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Foreezy

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Hello all,

I'm super excited to be on this forum and really appreciate how welcome you've made me feel already. I joined because I'm working on my first arcade project and I could use some advice and just general knowledge to aid me on this quest. My plan is to make a dedicated Primal Rage supergun cabinet that houses the PCB board, PSU, supergun and has built-in controls, speakers and cooling fans. A marquee would be nice too, but I'm not getting greedy yet! I was inspired by this PROJECT. Primal Rage is probably my favorite arcade game (I know it's not the best, but it has huge nostalgia for me) and I really want to make something special to no only preserve it, but be able to play the game in all its original glory.

The Primal Rage V2.3 PCB was sold to me as working for both sound and picture. The board came with the original sound cables, but not the metal plate or edge filter. To run it, I'm using a Parsec 2.1 supergun with the JNX Rage Adapter (shout out to low_budget and XianXi, these products are amazing!). My PSU is a Silvertone 450W SFX, and I'm using standard RCA into a CRT and speaker cables for picture and sound. Here are some pictures!

FULL ALBUM (Google Photos)

hOpmqmO.jpg

lZjv9Fa.jpg

RoQXY52.jpg

e538nOt.jpg

Djaj7He.jpg

2JTrfgA.jpg


My current issues are audio distortion and a dark picture. I've recorded it in two separate videos below.


https://youtu.be/vQUb1kfrU5c

The first videos shows me turning on the PCB with the STEREO side of the original cable, the JNX Rage set to STEREO and the Parsec set to STEREO. The audio is super quiet and appears to come out of only one speaker.

https://youtu.be/wA9DMqW12yI

This second video shows off the major distortion I get. I'm using the STEREO side of it's original cable, but have my JNX Rage and Parsec set to MONO. Audio comes from both speakers, but you can hear how terrible the low audio is. If I use the MONO side of the original cable (or the replacement cable which is just MONO) I get no sound at all.

And lastly, the screen seems very dark. Please note I've upped the brightness on the TV for better photos and video. I've tested some game consoles on this TV and this PR board is certainly seems darker than it should be. Not a deal breaker, but I've noticed others have similar issues (Luke Morse ran into it here: https://youtu.be/OMl6nSAmlnI)

Any help you all can provide me on fixing these audio/picture issues would be gladly welcome. Really appreciate your time!

Sorry for the long post all. I'm super excited to own this board and really hope I can make something amazing with it. I'll be sure to also post on the "Project Showcase/Ideas" thread with some sketches of the cabinet design and other ideas.

Thanks again!
 
Just posting to say I wholeheartedly support this project and will get out my primal rage board sometime soon to see what troubleshooting I can come up with.

In the meantime I’d recommend verifying every piece in the video and audio chain to make sure it’s the pcb.

Also there is an audio setting in the test mode, have you adjusted that?
 
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Also there is an audio setting in the test mode, have you adjusted that?
Thank you so much ekorz! I do appreciate it.

Everything on the video/audio chain seems good. It's possible I may have a setting on Parsec incorrect, but I don't think I do. I thought maybe bad caps, but I don't see anything leaking.

I haven't been able to check the audio settings in test mode as I don't have any controls setup. That will be my next step, but wanted to see if anything I documented stood out as an obvious problem I'm missing.

Thanks again!
 
Also show me some audio wiring? I don’t recall that the jamma edge supports stereo on this pcb, it may only come directly from the audio sub board. I’ll double check on mine later though.
 
Dark video is just how Primal Rage is. People used to swap out some of the resistors on the board to address that. I got a perfect picture out of mine with the HAS, but with my homemade supergun it was really dark. You can probably turn up each of the three RGB pots on the Parsec and fix it. Turn them equally though or you'll mess up your RGB balance.

Yes, line-level stereo audio is available from the audio sub-board's JST, and there's a subwoofer output there too. There are some pictures of how I grabbed audio from it here.
 
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@SmokeMonster did you make a jst to rca adapter for this board, to show him? My guess is he’s using the supergun’s 1/8 inch headphone jack, which is getting sound from the jamma edge

Edit nevermind your tweet is the first hit in google!

https://mobile.twitter.com/smokemonstertwi/status/1081241928862175232

@Foreezy make one of these for stereo! Pinout is on page 61/62 of the manual here http://www.aurcade.com/games/manuals/00000167.pdf

smokemonster modified his pcb to accept a particular connector, but you could just take it from the header that’s already there. Wire it to RCA jacks for line level stereo. If you need help I can probably make you one.
 
