vtk

hi, unfortunately i would suggest you do need to test it powered on with the back cover removed i would have suggested to check the voltages at the 4 pins of the main plug which is attached to the logic board; the plug labelled J204 -- you will see four wires for the J204 plug, which (in some vectrex models at least) are usually coloured: yellow, green(ground wire), orange, red you should measure the solder joints underneath the pcb where that plug is soldered, to make sure the power is going through the plug ok (because sometimes the pins become corroded, making the electricity struggle to flow through. or sometimes on those 4 pins if you have poor contact, you can bend the pins so that the plug attaches to them much 'tighter/firmer', making better contact). anyway, on the 4 pins you should read with your multimeter +5v, -5v, -13v, and GROUND. this is where i would start. ps. you might get some tips from this video below.. perhaps have a look through that:

hi, it would be very helpful to know your level of technical ability, for example are you comfortable using a multimeter and checking for voltages? ps. im in cornwall uk by the way, i'd be happy to look at it with you if by coincidence you are ever down this way (note: im right at the far end of cornwall though... Penzance)

Tedadar, a little note: can i just say, sorry do my posts seem like i am 'hijacking' (taking over) your thread if it appears that way, please accept my apologies and do let me know if i am being rude or you are unhappy .... have a good xmas sir!!

hi again guys for the people who were interested in the psychedelic overlay: it would be really good if someone who can make professional overlays could be persuaded to make a batch, i think there would be much interest but in the meantime, if you wish to make your own, you can use any colour inkjet printer then, you need to buy some A4 size transparent/film sheets printer paper.. cheap on ebay and amazon, you could buy a pack of 10 sheets for searching on ebay or amazon, search using keywords like: "INKJET CLEAR PRINTER ACETATE FILM OHP A4 SHEETS" ok i have attached to this message, the psychedelic images to print out (A4 size, 300 dpi) *** SEE ATTACHED .ZIP for the PICTURES to print *** note: if you have not printed on clear acetate sheets before, take note you need to print on the CORRECT side of the page. only one side of the sheet is designed to be printed on. one of the sides of the sheets is slightly 'rough' in appearance and feel. you need to print on the rough side of the clear acetate sheet. note: after printing the images, you will need to cut the sheets down to the size of a regular vectrex overlay (can use blade or scissors) ok so now just print some out, and experiment. i used 4 sheets all together on the vectrex screen (the 2 psychedelic images, a 3rd 'all yellow' sheet, and finally a 4th clear sheet).. hint: put the brightest psychedelic print FIRST close up-against the vectrex screen, then the second 'smoother/less bright' psychedelic print on top of that. then have the 'all yellow' sheet on top of those, and finally, use a 4th 'clear/unused' sheet on top of those 3 sheets. doing this gives a very smooth, colourful/warm image, as you can see in the example pictures above. psychedelic prints.zip

cheers i will do some reading up, as i am thinking of recreating my 'pychedelic random colours' overlay (as pictured above), as it is a little beaten up (...for the yellow sheet, my ink started to run out, u can spot the streaks in the pic i posted above... sigh) all that said though, when the sheets pictured above are placed over my vectrex screen, the resulting image looks quite good (i think); i was impressed with the results you can get even using a basic inkjet printer and inexpensive transparent 'acetate' film sheets from ebay. not the most professional project perhaps, but was fun to experiment with different ideas. some pics:

thanks for the info 50TBRD , just followed your link and then saw your 'how to create an overlay' page which looks like a very good read ps. as many others said already, my god that Protector overlay looks good...

hi they look very good and professional because they are thinner than the official overlays, does that affect the level of flicker reduction (ie. your overlays reduce the flicker as much as the original overlays?) ps. some time ago i made some basic generic multi-coloured (perhaps described as 'psychedelic') overlays, using my inkjet printer and some transparent/clear 'acetate' film sheets, but because they were quite thin, i noticed they did not reduce flicker as much as i hoped, (also, one sheet was quite floppy/weak), so i ended up using 3 sheets together, one with the psychedelic colours, one 'all yellow' colour, and a 3rd plain/clear sheet (all glued together around the edges ) using these 3 sheets made the image look quite soft (a little blurry), but i liked this warm (smooth) look, and the flicker reduction was very good (perhaps they look a little 'scrappy' in the pic below, but when put on the vectrex screen it looks good and it is nice to have eg. always different multi-coloured explosions in minestorm!)

