SpotAnime Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Man, this is such a bummer. I finally picked up a beautiful condition Expansion Module #2 from a local classic games shop at a good deal - box, manuals and all - and the damn thing won't work. Pedal works, wheel doesn't. And it is CLEAN inside and out. I even opened it up and aside from an old spider web, it was pretty much pristine. I emailed Terry at EColeco and he doesn't have the parts to service them anymore. So, I saw the other thread in this forum about new hardware as an EM#2 replacement and I got excited. If someone came up with a replacement board I could swap out of the original product, that would be ideal. I'm no engineer though, and from what I've read the Colecovision is a fussy console. Anyone know of any of the original engineers who worked on it? Maybe they could speak to some of the power requirements and how to avoid blowing out the console through the controller port... So what are my options? Look, for a working wheel on Ebay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imstarryeyed Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 More than likely your transistors went out, they are not too hard to change. Look for the Colecovision Driving wheel troubleshooter. Its got a great flow chart that will get you through the repair. Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpotAnime Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 More than likely your transistors went out, they are not too hard to change. Look for the Colecovision Driving wheel troubleshooter. Its got a great flow chart that will get you through the repair. Good Luck! Do you have a specific link? I've Googled and can only find a mention of the flowchart. My bet is it's one of these (but can't find which one, they either seem to be relating to the roller controller, regular controller or console): http://www.colecovisionzone.com/page/coleco%20industries/tech.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imstarryeyed Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Oy, I forgot how hard it was for me to find these as well.. Here you go... http://colecovisionzone.com/photos/coleco/module2%20tech2.pdf If I remember Q1 and Q2 NPN transistors had to be changed in my wheel, but once they were it ran just fine. They are big transistors.. I wish I can remember the new part number as the troubleshooter document does not say the part number. You will have to remove the transistors and look at them for the real part number. The part number is obsolete but there is an NTE equivalent so don't worry.. either just look it up or take it to a parts shop and they can cross reference it for you. I wish I remembered the NTE number and save you some steps, but it was done last year and my memory is not great.. The good news is that there are only 3 transistors and they are very easy to change more than likely one or more will work for you. Good luck.. I hope once you do fix it you can update this thread with NTE part numbers to help out others 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chart45 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 2n3904 2n3906 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpotAnime Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 (edited) Thanks! I'll give this a try. On a side note, the place I got it from had a second loose wheel that I went back and exchanged with. My original wheel was a bit wobbly and had an MK10 (?)-labled black optical sensor. This new one, the wheel was more secured and still pretty clean, but inside it has a blue optical sensor. Alas, the pedal works, but the steering does not. I'll give this a try. Gotta get (and learn to use) a multimeter! Edited February 21, 2018 by SpotAnime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Thanks! I'll give this a try. On a side note, the place I got it from had a second loose wheel that I went back and exchanged with. My original wheel was a bit wobbly and had an MK10 (?)-labled black optical sensor. This new one, the wheel was more secured and still pretty clean, but inside it has a blue optical sensor. Alas, the pedal works, but the steering does not. I'll give this a try. Gotta get (and learn to use) a multimeter! I recall there were a couple errors in the expansion module flow chart. I'll post the link if I can find it. Edit: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/187432-expansion-module-2-repair/?p=2709262 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpotAnime Posted February 23, 2018 Author Share Posted February 23, 2018 So I brought it to work and had some of my engineer co-workers help me out with the flow chart and the multimeter. Turns out Q1 should be replaced. Next stop, the electrical supply store to get the part mentioned above. Stay tuned... