshop and we only ever used a long clip lead on a screwdriver. the fancy tools are just for people who are scared.

Discharging the tube is a trivial little part of removing a monitor, next youll be wearing a radiation suit just in case theres any excess x-rays coming out.


I didnt actually look at any of the guides, but because the tube recharges itself a bit I found you can make things safer by leaving a clip lead connected between the earth strap around the tube and the hole the eht wire uncliped from on the tube. if you leave that there whle youre disconecting everything else, it should be fully discharged by the tie youre ready to pull it out.

also to remove the eht wire you want to unclip the connector using the screwdriver you discharged it with.. it ca become one process really, earth the screwdriver with a clip lead, then just push it behind the rubber cup, while youre holding it aganst the metal clip it cant bite you, you can pull the rubber cup back and see what youre doing a bit better, unclip it.

pretty much gave those instructions in the wrong order.. but whatever.

[MonoTekETeA]

So I figured I would make a general repair thread about this cab. I am looking to get everything in working order in it, new capkits, coin doors fully functional, etc. After that is all said and done, I would like to get the goliath out of my house, so I will either sell the cab, or part out all the working pieces.

So my new update. I took all my chips out of my board and cases to document and take pictures of what I had, but lost my RP2A03 CPU chip in the process. I finally just started looking for a new one and found mikesarcade selling them. But they were out of stock. Then I searched google, and to my surprise, find that it is the processor that powers the NES! Well that only makes sense when I think about it. I finally found the time to find a spare NES circuit board laying around, that I knew I had. The processor had a little bit extra lettering on the chip, but I figured forget it, I haven't had the game for this long, and if this fails me and breaks the board, nothing changes.

I went ahead and desolder the RP2A03 and drop it in my board, and sure enough, boots up just fine!!

So happy I didn't even have to pay for one and just had it laying around. Figured I would update with this information in case this ever happens to some one else.

Cheers!
-Jeremy

[phreak97]

what vs game is it?
I'm a fan of the old nintendo cabs:)

[MonoTekETeA]

This one:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y98/MonoTekETeA/DSCF0887.jpg

I have Excitebike, Golf, Baseball, Castlevania, and something else.

[skaar]

So my new update. I took all my chips out of my board and cases to document and take pictures of what I had, but lost my RP2A03 CPU chip in the process. I finally just started looking for a new one and found mikesarcade selling them. But they were out of stock. Then I searched google, and to my surprise, find that it is the processor that powers the NES! Well that only makes sense when I think about it. I finally found the time to find a spare NES circuit board laying around, that I knew I had. The processor had a little bit extra lettering on the chip, but I figured forget it, I haven't had the game for this long, and if this fails me and breaks the board, nothing changes.

I went ahead and desolder the RP2A03 and drop it in my board, and sure enough, boots up just fine!!

Y'know... that is pretty awesome. Kudos on that one, it got a big smile out of me and congrats on your victory!