Turning a dead Battlezone into a MAME Battlezone

[shanmoon]

I've got a Battlezone cabinet... used to be functional, but everything except the monitor and control panel were fried by lightning.

Rather than tried to get the boards and power supply replaced, I figured I could MAME it instead. However, I have no idea how to interface the controls with MAME. Obviously an IPaq is not going to work here. Any sugestions on how to re-use the existing control panel and interface it with a PC and MAME?

[Q*Bert_OP]

It would be easier to replace the boards and power supply. 

[TOK]

Yea, you're sure the monitor is working try to get the board and PS for it instead of MAME.

[DashRendar]

Do you want to restore it to be a working Battlezone game again, or do you want it to play 6000 MAME games?

I guess it makes a difference for how you want to resolve this problem. 

[CheffoJeffo]

Drop a line to Alex at ElektronForge -- he does BZ repairs.

[shanmoon]

Do you want to restore it to be a working Battlezone game again, or do you want it to play 6000 MAME games?

I guess it makes a difference for how you want to resolve this problem. 

Just looking to make it a working Battlezone game again... if I Mame it, the only thing on it would be Battlezone. Well, maybe Red Baron also just for fun...

[GaryMcT]

Do you want to restore it to be a working Battlezone game again, or do you want it to play 6000 MAME games?

I guess it makes a difference for how you want to resolve this problem. 

Just looking to make it a working Battlezone game again... if I Mame it, the only thing on it would be Battlezone. Well, maybe Red Baron also just for fun...

If that's the case, I'd highly recommend getting it fixed as a Battlezone again.  It won't be the same running Battlezone with Mame.

[shanmoon]

I'm going to take a stab at repairing it rather than converting to MAME Battlezone. I did confirm today that the power supply is NOT functioning, so I'll need to get a new one. Any recommendations on a reliable place to get one?

[TheShanMan]

I would suggest the klov repair forum. Assuming it's an original linear power supply, it's probably not that hard to repair, though I know nothing about battlezones so I could be wrong. My philosophy is why replace what can be repaired?

[GaryMcT]

I would suggest the klov repair forum. Assuming it's an original linear power supply, it's probably not that hard to repair, though I know nothing about battlezones so I could be wrong. My philosophy is why replace what can be repaired?

Those are easy to repair from what I hear.  The KLOV suggestion is definitely good.  Search for AR2 repair (I think).  Also, I know a guy who specializes in repairing those.  PM me with your email and I can hook you up with him.

[Havok]

Bob Roberts sells a power supply repair kit:

http://homearcade.org/BBBB/parts.html#atari

[RayB]

Did you check the fuses? 

[shanmoon]

I FINALLY have my Battlezone game up and running 100%... OMG I never want to SEE that service manual again.... or to solder or trace circuits EVER EVER EVER !!!!

[CheffoJeffo]

Nice!

Can you give us some details as to what the problem was and how you fixed it ?

 

[GaryMcT]

Excellent!  I'm glad that you got this working again as a Battlezone!  

I'm also curious to hear what you had to do to fix it.

[shanmoon]

Did you check the fuses?  

Give a gal a little credit, lol. Yes, replaced fuses.... repaired power supply, new wire where the  wiring was burned through/melted, resoldered something like 2 dozen broken connection on the boards... and added a new fluorescent bulb to the marquee.... monitor was actually ok, just was missing one broken wire.

All I am missing is a coin bucket so I can take it off free play and listen to the sweet sound of dropping quarters!

[GaryMcT]

What caused all the destruction?  I had a cap explode on my asteroids deluxe board a while back and I'm wondering how much damage there is. I got a replacement board, but I really want to fix the other one.

[shanmoon]

What caused all the destruction?  I had a cap explode on my asteroids deluxe board a while back and I'm wondering how much damage there is. I got a replacement board, but I really want to fix the other one.

A horrific lightning strike on my house... it blew outlets of of the walls, fried every low voltage item in the house, appliances (fridge, battlezone, and more), blew can lights right out of the ceilings, caused fire, blew a hole in the house, burst pipes which put out the fire...and then flooded the house. It was a disaster...fire..flood...famine....if someone we had managed plague it would have been downright apocalyptic at my place...

[GaryMcT]

What caused all the destruction?  I had a cap explode on my asteroids deluxe board a while back and I'm wondering how much damage there is. I got a replacement board, but I really want to fix the other one.

A horrific lightning strike on my house... it blew outlets of of the walls, fried every low voltage item in the house, appliances (fridge, battlezone, and more), blew can lights right out of the ceilings, caused fire, blew a hole in the house, burst pipes which put out the fire...and then flooded the house. It was a disaster...fire..flood...famine....if someone we had managed plague it would have been downright apocalyptic at my place...

Oh wow. . that sucks!  Very cool that you got it working again though.  If it were something modern and you couldn't find the monolithic part to place, you'd be screwed.

[taylormadelv]

Congrats! This is an excellent example of how it can actually be easier to restore a BZ than to mame it. Of course, it is much more expensive to restore the original PCB and vector monitor but maming a BZ can be a real biatch and an ipac is actually perfect for a dedicated BZ mame...