Asteroid machine is still blowing a fuse

[masschamber]

Well the asteroids machine I bought a few months ago is almost working, I actually was getting proper gameplay sounds with the correct buttons but the monitor is still blowing a fuse, I've replaced the big blue capacitor already, so that's not it, well thanks in advance to anyone the can help.

[sku_u]

Have you run a jumper and tested the connection with a DMM yet?

[chadtower]

Very likely it's bad edge connectors. The edge contacts on the old Atari boards, as well as the plastic edge connectors themselves, are notriously flaky as they age. Bad/intermittent contact causes all kinds of electrical problems like occasional blown fuses. Be glad the fuses are there!

 

What you have to do, if this is the problem, is recondition the edge contacts on the PCB and refurbish the edge connector/harness by replacing the pins in it.

[Dr Galaga]

Have you checked out the Asteroids Repair Encyclopedia yet?

[+batari]

Have you checked out the Asteroids Repair Encyclopedia yet?

870803[/snapback]

Here's another link about Atari vector monitors in general

 

http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/REPAIR/whole/F_VAtari.html

[chadtower]

The problem very easily could be outside the monitor.

[Cassidy Nolen]

Those monitor pins get cold soldered very easily because of their size and the weight of the connectors on them. I have reflowed solder on all the pins on the boards, and see what happens. More than one game has been fixed that way.

 

Discharge the monitor(http://www.atarionline.com/blog.html)

Remove the monitor boards one at a time (you'll more easily see where the connectors go)

Reflow the solder on the pins.

Reinstall boards

Get your game on.....

 

I've seen this blow fuses before. I do agree, the problem could be elsewhere, but thats a start.

 

Cassidy

[chadtower]

Would it be a good idea to secure that PCB side of the connector, then, maybe with hot glue? Stress relief should solve that problem.