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Dark video is just how Primal Rage is. People used to swap out some of the resistors on the board to address that. I got a perfect picture out of mine with the HAS, but with my homemade supergun it was really dark. You can probably turn up each of the three RGB pots on the Parsec and fix it. Turn them equally though or you'll mess up your RGB balance.
Thank you for the recommendation on the RGP pots, that seemed to do the trick for the dark screen! Also, I loved your restoration post a while back. Your PCB looks amazing! I hope to get mine cleaned up the same way, but its previous owner was not very careful with it and it has some sag :(
@Foreezy make one of these for stereo! Pinout is on page 61/62 of the manual here http://www.aurcade.com/games/manuals/00000167.pdf


smokemonster modified his pcb to accept a particular connector, but you could just take it from the header that’s already there. Wire it to RCA jacks for line level stereo. If you need help I can probably make you one.
Ah copy that! Makes sense to just use the header. Um... @ekorz if you'd be down to make something for me, I'd very happily pay you. I'm still a novice when it comes to a lot of this, but I'm learning all the time. I do understand what you're talking about though.

I was able to wire up some rough controls and tested the sound (pics below). Everything checked out ok, but when I raised the volume in-game, I hear the distortion even more. Here's a video of what happens: https://youtu.be/BVDZ3U022xI

Here are some pics of the checks:
sayDAM5.jpg

wIr6k3B.jpg

YaTsHTg.jpg


Thanks friends!
 
smokemonster modified his pcb to accept a particular connector, but you could just take it from the header that’s already there. Wire it to RCA jacks for line level stereo. If you need help I can probably make you one.
Oh, that's right. I thought I remembered swapping a JST for JST-XH, but there wasn't one there to begin with was there. It does make a handy connector there if you go that route. You could send just the audio PCB out to someone if you aren't comfortable soldering yourself.
 
Yeah I may need to go that route if I can't get help making some sort of JST adapter to RCA. I have soldering equipment, but I've never done anything that elaborate before (mainly I just swap out batteries or other surface mount goodies) so sending just the board may be my best bet.

Actually, @ekorz or @SmokeMonster would something like this work: https://mbquart.com/polaris-off-road-grade-audio/adaptors/jstmrca2f/

It looks like it would line up with the stereo pins on the Audio PCB...

Thanks again for the help you guys, this is fantastic!
 
Sorry for the spam, but I got the audio to work!


I removed the JNX adapter and voila, clean mono audio. I'll figure out why the adapter was stopping the audio and update when I find out.

Major shout out to @ekorz and @SmokeMonster for helping me out.

Next I'll start a "Project Showcase" thread to give everyone an update on the design for the cabinet. Thanks again for the help and more soon!
 
@SmokeMonster the wiring schematic makes it look like the pcb has amplified stereo, not line level. Is that what you’ve found?

I never owned the filter board or cab and can’t make sense of the actual “jamma” pinout for the audio (manual). But here’s the schematic, those pins wired right to the speakers (and there is an amp on the sub board)

a25aSQE_d.jpg


If that’s the case, and @Foreezy you’re putting speakers in your build, you could just wire stereo speakers direct and power them with the board’s amp.
 
That is the pinout for the connector on the sub-board, but if you grab it where I did in this thread, it's before the speaker amplification and is line-level (IIRC, I sold my PR last year)
 
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Hello there! I'm still trying to decide whether I want to place stereo speakers inside the cabinet or have the option to attach externally, through RCA. Wiring directly to the audio board's JST sounds like the best option so I'll stay in touch with you once I'm further along with the design.

Really appreciate that help and support! I'm very excited to get this board set up and playable again.
 
Thanks for posting the original pics with dual head wiring harness. I copied the design today and made my own. Now my primal rage board is fully working!
 
This is awesome. I have also recently bought a Primal Rage 2.3 PCB, and am wanting to get it up and running.
I'm also really new to all of this so am learning and reading lots. Great to be able to see what you've been up to and I'm sure it will help me along the way.
I've tried getting a Parsec supergun, but they are always sold out within hours of me getting a notification that they're back in stock, so I think I'm going to have to get a Minigun off eBay. Do you know what wattage Arcade style PSU I would need to power the board? I was looking at the MeanWell RT-125A but if the 85 or 65 are up to the job, I'll go with one of those. Keep us posted on your progress.
 
KaPH33n - Thanks so much for posting that audio addendum! Please see my post on this thread in which I explain how I simply tapped into those line level output pins to get the full Primal Rage sound :} Couldn’t have done it without ya, so thanks again!

Primal Rage PCB Restoration
 
Is someone able to post a better picture of where these pins go on this small connector near the jamms edge?

Is it:
1.browm
2. White
3. Blue
4. Orange
???
 

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