GALAGA (testing with Mulitmeter)

[BUCKETHEAD]

I bought a Multimeter yesterday.

I have just a question?

Where do i need to put the dial to correctly test the original power supply?

First i turned the dial to 20V and the positive cord in the V mA plug and got

[BUCKETHEAD]

I refered back to the tutorial on http://www.arcadeshop.com/galaga/galaga.htm

I believe i got it right this time.

The highest reading i got was 4.50 V

Is this enough juice to make it run correctly ?

Are could this be causing my problem ?

Thanks!    Bucket ...     
 
 
 

[dabone]

Yes that most likely is your problem.


Contact Bob Roberts and get a ps replacement kit.

Galaga/Rally-X complete with 15A PS   $45.00


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



Later,
dabone

[fredster]

Most Arcade boards start screwing up if they drop that low. They should run in the 5.1v.  If it drops to 4.5V you will get all kinds of errors and rebooting.

[BUCKETHEAD]

I was pulling the chips today cleaning them and reseating them.

A chip marked 5100 as soon as i pulled it, A couple of the legs broke off.

They were brittle as SH@T.

Where can i get a replacement for this one?

Here is a pic below of the exact one i need.

Thanks!

Bucket ...

[seinologist]

Pole Position I & II, Dig Dug, and some others use this chip.

Any 51xx chip should work. ex: A 5165 will work.

http://tinyurl.com/awwv4
Link to rgvac thread about this subject.

BTW, don't throw that chip out, it can be repaired.

[fredster]

Bob Roberts probably has that chip too.

I hate pulling those chips out.  I did that with a ROM chip.  Sux.

[RayB]

Why are you pulling chips?!?!

You're getting 4.5v? Then turn that little knob on your power supply unil your readings are 5.0. You might even need to go as high as 5.4 to get the board working right.

This is assuming you have a switching power supply with a knob, not the original Galaga PS.

[BUCKETHEAD]

No, I have the original power supply.

( Getting a new kit )

I am pulling chips because the ends of them, Looks like somebody colored them

with a black SHARPIE marker.

They look RATTY looking.

And rightfully so,

The one that broke,  I could have blew on the legs of it.

And they would have fell off.


 

[BUCKETHEAD]

Good news!

I successfully Soldered new legs on the broken chip.

Thus fixing it.

The board plays the same as it did before they broke off.

Now im going to get a new Galaga Power supply kit

From Bob Roberts and see if that fixes my Ship + Alien problem.   

[fredster]

I learn more by screwing up than I do by anything else. And you can't screw up unless you do something.

The more you learn the better you will be.  If you are going to get in this hobby you have to be willing to JUST DO IT.

You have bought a new multimeter, figured out the problem, and came up with a solution. You tried to clean a board, screwed up a chip and fixed it.  Now you can solder, test, and replace.

Sounds like a great learning experience! Congratulations!

[Level42]

yeah, but do some reading about measuring Voltages and Amperes. Usualy, measuring voltages is what you want to do....if you connect the wires to the meter for Amps measuring and you connect it directly to a voltage, your fuse will blow on the meter, but since fuses are very slow (compared to IC's) you may well blow up some things you tried to measure....

Otherwise, nice job on the soldering !

[BUCKETHEAD]

Thanks for the encourgement Fredster !

Yes, I guess i did do all that.

I just got thru restoring my PAC-MAN

It had a TIGER - HELI pcb in it when i purchased it.

But i didn't have to do any work on the pcb.

Because i purchased a good working one.


But however, Did have to straighten out the wiring to get it to work with

the PAC - MAN pcb again.

I found the Pinouts on the net.  And managed to get it right.


This is my first attempt though at getting a PCB or Power problem straightend out.

So Thanks for the advise.

I appreciate it !   



And thanks also Level42 i understand that advice fully ! 

[Buddabing]

I bought a Multimeter yesterday.

I have just a question?

Where do i need to put the dial to correctly test the original power supply?

First i turned the dial to 20V and the positive cord in the V mA plug and got

[Witchboard]

Good news!

I successfully Soldered new legs on the broken chip.

Thus fixing it.

This the the exact reason I keep the legs I cut off capacitors when doing cap jobs on monitor boards and the like.  They work great for replacement chip legs.

[Jabba]

Bucket, just by chance, is the machine plugged in via a long extension cord??? I've hard problems with my Arkanoid when its not plugged in directly to an outlet. Just a thought. I think RayB found the same with one of his machines a long while back...Food for thought...

[BUCKETHEAD]

No extension cord present.

But the original cord is insanely long !

And when i inspected it yesterday, It appeared to be frayed in a

spot.   

[Jabba]

Hmmm, insanely long eh? How long? What guage wire? Just for fun, I would try hooking up a short cord to see if this solves the problem...(if its not too much effort). I forgot about the lonf extension cord problem, plugged it into my long extension cord and poof, stopped working. Then I remembered....(yeah, Alzeimers setting in...    )

[fredster]

One thing about those power cords, they should all have the ground plug on them.

I solved some problems with  an asteroids by putting that ground on it. Lots of times people cut them off, but you need them to help drain off static charges that can build up.
Especially this time of year.

If the machine is grounded right it sure helps it.