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Vectrex repair.


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Today is a very good day.[emoji16]

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I'm over the moon about this one. I bought a non working Vectrex on Gumtree a while back. It had no controller and no games apart from the built in Mine storm.

I paid $100 plus $70 for packing material and postage and I'm glad I did.

When it arrived it was heavilly wrapped in bubble wrap and placed in a cardboard box which was surrounded in packing peanuts in a second box so it wasn't getting damaged. I might have had a bit of a say in how it was packed. [emoji6]

I got it home and plugged it in and nothing happened.[emoji24] I kind of expected it to do something but not a sausage.

Start checking through the power. After opening the case (5 screws on the back 2 top and 3 at the bottom) I checked the 240v from the power cable as someone had spliced an old switch in it, probably a good idea as the Vectrex power switch works fine. So I was getting 240v to the unit but nothing at the board. I checked the power switch in the unit and it was working fine. What else was in the power line only a fuse and the transformer. The fuse checked out ok so I removed the transformer. I put my multimeter on the continuity buzzer and checked the primary (240v) winding and nothing it was open circuit. Bugger, I'd have to find a replacement if I can figure out what voltages it outputs.

After reading a few posts on the net I decided it was 9v-0v-9v transformer.

After looking in my Altronics and Jaycar catalogues I found one that was pretty close. Part number MM-2005 4eebc90a459de788160d16a7ad97eae9.jpg

As you can see on the box it shows 18v 9v and 0v this is ok as it's all on the one winding. You use the 18v on the transformer for one 9v output the 9v on the transformer as 0v and the 0v on the transformer for the other 9v supply.

Like this

18v 9v 0v becomes

9v 0v 9v

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The white wire is 0v and the two red wires are 9v each. I just had to file down the mounting tags and it was a snug fit.

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I pulled the cpu board out to fix a cap that had a broken leg and to give it a clean with a soft paintbrush 49b023b176429d74f24e06af1ac7d44f.jpg

2d64db4542336d8983e4754d3db2a2bc.jpgand then put everything back together. These machines are a bugger to work on with wires going everywhere and not a huge amount of room between the power board and the picture tube.

Once it was back together it now does this.[emoji6][emoji16]7e1eb436c34a8b34104fb26c90e18f61.jpg

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Oh yeah the Vectrev controller works too with minor adjustment. I had the potentiometer for the x axis wired backwards.7659a831878f4eb1611cacca60534cf8.jpg

It'll need a recap soon as the image is a bit jittery in places but that can wait until I've had a play.

Cheers Trev

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Edited by BIG Trev
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Very useful info.

 

I have a Vectrex that works but it takes a while to power on, maybe 10-15 seconds. Could this be a transformer issue?

To be honest I don't know. I'd start by checking the capacitors on the power board.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

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Thanks guys. Guess I won't be wasting $30 on a replacement transformer from Jaycar.

 

I haven't even taken it apart to investigate. One day I'll get around to it, probably replace as many caps as I can. For now it works, that's good enough, and it works fine once it turns on.

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