Another new Starblade owner

[DarthNuno]

I was actually in a Galaxian Theater a few hours ago and all the flashboys in it were working fine.. not much else in it worked.

More details please? 
Where? What (Zolgear or Dragoon setup? Or the poor 'AIR RAID' conversion in D&B) ?

[HHaase]

I had to de-solder the tube on one end to get access to the board, there was a reflector sheet between them and I had to remove the power wires to even get it out of the housing.   Otherwise the tube looks fine, and I was planning on treating it like a halogen bulb in that I'm going to give it a nice rubdown with isopropyl alcohol prior to closing it all back up.

I've also got a new power switch on the way as well.  Between that and the flashboy repair, it should have me up to 100% functionality.

The monitor isn't bad actually, not enough issue with it that I'd even want to do any work to it.  I was able to adjust it to a very nice picture, and it has only minimal burn-in with a very nice contrast to it.  Good DEEP black background, and the colors are popping pretty nice now.  I actually just don't know enough about monitors yet to venture any attempts at working on them.... I'm a pinball guy.  Eventually my Galaga does need a tube swap, so I do have to learn it all at some point.

[vrAx]

Ahh right.. the older flashboys run the wires through the holes. Flashboys from Galaxy Force are like that as well -- I was always able to pull out the PCB screws without having to pull the reflector whenever I pulled those apart, but the tubes are often pretty tired anyway since they get so much use. They smartened up a bit and just notched the reflector in the newer units, so it's easy to remove (after Ushio bought Tokyo Xenon, I guess.)

That's nice the monitor looks good! Unless it's been swapped, it should have a K7000 in it. They often have color bleeding issues when turning up the contrast, which can be problematic in Starblade. Some monitors are more susceptible to bleeding than others though.

It's easy to say this, coming from anybody with experience.. but monitors are pretty easy, all things considered. It's always just discharging the CRT that can be scary for those not used to it -- electronic failures beyond aging caps are typically limited to only a couple parts in K7000 & earlier monitors. If you have a working one, just swapping the caps will be trivial to anybody used to pinball board repair, once the chassis is out.

If you haven't done so, I'd recommend capping it; that monitor is over 20 years old!

[ataritoobin]

Nice work!

Out of curiosity, do you notice any 'interference' in your monitor image?  I see some in mine, and wondered if it's because the video cable is about a mile long in the cabinet and also has the power/degauss running through the same connector.

I haven't tried much to trouble shoot it, other than unplugging the fan and the like to see if it made a difference, and it didn't.  It's also persisted across monitors.

[level42]

Are the video wires twisted ?

[vrAx]

do you notice any 'interference' in your monitor image?

It's probably the power supply.

IIRC, It's just a common 9-pin supply, they're available for $45 in the USA from Happ or Betson.

[ataritoobin]

Are the video wires twisted ?

Not that I recall, but it's possible, I'll double check that.  IIRC, the video harness goes all the way to a connector in the top of the cabinet, then down to a connector on the monitor frame, which branches off to the connector on the monitor chassis itself.  Actually, I think there's even a filter board of sorts within the cage.  It would be interesting to see what the resistance is through all that.  This may also explain why the video is a bit dim, even after monitor re-cap.  As HHaase said, it's important for the video to be bright with dark backgrounds.

It will be tricky due to the layout of the PCB cage, but I could also try building a short cable coming directly from the PCB to confirm it's not something in the video generation circuitry itself.

It's probably the power supply.

IIRC, It's just a common 9-pin supply, they're available for $45 in the USA from Happ or Betson.

I had considered this as well, the Japanese version (which I have) uses two separate switchers, one for +5V and the other for +12.  I replaced both with new ones as the old ones were beyond repair when I received the machine (same specs as the originals).  Oddly enough, there are no transformers in the base of the cab.  The monitor has a built in isolation transformer, and there's no filter caps or the like in the cab.

Anyway, I didn't mean to derail your thread HHaase!  I'll go stick this back in my Starblade thread.  Thanks for the input, guys!

[HHaase]

Also consider that the ballast and starter for the marquee lamp are mounted right behind the neck board, though could be arranged different in yours with the Japanese cabinet. Another thing to look at is how close the speakers are to the tube in your setup. Can cause some oddball stuff to a picture if you have any kind of magnetism near it.

[ataritoobin]

Also consider that the ballast and starter for the marquee lamp are mounted right behind the neck board, though could be arranged different in yours with the Japanese cabinet. Another thing to look at is how close the speakers are to the tube in your setup. Can cause some oddball stuff to a picture if you have any kind of magnetism near it.

Good idea - I'll check that out too.  Thanks!

[HHaase]

Trying to get the power cord situation sorted out.  Internally the machine is wired with European color wiring.... Blue/Brown/Green-yellow for the AC power input.

The power supply has been replaced at some point, and the new one is find with US voltages.  However I can't find any external fuses anywhere on the AC power.  There appears to be one on the power supply already, but without dismounting the whole thing I can't see it well enough to figure it out.   Power supply is an Exactron BC200.

Sigh, this stuff always ends up more annoying than it should be.  I can always add an external fuse, but hate making things messier if I don't have to.

-Hans

[guruguys]

Wow, no-one in the US interested either ? Maybe some guys on the KLOV forum ?

Tried there too, they said 'Hey, have you tried dragonslairfans?' 

No worries though, at least I was able to track down a place that can make more anytime somebody needs one.

-Hans

I picked up a second StarBlade, however those who shipped it didn't remove the reflector dome and it blew out...

Did anyone actually find a company to make new ones, and how much was it if so?

[HHaase]

The link above, they were more than willing to make them,  I just didn't have any outside interest from anybody to justify the outlay for it.
I'm more than willing to gather up a group buy of some type still.

[HHaase]

Ahhh, finally.  A fresh capacitor in the flashboy, and I've got two working strobes again.   Sealed it up with some Weld-On #16 acrylic cement, which worked great.
I also relocated the power supply, which was covering the hole for the power switch, and was able to properly mount the switch and cord plates, so the power situation is all taken care of.

Now just to deal with the issues around the coin door and service switches, and I'm done working on it.   The good thing is it's been fully playable for a while, so I can go have some fun any time I want now.

-Hans

[HHaase]

Well, I moved houses, and after the headache of disassembly, moving, and re-assembly of my Starblade......It's dead.

Goes through the initial checks, gets to DSP RAM,  then re-starts.   

So looks like I'll be having to do some repair work.  Not much out there for diagnostics on this boardset.

-Hans

[DarthNuno]

I've recently moved my StarBlade into an other room, and yeah... this was a total nightmare because of that 'monitor block' which is as heavy as an horse!
Regarding your issue, rebooting board is often due to a wrong/too low voltage , but I presume you already checked it?