New Life Games Tech Forums

                     I picked up a Frogger cocktail table version arcade machine. The monitor color is looking good but the top and bottom part of the monitor graphics is waving like an ocean. What could be wrong with this? I know it has nothing to do with any of the monitor adjustments as I've already tried it. Does this mean a recap kit needed? is this always the situation when this happens or could it be something else? What brand or type of monitors are typically used in this game. All I know for now it's a 19" standard resolution. Also if it is in need of a cap kit, who sells them and how much are they? Any help very appreciated. Thanks!

You could change it to a nice, higher resolution LCD screen using an RGB-to-VGA adapter? :89-

                           
                              I may experiment on that in the future but for now I want to get this monitor to work and not sure if it is just simply replacing the caps. The monitor has clean color, just wavy on the top and bottom of screen. I'm going to clean the game up today and try to find out what kind of monitor it is. I know there is an RGB wire and two other wires I guess for Vertical and Horizontal for a total of 5 wires besides the power wire going to the monitor.

Look up Bob Robert or Zanen....

Bob wants you to mail him a check or MO... Zanen doesn't have a website, but you'll find their contact info if you do a Google search. Zanen will take a credit card # over the phone.

I've ordered from both and find Zanen easier to deal with until you do enough business with Bob that he cross ships your order as you send payment.

RJ

Zanen  Phone number 806 829 2780   Ransom Canyon, Texas

                       Sorry, but not sure what you are talking about.  For now I just needed to know what could be the problem of the monitor for what it's doing

Zanen will sell you a  CAP kit for a fair price. I don't know anything about Bob Robert.

Just recap the monitor....
The power suply caps have dried out and thats AC ripple you see in the picture.Look for a slight trace of a dark bar slowing rolling thru the picture also.
The connections are USUALLY....

Red=RED Video gun 1.0 volts
Blue=Blue Video gun 1.0 volts
Green=Green Video gun 1.0 volts
White= Sync pulse to monitor
Black=ground.
The monitor can be ANYTHING....but usually an Electrohome,Wells-Garner or similiar. The reason for the "Cap Kit" is simply this. If one is shot chances are the rest are also.For the price of the kit, you shotgun the damn thing and wont have to pull it out again anytime soon.
BE CAREFUL in there, they usually DO NOT use a isolation transformer, this means the video chassis can be hot.The power supply is usually in the bottom of the cabinet, the supply supports the +5,+12 sometimes -12 to the board. If it has TWO transformers on it, one is a iso.The B+ voltage can be rather high (120 Volts X RMS voltage 120 X 1.414=close to 180Volts DC)
To get the board out.....
First...TAKE PICTURES of it with a digital camera.
Remove monitor chassis and take outside to blow out the dust and other crap.
Take cliplead, attach one end to good chassis ground. Take other end and clip to a long screwdriver.
Slip the screwdriver under the high voltage rubber cap on Anode of CRT. Short to ground.
Wait a moment or two, short again. While you have it grounded,clip the lead to the spring clip and leave it shorted.
Remove spring clip from CRT gently.
Unplug the multi-pin connector from the deflection yoke (usually 4 pins) notice how it was on.
Disconnect the ground wire from the CRT mounting to the chassis.
Remove the circuit board intact.
Now you have access to the entire board. Remove caps ONE at a time by either using a solder vac or wick..or my choice..wiggle the part until it's leads break off and then remove whats left (minimal board damage this way).
Notice which lead is (-) and make sure you replace the cap correctly.
DO NOT clean the high voltage area! unless it was arcing or unhappy, cleaning the flyback transformer or focus/voltage multiplier usually invites trouble.
Just hosing it out with compressed air is fine.A lot of the Mica caps have a air-gap at the top and if you decide to clean they will cog with crap and fail.
Re-assemble in the reverse order. be advised that the CRT will indeed build up a charge if you brushed it at all and will greet you with a small spark when you reconnect the Anode clip, so leave it grounded until its back in place. Connect grounds FIRST, then high voltage and Deflection coil connector.
You may also have a 2 pin connector going to a coil around the outside of the CRT, this is a de-gausser coil. It does it's job when first fired up. Dont forget to reconnect it.It is not polarized and the connector might go on either way. It will be close to where the AC power enters the board.
On the power connector, make SURE white goes back to white and black goes back to black! Black is 120 Volts AC, White is Neutral and green/yellow is ground. getting them wrong WILL be a mess...

