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I had already mentioned the schematic and I still don't understand the wiring for the 18 position connector...

What are the 1P/2P SIDE FL1DW?
Are all 14 pin connected to 100v AC?
Please keep in mind I am not installing this in a Versus City cab.

I would also highly argue the "fully documented" nature of the billboard PCB from that schematic. Documentation outside this schematic is non-existent other than the mentions of the proper pin connections to the filter boards listed on your site. This schematic does not present documentation for a model2 hook up.
 
I still don't understand the wiring for the 18 position connector...
What are the 1P/2P SIDE FL1DW?
Are all 14 pin connected to 100v AC?
Please keep in mind I am not installing this in a Versus City cab.
are you talking about the SSR board? I don't know of an 18 position connector on the Billboard PCB and there isn't any AC power running through this Billboard PCB either.

I honestly don't know what each pin represent on the SSR board as I'm not using it at all, and have never really looked into it. On my setup I opted to simply use the winner lamp output on the Billboard PCB to control an LED array.

but a quick look at the schematic tells me that the 18 pin connector on the SSR board is for AC output: AC output for 2 cooling fans, 2 florescent bulbs, and AC output for the billboard power supply board. so it's just being used as an AC distribution block for everything in the Versus City Header.

I would also highly argue the "fully documented" nature of the billboard PCB from that schematic. Documentation outside this schematic is non-existent
Every connector on the Billboard PCB is documented there. And if it's not documented there, then I don't have any other resources to pull the information from to make a pretty version of it.
 
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Oh my God you're right... I just spent almost $200 in replacement parts, connectors, crimpers, and wire thinkinking the SSR played an important role in powering the billboard, as it was included on the wood plank... All I need is 100v AC connected to the 400-5286. RIP

I notice that the Winners Lamps are connected to the SSR board, however. How does the Billboard unit connect to the winners lamps in thqt case? I plan on using single 12v lamps instead of what the schematic shows (with conversions as necessary). Would that be possible?
 
I notice that the Winners Lamps are connected to the SSR board, however. How does the Billboard unit connect to the winners lamps in thqt case? I plan on using single 12v lamps instead of what the schematic shows (with conversions as necessary). Would that be possible?
the large CN3 connector on the billboard outputs to a small 3-pin JST connector this signal is what controls the relays for the winner lamps.

you could probably even use the relay board for the 12V lamps, just running 12V through it instead of AC.
 
So I'm at the point where I wish to connect my billboard unit to my Model2b board. I have taken your vectored Model2b/c filterboard and shoved the parts of the Versus City schematic that show the Billboard's CN4 connection, all 9 wires. I am assuming the the Billboard's D#s correspond with the I/O#s on the filterboard, if I read your blog post correctly. Then GND can connect to either GND on CN6 or CN12.

sega_model2_b_c_pcb_arcade_filter_board_pinout.png
 
Alright, so everything's connected as it should be according to the diagram I drew up. And it... sort of... works?

I am unsure if because my EPROM set of Fighting Vipers is a US and not JP or EXPORT (even though I've changed settings to those yielding no difference), but the billboard system isn't working quite right. Sometimes it's (P1) " . ." (P2) " . .", other times it's (P1) "0.0." (P2) "0.0.".... the Output Test in the service menu doesn't help either. Sometimes, and only sometimes, the P1 7-SEG self test will work, but the P2 7-SEG self test will just display "0. ."

Playing matches, the 0's in the "0.0." displayed will flicker, but they won't show numbered win results.

A video of the output test (no winners lamps attached):
 
I've never run on Fighting Vipers but the animation you're seeing on P1 looks correct for a lot of the test modes I've seen. This to me means that your wiring from the Model 3 to your billboard control PCB is probably correct and the wiring from the billboard control PCB to the P1 display is correct.

I'd start by checking the wiring to the P2 display. and if that is correct, maybe even swap the displays to confirm it's not the display itself.

it's also possible that Fighting Vipers test mode doesn't work right, a good way to test this would be to enable the player bit on the input connector, this sets which side is P1 and P2 and should cause the outputs to swap... that's a good way to confirm where the problem is.
 
I've never run on Fighting Vipers but the animation you're seeing on P1 looks correct for a lot of the test modes I've seen. This to me means that your wiring from the Model 3 to your billboard control PCB is probably correct and the wiring from the billboard control PCB to the P1 display is correct.