hey thanks thats great, i will try some measuring tomorrow the correct way you explained (ps. sorry i should have mentioned previously; when i was trying to measure the pins for resistance values, i was using a different fully working controller i have here, not the faulty controller i am working on)

hey thanks chas10e, i have some conductive paint here so might have to give that a go perhaps

hey thanks for the response, ok i think i got it now i was getting confused i think because, the vectrex joystick only uses some of the sweep of the pot (about one third), so i assume all of the '10K' resistance is in that 'one third' area (as opposed to a more common/typical pot where you can turn the knob over a much wider range) one thing to mention, i did try previously your suggestion about using the pins of the controller 9pin connector to measure the resistance of the joystick. i couldnt get any readings at all doing that though (i dont know why). im pretty sure i was using the correct pins (pins 5, 6, and 8 (ground))... maybe i screwed up though (eg. poor connection, or wrong pins etc ) cheers

hi guys i decided to have another look at a faulty vectrex controller which i gave almost gave up on i have a question, hopefully someone can answer (i dont think it is a difficult question, perhaps i think instead i am just easily confused.. ) ok so, the 10K pots which the vectrex controller joystick uses... there are 3 legs (lugs) on the pot (the center lug, and the 2 outer lugs) could someone tell me: 1. what is the expected value (K Ohms) if you measure resistance between one of the outer lugs of the 10k pot, and the center lug of the 10k pot, when the joystick is centered? 2. what is the expected value (K Ohms) if you measure resistance between one of the outer lugs of the 10k pot, and the center lug of the 10k pot, when the joystick is pushed all the way to the left/right? 3. regarding the 10K pots, how far (drift) is allowed from the expected values in order for the vectex controller (joystick) to still function adequately (because, there is always some differences between pots, resistance values (tolerance) ... eg. some 10K pots might actually be 9.5K when measured, or 10.5K, etc .. ) thanks for any answers

it is a shame that, today as you know i was working on restoring the vectrex controller with the broken spring, but it in the end it turned out that, i had to give up because, although the springs i made were fine (no problems with those), the vectrex controller 10k pots themselves were extremely worn. the conductive material 'track' inside the pots had worn right through so that there was a hole where there should have been conductive material. i tried to bend ('re-aim') the contact arms/pins inside the pots so that they instead made contact with a fresh track of conductive material inside the pot, but it didnt work out and i ended up getting really odd readings when measuring the pot (one of the pots started measuring a resistance of 40k from one outer lug of the pot to the other outer lug, and then really odd/random readings as i turned the knob). anyway so i gave up and guess will just use it for parts instead. still, i have lots of spare springs now ps. if anyone knows of any kind of replacement pots available (must be pots which support self centering springs.. that's the problem).. please let me know ... or also if anyone has any ideas to put some kind of other 'replacement' joystick stick/thumbstick inside the vectrex controller ('digital' would be ok ... ie. joystick direction contact is either ON or OFF, like how the buttons work).... i personally dont care about having an analog joystick when using the vectrex.. doesnt seem necessary to me, and i would guess that 99% of games on the vectrex dont even support the analog features of the joystick anyway (correct me if im wrong )

Greets All Today i have been repairing a faulty vectrex controller, which has a joystick which is no longer centering As many here will already know, this almost always occurs when the spring (which is found inside each of the dual potentiometers inside the vectrex controller) has snapped it is known that you can get a suitable replacement spring from an Atari 2600 cartridge (i dont know if the required spring is found in ALL atari 2600 cartridges, but i heard it is found in a lot of the early cartridges, such as 'Combat') .. there is more about this subject, in this video: http://youtu.be/FdhybZfr2Mk if you dont have any atari 2600 cartridges (and dont want to wait for one to arrive via ebay ), i read (on this forum) that you can instead just buy some 'spring wire', and 'shape' your own replacement spring out of it (eg. you could begin by wrapping the spring wire around a suitable thickness screwdriver shaft, in order to get the correct size 'center circle' of the spring) if you dont have any spring wire (and dont want to wait for it to arrive via ebay ), perhaps u can instead do what i did; i looked through my various boxes of 'junk' and found a spring, which happened to be about the same thickness as the vectrex controller pot spring, so i just used that (i simply unravelled the spring/shaped it to my needs, using my hands, and also some small 'needle nose pliers'). you can see the pic below.. it is not so hard and a good solution. the spring is strong and feels fine with good resistance, and 'springs back' just fine. so thats it, a solution you can use if you have a problem with a vectrex controller. you can fix the problem if you have some springs in junk boxes around your home (providing the spring you use, has a similar thickness to the original spring found in the vectrex controller pot)