Good luck! keep one hand away from the chassis when you power up...

Kirk

                     I talked to a tech and he said most likely not the cap but the power supply. The picture color is clean, I do see a very very faint large bar that goes across the screen horizontally, it is not very noticeable. What is noticeable is the wavy motion on top and bottom of the screen. You think a cap kit would take care of it? The monitor is a 19" Hitachi. You know also, when I turn off the machine, I see a very faint but noticeable green spot in the middle of the screen! and then after a few minutes it fades away. What does that mean?

If there are other CRT devices (computer monitor, TV, other games, NOT LCD) next to it, or if it's next to electrical panels, fans, motors, etc, then you'll get waviness in the picture. If that's not it then recap the monitor.

Bad caps will cause a LARGE amount of picture anomalies.

While soldering in the new caps you should resolder ANY cracked solder joints plus things like the yoke connector, input connectors, degaussing coil connectors, flyback transformer, and the CRT socket. Those solder joints tend to crack and cause other problems.

As for a dot? That's simply things slowly discharging since they were turned off. Odd that it's green and not white. Makes me wonder if someone had been tweaking the color knobs on the back of the CRT neck board.

RJ

I have been working on Arcade equipment for about 37 years, but don't trust MY opinion. Your "tech" is spot on....go with his opinion......
Ask your "Tech" where that "Power Supply" is....
Do I think a cap kit will fix it....yep..I STILL think it will fix it, so does a lot of other people.
I doubt the MONITOR is a Hitachi, but rather the CRT is......
The green dot is normal......
But your "Tech" already knew this....

Kirk

Kirk, thanks for taking the time to detail the removal, recap, and reinstallation process step by step. I copied it and saved it in a Word document in case I need to recap a monitor in the future. K+ to you. :3- :3-

PS: Digital cameras are wonderful tools for documenting the original configuration in any project involving the disassembly and reassembly of a complex device, be it an automobile engine, a slot machine, or anything else.

                         I've attached some pics so I would know which cap kit I need. The monitor does say Hitachi, is it not made my Hitachi and only the board is?

                     Here is what the board looks like..

                                Another thing I found interesting on this board if you look carefully besides the RGB wires there is the white wire on the ground and the blue with white stripe on the Horizontal. What I noticed is there is not Vertical wire hooked up to it. This is how it originally was installed and working. Does this look correct? The second pic shows the plugs on the left side, one plug for RGB and the other one with two wires going to the ground and horizontal. I thought the two wires are for Horizontal and Vertical....

Sega/Nanao MC-2000-S.

           Yep. I ordered the cap kit from Zanen. I emailed the picture of the board to confirm it. I hope this solves the wavy problem. I'll let you know how it goes! thanks...

                            I replaced all the caps from the kit but one major one was needed that was not included in the kit which I went to a electronic supply store and purchased it. It was the largest cap near the input of the power and after replacing all the 23 or so caps, it worked! no more waves and the color looks more vibrant. The only thing is I see a slight shadow or focus problem on the pink words when it shows up on the directions but when the game plays it looks great. I can deal with it but was wondering if it can be fixed. I may have to take a pic to describe it better.

Turn down the gain on the red gun and it will stop smearing/bleeding.
Now your good to go for another 10 years :)


Kirk

It's normal to have a little bit of a color convergence problem on CRT monitors. It takes a LOT of patience to adjust and generally isn't worth the time and aggravation.

RJ

                                      I tried all the adjustments and still have the shadow on white, blue, and pink colors. They appear blurry only on the letters and numbers but on gameplay it looks fine. I will be converting this game to a 60 in 1 soon hopefully next week I can start on it. Just playing Frogger on it got boring fast.