1982 Time Pilot help

[bfrosty]

Purchased a Time Pilot '82 for $180.  Working great, cleaned it up and boom.  I decided to unconnect the Jamma type connector, plugged it back in and now it doesn't work.  Guess it was cozy after 32yrs of being plugged in?

Anyway, the marque lights up, can hear a tick coming from the speaker(like it's cycling).  No image on screen.

Checked power supply AC and DC.  I'm getting 103VAC and 5.5V DC and 12VDC.

Any suggestions?  I wish I had a spare Jamma board to test it.

New at this...thanks for any help...let me know if you have questions.
Thanks,
Mitch

[arcadefan1985]

Try cleaning the connection edge of the board with a pencil eraser.
Blow out the edge connector.

[bfrosty]

Thanks...I will try that.

Also, the monitor comes on...it has two thin white lines/one red...then flips to a screen full of "f" characters and some other misc. chars.

I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks
Mitch

[bfrosty]

@ArcadeFan1985 -

Try it...no luck.

Funny, it made it on the back of my truck, in the misty rain about 45mi to my house, down a flight of steps and worked great for 5-days.

Just looking at the back and took the Jamma type connector off....now, its just trying to startup...can't get all the way there.

Any other suggestions?

The monitor was good...just a bit of burn in.  Hummmmm.....

Thanks,
Mitch
 

[bfrosty]

Just checked voltage....

AC coming in is 103.5v

DC 5+- is a constant 5.2-5.5

DC 12v is fluctuating from 14.78-13.85 (This is when the screen changes from the two white/one red line to a full screen of the letter "f" repeated and some other characters.

Something is lose...wiggled the jamma connector...no difference.

MK
 

[arcadefan1985]

Are you sure the edge connector was put back correctly?

[bfrosty]

 
Wow!  I just disconnected the ribbon cable and resetted it.  The game works now!!!

I was watching a video on John's site list he has in the first post on this forum.  The guy said...these ribbons cables can be a gremlin.

Sure enough!

Back in business.

Thanks again!
Mitch
 

[arcadefan1985]

That's great. Also in the future, socketed chips get loose. A lot of times they can cause issues, just firmly press
Down and reseat.

[iankellogg]

I would start investigating why those voltages are so off base. you are really pushing the limits of those poor chips.

[GarouSP]

I would recommend you to lower your +5v to a maximum of +5.1
Above this your board could not resist and stops to work, burning something.
Your +12v are high too, it could damage the sound of your PCB, your should check the power supply.

[bfrosty]

@Everyone...

Just an update.  The voltage adjuster on my power supply was broken off.  Great!!!  So, not to worry.  I bought a couple of power supplys (extra for backup) and hooked it up to my Time Pilot.  Adjusted voltage down a wee bit.

It works great now, does the test grid thing, then the game starts right up.

I unplugged and plugged it back into the electrical outlet about 5 different times.  Waiting for a while in between reconnects.  It runs perfectly and started up each time the same way.

Thanks again for everyone's help and suggestions.
MK