Power Supply died in one of my games...

[blissfulnoise]

So I'm looking for a new one now. Any recommendations on where to get one?

I need one with a remote on-off cable instead of the built on switch as well. I checked Happs but was wondering if they could be aquired cheaper or if there were better recommendations.

I'm also running into an issue with the monitor on my Neo-Geo. It's like the colors go all muddy. This has happened off and on for a few months. Typically I'll give the controls a good wack and it'll straighten out. Sometimes it won't occur at all for weeks. Any recommendations on where to look in the cabinet?

I'm thinking lose wire or short given the nature of the problem, but my knowledge of monitors is pretty pathetic.

For reference it's a Philips M08X.

I'm by no means helpless inside a cabinet, but was wondering if anyone with more experience than me could give me an idea where to look.

Thanks!

[Hammy]

any switched mode power supply will work, it's just a matter of the way you wire it up.

on a lot of cabs there's cherry switchers and stuff on the back doors and things like that. usually, a remote switch (in the instance of a uk cab) would be taken directly from the live feed and then directly back to the power supply from the contact pin, so there's no special psu's with remote switch, it's all done a simpler way.

as for the monitor, sounds like the neckboard could be loose, or a dry joint on the chassis. try reseating the neckboard first :)

[freckledpeas]

as for the monitor, sounds like the neckboard could be loose, or a dry joint on the chassis. try reseating the neckboard first :)

Pardon my ignorance, but can you remove a neckboard without having to discharge the monitor? I have a monitor where I'd like to try this, but I don't want to zap myself...

[Hammy]

as for the monitor, sounds like the neckboard could be loose, or a dry joint on the chassis. try reseating the neckboard first :)

Pardon my ignorance, but can you remove a neckboard without having to discharge the monitor? I have a monitor where I'd like to try this, but I don't want to zap myself...

yes you can, if you're careful. handle the neckboard by the edges of the pcb and i'd advise against going near the pins on the neck of the tube (they can hold a little charge, but it's not going to be much)

[20eyes]

Pardon my ignorance, but can you remove a neckboard without having to discharge the monitor? I have a monitor where I'd like to try this, but I don't want to zap myself...

If your going to do any work on monitors take a few min. and make a discharging tool from a screwdriver and a peice of wire, better safe than sorry.


If it looks blurry then its caps, but youd think it would do it all the time then.... If the colors are "off" then it may need to be degaussed. Sounds like somthing is loose though like 'hammy' said, if it goes away with a good whack.
If you plan to do alot of work on arcade machines I would invest in Randy Fromm's "big blue book". Good luck.

[Hammy]

you can remove the neckboard, but that's about it, working at board level discharging is a must.

[blissfulnoise]

If you plan to do alot of work on arcade machines I would invest in Randy Fromm's "big blue book". Good luck.

I've been eyeing his instructional stuff for some time now. Since I just bought my twelfth (!!!) cab, it's about time I invest in it. I'll probably be getting it next week.

Regarding the power supply, I need one that looks like so:

http://www.happcontrols.com/images/80/80007200.jpg

I opened one of my other power supplies that has the external on-off cable on it and thought I might be able to wire it myself, but I didn't really know how to proceed on it so I let it go.

I'll probably just get the happ power supply next week too unless I can do a surgery job.

As for the monitor, I did find that if I went into the back and moved some of the wires around, it stablized the picture. I'm going to look more at it later tonight and see if I can figure it out. It still feels like a short to me, and looking at the picture, it just appears that all the red is gone. Could it be a short on the neckboard?

[Hammy]

i don't recognise that supply, but you could still use a standard switcher instead of it, but it will take about quater of an hour to fit it.

monitor issue sounds deffo like the neckboard. could also be a loose wire to your edge connector and monitor (beep it out on a multimeter)

check for a loose wire first, then check the neckboard out, reseat the neckboard, and if it's still dodgy after a reseat there's color trimming pots on it (well there is on most monitor models) tweak them to suit, the other two colors may be too high remember.

board level with monitors i can't help you sorry.

[shawnbo42]

I don't know if this will help you, but I'll try. Your power supply, if it is exactly like the pic you posted, is readily available from Betson, probably could get it from happ controls or Mazzco. Those power supplies were generally used in the Dynamo HS-5 cabinets (not that that's imprtant info), or Konami also used them extensively in their Lethal Enforcers, Simpsons, Turtles, etc. cabinets. I believe the Betson Part number is 44-1040 (double check on that one first though, I could be wrong). The only thing is you'll have to specify if it has the power switch or the wiring harness. Some of them had a button (on/off) right on the power supply. This is because if you ever look at a Dynamo cabinet, about halfway down on the right side in the back, there is a small hole. That hole is where the on/off button lines up from the p/s to the outside of the cabinet. On the Konami cabinets, the power switch is on top of the cabinet, so their p/s has the 3 or 4 pin wiring harness coming out the side instead of the power switch. Anyways, if you get the exact replacement, it's a 5 minute job to throw it in, and you're back in business. If you are really tech-savvy, you could fix your old one, but for the money vs. time scenario, unless you are an operator buying power supplies 10 or 20 at a time, it's really not worth it. New p/s with a home machine should last you virtually forever. Keep in mind that a machine in an arcade, or on the road, usually runs 10-15 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the p/s lasts several years on average. As far as your monitor issue goes, I would agree with everyone else that you have a loose connection somewhere. Discharge your monitor (better to be safe than sorry, I've had the Afro a couple times @_@ )If you look on the main board of the monitor chassis, you will have your video inputs somewhere. Most newer machines are color coded, red wire for the red input, blue wire for blue, green for green, black for video ground, and usually white for the sync line. This is not set in stone!! Sometimes these wires can be completely different colors depending on your cabinet, or if someone changed/hacked something over the years. Anyhow, if you filp the board upside down, re-solder the connections on the input connector, sometimes they will go "cold". After I did that, I would go after the outputs on the neck board. If you look at your neck board, you'll see there are three transistors, sometimes with a heat sink mounted to them (depending on your monitor). Those are your outputs for the three colors, red, green, and blue. Look at yor adjustment pots on the neck board. You should have R-Bias, G-Bias, B-bias, and the Cutoff pots (or maybe just one set or the other). These are how you adjust the colors that your monitor displays. Follow the traces on the board to the transistor that drives the red signal, and re-solder all the connections on your red circuit (the adjustment pots, the transistor itself). After that, I'd check the wire connections, and, if necessary, the wires themselves (although I've never had a bad wire in that area yet, it's always a possibility). I hope this hepls you somewhat, if I confused you I'm sorry, but it's hard to describe technical details online (like trying to fix a computer over the phone, lol). If you need any more help, drop a line, I'll try and help you best I can.
Shawn

[blissfulnoise]

I appreciate the feedback!

I did just order one of those power supplies from Happs a few weeks ago, it's working great now, but I did find that along the power chain, when the last power supply went, a connection looked like it was literraly blown off (between the off on switch and the coin-mech it looked like).

Hooking that back up plus the new power supply and it's working just fine.

As for the monitor issue, I did reseat all connections on the neckboard and the problem hasn't reoccured. I'm still a little timmid with working in there, but I'm getting more and more comfortable.

[Ken Layton]

This is the correct "XT" style power supply with external on/off harness:

http://www.happcontrols.com/powersupplies/80007200.htm