Zacc Invaders restoration

[PaulSwan]

That looks like a bootleg Astro Wars PCB. If this is a Zaccaria "The Invaders" then it's been converted at some point. Interestingly it looks like the wiring is unhacked except for the video (Astro Wars is a colour game). To confirm, your game plays Astro Wars, correct?

Paul.

 

[guddler]

Does the game work? I may be guessing at something that you already know what it is

The more I think of it, the more I'm not sure the board is big enough for UFO, so maybe it's just a booty?

 

[gridrunner]

Yeah, I've found a scan of the Zac Invaders PCB component layout and this looks nothing like. I'll see if I can get it powered up at any rate. I would want to get it back to original at some stage, so if someone has a Zac PCB please drop me a line.

Stu

 

[PaulSwan]

The Invaders PCB:

Astro Wars PCB:

 

[gridrunner]

Chaps,

The game has arrived not working but without a description as to what's up with it. Straight away I saw the monitor neckboard was cracked with some broken tracks and the speaker isn't even connected. I'll sort the monitor out and check power before cranking it up. Everything else seems original and untouched. The control panel is unhacked and the only obvious bodge is a small piece of veroboard with some resistors that sit between the board and the monitor.

 

[guddler]

Where's this cab come from. I have an incline the monitor may have passed through my hands in the past

Anyway, so yeah, it's an Astro Wars or UFO PCB. Since it has no Zacc markings on it, my money's on the Subelectro UFO. But there's no difference to be honest.

Pretty sure I've got a Zacc Invaders PCB.

 

[gridrunner]

it was an eBay punt. It's been living in a school in Birmingham for a number of years. It was working as recently as 2010, or at least it has PAT stickers for last year on it. I'm puzzled about where this neckboard and speaker damage has come from. I've seen cracked neckboards in cocktail boards but never in an upright. Odd.

 

[guddler]

Given what you've said abut the machine, I think the monitor's one that I sold about 2005 or so. I'd bought a Zacc Invaders and the monitor had a broken neck board and didn't work. I didnt bother with that monitor, I got another instead.I seem to remember driving from Devon to Essex for a monitor and a glass for the inside.

I know the monitor I sold was going to go into another Zacc Invaders.

Maybe entirely wrong of course!

Not that any of this helps you get it going.

 

[gridrunner]

Hi Chaps,

whatever game this is, it's definitely colour into a composite black and white monitor. The veroboard cludge has 4 resistors and takes 4 wires from the game pcb. I'm assuming these are RGB and sync. The composite cable comes out.

Does anyone know what to expect out of a Zac regulator board? I tested for voltages from the 5 wire connector for the game PCB and only found +12v. I'm guessing it should also be putting out +5 and -5V?

I've jumpered the broken tracks on the neckboard and if I can get some guidance on the regulator board, I'll try to test the board by injecting power from a jamma switcher.

BTW, does anyone have a source of short leaf switch buttons? I'm after some new ones for the control panel.

stu

 

[gridrunner]

Chaps,

A quick update on this one.

OK, well the power board was indeed kaput and was not putting out 5 Volts. It had popped the transformer tap fuse for good measure.

I have taken a bunch of parts from Andyman and had another go at the machine this afternoon. I swapped the cracked monitor neckboard for a straight one and bypassed the power board and used the schematics to wire 5v and 12v into the harness using a Jamma switcher.

Interestingly the game board and the sound board have subelectro printed on them. What is this firm's relationship with Zaccaria? The boards look very similar. Did they license the bootleggers or bootleg the bootleggers?

Anyway, the gaming gods are not shining on this one so far. The monitor appears stone cold with power applied. I checked the power connector and found heater voltage ac and board ac which were in spec, but no neck glow. I haven't checked any further, but I'll have a poke around tomorrow.

Does anyone know anything about the monitors in these games?

I noticed on the schematics that the speaker looks like it can be attached directly to the board, at least the symbol suggests that. What's the role of the sound board if this is the case? Is the sound unamplified from the gamerboard?

Incidentally, if anyone needs the schematics or Taito SI artwork (I'm using it to get my background re-done) please PM me.

thanks!

gridrunner2011-12-04 00:20:43

 

[PaulSwan]

On a Zac invaders the sound would pop out of the main PCB. On Astro Wars they may be an additional sound board (that I've never actual seen - I have piles of main boards but no sound boards). Don't forget you have an Astro Wars conversion

Astro Wars is not a bootleg - the Zaccaria edition is (C) DECO and DECO on the control panel. Galaxia has NAMCO on the control panel.

The Subelectro might be a bootleg, however.

Paul.

 

[guddler]

The Subelectro version of Astro Wars (identical copy iirc - possibly minus the tite screen) is called UFO, as I've already said numerous times.

I've got the Marquee, Bezel, Control Panel and what was a working PCB from a Subelectro UFO cab here.

SO, to summarise, if it's Astro Wars and the PCB says Subelectro, then it will be "UFO"

 

[PaulSwan]

Yes, and it's still not Invaders

 

[gridrunner]

Hello Chaps.

well I now have a working Invaders board, but as Guddler rightly points out this is UFO right now. I'm puzzling over what to do with the monitor. It looks like the heater isn't working in the tube but what I'd like to know before I throw it out is why two of the wires from the neckboard seem to have broken free from something. Now these two wires aren't the signal wire which I think is 'K' or the Filament wire, but they have bare wire at the end which suggest they did belong to something at one point and they go to pins on the neckboard, one via a Pot, so they look important.

I don't know if the tube being dead relate to these two wires but the bare wire ends make me suspiscous something is wrong. I'm led to believe the chassis is a Hantarex MT1 used in these B+W games, but there are no Hantarex markings. The schematics for the MT1 only show two wires for the neck, not four, but this remaining pair clearly must do something.

Does anyone know anything about these monitors?

Finally, can I use a regular TV as a substitute for these early B+W games that put out composite or am I likely to run in to sync problems?

thanks

stu

 

[Belike]

I'm not too good in electronics, but I can take some close shots from my working cabinet if needed.

 

[gridrunner]

Hi there.

yes please that would be really helpful. If you can tell me what wires come out of the neckboard of the picture tube and where they go, that would be great.

 

[andyman]

One goes to the braid around the tube, that I know for sure, I pulled it off

Other one was not connected to anything (assume these are the 2 black wires)

Andy.

 

[Belike]

Here we go:

The tube neck cables start from here

And go to...(the lower one)

From a different angle

 

[Belike]

The neckboard cables:

And the pcb

 

[Belike]

I also made a small video, sorry for the bad quality, there was not enough light.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n4S1a7rdAw