Help with my new Centipede cocktail

[electronictofu=]

Hi all,
Just joined here. I picked up this Centipede the other day. At first I had vertical lines on the screen, and I tried playing with the knobs and some switches on the board, and now the screen is black. It's playing blind, sound and controls work, I have little idea of what I am doing. Hoping these pictures can aid in a few tips on how to adjust the monitor, it may need a cap kit, but it also may have life in it as it was close before, but I did something, not correct.

Any help would be amazing, thanks in advance,
Phil

 

[obitus1990]

You may have dialed the adjustments on the flyback transformer. It looks like the screen control is turned up way too high. Carefully turn it down (on the flyback) until the screen looks normal. Then adjust the R, G, and B pots.

Not monitor related, but, I would also change out the power transistor on the AR-2 board (audio-regulator 2 -- the power supply board) , as they are known to fail (especially since originals are now 40 years old) and take out the entire board due to the sense circuit they employ.

 

[KaPH33n]

I can see in the second pic that your monitor chassis is at least partially working. It has a full white screen showing which means there's B+, raster, horizontal and vertical deflection. I wish you had a picture of the "vertical lines" on the screen.

I agree with obitus I was going to say check your flyback and see if the screen control can be adjusted.

cap kits will make a working monitor look and behave better... they don't typically make a broken monitor fixed. Unless the caps are so far gone that they just don't work at all anymore and then it might. I don't think that's the case here. If the screen is all black and the flyback screen control does nothing then check for neck glow and see if there is 110 input and what is the B+. You'll need to look up the test point for the chassis you have.

 

[ReplicaX]

Besides what is mentioned above.

The heart and soul of every Centipede is the PS. If the original 27000uf (Big blue) Capacitor and original bridge rectifier are still there. Those are a must to replace. All power runs through that board including the monitor. Centipede is very picky on its voltages. Did it come with the operations manual and the supplemental wiring diagrams? I say this cause the cocktail is in fact different from the upright for wiring and the PS board.

 

[electronictofu=]

Thanks for all the help all! Yeah, it does still have the big blue capacitor. I pulled the monitor out a couple times to access everything. Or make sure I didn't miss any controls or knobs, I think i found all of them, and the flyback controls. I've dialed through everything and I am getting nothing. I think the first time I pulled the monitor ( not all the way out, I left the harness plugged in and set it on the top frame). The only thing I can think of is something got unplugged or I fried something while tinkering? I see these two black wires but I don't see anywhere where they would plug in. The monitor I did see is a Hitachi.

 

[KaPH33n]

I am not familiar with the hitachi? Can someone else verify that the unplugged thing is the AC input or the degauss or what? Can you tell if the monitor is getting energized? Do you hear anything at all on power up/down? I am guessing that you unplugged the monitor power or something else which is causing it to not startup anymore. You should be able to get back to the white screen state you first showed. Then we can determine if the game pcb is outputting bad or just the settings on the chassis.

The monitor itself is going to need at least 4 things plugged in. The AC power, RGB input, flyback anode cap, and ground wire from the tube to neck board. Depending on the chassis there may also be degaussing coil(s) and/or a remote board that needs to be plugged in to make it work.

I doubt you fried something unless you saw/smelled/heard something go physically. Just rotating the knobs is what they're designed to do.

 

[ReplicaX]

Hitachi is just the tube. On the Chassis somewhere should be an Electrohome sticker. Should be a G07-FBO which is the 13" for the cocktail.

Here is the manual for the monitor: https://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-monitors/Electrohome G07 13in and 19in Color Raster.pdf

Here is the manual for the game, its cocktail version: https://usermanual.wiki/Document/CentipedeCocktailTM1882ndPrinting.1804656336/html

 

[obitus1990]

I agree that's an Electrohome G07. Also, yes, those two black wires are the AC input from the ISOLATION TRANSFORMER. The loose pin needs to be re-inserted into the housing with the other wire.

 

[electronictofu=]

Hey all!
Wow, those manuals helped so much. It was those two black wires, I had to figure out where they went, couple of misses then all the sudden I had light! I adjusted the monitor which was the easy part. Next I need to play with the switches on the actual CPU board, for settings, I think mine is running in spanish. Colors look good so far, no screen burn, my rollers work on player one and two, Im shocked everything works, I guess I landed a good one.

Thanks again for the help!
Phil

 

[ReplicaX]

Hey all!
Wow, those manuals helped so much. It was those two black wires, I had to figure out where they went, couple of misses then all the sudden I had light! I adjusted the monitor which was the easy part. Next I need to play with the switches on the actual CPU board, for settings, I think mine is running in spanish. Colors look good so far, no screen burn, my rollers work on player one and two, Im shocked everything works, I guess I landed a good one.

Thanks again for the help!
Phil

Glad to hear! Yeah, use that manual for the dip settings to what you'd like to run. It also explains the self-test menu as well, which has instructions on resetting high scores. Most of all, enjoy it!