Area 51 Maximum Force repair

[zeus5150]

Hello. new to console repair and was able to pick up an area 51/ maximum force cabinet for cheap. the only catch was that the monitor did not work and the harness smoked when turned on. I replaced the harness with what I was told would be a correct fix. after receiving the harness, I had to cut and splice the wires to have the proper connections and once I plugged it in, the monitor worked for a second and I could feel the static from the screen....then a loud pop and a ton of smoke...confirming that I just burned 100 bucks. it there an lcd replacement that I could get to put into this thing or a whole new monitor/ harness? im about an inch from takin the whole thing out back and shooting it until its a pile of smoking rubble... at least that way I would get some satisfaction out of this thing. thanks for any help anyone could offer

[yotsuya]

LCD isn't going to work with the guns.

What popped and what smoked?

[jennifer]

 

[zeus5150]

until I can get home for a photo, the best I can do is describe the part. it is on the small board of the harness. a white circular piece that plugs onto the prongs on back of monitor...completely fried

[lilshawn]

possibly a neck board? like attached on the back part of the video screen tube?

the collective electronics that make a monitor work is called a "chassis" a chassis consists of a "neck" board which attaches to the back of the picture tube (the neck) and a "deflection" board which makes the high voltages and makes the picture.

"harnesses" are typically wires that connect the video game boards to things like joysticks, buttons, and power supplies. they also uses harnesses to supply video signals from the game board to the monitor chassis.

[zeus5150]

That's exactly it.... the backboard. What fried is the white plastic circular doohicky that plugs the backboard onto the pins on the back of the monitor. Do u think this can just be replaced ( what's it called?), or could this possibly signify a larger problem. I have read that the monitors themselves hardly ever go and it's almost always the chassis. I did order a new chassis and attempted the repAir myself only to find out that all the connections were different on the replacement t chassis. So I spliced and diced my best. The monitor at least lit up after the replacement was in b u t I could actually feel the static coming Rom the monitor.... and then, there was what can only be described as a small electrical explosion complete with mini mushroom cloud... and that was the last time I attempted anything.

[zeus5150]

I meant neckboard, my auto correct got me

[grantspain]

hmm scary,so what was the original monitor chassis make/model and what did you replace it with?

obviously you checked first that the chassis were compatible in regards to voltage and yoke inductance,not forgetting heater current

[jennifer]

 

[jennifer]

 

[lilshawn]

I'm going to have to see a pic of the damage incurred before i'd be willing to suggest further action.

[btglurich]

Hi. I believe I purchased this exact machine last year. Monitor neck board and chassis both fried as described here. The guy I got it from mentioned he almost killed himself trying to fix it and it came with a replacement chassis that was a bit messed up also. It was a Neotec 2515c chassis and I found a replacement, and did a cap kit and replaced the flyback on it. I hooked it all back up and there is no power going to the chassis and neck board now, no neck glow etc. I have it on a isolation transformer which I think was the reason it kept blowing up in the first place, but I read 25" Neotec 2515c didn't need an iso, but just for safety I put one on. There is the correct power at the iso but nothing after. Gonna recheck all the caps, my soldering, and replace the HOT. Any insight would be great. Hope someone sees this as it's a crazy old post. Thank you!

P.S. Any other reason the chassis may have kept blowing up like that? Game plays blind as I can here the sounds and when hooked to another monitor the picture shows up fine.

Ben

[lilshawn]

wow, blast from the past. had to chuckle.

 my last post still stands... i'mma have to see the carnage to make a statement as to what's possibly happened.

[btglurich]

 

I laughed too when I saw the post, but it was too similar to the way he talked about it when I picked it up. He also mentioned trying to get help in a forum. It came with a Wei-Ya Universal Chassis and I got no where with that. It was originally a Primal Rage and he bought it already converted. It is a Neotec 2515c Chassis with a Zenith Tube that also has a Neotec sticker on it.

I found a replacement chassis in another group on Facebook for $40 and needed a cap kit and I replaced the flyback. I am suspecting the HOT might need to be reflowed or replaced as the soldering looks old. But I am new to collecting and repair so we'll see. Ha.

I am posting pics separate as the files were too large and I've typed this 4 times. 

[btglurich]

Chassis Pics

[btglurich]

Chassis Pics, Neckboard

[btglurich]

Tube Pic and "New" Chassis

[lilshawn]

oof! man, that is cremated AF!

welp, that is (was) a connection for the G1 voltage (about -50 some odd volts), typically on most sockets there would be a mechanism of sorts that releases the wire from the crt tube connector socket to make the neckboard easier to service. perhaps it was left undone (or the wire not properly inserted and it) and just arced in there till the plastic burned away.

there could also be a fault in the flyback causing the G1 voltage to be exceptionally high, but that is doubtful.

i would suggest strongly you stay away from the "neotecgraphic DOT com" website if you go looking for a manual for your neotec... they closed up sometime 2012 or 2013 and it's domain expired and some squatters scooped it up somewhere around december 2017 and put malware on it that hijacks your browser and bombards you with porn ads and messages you've been hacked and to call "microsoft" in india to have "fixations" of your computer...where in reality they further brick your computer and steal your money.

[btglurich]

Yikes! Thanks for the insight. I usually try to go through klov or sites like this for info, but good to know for sure. I found manual pics at klov I think and am also going to double check my caps and make sure I didn't make an error and put one in backward. Thanks again.

[EvilBean42]

Sorry for reviving an old post. I don't mean to jump in as a forum newb and cause chaos, but this thread is where I acquired all of my limited knowledge of how to work on an arcade game. I am a facilities tech and my company owns a few cabinets, one of them is a Maximum Force and doesn't currently work. Here is what I know, any advice is appreciated and I'm happy to do some further digging if you guys need me to check something.

Game used to work fully during the time we had it. We recently moved it to a new warehouse. A problem occurred at some point during the move, or shortly after.

Game operates, but the screen doesn't come on.

There is no neck glow at the back of the monitor.

The neck board does not appear to be getting power at all.

The deflection board has power coming in, and power going out to the display. Fuse is ok.

All connections seem ok, there are no signs of any components frying.

The main board has either low voltage, or high voltage error LEDs lit. I've tried to adjust the power supply but there is no gap between too high and too low. I've gotten it to the point where one is out and the other will just sparkle dimmly, but I can't get them off completely.

Could it just be the power supply or do I likely have a chassis issue as well? What is the likelihood of the monitor itself being bad? My company is fine with me spending some $ to get it back up and running, but I don't want to order parts and replace them only to find out the something else is bad and it's a total loss.

Thanks for any assistance I get, and also thanks for the assistance I've already gotten from reading through this thread. You can be sure I had no idea what a neck board was a couple of hours ago.

[lilshawn]

the main problem here is that lots of the area 51 machines where converted from an old game that fell out of popularity,  into area 51 cabinets through the use of a "kit". typically you'd keep the monitor and controls and switch out the computer board guts of the old game with the new area 51 game.

as such, the monitor in YOUR game could literally be ANYTHING. it might be more helpful to you to start a new thread with pics of the game/monitor in question, from there we can suggest a course of action to start diagnosing issues.