Re: Omega Race Acid Damage HEED HELP!

This is exactly the same symptom I was getting when the filter supply caps
were bad on my game (you know - THE REALLY BIG ONES 100000mFD and 50000 mFD)
. I would look for voltage dips in your +5 supply. This is really easy to
check. If you check pin 14 on just about any of the the TTL chips on the
motherboard (any 74LSxxx will do) you should see clean +5 power. You can't
check this with a voltmeter, only a oscilloscope will do here. If you see
anything other than a straight horizontal line on the scope, then that's
where the problem is. My board was resetting itself every 8ms because the
power sag was causing a perpetual reset state.

Check the delfection transistors bolted on to the chassis of the monitor
(2n3716, and 2n3792). If you use a ohmmeter, there should be an "infinite"
resistance with respect to the monitor frame. There should be a mica
isolation disc between the transistor and the chassis. If you get any
reading at all, remove the transistors, clean the silicon grease off of
them, clean the area on the monitor chassis, and reapply the transistor, and
check again. I have seen dirt collect on exposed silicon grease, and become
conductive after time causing a short circuit. The fact that you got any
lines at all at least says that the high voltage flyback is functioning. You
already said there was no spot killer - that
's a good thing, and the fact that you saw any trace at all is promising.

I wouldn't even bother with replacing the battery, it isn't necessary at all
for the game to operate. It only stores high score while the game is turned
off. For home use purposes, I wouldn't even worry about putting something
in. If you are a purist, then that's a different story.

I would stronly recommend neutralizing the battery damage (it's actually
base not acid) with a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water and scrub with a
toothbrush to get most of it off. Let the board dry as much as possible, and
then go back with either flux spray cleaner or rubbing alcohol to clean
things up.

Your question about the blacklight is true, the monitor uses a 50/50
silvered mirror glass at a 45 degree angle with a blacklight sensitive color
backdrop. The blacklight illuminates the artwork which shines through the
mirror. The monitor screen bounces off of the mirror, you get a double
image. It looks really cool when set up correctly. Original space invaders
cabinets did this as well, most of them you see the artwork unfortunately
torn out.

I would strongly recommed downloading the pdf manual for Omega Race off of
the stormaster or spies mirrors. Read the vectorlist faq on where these are
located for more info. This manual is INDISPENSIBLE for repairing/restoring
these games, as they cover all 4 versions of the game, upright, mini,
cocktail, and sitdown. They will also tell you how to set up the game for
free play using the dipswitches. Again - for home use, the coin door isn't
necessary when it's set up for free play, but a nice bonus to drop a coin in
the game for the most realistic arcade effect. The color coding for the
wires is in there. I know from my cocktail game that the wirenuts were for
wires leading to the speakers in the cabinet. I believe the upright version
has 4 speakers whereas the cocktail version only has 2 (i could be wrong
here).

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nooner" <nooner69r@cox.net>
To: <vectorlist@synthcom.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 12:48 PM
Subject: VECTOR: Omega Race Acid Damage HEED HELP!

Howdy Y'all
I'm back The Asteroids machine is still working great in case you were
wondering. At any rate my new project is an Omega Race with a burst battery
(yard sale find $80 chassis in excelent condition). The resistors on the
main board are coroded at the connections and will be replaced this weekend.
Has anyone used the 3.6v batteries from radioshack ($9.99) what have 2 leads
coming off (I think they are cordless phone batteries)? It just seems like
an easy solution to the relocation problem. Anyway Radioshack appears to
have all the resisters in stock so I'm going out there today.

In test mode I am getting the right tones out of the machine.

Other issues with them machhine- The Electrohome monitor doesn't display
correctly (Imagine that). I am getting a pair of jagged lines that
basically flow from the lower left hand corner and glide up to the upper
right hand corner. There is no burn in- and no killspot (if that is an
issue for these machines like on Asteroids).

The previous owner tried to make it a free play machine by shorting out the
coin door (I guess the manual was too hard to understand for him- GET THE
SCISORS AND MAKE IT WORK was his solution). So I'm ordering another pair of
mechanisms from Happ and resoldering his fix/break. Heres another question
on the coin door issue. There is a pair of green and gellow striped wires
(paired with zip ties) one of them has a wire nut on it and connects to a
red and white striped wire- that connects to the coin door right in the
middle behind the williams plaque. The other green/yellow one has onlly a
wirenut on it and is just hanging. Anybody know where that one goes?

The flourescent tubes are working- however I was looking at KLOV and there
was reference to blacklight illumination for these. Can anyone
support/dispell this?

I will surely have more questions- thanks

Nooner

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Received on Sat Oct 5 21:53:07 2002