Cheapest option to connect arcade machine to TV

remoteboy

Hi,

Apologies in advance if this has been answered before but what's the cheapest option to connect an arcade machine to a TV? Basically I've had an Electrocoin machine since 2005 which I've started and abandoned restoring on numerous occasions. The problem I hit is always the monitor which has never worked properly and has now stopped working altogether.

I'd like to connect the board to another screen to see if I can get everything else working and once that's done look at getting the Hantarex repaired / replaced. I'm not looking to spend mad money if i can avoid it as the long term plan is to get the original monitor working - this is for testing only. I have an Apple monitor that accepts DVI and a TV with HDMI / Component so whatever solution I go for would need to support one of those formats. Would something like this do the trick?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Noblik-Output-Conversion-Machine-Converter-blue/dp/B07TS2C75H/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=jamma+to+hdmi&qid=1590172003&s=electronics&sr=1-3

Would really appreciate any advice / help you can offer.

Thanks for reading.

Gradius

It would be pretty damn complicated (to me anyway!).
If you only want to test the game board you'd need to get a thing called a supergun.

What kind of cabinet is it, and what games?

The power supply is probably the first thing you'd want to check, make sure it isn't going to ruin any other components.

Did you previously see if there's any neck glow off the back of the monitor?

remoteboy

Hey, thanks for the reply.

It’s an electro coin. Have a few boards for it. Street fighter 2 is the pick of the bunch. The monitor used to be completely oversaturated so I replaced the capacitors. That didn’t help so replaced another component (cant remember which, it was a few years ago) on the board. Since then the monitor doesn’t turn on at all. I suspect I’ve connected it back up incorrectly but if I’m being honest I’m mildly terrified of the charge those CRTs can hold.

What I’d like to do is just focus on replacing the harness and getting everything else working correctly before looking at the monitor again but without a working screen I can’t really test anything.

Gradius

remoteboy wrote: »

Hey, thanks for the reply.

It’s an electro coin. Have a few boards for it. Street fighter 2 is the pick of the bunch. The monitor used to be completely oversaturated so I replaced the capacitors. That didn’t help so replaced another component (cant remember which, it was a few years ago) on the board. Since then the monitor doesn’t turn on at all. I suspect I’ve connected it back up incorrectly but if I’m being honest I’m mildly terrified of the charge those CRTs can hold.

What I’d like to do is just focus on replacing the harness and getting everything else working correctly before looking at the monitor again but without a working screen I can’t really test anything.

Yeah it's pain in the bum with monitors!

Harnesses are only a bunch of wires, so unless something drastic happened, if they worked before it should be grand now.

If you were dying to know if the game boards worked you should try to find a local dude who has a working setup. Failing that you could send them to one of the fellas on here and they'd sort you. I think at this point I have nearly every variation of adapter needed for non-Jamma games if that was any use.

The most likely thing to be knackered is the chassis on the monitor. Maybe someone on here could have a look at it. Failing that there's ones in UK to do repairs.

As for power supply, you could simply replace it with a switching power supply. More reliable now than some older ones.

Was the cabinet stored in a decent way or out in a shed?

remoteboy

I rescued the cabinet from someone's front garden where it had been sitting in the rain for weeks. Left it to dry out for a good long time before I turned it on

I reckon I can get it up and running fairly quickly if I can get a functional screen connected to it. From a bit of googling it looks like I need a CGA to VGA adapter. I've seen a few videos where people replace the old CRT with an LCD and I guess that's what I'm looking to do, except I'm only doing that short term with a view to actually getting the old CRT back up and running.

MontgomeryClift

remoteboy wrote: »

Hi,

Apologies in advance if this has been answered before but what's the cheapest option to connect an arcade machine to a TV?

The signal from the monitor will display on a CRT TV once it's adjusted according to this guide:

https://notinmame.blogspot.com/2011/08/jamma-2-scart.html

Those components will fit inside the SCART plug.

The Electrocoin cabinet probably uses a 6-pin mate n' lock connector like this one:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-Way-Genuine-TYCO-Mate-N-Lok-Electrical-Wiring-Multi-Connector/130873526031

I have a setup like this just using resistors on the RGB lines and it's worked on every CRT TV I tried it with. A free 14" TV off Adverts should sit in the cabinet for testing.

remoteboy

MontgomeryClift wrote: »

The signal from the monitor will display on a CRT TV once it's adjusted according to this guide:

https://notinmame.blogspot.com/2011/08/jamma-2-scart.html

Those components will fit inside the SCART plug.

