RE: Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe

If you are going to use the high current method of finding the problem (not
that I recommend it!) then first check out your video camera to see if it
detects Infra-Red by aiming the camera at a hot stove element in a dark
room. If you can "see" the coil in the viewfinder while it is not glowing,
then you can use the camera to find the "ho9t" spot on your board faster
than the finger test. Plus you won't burn your finger. Set up the board,
turn the room lights down real low, and have someone power the board up
while you look through the viewfinder. When you "see" the hot spot note the
relative location, turn off the power and use the finger test to pinpoint
the IC. This should be faster and safer for the board as well.

Using a none switching supply on this could cause the supply to short out
and provide a potential of the maximum voltage (like 10VDC) that the supply
is capable of across the board after the short is cleared...

Boards that have shorts often have Tantalum capacitors - my first suspects
by the way - the little suckers short out on my old Japanese Space Invaders
all the time...

John :-#)#

At 06:51 AM 24/08/2001, you wrote:

>Again, folks, thanks for all of your help. I managed to locate the short in
>one of the boards (but the other two I cannot really make heads or tails).
>The resistance value changes are so small, it is really tough to gauge
>sometimes. I have a really nice fluke graphical multimeter, but it only
>measures to 2 decimal places and I find only .01 changes in resistances in
>the other boards and they don't seem consistent (ie. sometimes I probe a
>particular section and get a value, and go back to that same row later, and
>it has changed slightly, go back again and it is slightly different again...
>very tough when changes are so minute).
>
>Is the tool more sensitive to resistive changes (more than my $1500 Fluke
>multimeter?) I may try the overload method.
>
>Thanks Folks
>Cheers
>Andy
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: peter jones [mailto:highwayman2000@mail.ru]
>Sent: August 24, 2001 06:51
>To: vectorlist@synthcom.com
>Subject: Re: VECTOR: Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe
>
>
>power the bitch up with a p.c. power-supply for 5 seconds, OR until
>something goes bang/you smell burning.
>
>then touch each i.c. until you burn your fingers.
>
>this trick works great with defender pcb's when hunting bad ram chips!
>
>the reason to use a p.c. supply is simple, they give out 18-35 amps!!!
>
>if you use a game psu you will just blow fuses/damage the loom/psu.
>
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Received on Fri Aug 24 08:47:04 2001