Re: Starwars and Amplifone Issue

From: John Robertson <pinball_at_telus.net>
Date: Mon Mar 22 2010 - 03:18:19 EDT

PJ wrote:
> Scott: The 1.5ohm current sense resistors are the grey factory non
> inductive ones that haven't been changed unless they've been damaged
> in a former failure or are just plain tired. I thought this
> originally since the same issue will apparently happen on the G05, but
> I wouldn't know even where to begin to find those nowadays, and they
> measure right.
>
> Does the game alter the draw rate on individual items on the same
> screen? Its almost like parts of the screen, that is, the parts that
> are bad like the red text, are drawn by a different section of the
> avg. If these resistors have become inductive, then they would be
> frequency sensitive.
>
> John, I tried the BIP adjustments, and found this makes the vector
> misalignment worse. I can tweak to make the test screen and the
> crosshatch 100% right, but this messes the star wars logo and shield
> indicator even more, and has no bearing on the affected red text other
> than shift entire lines, say in the audit screen up and down. Do you
> have the non inductive resistors in stock?
>
> My '6100 had a similar issue, just nowhere near as bad as this, until
> I recapped the HV cage, especially C910.

Oh, THAT PJ....

Hi!

I doubt I have non-inductive resistors in stock...Main should have them
- I think flameproof ones are, but check with them first...

http://www.alibaba.com/product/my100275456-100166043-0/Non_Inductive_Wire_Wound_Resistors.html

Does the distortion change if you change the orientation of the HV unit?
Might be the cause...

John :-#)#

(try to avoid top posting PJ, breaks the flow of advice)
>
> *From:* Swazey, Scott <mailto:sswazey@qualcomm.com>
>
> *To:* vectorlist@vectorlist.org <mailto:vectorlist@vectorlist.org>
> *Sent:* Sunday, March 21, 2010 7:48 PM
> *Subject:* RE: VECTOR: Starwars and Amplifone Issue
>
> check the two big resistors on the deflection board. They may
> have been replaced with wirewound reistors. The two current sense
> resistors MUST BE non-inductive.
>
> -Scott
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* owner-vectorlist@vectorlist.org
> <mailto:owner-vectorlist@vectorlist.org>
> [owner-vectorlist@vectorlist.org] On Behalf Of PJ [pj1@shaw.ca]
> *Sent:* Sunday, March 21, 2010 9:29 PM
> *To:* vectorlist@vectorlist.org <mailto:vectorlist@vectorlist.org>
> *Subject:* VECTOR: Starwars and Amplifone Issue
>
> Hi All,
>
>
> After finally getting around to getting my Amplifone Star Wars up
> and running, I've got an issue that has me stumped.
>
> With the HV board being suspect, and after a good run through, I
> was awarded with the usual red-is-dead, dried out capacitors, and
> board cooked by poorly placed bypass resistors. After a complete
> overhaul consisting of replacing virtually every active device
> except the 555, recapping with revised values, installing Dale
> 50ohm 25W resistors on the heatsink, fuses in the power leads to
> the board and installing a Cinelabs transformer, I was awarded
> with a running HV that ran through the adjustment ritual without a
> hitch 19.5KV, shutdown works 100%, B+ is 181v. Used the Dale
> resistors since they're small, stay cool, and mount easily to the
> heatsink. The newly overhauled board runs cool as a cucumber.
>
> While I was at it, I recapped the deflection board, and installed
> a fresh set of output and predriver transistors. All connectors
> have been cleaned, and the ground/power mods per John Robertson
> have been done. All the brown jumpers have been removed on both
> the HV and deflection boards.
>
> Now comes the problem: the vectors have issues lining up on motion
> objects, Text like the "Flight instructions to Red five" look
> like something from Bob's Honky-Tonk Country Bunker. The letters
> D, B and A amongst others have worst issues: the loops on B's are
> slightly too long, and the lower right lines on the A's are bent
> in toward the left. The Star Wars logo has issues with the top
> line of the S and the left side of the letter. Horizontal lines
> like the top of the shield indicator, insert coin, and
> princess leia text are crinkly, but are static in that they are
> not dancing like a bad grounds or power supply ripple.
> The level screen's mini Death Stars look like ratchet gears. Super
> bright objects like a shield level change, the closest green
> attract mode text or fireballs are so bright that the vectors grow
> out of focus, but the picture does not swell or change size.
>
> Display on a scope is 100% normal using the testpoints on the AVG
> and everything looks 100%. The board passes all self tests
> without an issue, and the brightness test screen looks ok. If I
> raise the X and Y size on the AVG to almost clipping, and lower
> the corresponding pots on the deflection board, it improves, but
> nowhere near where it should be. Shrinking the screen down
> displays an improvement as well. Aligning the BIP and linearity
> does not solve the text but tweaking the BIP will make the
> Starwars logo look better, at the cost of messing everything else
> up, like say the tie fighters or the trench vectors.
>
> On a whim, I replaced the 15V regulators and electrolytic caps on
> the AVG, since the positive one had low output. This did nothing
> to help/worsen the issue.
> Could there be an issue with the Cinelabs HV transformer or board
> causing this issue? Any other insight would be appreciated.
>

-- 
John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9 
Call (604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, VideoGames)
                 www.flippers.com 
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out"
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Received on Mon Mar 22 03:18:29 2010

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