i dont think the pots are in a bad position, - if i hold the controller joystick in the LEFT or DOWN position the screen does look quite good (size and position) does anyone know what signal the vectrex controller sends to the vectrex unit, if you push the joystick LEFT or DOWN, as opposed to RIGHT or UP? (eg. a change in volts ..? im just trying to figure out if this is a clue to the problem.. as it seems strange that the display is much less messed up if i push LEFT or DOWN on the joystick) ps. i will try to run the test cart.. but as mentioned earlier, i may not be able to read or see much on the screen due to the messed up graphics (but perhaps i will get lucky and be able to push LEFT or DOWN on the joystick during the test cart operation, and then be able to see something )

just to mention, i did remove all of the socketed chips when i had removed the pcb's for cleaning etc, i used serivsol super 10 switch cleaning lubricant on the IC sockets, and also the legs of the removeable IC's i did some more 'swapping good chips from my good working vectrex into the faulty vectrex' today a little unlucky perhaps, because, in my good vectrex the IC302 chip is socketed, but my faulty vectrex does not have the IC302 in a socket, but directly soldered to the PCB instead .. so i have not tested IC302 (well anyway, whatever that IC is/does.. i don't know ) IC301 and IC303 are socketed in both the working and the faulty vectrex so i tested those, but they did not fix the display issue IC305 i notice is not socketed in either of my vectrex units, so it looks like i would need to de-solder IC305 from the pcb (unless someone knows a way to test IC305 with a multimeter?) hmm, ok i guess i will keep trying .... but... pretty stuck here i guess. sigh

Hello Mayhem, I got the AY sound chip from my working vectrex to put into the faulty vectrex so now i will purchase a second working AY-3-8912 sound chip from ebay. i notice on ebay there are many cheap AY-3-8912A chips, but i read on another forum that the AY-3-8912A is not compatible with the vectrex (also i read that the AY-3-8912P is not compatible). i dont know for sure if that is true though, but that is what i read on another forum

hi guys today i put the good vectrex AY sound chip from my working vectrex, into the faulty vectrex the good news: i have sound/music working again, and also the controller seems to work ok now (in minestorm, i can rotate ship, thrust, fire, teleport) the bad news: the graphics are still messed up, so it looks like this vectrex has multiple problems (aargh!) ok, so next i will proceed in trying to find the problem causing the bad display gfx. i will report back here with the results

hey guys thank you very much for your help i was just having a little look at the problem now, and had a look around the internet for help, in case someone else had the same problem in the past i noticed an interesting post by Richard H, on these forums he said that the vectrex AY sound chip, does not just control sound, but also controls something to do with the joystick Input/Output regarding my faulty vectrex, i have the issue of no sound at all, and also the strange behaviour with the joystick controller, so im wondering if there might be a problem with my AY chip (or the socket soldering/contacts) i do hope that's the issue! that would be a nice easy fix as i already mentioned, i have an identical (hong kong model) vectrex here, so i can test the working AY sound chip from that vectrex unit with my faulty vectrex unit i will try that test tomorrow, and certainly post back the results if i dont have any luck with the AY sound chip, next i will try your suggestions Rolo. im not sure i can run the test cartridge, as dont forget that my screen is badly messed up, so i wouldnt be able to read or see any of the test results regarding capacitors, that would be the very last thing i look into. why? because: 1. my vectrex warms up very fast when i turn it on (the screen comes on in just a few seconds). i think if capacitors are old and worn, the vectrex would take some time for the screen to come on/warm up. of course that said though, there may still be a capacitor which went bad (regardless of age/hours of use).. so i wont rule out a problem with a capacitor/capacitors 2. it seems to be a common thing that people with faulty vectrex's do, they change all of the capacitors* (takes money, time, not a small easy fast job)... and then, after all that trouble, the fault they had with their vectrex is not fixed and still occurs. so, personally, i really want to rule out as much other stuff as i can, before starting to look at capacitors thanks again guys! *of course it is still a good idea to change the electrolytic capacitors though because the capacitors in the vectrex are more than 30 years old now. you just have to be prepared to buy many capacitors and spend much time and work to change them all.

