Forums (I/O Tower)
Forums 
 TRON and Discs of TRON Arcade 
 Very bad hum in my Tron machine


New New Comments | Post No Change | Locked Closed
AuthorComments:  Page: of 1 Page
mirage366
User

Posts: 0
Very bad hum in my Tron machine

on Monday, September, 20, 2004 9:50 PM
Hello all!
I am in search of opinions on what might be causing a bad hum in my Tron game, It is an upright that I have been restoring, I had just bought and installed a motherboard in it that seems to work fine all logic and sounds work just fine except that darn hummmmmmm.
I dont know if it is a bad ground or if it is the oem power supply?
I just thought that I might check with all of you before I consider spending $80.00 for a switching power supply...

Thank you!

Mirageorder abortion pill abortion pill buy online where to buy abortion pillabortion pills online abortion pill online purchase cytotec abortion


 
mongo
User

Posts: 0
Re: Very bad hum in my Tron machine

on Friday, October, 15, 2004 2:04 PM
It is almost certainly the OEM powersupply. The two 15 pin connectors get a little loose over the years. I would try and "tighten" up the metal pins inside the connectors. If not, therealbobroberts.com sells a rebuild kit that includes new connectors!


 
Will D
User

Posts: 38
Re: Very bad hum in my Tron machine

on Thursday, December, 16, 2004 11:54 AM
I turn the volume down, then enter a credit and that takes the hum away if I'm not playing. Then I turn it back up when I want to play.


 
Doug Jacoby
User

Posts: 0
Re: Very bad hum in my Tron machine

on Sunday, December, 19, 2004 1:23 AM
I can buy a Tron Arcade for the holidays but I have a questions:

Since the Tron Arcade units are older what are the risks of fire hazards, maintenance support and electric shock when tinkering with them?

I know a lot of amusement venues offering great deals for Tron Arcades but the side panels are peeling and it looks all "beat up".

Getting a good looking unit is expensive, it's an antique.

abortion pills online abortion pill online purchase cytotec abortion


 
Compucore
User

Posts: 4,450
Re: Very bad hum in my Tron machine

on Sunday, December, 19, 2004 2:29 PM
Yeah and it depends where they are available. ANd I know Davetron had some links up from EBBay and all that. I was looking closer near my home to see if they have any around. no luck so far over ehre. In Canada.




Doug Jacoby Wrote:I can buy a Tron Arcade for the holidays but I have a questions:

Since the Tron Arcade units are older what are the risks of fire hazards, maintenance support and electric shock when tinkering with them?

I know a lot of amusement venues offering great deals for Tron Arcades but the side panels are peeling and it looks all "beat up".

Getting a good looking unit is expensive, it's an antique.



2 Legit 2 quit

End of line

Compucore

VROOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

To compute or not to compute that is the question at hand. Tis nobler to compile in C++ or in TASM.


 
SuPeRTaRD
User

Posts: 0
Re: Very bad hum in my Tron machine

on Thursday, December, 23, 2004 8:53 AM
mirage366 Wrote:
I just thought that I might check with all of you before I consider spending $80.00 for a switching power supply...

a 12v/5v modern switchable powersupply shouldnt cost you nearly that much.. imo

the hum is prolly from the OEM ps giving the sound board/chips too much juice

alt.fan?.recreation.videogames.arcade.classic

or there abouts newsgroup would be able to tell you where to get cheap PSU's & further diagnose probs (mebbe)


 
Joey Connelly
User

Posts: 0
Re: Very bad hum in my Tron machine

on Saturday, September, 24, 2005 2:54 AM
mirage366 Wrote:Hello all!
I am in search of opinions on what might be causing a bad hum in my Tron game, It is an upright that I have been restoring, I had just bought and installed a motherboard in it that seems to work fine all logic and sounds work just fine except that darn hummmmmmm.
I dont know if it is a bad ground or if it is the oem power supply?
I just thought that I might check with all of you before I consider spending $80.00 for a switching power supply...

Thank you!