The Electrocoin cabinet probably uses a 6-pin mate n' lock connector like this one:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-Way-Genuine-TYCO-Mate-N-Lok-Electrical-Wiring-Multi-Connector/130873526031

I have a setup like this just using resistors on the RGB lines and it's worked on every CRT TV I tried it with. A free 14" TV off Adverts should sit in the cabinet for testing.

That’s great. I have a CRT TV I use for my retro consoles and plenty of electronics gear knocking around. Have you built that out on a breadboard? Any chance you have a photo of the set up?

MontgomeryClift

remoteboy wrote: »

That’s great. I have a CRT TV I use for my retro consoles and plenty of electronics gear knocking around. Have you built that out on a breadboard? Any chance you have a photo of the set up?

My setup just has 75 Ohm resistors connected to ground in parallel with the RGB lines. So just connect all three resistors together, solder that end to the ground/shield in the SCART plug, and connect each of the other ends to the R, G and B pins in the SCART plug.

I also have a 100 Ohm resistor in series with 5V from the game power supply going to SCART pin 16 for RGB blanking. The Electrocoin connector only uses 5 of the 6 pins for R, G, B, GND and Composite Sync, so you can put 5V on the spare pin.

remoteboy

MontgomeryClift wrote: »

My setup just has 75 Ohm resistors connected to ground in parallel with the RGB lines. So just connect all three resistors together, solder that end to the ground/shield in the SCART plug, and connect each of the other ends to the R, G and B pins in the SCART plug.

I also have a 100 Ohm resistor in series with 5V from the game power supply going to SCART pin 16 for RGB blanking. The Electrocoin connector only uses 5 of the 6 pins for R, G, B, GND and Composite Sync, so you can put 5V on the spare pin.

That’s brilliant thanks for that.

Where you based ?

remoteboy

BrownFinger wrote: »

Where you based ?

Donabate

80s Synth Pop

The cab probably has the metal electrocoin power module at the back. This has:

Jamma board psu
Monitor isolation transformer
Three fuses
Ac in
A safety switch.

Check the voltages from everything. You never know it could just be a fuse or the safety switch is not held down (or pulled up).

No harm sending the monitor chassis off for a service anyway.

CiDeRmAn

remoteboy wrote: »

Donabate

Small world, I work up the road in Portrane

remoteboy

80s Synth Pop wrote: »

The cab probably has the metal electrocoin power module at the back. This has:

Jamma board psu
Monitor isolation transformer
Three fuses
Ac in
A safety switch.

Check the voltages from everything. You never know it could just be a fuse or the safety switch is not held down (or pulled up).

No harm sending the monitor chassis off for a service anyway.

Yeah. I'll definitely send it off at some point. Been meaning to do it for years now. I'll check everything again to see if I'm missing something obvious. I'll probably go down the scart route short term though, just to get all the other bits up and running.

remoteboy

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Small world, I work up the road in Portrane

That's gas. It's a nice part of the world. Especially when the sun comes out.

eddhorse

I would definitely get the monitor chassis out and sent to one of the guys on http://www.ukvac.com/forum/forums.html

I've sent a couple to Grant aka Gunblade.

Only difficult part would be removing the chassis.

I've tried to replace with a TV before and had some stumbling blocks with the brackets required.

o1s1n

Yeah I wouldn't be bothering with a TV at all.

Just pop out the chassis and send it off to grantspain. Probably cost you about 100 or so all in and you'll have a lovely looking arcade monitor set for a good few years to come once you get it back.

When you're taking out the chassis, just take a photo of where each cable came from before you pop it out, it's not that difficult at all.

Just be careful to discharge it properly of course.

remoteboy

So I'm sending my chassis off to grantspain to get looked at. Has anyone here any experience doing this? I presume registered post is the safest option and plenty of bubble wrap?

In the meantime I picked up one of these -
https://www.smallcab.net/smallcab-jamma-scart-p-756.html

Worked straight out of the box and means I can get everything else up and running while i'm waiting on the chassis repair.

80s Synth Pop

I've used parcel motel to send to Grant a few times and no problems. Put it in a big box and wrap everything well.

remoteboy

Brilliant. Thanks.

CathalDublin

remoteboy wrote: »

Donabate

I’m in Donabate, PM me if you need anything, I’ve 2 cabs there and a super gun actually now that I think of it, I’ve an attic and a shed full of arcade parts