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imstarryeyed Posted February 24, 2018 Share Posted February 24, 2018 (edited) Oh one last thing, this is for anyone troubleshooting a Coleco wheel. Please make triple sure you are using good batteries and that once your wheel is right side up, which makes the batteries upside down, make sure they are still connecting. In my wheel, the batteries worked great when I had them right side up during repair and troubleshooting, but when the unit was flipped to be used they stopped working as they moved a bit. I had to use some ballast rolled up paper in the battery cover to make sure the batteries had a tight fit, but once I did, they worked great. It is super frustrating to fix a power problem when the batteries are acting like that.. ugh.. I hate how Sega did not include an LED to let you know if you have power or not... I guess I should add one.. haha.. I hope this helps someone save lots of unnecessary time. Edited February 24, 2018 by imstarryeyed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpotAnime Posted February 24, 2018 Author Share Posted February 24, 2018 Oh one last thing, this is for anyone troubleshooting a Coleco wheel. Please make triple sure you are using good batteries and that once your wheel is right side up, which makes the batteries upside down, make sure they are still connecting. In my wheel, the batteries worked great when I had them right side up during repair and troubleshooting, but when the unit was flipped to be used they stopped working as they moved a bit. I had to use some ballast rolled up paper in the battery cover to make sure the batteries had a tight fit, but once I did, they worked great. It is super frustrating to fix a power problem when the batteries are acting like that.. ugh.. I hate how Sega did not include an LED to let you know if you have power or not... I guess I should add one.. haha.. I hope this helps someone save lots of unnecessary time. Yep, this. I've tested two Expansion #2 units and this is a problem with the overall design of the product. I noticed this when I would flip the wheel right side up to play, and the screen would glitch. That would tell me the batteries became unseated. If I carefully and slowly flipped the wheel and didn't move it (i.e., not rest in my lap) when playing, I could keep the batteries seated correctly. Once I got the wheel working, my next project would be to find an old piece of plastic to rest against the batteries before shutting the flap so that they stayed secure in place. Now it seems the more difficult task in refurbing the wheel is finding an electronic supply store that carries the transistors. I may just have to order them online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpotAnime Posted March 4, 2018 Author Share Posted March 4, 2018 Holy crap It works! I had to sacrifice one of my three wheels, chalking it up to soldering practice I guess. After soldering on a new Q1 transistor I still couldn't get any DC from the emitter or the collector. Plus I kinda made a mess of the PCB so I figured that wheel was a lost cause. There was probably something wrong with it that's beyond my electronics skills. But I had two more wheels, so I wanted to give the next one a try. That too seemed to be a faulty Q1 transistor, but this time I cleanly soldered on the new transistor and tested the voltage. Again, I couldn't get any signal from the emitter but the collector was showing a signal, so I was hopeful. And sure enough, I plugged it in and it worked! Just a tip for everyone else. Seems the emitter and collector on the replacement transistor is flipped from the original. Yesterday on my first wheel I did it backwards as I assumed the flat side was the same for both, which I found out afterwards was wrong according to this site: https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/techzone/2017/jun/simply-put-2n3904-npn-transistor So I had to remove the one I did yesterday and do it again, which is the reason why I screwed up the PCB. But on the second wheel, I got it right the first time. So now I'm a happy owner of a CIB working Expansion Module #2! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Just a tip for everyone else. Seems the emitter and collector on the replacement transistor is flipped from the original. Yesterday on my first wheel I did it backwards as I assumed the flat side was the same for both, which I found out afterwards was wrong according to this site: https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/techzone/2017/jun/simply-put-2n3904-npn-transistor So I had to remove the one I did yesterday and do it again, which is the reason why I screwed up the PCB. But on the second wheel, I got it right the first time. Congratulations! BTW, the T092 case for transistors has no international standard, so the legs can come in any order. So, if you're unsure, get a manufacturer model# you can match with a model# on a data sheet, which should have the order on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpotAnime Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 Congratulations! BTW, the T092 case for transistors has no international standard, so the legs can come in any order. So, if you're unsure, get a manufacturer model# you can match with a model# on a data sheet, which should have the order on it.The only number I have is 2N3904. Is that it? Or is it on the transistor itself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 The only number I have is 2N3904. Is that it? Or is it on the transistor itself? https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Components/2N3904.pdf As you can see in this schematic, it is just called a generic "1702" transistor. the NPN 1702 transistors can come with different T092 pin configurations, depending on manufacturer. The 2N3904 part number is a specific model of 1702 NPN. http://www.theadamresource.com/schematics/Expansion%20Module-2%20-%20Driving%20Controller.gif Somewhere I saw a list of equivalent model#'s to 2N3904 and there are like 100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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