Mirage

The hum could be caused by a number of things: a bad ground, a failing power supply, a failing sound board, failing sound channel chips on the PCBs. If your machine is running off of the original MCR power supply, then replacing it would be a good start. Even if it's not going bad at the moment, it WILL sooner or later, as those MCR power supplies often get hosed by the batteries on them that leak and ruin the board's components. Buying an MCR Conversion Switcher kit is highly recommended, as it's a much more reliable and safe (for your machine's PCBs) power source. Those kits are worth every bit of their cost ( $75 at ArcadeShop.com).




abortion pills online http://www.kvicksundscupen.se/template/default.aspx?abortion-questions cytotec abortion

~ Joey's Arcade ~
 
matthew180
User

Posts: 114
Re: Very bad hum in my Tron machine

on Friday, July, 07, 2006 11:41 AM
SuPeRTaRD Wrote:
mirage366 Wrote:
I just thought that I might check with all of you before I consider spending $80.00 for a switching power supply...

a 12v/5v modern switchable powersupply shouldnt cost you nearly that much.. imo

the hum is prolly from the OEM ps giving the sound board/chips too much juice

alt.fan?.recreation.videogames.arcade.classic

or there abouts newsgroup would be able to tell you where to get cheap PSU's & further diagnose probs (mebbe)

$80 is about right for the switching power supply conversion. These supplies are *not* the same as you would find in a standard computer these days, thus they are not produced in the same volume as a PC supply, so they cost a little more.

As for the OEM power supply giving too much "juice", sorry, it just does not work that way. In electronics, a "load" (in this case the game boards and such) draw current provided by the power supply. A load will only draw as much current as it needs, regardless of how much current the power supply is able to provide. Think about the dome light in your car. It is a very small 12V light bulb, yet it is hooked to a battery that can supply 500+ cold cranking amps! You can weld with a car battery, so why doesn't that tiny little light bulb explode? Because it only draws the current is needs, not the other way around.

Now, if the voltage being provided by the power supply is off, now you could have some problems, but a hum in the audio would be the last thing you would notice. Voltage is the "difference of potential" that causes current to flow. If the voltage is wrong then the current flow will be wrong, and if the voltage is too high, then you get current flow that can damage something.

There is nothing wrong with the OEM power supply, in fact it is a very nice linear supply (I've fixed a couple of them so far)! It will cost you more to operate the game on the linear supply over a switching supply, this is true, but to recover that $80 in the difference of electricity, that would probably take a while. A switching supply is also going to cause a lot more "noise", electronically speaking, than any linear supply.

If you do keep the OEM supply, there are several things you are going to want to do:

1. Like Joey said, get rid of that lithium battery! They will leak and cause serious damage to the other components and the circuit board. There is conversion information out there, I'll see if I can still find the links. Basically you will want to replace it with another rechargeable battery of some sort. Even using a lithium is fine, but get a battery holder for it and move the battery off the board and mount it someplace where any leakage won't damage anything.

2. Replace all the electrolytic capacitors. This is a cheap thing to do and makes a huge difference, and may even solve your audio problems. You can get what you need from places like digikey, mouser, jameco, etc..

3. Check for other components that appear physically damaged and replace them.

4. Do voltage checks and make sure the supply is properly adjusted. I recommend disconnecting the supply and adjusting the voltage a about 0.7 vdc low, then connect to the game and adjust to the proper voltage while under load. You can never properly adjust a power supply without it's load.

5. Check and clean the connectors.

There is also a "cap kit" (capacitor kit) for the monitor which will work wonders! After I capped my monitor, everything aligned and the lines were straight. You will also want to re-cap the audio amplifier board. The last thing to remember is that there is a lot of electronic noise inside a game like this (2 or 3 florescent lights, a monitor, computer, power supply, etc.) and you may never get totally clean audio with some hum, but it should not be noticeable over the game sounds.

Check for any lose wires or lifted grounds. There should be some thick yellowwhere to buy abortion pill http://blog.bitimpulse.com/template/default.aspx?abortion-types buy abortion pill online

How are you going to control the universe if you can't answer a few unsolvable problems?
 
 Page: of 1 Page
New New Comments | Post No Change | Locked Closed
Forums 
 TRON and Discs of TRON Arcade 
 Very bad hum in my Tron machine