Are all power supplies created equal?

[knave]

How different are the power supplies from various cabs.  Could I put my old Galaxian PCB into a modern (jamma) cab?  Would the PS work?

Do monitors each take the same basic power?

[MaximRecoil]

How different are the power supplies from various cabs.  Could I put my old Galaxian PCB into a modern (jamma) cab?  Would the PS work?

It depends on what your boardset requires for voltages. Some older pre-JAMMA boardsets had weird voltage requirements. A typical modern switching power supply such as you'll find in a JAMMA cabinet only supplies +12VDC, +5VDC, and -5VDC.

Do monitors each take the same basic power?

Most monitors require 120VAC. There are some exceptions, notably the Nintendo/Sanyo or Nintendo/Sharp monitors, which require 100VAC. Nintendo cabinets in countries such as the U.S. which have the 120 VAC @ 60 HZ power standard, include a 120VAC ---> 100VAC step-down transformer (which also functions as an isolation transformer).

Most older arcade monitors require an isolation transformer.

[Ken Layton]

Galaxian and Pacman/MsPacman are an exception. They have a power supply section built into the gameboard and receive AC power from a transformer in the bottom of the cabinet.

If you wanted to use the Galaxian board in a Jamma cabinet you need two things: a Galaxian to Jamma adapter board and your gameboard must be modified/converted to use DC power.