Ivory Tower Collections Arcade update

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So I only have a few arcade cabs, but thought I would shoot a link showing my 4 cabs in the garage up and running. The Frogger has been silent for well over 4 years maybe 5 but thanks to a friend up the road, a replacement monitor and chassis and some time Frogger is alive and able to shine and be played with the rest.

 

Only cabinet not shown is my Galaga cocktail cabinet in the actual game room.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/jesse.hardesty.9/videos/10204409321450442/?l=4299176609695110564

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So I only have a few arcade cabs, but thought I would shoot a link showing my 4 cabs in the garage up and running. The Frogger has been silent for well over 4 years maybe 5 but thanks to a friend up the road, a replacement monitor and chassis and some time Frogger is alive and able to shine and be played with the rest.

 

Only cabinet not shown is my Galaga cocktail cabinet in the actual game room.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/jesse.hardesty.9/videos/10204409321450442/?l=4299176609695110564

 

 

Nice!!! Love the Frogger!

 

But where do you put your classic cars?!

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hehe... the wife's car is usually in the garage. It was parked outside this once so I could work on the Frogger over the weekend. Frogger was actually the first cab I picked up. I got it sometime around 2006 I believe for $55 trucked to my house from the local flea market. It needed a new monitor chassis back then and I replaced that and it was good to go for several years until one day...

 

Anyway, it is really excellent to have it back up and running again.

[82-T/A]

hehe... the wife's car is usually in the garage. It was parked outside this once so I could work on the Frogger over the weekend. Frogger was actually the first cab I picked up. I got it sometime around 2006 I believe for $55 trucked to my house from the local flea market. It needed a new monitor chassis back then and I replaced that and it was good to go for several years until one day...

 

Anyway, it is really excellent to have it back up and running again.

 

 

Is the Frogger arcade the one that kind of got you into fixing up other arcades?

 

Kinda of the same way for me... I bought a Missile Command MANY years ago... when I first moved down to Florida as an adult... I think I bought it around 1997 or 1998 or something like that, and I've just dragged it along with me ever since. Surprisingly I've kept it in fairly decent shape.

 

The boards never worked right, and I had to end up getting that ROM / processor upgrade from ArcadeShop.com that snaps in place of the Z80 on the board (or whatever the processor is), but it runs really well now.

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I never intended to own or get an arcade cab. But the Frogger was found one day looking lonely and unloved. So I bought it and after some initial work it was up and running until fall of 2009. It has taken a few more hundred dollars and failed attempts, but I finally got a replacement tube and chassis and it lives.

 

But yeah, after Frogger I then picked up a G-Loc upright that was free and with a new power supply it was working great again. Then a DK. jr after that and it needed a cap kit on the EZ 20 and it still works great. Then I sold off the G-Loc and picked up a Commando that also just needed some caps and the joystick grommet put back in place. Then got my Vindicators and finally my Galaga cocktail neither of those have really needed much work yet, though I did get a table saw and jigsaw and some other tools I didn't have yet so I could restore the Tank Treads on my Vindicators.

 

I learned a good deal just playing around the inside of my Frogger cab and have come to learn even more with each different cab I pick up.

Edited May 6, 2015 by -^Cro§Bow^-

[82-T/A]

I never intended to own or get an arcade cab. But the Frogger was found one day looking lonely and unloved. So I bought it and after some initial work it was up and running until fall of 2009. It has taken a few more hundred dollars and failed attempts, but I finally got a replacement tube and chassis and it lives.

 

But yeah, after Frogger I then picked up a G-Loc upright that was free and with a new power supply it was working great again. Then a DK. jr after that and it needed a cap kit on the EZ 20 and it still works great. Then I sold off the G-Loc and picked up a Commando that also just needed some caps and the joystick grommet put back in place. Then got my Vindicators and finally my Galaga cocktail neither of those have really needed much work yet, though I did get a table saw and jigsaw and some other tools I didn't have yet so I could restore the Tank Treads on my Vindicators.

 

I learned a good deal just playing around the inside of my Frogger cab and have come to learn even more with each different cab I pick up.

 

 

Speaking of "caps"... I just installed secondary 12v power supply to power my Galaga's (now) LED marquee and the coin lights (which previously had all failed), and I left the game running for about 45 minutes. I came back, and noticed that the colors were all washed out. It's like it had been converted from EGA to CGA all of a sudden... you know, 16 colors down to 4. I did a little research, and everything points to needing a "cap kit." Crap! I don't know how to do that crap on my monitor???

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Replacing capacitors in the monitor's isn't that hard. Just need a few hours of time and patience to ensure you do it right and safely. Just find out what monitor you have (Likely a GO7 Electrohome, or Wells Garner of some 4000 something or other), and get the right capacitor kit for it.

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And why did you need a secondary 12v supply for LEDs? I've got wedge type 12v LEDs and bayonet style in my Galaga and Commando cabs and they just go right in place of the original bulbs? They also make LED light bars that you can use in direct replacement of florescent tubes in the marquees.

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And why did you need a secondary 12v supply for LEDs? I've got wedge type 12v LEDs and bayonet style in my Galaga and Commando cabs and they just go right in place of the original bulbs? They also make LED light bars that you can use in direct replacement of florescent tubes in the marquees.

 

 

The HUGE transformer is busted... and they aren't getting the power they should be getting. At one point, someone converted it over to the newer fancy looking box, rather than that huge transformer. I still have a smaller one in there for the monitor (a step down?), but that's all it does now.

 

I really didn't want to mess with it, so I got a separate box, fed it into the leads on the other fancy electrical box, and have a dedicated power supply for the lights, seems to be working well.

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Well..the huge transformer can't be totally busted? What is powering the monitor on your Galaga? Those original older monitors required that big transformer to isolate the power to them from everything else. Without one, your looking at even more severe problems down the road.

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Well..the huge transformer can't be totally busted? What is powering the monitor on your Galaga? Those original older monitors required that big transformer to isolate the power to them from everything else. Without one, your looking at even more severe problems down the road.

 

 

That's pretty much all the transformers are doing at this point (there are two, one ENORMOUS one, and one large one). I haven't bothered to spend any time trying to figure out what they're doing. I just know that the voltage going to the coin lamps was EXTREMELY dim to the point that it could barely light the bulb, and the voltage going to the marquee light was so powerful that it blew a brand new bulb the second I put it in.

 

So, I said the hell with this old crap, and just got another small power supply, hooked it up, and everything works. The monitor is still isolated with the transformer, and it works... so it's good.