simbalion Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Last Friday I bought a Pole Position II upright for $50 that was for sale a short distance from me. Cabinet is doable and it appears to be complete, but it definitely has issues. Found out the power supply is fried, so am checking a shop I know to see what parts they have. I also have six green wires with eyelets on them going to nothing inside the cabinet. Board has a bit of a fried edge connector and it looks like someone bypassed the +5 to a connector tab on the main board itself. I am hoping to get it going. I did see glow on the CRT tube neck and could hear the high voltage working on the monitor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 pix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 The green wires are for ground and should be connected to one of the screws on the power supply. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebulon Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Congratulations on the purchase. Great game! You'll likely want to get a set of fuses for it. As for the power supply -- perhaps it can be repaired? I was told by a coin-op tech that the American power supplies are very rugged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 I found where the ground wires should be connected by looking at the power supply in my Red Baron today. Guess where the burnt out component is to boot? I think the disconnected ground wires are why the rectifier or whatever that block is under there burnt up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 (edited) Found a replacement power supply/block for $40. Only thing different is that it seemed to lack the extra AC plug the old supply had, but that turned out to be an add-on that was also partially cooked on the old supply. Basically, someone had added a fan and sloppily made air duct out of cardboard to keep the boards cool. That still worked, but I didn't trust the plug, so that's eliminated. Also, someone had also replaced the 7 amp main fuse on the old supply with an 8 amp one. Anyways, the game now comes on and plays, but the CRT is shot. Massive burn-in and you have to crank the brightness up all the way just to get a faint picture. Luckily, I just bought a parts cab with a nice looking monitor in it with only a faint 'Game Over' burnt into it for $50. Also ended up buying a nearly complete Blue Shark that was sitting beside the parts PP for $75. Guess I bought more than planned! Edited June 25, 2014 by simbalion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Found a replacement power supply/block for $40. Only thing different is that it seemed to lack the extra AC plug the old supply had, but that turned out to be an add-on that was also partially cooked on the old supply. Basically, someone had added a fan and sloppily made air duct out of cardboard to keep the boards cool. That still worked, but I didn't trust the plug, so that's eliminated. Actually the fan and cardboard tunnel is factory, as is the extra plug on the power supply. The plug is easy enough to add though. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800Lover Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Sounds cool. I'm curious to see the arcade version as I own and played the Atari 7800 port of the game (it was the pack-in). Be sure to share your progress with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted June 26, 2014 Author Share Posted June 26, 2014 Actually the fan and cardboard tunnel is factory, as is the extra plug on the power supply. The plug is easy enough to add though. Mitch Hmm, that I didn't know. There's no sign of either in the parts PP that I could tell when I checked it out. No extra plug on the Power Supply either. The wires on the extra plug on this one were kinda toasty, so I didn't trust them. Might be able to pull the other plug out and add it once I decide which cabinet to use and which to junk. (Cabinet I have right now is a bit rough and the parts one looked decent. Will know more Saturday!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 A little update to my progress. Here is what I started with: A complete Pole Position II in a shakey cabinet and a G07 monitor that appears to have a spent CRT. Next I got this: A Pole Postion cabinet in better shape, but mostly gutted. After a few hours work tonight, I switched all the components and boards to the better cabinet (except the monitor and the wiring harness) and now have a mostly working PPII. Which is amazing because the board is working on a cobbled glop of solder I was able to get to stick to the burnt edge connector. I will address that again soon. Also, I pulled the battery from the board as it was leaking and had already caused some minor damage. (Why did Atari go to a save battery? What happened to the non-volatile RAM used in Centipede?!) If it wont' hurt the game, I am not even going to bother replacing the battery. So, it lives, but there are a few issues left. One, the monitor in this cabinet will need a recap (of course). Two, I will switch to the better pedal that was in this machine as it has a practically new pentometer on it. Three, some of the dip switches seem unresponsive, but I am going by the directions on the back door, which are for the regular Pole Position. Mostly all that is left now is to finish stripping the junk cabinet before demolishing it. What to do with the G07 monitor? Maybe try to recap it and see if it revives? Well, final picture for now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebulon Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Lookin' gooood! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted July 2, 2014 Author Share Posted July 2, 2014 Lookin' gooood! Thanks! So far it is staying stable and I got some more dip-switch settings correct. Still can't get it to play sound on the attract mode or go lower than 4 laps for each track though. The battery being pulled doesn't seem to hurt things any, so I won't be replacing that, but I will get the monitor recapped and do some repairs on the edge connector. I'm surprised my slopped on solder is working. Guess if you throw enough solder at a burnt edge connector it will do something! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 The battery is just for saving high scores when the game is turned off. There are modern replacements though. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.