The Three Stooges, I mean Bezerks. Blowing life into them again....

[Superully]

Now......we need some Frenzy boards.......

better: three frenzy cabinets 

[Alpha1]

Now......we need some Frenzy boards.......

better: three frenzy cabinets 

This was mine

http://www.arcadeoll.com/pics/StuffForSale/Frenzy/

I sold it as part of getting money for my house. I'm sure the person I sold it too might sell it on if you are interested. I can speak to them?



Oliver

[level42]

Sometimes I hate this hobby.

I just completely dissassembled the original Berzerk joystick. It was working OK, but the diagonals were either not working or very hard to "reach". So I thought the reflective disk must be dirty and so a little cleaning would solve that.

Indeed the disc wasn't very shiny anymore. So I cleaned it simply with some hand-soap and paper-towel and it was like a mirror again.

I also noticed that a cap had either broken loose (it was also dented) or cut loose on the joystick PCB. So I replaced it.

Re-assembled everything, put it in the CP, power up machine and:

Dead. Completely dead joystick ! WTF !  

SO sigh, gonna disassemble again.

I'm pretty much out on my own here. Apart from the Berzerk manual. Original Berzerk joysticks are RARE.

[ckong]

It's good to blow off some steam now and then. This hobby can be frustrating indeed, like my DK monitor chassis which suddenly broke down last week (a replacement is already on its way). I'm only into cab collecting for a few months now, but I already know that this hobby will always be a mix of restoration work, gaming fun and repair jobs, which is normal of course as we have to deal with old cabs and old electronics.

But as it was working before I'm sure that you will soon find and fix the problem.

[level42]

On the other hand,I'm not the kind to give up easily....

Indeed I had made a mistake while re-assembling. The optical PCB was too far from the reflective disc because I had mounted it incorrectly.
Fixed it and it works great now. Diagonals are 100% better then before..... Still not too wild on this joystick. It's definitely not the best I've ever played....

The spring was pretty tight on this one. I felt it was more of a muscle exercise machine than a game so I adjusted the spring tension to it's minimum. Let's see how I like that.

Still, hitting the end of the joystick's movement space  is not feeling very comfy because there are no rubber stops or anything like that.... o well...part of the game I guess....

[level42]

Here's the disc "before":


and "after":



Also, sometimes in this hobby, you just DON'T want to know what it is..:


I guess it's the "crud" often mentioned as being the cause for this joystick to fail. The stuff probably fell down on the optical sensors on the PCB. Not in this case though.

Might just as well post the other pics I made. The CP underside after removing the joystick, luckily Leaf-switches only ! They only need some cleaning. And the buttons need to be replaced. Look at that branch-part in the wood, the branch was removed and replaced with something.....ahhh those were the days :


The outer "casing" of the joystick. Apart from holding the spring, this also doubles as a "dark room" for the optics...The rust came loose already with some hand soap and scrubbing sponge. Will do a proper job later.


The stick and the optical board. The optical board hangs up side down (parts facing the floor)
For those who don't know how this joystick works: Infrared light is emitted by the four little black opto-combo's around the hole in the PCB. The disc on the other side of the joystick will reflect the light (more) when it's move in the position that that opto-combo is. The reflected lights falls onto the other part of the opto-combo (the photo-diode) and through the Op-Amp chip the PCB "emulates" a closed switch for that direction.


Here's how I INCORRECTLY re-assembled it. The nuts should have gone UNDER the PCB and then the two hex legs should go on top of the PCB. You can see the disc is now quite (too) far away from the PCB now.


You can see the damaged/leaking/broken off cap on the top left on the PCB.

[level42]

AAAAAAHHHHHH, the sweet taste of success !!!!

After some serious struggling, I succeeded at installing a lithium battery on one of the Berzerk boards and get it working ! (Details here: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=114762 )

The thing is, that the boards start up with some random number of credits, but also a random number of hi-scores. The (hex) value is so high that it's impossible to break even the 5th position.

So I had to clear the memory ! Finally I realized there HAD to be a way to do it, and of course there is, found it in the service manual (page 14). Score board cleared, game played, hi-score entered, power cycle and YES we have a battery-backed up hi-score table !

The competition between the Three stooges can begin (almost !).

I just want to replace the diode I installed (a normal one) with a schottky as was suggested by Mark Spaeth, since this has a much lower voltage drop. This may extend the life time of the lithium cell a bit. The great thing of using a lithium cell is that it should last about 10 years and is very easy to replace without any soldering.

There's still a change of one of those babies leak though (although very minor) so it should be checked every year or so).

Ully and Muerto I will have to order two more batteries and holders, I guess you agree ? It's only a couple of Euro's each.

[Muerto]

hehe i agree! - and grrrrreat work!
btw, did you get my "present"? from the mailman..

[Superully]

no doubt about it - i absolutely agree!

[level42]

Heh, I actually already ordered because I knew what you were going to say
I hope to receive the stuff before x-mas, but I'm sorry it will be a Berzerk-less x-mas for you both.

Muerto, yes I received it, thanks very much, quite stupid of me to forget it in your car, but it was a long day
Also Michael, I will send you the board-set thursday. You get the ZPU with the already installed battery so you can have it ASAP. Of course x-mas will slow shipping I fear.
Not sure if I still have your address, please PM me.

Oh, and the ZPU I will send has a temporary goal for you to beat (But I'm not actually a great player as you've seen on my Galaxian ).

Merry X-mas friends !

[level42]

Some thoughts:

1) I think one of the machines actually had a working marquee lighting. Mine actually still works (original American GE tube, weird size) when I hold it in a certain position. I checked it and two pins are broken (caused by a terribly mounted holder on one side).

The tube type is F14T12CW. I've only seen this thickness of tube on much longer tubes (and esp. older one's).

I wonder if it can be replaced with a T8 tube ? Even then the length (15") is hard to find here. Did you guys check this out already ?

2) The Stern logo coin door sticker will need replacement after restoring the coin door. I found a Stern logo sticker at Phoenix arcades, but this is a different kind. Did you find any replacement ?

[Superully]

1) I think one of the machines actually had a working marquee lighting. Did you guys check this out already ?

nope, haven't even removed the marquee 

2) The Stern logo coin door sticker will need replacement after restoring the coin door. I found a Stern logo sticker at Phoenix arcades, but this is a different kind. Did you find any replacement ?

nope 2, i've already looked for it as well. actually, my coin door isn't bad at all, only rust on the screws, so i'm not sure whether i'm going to have it repainted.

[Superully]

have you guys pre-ordered your replacement control panel yet? if not, do so, production run won't start until the guy hits 50 pre-orders!

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=115406

http://www.tokensonly.com/berzerk-and-frenzy-control-panel-pre-order/

[Muerto]

I have all ready ordered, and payed...

[level42]

Hey I didn't know he opened up yet ! Will do after x-mas !

The first tested working and battery modded PCB set is on it's way to the North-Pole (well, almost ).

I'm sure x-mas will delay it somewhat but I hope Muerto will have it before the year ends.
I'm really anxious to see his Berzerk running too !

I've just ordered some TL tubes from my favorite supplier (RS online, they're incredible, stuff they have in stock gets delivered the NEXT day and even for tiny orders no shipping costs). Anyway, I ordered these tubes:

http://nl.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=searchProducts&searchTerm=f14t8&x=0&y=0#

They are delivered from Allied Electronics in the US. The price is so low I thought I could take a gamble. AFAIK, this is the correct tube. Wattage, length and color are the same. Only the diameter differs, but those thick T12 TL's are almost extinct AFAIK. The pins on the sides should be the same so I should be able to click one right in.