Question about arcade monitors
I am thinking of buying my first arcade cabinet. However, I am a bit concerned about the longevity of the monitors. Do they crap out frequently? Is it safe to repair a monitor? I've read that CRTs are getting harder to find now that there are lead laws, but I'm not sure if that's true or not. I'd appreciate any info that you arcade owners could pass along. Thanks!
Comments
From the few arcade cabinets I've owned in my life (see: 4?) the worst I've come across is a monitor that needed a cap kit. I was never brave enough to tackle replacing the stuff myself, but I'm pretty sure that's the worst it could come to. I haven't heard of monitors just kicking the bucket randomly.
A cap kit takes about 30 minutes to an hour, and only involves $10, or so, worth of parts.
As for stuff worse than that, there are a few things that can happen. You could crack/break the actual tube...they're replaceable but that's a harder job. But it shouldn't happen unless you do something REALLY stupid. Also, there are probably a dozen pots and resistors on the board that CAN fail, but don't need replacement nearly as frequently as the capacitors.
The nice thing about old arcade monitors, is that the circuitry is SO spread out, you have a ton of room to work with.
If you ever have problems with it, there is a whole board on KLOV that deals with just monitor issues, and there are quite a few monitor repair guys from "back in the day" that know EVERYTHING about pretty much every monitor. Also, the service and maintenance manuals are readily available for any monitor you're likely to use.
I've had about 20 cabs pass through my hands and the most repair I ever did myself was control panel work. I can't solder to save my life. I will admit it all seems pretty easy if you're even slightly handy.
The only safety concern with arcade monitors is discharging the anode.
On a monitor that needs a cap kit (i.e. the caps can't hold an adequate charge anymore), as long as you leave the cabinet unplugged for a few hours everything will discharge naturally (though you should still discharge the anode per the instructions that come with your cap kit).
The monitor CAN hold a pretty high voltage if the caps are in working order, but the amperage is pretty puny, and unless you're unlucky (get defibbed at exactly the wrong moment) or have a heart condition a shock from it won't kill you.
a shock from it won't kill you.
Yes, but it would certainly ruin your day!
Thanks everyone! Yeah... there's a dual-monitor PC-10 for sale locally that has screen burn in the bottom monitor. Sadness! I'm trying to decide whether it would be worth it to buy it and switch the bottom and top monitors so at least the burned monitor is up at the top.
The 19" Sanyo monitors that Nintendo used in most of their cabinets can be obtained in decent condition for about $100.
Also, check the monitor repair subforum at KLOV about what cheaper sets you might be able to get a tube from to correct the burn-in.
A cap kit takes about 30 minutes to an hour, and only involves $10, or so, worth of parts.
If your good, and have done about 20 of them lol.
Go to all those sites read read and read. You can become an arcade Guru :-)
Oh BTW the Randy Fromm set is excellent! and makes learning all that stuff MUCH easier
A cap kit takes about 30 minutes to an hour, and only involves $10, or so, worth of parts.
If your good, and have done about 20 of them lol.
I've only done one, and it was on a Sanyo 20EZ, which I hear is harder than most...it took about an hour since it has twice as many capacitors as most of the Wells Gardner monitors.
With a good cap map the whole things was pretty easy to figure out. The hardest part was getting the circuit board out of the cabinet.
I've gone to the KLOV boards with arcade issues twice now with different machines, and they're more than happy to help somebody out, and I'd probably have two non working machines if it wasn't for them. Also, if you plan on switching out your monitors, take pictures of everything before messing with it, label the wires that you disconnect, stay calm and take it slow.