New Astro city. New power supply and jamma harness

[kazuo]

One of my friends is good with electricity and he did the recap and reworked my power situation. Got a step down transformer in the cab now.

Any pics of what this looks like in the cab? Did you use the transformer you linked in the thread?
Where did you get the bulb + starter?

Looking great, thank you for sharing this information and progress!

It is the transformer I linked. I just have it sitting in the back of the cab. I might take some pictures today.

Thanks for sharing all the info and the details on the bulb + starter, it's appreciated!

Did you/your friend end up replacing the original transformer in the cab, or did you just daisy chain them?

I can't help with the audio issues, sadly, but perhaps @XianXi might be able to, since it sounds like you're using his tutorial!

 

[Geddon]

I don’t think the Audio is an issue, just an observation. It sounds fine through stereo or the jamma.

Finally finished painting the speaker housing and installed the marquee kit and some art. Picked marvel/capcom because I think this cab will be home to the cps2 multi for a while. Waiting on my shelf before I put it in here though. Switch and amp fit nicely velcrowed on top of the coin compartment and has plenty of clearance for the coin mech still.

 

[The Spaniard]

How is the sound in stereo now?

Also was it a common thing to Stick the instruction card to the bottom of the monitor bezel in arcades?

 

[Geddon]

Sounds great to me. I like having the bass and treble knobs to dial it in for each game. As for the instructions I bought some kits for various games off eBay and this one came with one that fits the control panel glass and the marquee and came with that other one so I just assumed it went on the bezel. I used double sided tape. I’ll likely leave that for a year then switch to somethihg else. I also got 3rd strike and ghouls n ghosts. So maybe I put the cps3 multi next time then when the cps1 multi hits I can change to ghouls. I’m planning on getting some blast cabs soon so will get some more art for those. Whatever games I like where I can find repo art I suppose.

 

[BlinG]

How is the sound in stereo now?

Also was it a common thing to Stick the instruction card to the bottom of the monitor bezel in arcades?

Every candy cab that I’ve bought has had instruction cards attached to the monitor bezel, except they’re typically laminated.

 

[Geddon]

Good idea. I have a laminator and didn’t think of that.

 

[Sp33dFr34k]

So, I've bought the LG speakers and just installed them. They are really really close to the original ones. Had to use 2 small rings underneath the holes but otherwise they are actually drop-in.

They do sound a lot more muffled comparing to the original ones, that said, the OG speakers are very rich on the mid and especially high. They also crackle a bit every now and then.

The LG ones are more sophisticated so to say and sound nice, although a bit more flat.

Also, the LG ones are shielded and seem less prone to static, although I can still hear it (maybe it's the NVS4000 going out here, also a possibility).

Thought I'd leave my (very brief) experience with them here

 

[The Spaniard]

Anyone have any idea why my power seems to go up the longer I run the cab?

I am using Frank_fjs Jamma knife to take the voltage reading.

Starts off at a nice even 5V and then slowly climbs over time.

Seen it go to 5.12 I think just after this picture.

Never had issues with this cab running a CPS2 multi there, recently added one UD terminal block decoder to the setup at the same time as the Jamma knife.

Any ideas on this?

 

[PascalP]

bad caps heating up?
If you adjust the voltage after the cab has been on for 10 minutes, does it stay stable then?

 

[The Spaniard]

Is there a knob or something to adjust voltage on the NAC PSU? Never seen a spot to adjust it.

If I take a voltmeter to check the voltages are as per the readout, where will I need to probe? The 5v and Ground on the Jamma?

Dumb question but can the 5v and however many amps being outputted fry me to a crisp?

 

[twistedsymphony]

Is there a knob or something to adjust voltage on the NAC PSU?

yes there's a small hole in the metal case that you need to insert a screw driver into to turn adjustment pot.

If I take a voltmeter to check the voltages are as per the readout, where will I need to probe?

The best place to probe is to find an chip on the game board that uses 5V and probe the 5V and ground pins of that chip. The further from the PSU you go the more the voltage will drop, so you want to measure the voltage as close to the items that use it as possible... also the closer to these chips you measure the closer to 5.00V you can adjust it.

on something where it's not possible to probe a chip (like NAOMI or CPS2) simply do it at the power connector or JAMMA connector... as I said, as close to the chips that use it as possible.

Dumb question but can the 5v and however many amps being outputted fry me to a crisp?

no.

I've been zapped by just about anything inside an arcade machine that can zap you, and the 5V rail is pretty low on the "dangerous" list. I'm not saying it wont hurt, and I'm not saying to go licking the power pins on your JAMMA connector, but there are worse thing to worry about.