hi guys, i have a vectrex here, with a strange fault i made a quick video showing the fault, here is the link to watch the video: http://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7wL60tHjgC0YTU4d3diOGEzeHM please note: this is not a problem with the controller as i tested using some different '100% working good' controllers (problem also occurs if there is no controller plugged in) i also tested using a cartridge (instead of just testing with the built in game 'minestorm') .. the problem occurs with cartridges also to summarise the fault in the video: the vectrex graphics are messed up, but using the controller, if i push the controller joystick LEFT or DOWN, the loud buzzing goes away, and the graphics change/improve (less garbled looking.. so for example, you can read text/words on the screen) if i push the controller joystick RIGHT or UP, the graphics change a very little amount, and the buzzing 'pitch' changes, and is louder in volume i did another test and plugged in two controllers into joystick ports 1 and 2 when i push LEFT or DOWN on BOTH controllers at the same time, then the gfx come even closer to being normal (still a little messed up, but not too far away from being 'ok' !) other notes: there is no sound/music. but, the speaker is working; the buzz comes out of the speaker and gets louder if i turn up the volume knob when using the controller, the spaceship in minestorm spins around, however i cannot move the spaceship (thrust), or fire lasers does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem might be please? note: i do have an identical (hong kong model) spare vectrex here, working 100% regarding testing: the only thing i have done is, cleaned the vectrex inside, cleaned the chip sockets, and also cleaned the pins of the removable chips i also gave the pcb plugs/sockets/pins a clean ... also, i had a look at the soldering joints for dry or bad solder (note: i didnt look for hours with a magnifying glass, but instead just a quick look over, and didnt see any obvious bad solder) if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.. i do have a multimeter and can test things like voltages and continuity, etc thanks!

thanks for the advice stardust4ever and rolo, ok perhaps i will have a play around and try to figure something out (one thing i am looking into is, perhaps re-aiming (by bending a little) the wiper inside the pot, so that instead of making contact with the worn out part of the track (conductive material), it instead makes contact with a fresh area of the conductive material it's a shame replacement pots for the vectrex controller are not available (well, at least i assume are not available). -- you could probably find a replacement pot with the correct resistance value, but perhaps the problem is with finding a pot which has the little 'spring' type thing inside which centers the pot after the joystick is pushed in a direction and then let go

Hi Rolo (or perhaps if anyone else is reading and can help?) I bought a spare original vectrex controller a few days ago from ebay, but it is very well used/worn - the buttons are not so bad with a clean/service, but the joystick internals (pots) are very worn to the point of cannot be serviced/fixed (the conductive tracks inside the pots are worn away/gone). looking at your joystick kit i notice you are using a 'playstation2 style analog thumb controller' type of pot (ALPS) could you tell me please if you know, can i just use one of those ALPS type of pots inside my original vectrex controller? or is the value/range of the ALPS pot too different/incompatible to work instead of the original vectrex joystick pot? im just wondering if i can use one, perhaps without the need of any re-calibration of the vectrex controller (or, if some re-calibration needs to be done, or some extra components eg. resistors added, perhaps someone could explain this) any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you

greets guys, so the other day i thought about getting some kind of case/bag for my vectrex, to protect it from the horrors of dust and so on. i had a look around and decided i wasnt too keen on paying the going rate for an official/original vectrex case, so instead i decided i would try to find a cheap alternative. fast forward a bit and i decided to purchase a 'cooler bag' i saw on ebay, which turned out to be ideal .. it has a zip, and the interior acts as padding (see pics below) - anyway i thought i would share this for other vectrex owners. here is the link then, £3.97 delivered if you are in UK.. took around 3-4 days to come (seller is in the UK) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331047350589 note: if you are not in the UK perhaps there are alternatives on ebay in your country, just ensure you check the measurements first to ensure your vectrex will fit inside the bag

ps. i don't know if it's useful at all but here's some interesting reading about the hitachi 6309 cpu (has 6809 'emulation mode') http://fms.komkon.org/comp/CPUs/6309.txt

hey adamchevy thank you for trying the experiment; if not already on your test list please could you try the game 'Rockaroids' if possible..

(sorry folks just a little joke.... but looks neat?)