Power Supply for Arcade Monitor Only

[Bill Plowman]

I'm just beginning to put together a MAME machine in an upright Pole Position cab.  The machine has pretty much been gutted except for the monitor, which I'd like to use, and the power supply.  My question is if anything will happen to the power supply if all it does it power the monitor.  Because all the other electronics have been taken out, will the lack of a load damage the power supply?  Will it even work?

Any help or advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

[neuromancer]

I'm just beginning to put together a MAME machine in an upright Pole Position cab.  The machine has pretty much been gutted except for the monitor, which I'd like to use, and the power supply.  My question is if anything will happen to the power supply if all it does it power the monitor.  Because all the other electronics have been taken out, will the lack of a load damage the power supply?  Will it even work?

Any help or advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

The monitor *must* be driven by an isolation transformer. It is a big wire wound thing that converts 110V AC into 110V AC. According to what I read on rgvac you need it to isolate the monitor chassis from the mains.

Bob
South Carolina

[Ken Layton]

Pole Position has a great big transformer mounted on what's called the metal "power chassis" down in the bottom floor of the cabinet. This is where the game power cord connected to and where the fluorescent lights, power on-off switch, and safety interlock switches connect. All the fuses are located there, too. The big transfomer has multiple windings in it. One of those windings is the monitor isolation transformer section. Another internal winding powers the coin door 6 volt lights and a couple more windings provided low voltage ac to the two power supply circuit boards that originally powered the Pole Position game boards. If this "power chassis" is still there, great, you're in good shape. Get the game schematics and you'll be ready to power your monitor.

Be advised that some game operators may have modified the wiring harness to remove the original power supply boards and run the game boards from a modern switching regulator power supply instead (it's a big improvement).