 

[The Spaniard]

Is there a knob or something to adjust voltage on the NAC PSU?

yes there's a small hole in the metal case that you need to insert a screw driver into to turn adjustment pot.

If I take a voltmeter to check the voltages are as per the readout, where will I need to probe?

The best place to probe is to find an chip on the game board that uses 5V and probe the 5V and ground pins of that chip. The further from the PSU you go the more the voltage will drop, so you want to measure the voltage as close to the items that use it as possible... also the closer to these chips you measure the closer to 5.00V you can adjust it.
on something where it's not possible to probe a chip (like NAOMI or CPS2) simply do it at the power connector or JAMMA connector... as I said, as close to the chips that use it as possible.

Dumb question but can the 5v and however many amps being outputted fry me to a crisp?

no.
I've been zapped by just about anything inside an arcade machine that can zap you, and the 5V rail is pretty low on the "dangerous" list. I'm not saying it wont hurt, and I'm not saying to go licking the power pins on your JAMMA connector, but there are worse thing to worry about.

Counter clockwise is down?

I only have CPS2 so I guess Jamma connector. I'll see what the voltmeter says and adjust the knife if need be but I figure here that if the voltage keeps climbing after 5 or 10 mins of use then the caps are going bad in the PSU?

 

[PascalP]

Measuring at the Jamma edge with your voltmeter is fine for now.
Clockwise should be up and counter clockwise down.

But I expect your caps are bad, therefor their values can change when heated up

 

[twistedsymphony]

Measuring at the Jamma edge with your voltmeter is fine for now.
Clockwise should be up and counter clockwise down.

But I expect your caps are bad, therefor their values can change when heated up

^this

 

[The Spaniard]

Measuring at the Jamma edge with your voltmeter is fine for now.
Clockwise should be up and counter clockwise down.

But I expect your caps are bad, therefor their values can change when heated up

Ran that cab for 1 hour while playing, before I started I adjusted to as close to 5v as I could get as its really delicate. Got to 5.2. Noticed that later on the voltage on the readout jumped up bit by bit until it settled on 5.6V checked with the multimeter at the jamma edge and it was still at 5.2V. Strange that the LCD readout keeps climbing. So maybe at least for now my caps are good.

Any reason for this to happen?

 

[PascalP]

so actually measuring at the Jamma edge with a multimeter shows a stable voltage, but the shown voltage on the passthrough keeps climbing?

Also I would keep the voltage at the Jamma edge below 5.1v, CPS2 is quite power hungry so you should be OK, but you could run into issues with more delicate board at higher voltages
That's also why it is so importing to measure and adjust the voltage for every PCB you hook up.

 

[The Spaniard]

Yeah, seems so, it climbed up to 5.6 and stopped going up at that point. I did notice that it can fluctuate like .1 +/- here and there but pretty consistent on the jamma edge measured with the voltmeter but the passthrough goes up as mentioned.

Getting it dialed in is very hard as its very sensitive, even just touching the screw with the screwdriver makes the voltage change but I will try to drop that extra .1/.2 and get it to sit at 5.0V

 

[PascalP]

can't explain why you measure that difference, these LCD meters are pretty reliable, use a few myself as well.
Also @Frank_fjs delivers top quality work.

Can you maybe post a pic or video of your setup and exactly how you measure?

 

[The Spaniard]

Oh yeah not anything against Franks stuff at all. Just weird that it changes, I will take off the LCD and adjust the voltage to match and then see if that fixes the issue.

Went and adjusted the screw on the LCD board, its 4.99 in the pic but 5.0V at the knife edge.

The original Jamma harness runs at about 5.02 at that edge, as expected its higher there.

I'll give it a run tomorrow for another hour or so and will take notes and times with voltages and so forth so I can know for certain if the PSU is increasing voltage with time.

 

[Geddon]

So, I've bought the LG speakers and just installed them. They are really really close to the original ones. Had to use 2 small rings underneath the holes but otherwise they are actually drop-in.

They do sound a lot more muffled comparing to the original ones, that said, the OG speakers are very rich on the mid and especially high. They also crackle a bit every now and then.

The LG ones are more sophisticated so to say and sound nice, although a bit more flat.

Also, the LG ones are shielded and seem less prone to static, although I can still hear it (maybe it's the NVS4000 going out here, also a possibility).

Thought I'd leave my (very brief) experience with them here

I’m a bit of an audio snob so that’s why I put an amp on the cab with treble and bass controls. On my pvm setup I use little mixers to have eq available. It can make a big difference. I’ve considered sticking compressors in the chain but haven’t gone that far, yet. I swear having an Allen and heath qu16 in my little music room has spoiled me. The eq available on that thing is awesome.