State of the Vs UniSystem and such...

Well, it was an educational experience, nonetheless, but I had to sideline the repair. Why? Follow my saga here.

I last started with getting the cabinet gutted so the main components were out.

Everything electronic was taken out here. The monitor, power supply, and main board was removed and put onto my work table.

The monitor had a bezel around it. It was pretty much construction paper feeling. That's something I may remake out of something sturdier or just get a plastic bezel made instead of using a paper one.

The paper bezel was stuck on with double sided foam tape. Being over 20 years old, the stuff was crusty. Most of the adhesive didn't come out well, so I used a razor scraper to remove the rest of the residue and cleaned the screen off with glass cleaner.

I have it all splayed out on my temporary work table. I had to resolder the plug part of the power supply since we cut it off to take it out of my friend's van a while back...I think...

The high score batteries were corroded. They had to be removed immediately.

So, after getting everything connected (minus the control panel), I powered it on. The monitor hum was a good sign, then I was greeted with this...

...Not sure if Blogger will show it, but basically, the monitor did show an image, but it'll blink...think NES consoles blinking. The image would also show up garbled. Kinda frustrating.

As far as I could tell with my limited time and patience (at the time), there was nothing wrong looking with the board itself.

I did notice that the harness had some cut wires on it. I initially though that this had something to do with the blinking problem, but it wasn't. It was for the cabs that had 2 monitors (standing and red tent cabinets). If I wanted to connect another game to the board, I'd have to get those connected properly.

Anyway, I did the usual searches for my particular problem. One that I came up to was a bad CPU. Looking online, a new CPU (RP2A03) wasn't gonna come cheap. I did even more deeper search and found that a CPU from an NES will work with the Vs board.

So, I asked my friend if he had a spare NES that we could raid the CPU from.

He did. I got my desoldering station heated up and got the CPU removed easily.

Here they are, side by side. The RP2A03E came from the NES.

Swapped the two ICs and powered up the system...same blinking screen.

I had too many projects going (more home project than electronics related), so I had to ask my friend to outsource the board work to someone else. I don't have the proper testing tools to work on it.

And for the curious of my home projects...

I'm working on getting some overhead shelving done in my garage. I was supposed to get it done over Memorial Day weekend, but I ran into hiccups getting it done. I still have one section to do, but I'll have to tackle that this next weekend.

There is a plus side to all of this Vs. cab nonsense...

So, I contacted an online retailer in regards to getting a connector to replace the one that broke in the cabinet. Although not marked on the item page itself, I can use the 36 pin connector available on the site to replace the controller connector.

Unfortunately, shipping is expensive on it for what it is. So, I checked on eBay (search term: 36 pin card edge JAMMA) and found it a bit cheaper with shipping. Regardless, it'll save a ton of work for rewiring purposes and the other extra stuff I was planning to get for it.

All that's left to do is get the guts of the cab out to test.

More Vs. Nintendo cab thoughts...

I skipped work today. Not because I was thinking about this thing, I was still feeling blah.

I got much needed rest (well, as much as I could with a bored 8 year old and a dog that commands attention) and was gonna work on getting my 3D Printer tuned, just to keep my mind occupied. But, I couldn't help but be lazy.

I did manage to fix my son's bike. Just a tube swap, pretty easy. I've been doing that since I was in the 5th grade. But since I was in the garage anyway, I went and took a peek a the Vs. cab.

...honestly, it's a hot mess back there. I tried to make heads or tails of everything in there, since it's not the standard JAMMA pinout. I know there's a 36 pin connector in there that's broken. I figured out that's the control panel (probably iterated that in the last post). The other connector (40 or 44 pin...I have my notes somewhere) has all the other connections for the board (RGBS, Coin, etc.).

I ended up searching online for all the pinouts, especially for the power supply. I managed to get several manuals and pinout cards. I'll have to peel the harness out of the cab itself in order to figure out what the pins are going to the power supply.

I think I know the direction I'm gonna go. I'll mainly need a new JAMMA harness, a Vs. to JAMMA adapter that I can get from a maker in Canada, and a new power supply. The stock supply doesn't supply -5V, and I may need -5V for the Vs. to JAMMA adapter for it to function. There's gonna be a lot of modifications needed to be done to get this thing to work.

I also took a dive into my Atomiswave cab. I'm gonna have to make that thing stereo sound. I had the intent on having it so I can use standard JAMMA games on it, so I'm gonna have to figure out a switch method I can use to make it work.

...man, I'm still feeling blah. I should've stayed busy today.

Up late. Thinking Vs. Ninentdo Cab...

It's been a rough time. This COVID-19 nonsense is getting to me.

Anyway...

For some reason,when I power nap for 10-20 minutes, I'm good for 5 more hours...that sucks when you take one at 8p and you gotta work in the morning.

I've been keeping my mind occupied with fixing that darn Vs. Nintendo Cab. The biggest thing is that the control harness is broken, and it's either buy a new one (which is harder to get nowadays) or convert it to JAMMA (pricey, but easier solution).

If I go the JAMMA route, there's a chance that I have to get a new power supply, since that JAMMA adapter needs -5V to work. I'm not sure if the current power supply has -5V, so I'll probably invest in a more stable one.

Before I even go that far, I need to make sure that the actual guts of the Vs. cab works. And since the cabinet is hella worked, I'm gonna have to take all the internals out and test them out of the cabinet, sans control panel. IF at that point I'm able to get things working, and the cab repaired to a point, I'll then start getting parts to fix it electronically.

...can't believe that I'm losing sleep over this...