Old pong console acting strangely need help!

[SEARSS~1]

Hi
One day I bought an old pong console from an old lady at a flea market. When I got back at home I hooked it up to the TV But the problem was that I didn't have the AC adapter for it... So I took C batteries to insert them in the console but when I removed the battery cover there already was batteries in it... I removed them but the metal contacts where all corroded and rusted so they did not work anymore
It used 6 1.5V batteries so in total that's 9V... I finally found a 9V AC adapter so I plugged it in the console and powered it on.

It seemed to works but there was something really weird... The 1st paddle was invisible
Also sometimes when I powered it on the ball was a straight line that went up and down...
After a week or so I powered it on to see if it worked and it did The 1st paddle was visible but it was black... That's not normal since iv'e never ever seen a pong console that had a black paddle... But at least it worked
I powered it off and then back on but it returned invisible... After moving every switch on the console color suddenly appeared on the screen

So I really don't know why it behaves like that and how to repair it... Could you help me?
It appears to be a "Sears Sport Center" and it looks like this THAT'S NOT MY PICTURE

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

My repair skills aren't as good as other people's on the boards here, but I would suspect that some capacitors may have failed.. I would look inside and see if there's any leakage around them.

Also, are you trying the machine out on an old CRT TV or a newer HD TV?

[alec006]

Looks like the console is showing it's age. Got to remember these things were built in the early to mid 1970's so many things are slowly decaying in them. My Atari Super Pong from 1976 does the exact thing sometimes with a nice long paddle that covers the screen, kind of cheap considering the ball can never get past it xP

If your playing on an LCD, problems are going to show up easier since Pong is a console that relies on some very low interlace TV rates so, you may or may not see the ball or other things in motion on a newer LCD, CRT's are still the best bet.

Ask for the main problem problems itself, three things most likely to fail in Pong consoles, Potentiometer, which are the knobs that control the paddles, the switches, which control game modes, and capacitors. Most likely the contacts on the potentiometers and switches are worn to hell so you could either try taking them apart and cleaning the contacts which is easier said than done. You can also try to find a replacement for them all but they very hard to replace since I have no idea where those specific pedometers and switches are sold, maybe someone else here does?

And the capacitors, well it's always nice to replace those since lets face it, you don't want them to dry up and cause electrical problems or burst for some reason, and there's very few on the board so, not much work to get those in place.

Hope some other tech people here can suggest some other useful info for you!

[APE992]

If there are any caps in there they're most assuredly dried up.

Beyond that the power supply you're using may be out of spec or doing a crappy job powering the unit.

[InsaneDavid]

Ask for the main problem problems itself, three things most likely to fail in Pong consoles, Pedometers, which are the knobs that control the paddles, the switches, which control game modes, and capacitors. Most likely the contacts on the pedometers and switches are worn to hell so you could either try taking them apart and cleaning the contacts which is easier said than done. You can also try to find a replacement for them all but they very hard to replace since I have no idea where those specific pedometers and switches are sold, maybe someone else here does?

Po-ten-ti-om-e-ter. I doubt the Pong system is trying to keep track of how far it has walked.

[alec006]

Po-ten-ti-om-e-ter. I doubt the Pong system is trying to keep track of how far it has walked.

Good point! Edited, thanks InsaneDavid xD

[Niku-Sama]

several of my magnavox odyssey's did that, tried different PSUs but nothing helped untill i took the thing apart and gave it a through cleaning.
i doubt its the PSU because its not often that you find a 9v wall wart that isnt able to supply 3 watts at 100ma.

plus you said there were batteries in it that corroded, i bet theres more corrosion once you pop it open, a wire detailing brush may be in order to scrub some contacts and ground points clean