[Roadtrip] It's not a race (anymore), it's a RALLY

[Superully]

Well start measuring these:

how exactly? WHT / BLK / ORN / BLU need to be measured in AC (if my vrey basic electronic knowledge is correct), but where to put which multimeter lead? on the other side of the power supply voltages should be in DC. RED (5) and YEL (6) are not used (needed for american voltages?), which leaves RED (7), BRN ( and BRN again (9). should measure in at 16 V, right? what does C.T. stand for? where to put the leads of the multimeters here?

[level42]

First check:

Measure in AC between pin 4 and 6 on the card-edge connector. Guess it should be (about) 16VAC there.

Be sure to have the interlock pulled out completely (if it has that function).

Measure on the TV input if there's (about) 115VAC.

[Superully]

Measure in AC between pin 4 and 6 on the card-edge connector. Guess it should be (about) 16VAC there.

card edge connector = pcb connector? with the connector removed from / plugged in the pcb? why AC? Shouldn't it be DC "on the other side"? why pins 4 & 6 - please enlighten me 

[Laschek]

perhaps someone can tell me after checking the manual what that switch on the pcb is for ..

It may be an option switch... 

Tons of boards from that period (esp. Atari boards, and this is a clone of one) have those switches as option switches, like I said for 1 or 2 credits per coin or 3 or 5 balls per play etc. You'll find out when the board is working, niow forget about that bloody switch.

[Laschek]

why AC? Shouldn't it be DC "on the other side"?

The DC voltage is generated on the game board itself, common practice in those days. Note the voltage regulator with the heatsink around it, that is part of the onboard power supply, as is the large capacitator (plus other parts, diodes and stuff).

[Superully]

ok, got it! but out of curiosity: why pins 4 and 6? i'll take those measures later and report back.

should i measure the voltages with the tv set and the pcb attached to their corresponding connectors?

oh, and regarding that switch: which switch?

[Laschek]

I guess it's better to measure them when connected, otherwise you might get false readings.

[Etienne MacGyver]

are there any fuses in the TV ? maybe they are blown, and the game is playing "blind" ? (i assume the sound also comes from the tv)

Anyway,
About the switch, in the manual i can see all the parts that are in the partlist on the layout exept "SW2"

it could be that this is the only part that is not labeled on the layout, and SW stands for switch if you ask me

"it says SW 2 - Score Count" so it seems to be an option switch doing something with the couting of the score..

but what  

In the manual also all the parts are specificated, so if everything fails , order everything and replace all parts 

[Superully]

In the manual also all the parts are specificated, so if everything fails , order everything and replace all parts 

sure thing, i'll simply log into "etienne's online rally shop" and click on ORDER EVERYTHING TO GET AN OLD PONG CLONE UP AND RUNNING!

[Laschek]

"it says SW 2 - Score Count" so it seems to be an option switch doing something with the couting of the score..

There you go...

So then you use it to set the maximum score, 11 or 15.
It's even written beside the switch in the schematic:



Now I don't want to hear anything more about that switch, EVER!  

[Belike]

Lol, it's very funny to follow this topic, this switch became very popular among arcade collectors in the last days!

[Superully]

thx guys - i will finally get a good round of sleep tonight because now i know what THE SWITCH is for

[Laschek]

thx guys - i will finally get a good round of sleep tonight because now i know what THE SWITCH is for

The WHAT? 

[level42]

This ?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097252/

[Superully]

ok, did some quick measuring during the lunch break:

the DC voltages on the IN side of the power block measure in at around 113 volts - shouldn't they be around 230?

the DC voltages on the connector (pin 4 & 6) measure in at around 17 volts!

both measures were taken with both the TV and the PCB removed - i wanted to make sure everything's alright before continuing. are those measures ok?

now on to the TV part. here are the three wires going to the tv set



and here's the back of the monitor tv where the wires connect to



the brown and white/green wires with the attached connectors clip onto the UHF connectors on the back, the brown/black wire is screwed to the left of the two VHF screws. unfortunately, the UHF connectors came off when i removed the tv from the cabinet, so i don't know where which color goes. IS THAT IMPORTANT to know?

anyway, i put the red and black multimeter leads on the two wires with the connectors (brown & white/green) and the DC measure i got was somewhat strange: around 0.80 volts. remember, this is with the tv NOT attached, but shouldn't it also be around 115 volts? any input on this? would you connect the PCB and the TV now and see what happens?

BTW, the previous owner had exchanged the plug because the old one was corroded. i told you that NOTHING was happening when i tried the game for the first time - not even a sound from the power supply. well, i realized that the owner had made an error during the installation of the plug, so i corrected this error earlier. when i plug in the game now and pull the interlock switch, i can hear a nice constant humming from the power supply