(Another) Nintendo HeliFire Cocktail

JonathanClayton

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I collected my next project this morning, a lovely HeliFire cocktail cab from Nintendo. I picked this up from Duncan (jengineer) this morning and transported it back over the Pennines.

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Id already told myself that I wasn't to touch this until I'd finished the Donkey Kong 3 cab, but as weather has been hindering my painting time, I used that excuse to start having a look at HeliFire.

So on the outset, the normal will need looking at (veneer, glass top, artwork, maybe powder coat the tub and legs), but the first hurdle will be getting it working. From reading Olly's (muddymusic) thread, I have more life in mine than his, but still nothing workable, so board fix needs to happen first. I (like Olly) want to keep the cab as original as possible, so I'm a bit worried about the PSU (although from scouting pictures online, it appears that it uses the same PSU as the Space Fever cabs...)

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Both control panels are complete and in really nice nick (aside from the ball top on CP1 that'll need replacing, and a small scuff as well).

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Original coin mech is here along with a relatively tidy coin door (just a small bend on the lip):

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Tucked away in that last picture we can see the credit count, which on this one is showing a nice low number:

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The instruction sheets are still stapled (albeit a rusty set of staples) to the inside of the lid:

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The lid itself will need some work as it's gained a few additional screws over the years, that I'll replace with headless nails and gorilla glue!

The monitor is in lovely condition with zero burn (not surprising with the low play count):

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And to match Olly's thread, a pic of the serial number (oddly, the next sequential number):

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It looks the same as Olly's inside so I won't bother posting those pics (until I've got a comparison shot atleast), but it'll put a couple up of the boards. It appears that one of the boards gained some damaged traces at some point:

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Which explains the additional green wire fixes on the reverse of this board:

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There's also what appears to be an empty IC socket???

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That's about as far as I'm going to get for now. I don't really want to start doing any major cabinet work whilst I have an upright Nintendo in pieces in my kitchen, so I'll start by finding someone to see if they can fix the board and get the game running.
 

JonathanClayton

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Just as a quick addition, as I was reading this I realised I'd been playing with the credit button on the coin mech (as I get an audible bong each time) and just thought I'd check the coin count:

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14 more than the last picture! At least I know the 24v side of the PSU is functioning properly and the board must be passing through the coin up signal to the counter! A little more light at the end of the tunnel...
 

jengineer

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good to meet you and your partner today mate, glad the machine has gone to a good home, and can't believe its the next sequential serial number to Olly's ! that's amazing, they must have made a small run of them, but not many.....
 

JonathanClayton

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So it turns out the empty IC slot is supposed to be empty and the cut traces I'm assuming were done at factory as the two other examples of the PCB I can find pictures of online have the same traces cut (pin 2 and pin 5 of the connector)...
 

JonathanClayton

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So I promised I wouldn't touch this, but my curiousity is getting the better of me. After heeding Olly's advice I'm going to try and refrain from turning the cab on again until I can be sure the PSU isnt trying to kill everything it's attached too!

So I'm the interest of science, I pulled the PSU. Firstly to see get the model number in a desperate hunt for a working replacement, but secondly to see if there were any obvious signs of wonkyness!

So out she came and a quick photo to start my search:

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So it appears this PSU was fitted to a number of cabs (going by the three letter Nintendo codes), but oddly the code for HeliFire is missing (TUB), which from a scout on the KLOV forums, there are some that include TUB.

So whilst she was out I thought I'd open her up:

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All looks normal (apart from the brown spots which I assuming are from moisture), apart from this one chip:

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Looks a little "fizzed". No damage to the chip that I can see, but some interesting gunk!
 

Ronnie Dent

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My firebird had this psu fitted but it was modded back in the day and had a heatsink with a tin can voltage regulator (5v I assume) and a large cap, it seemed to work well in all the years I have had the machine but I have recently mocked up a switcher to resemble the old psu. only drawback is no 24v for the meters! If you fancy copying that mod I'm happy to supply pictures?

Ronnie
 

JonathanClayton

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Ace` said:
Ronnies solution looks pretty tidy but if it were me I'd rebuild the original power supply, there's not exactly much on it.

I'm going to wire up a new switcher that I've got to start the process of elimination for finding the faults. Got my fingers crossed the new PSU will allow me to boot the game, but I know that's wishful thinking
smiley36.gif


I bought the switcher from ArcadeShop with the DK conversion board, and reckon I can fab up the two connectors I need for the standard loom.

Ideally I would like to keep the original, but going on Olly's experience I'm not holding out much hope. Are the 5v regs the small white oblongs Olly? If so, I think one of mine has gone (popped/ leaked)JonathanClayton2017-05-16 20:41:48
 

Ronnie Dent

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Yeah there is some weird parts on the board! looks to have been problematic back in the day judging by the mod and the sticker of the company that repaired it.

The other firebird I had also had it's psu swapped for another linear supply with a transformer on, stuck out like a sore thumb!

I may at some point rebuild this one but try and contain everything inside the case, maybe use a smaller tab 5v regulator if it would supply the amps, that's the question?
 

Ronnie Dent

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Should be fairly east to connect a switcher for testing, the 5v 12v and ground have 3 and 4 wires each! so you could solder wires solder side just for testing. I would guess your psu 5v will be bad
 

muddymusic

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JonathanClayton said:
Ideally I would like to keep the original, but going on Olly's experience I'm not holding out much hope. Are the 5v regs the small white oblongs Olly? If so, I think one of mine has gone (popped/ leaked)
It's the black blocks, there's quite a lot going on inside there.
 

JonathanClayton

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So I finally managed to get 30 minutes this evening to have a look at the power situation in the cocktail.

I'd previously bought a new switcher and DK power board kit when I was planning on scratch building a DK. Checking the wiring diagrams for both DK and HeliFire showed me that the 9P power connector was an exact match, but the 10P power connector differed (as was different to any other I could find). So I set about making up a 10P connector and wired eveything in for the ceremonious switch on:

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I tested all the pins first with a multimeter to ensure the right voltages were going into the right pins and then plugged her in. No horrible tone when it turned on, and I waited for the monitor to warm into life and was presented with this:

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So we still have the blue and red scrolling colours, but now with a green checkerboard over the top. Again, no coin up or change with any button press so I'm assuming the old PS has upset the board somewhere. A little part of me was waiting to see a helicopter and submarine, but it wasn't to be.

Next step then is to send off the board and get a working cab before I start and cabinet work.
So next
 
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