I'd start by checking the wiring to the P2 display. and if that is correct, maybe even swap the displays to confirm it's not the display itself.

it's also possible that Fighting Vipers test mode doesn't work right, a good way to test this would be to enable the player bit on the input connector, this sets which side is P1 and P2 and should cause the outputs to swap... that's a good way to confirm where the problem is.
The wiring and display check out. I once had the correct dip settings to push P1 to the P2 slot but I can't remember which combo it was. I've also swapped the two connectors on the filter board and the P2 side doesn't work still. This board was in bad shape, but passes all self diagnostic tests I can muster through the dip switch settings, which are as follows:

(All dips set to 0)
P2 displays: 8,8., P2, round motions, SEGA rd-4 (loop)
(Dip 4 set)
P2 displays: 8.8. (loop)
(Oh, 5 and 8 set switch P2 to P1 and P1 off?) [This isn't working every time sadly]
P2 displays: 8,8., P1, round motions, SEGA rd-4 (loop)
(Dip 7 and 8 set)
P2 displays: ...this one is a really long test so I assume it's all correct.

The game seems to override any DIP settings on the billboard itself, though. The game is now only displaying 0.0 for both P1 and P2 and ignoring the 7-seg tests.

I have a Sonic the Fighters, authentic Japanese, ROM set coming in, as well as 2 other Versus City billboard main boards I will monkey around with and report back to this thread with results.

EDIT: I just replaced my board with another board, and yes, both boards seem to be slightly faulty. The 2nd board seems to have a better working P2 on it. Diagnosis on this may be difficult at the component level...
 
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I've also swapped the two connectors on the filter board and the P2 side doesn't work still.
yeah, don't do that. swapping the filter board connectors is just going to scramble the data going into billboard PCB so you can expect garbage output.
(All dips set to 0)
P2 displays: 8,8., P2, round motions, SEGA rd-4 (loop)
(Dip 4 set)
P2 displays: 8.8. (loop)
(Oh, 5 and 8 set switch P2 to P1 and P1 off?) [This isn't working every time sadly]
P2 displays: 8,8., P1, round motions, SEGA rd-4 (loop)
(Dip 7 and 8 set)
P2 displays: ...this one is a really long test so I assume it's all correct.

The game seems to override any DIP settings on the billboard itself, though. The game is now only displaying 0.0 for both P1 and P2 and ignoring the 7-seg tests.
Based on what you've posted here and the video you posted earlier it sounds like your billboard PCB is 100% working and you have a configuration issue either with the dips or the input (or both).

you might want to also confirm that the dip switches on your board are good and actually holding the value that you've set. I've replaced TONS of old sega dip-switches on my own billboard pcb and on other old Sega PCBs as the original ones they used were trash.
 
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So here's what seems to have fixed some problems: I put the original RAM back on the board.

Problem was, P1 7-SEG test via Fighting Vipers and Virtual-ON was spotty. Sometimes it would work, but most of the time it would do nothing. Dip switches also did not seem to do what they were supposed to consistently. Replacing the replacement RAM I bought online (RIP) with the original I desoldered seems to have fixed this.

Now, it seems that P2 7-SEG gets some signals, but it's not doing what it's supposed to be doing. The P1 7-SEG also doesn't seem to be responding correctly to what it should be displaying during actual gameplay. I have a suspicion that one of the logic chips that translates the data line coming from the Filter Board to the main board of the Billboard. So I've ordered 1:1 NEW replacements from Digikey. As a test, I also bought the MB8464A15LL-SK RAM chip (the chip model that is silkscreened under the SRAM slot). I figure using it won't hurt anything, and I still have the original IC, so we'll see how this turns out.
 
Just finished my repairs and wanted to thank you for all your help and documentation. I would have NEVER gotten this to work without it! The harness I built from your instructions worked 100% and is functioning as it should. I'm not exactly sure what parts were causing the problems, as I replaced a lot, but it might have been DA3 and DA4 or RA7, as all of them are very close to the arcade board input.
 
sorry for bringing this topic back from the death.... is it possible to connect an arduino/rpi to the billoards and send commands to display different text?

Thanks.
 
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