sprazzi Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I alway find tutorials about the "dot" appearing on the screen or how to calibrate the video... but for the life of me I cannot find one where they address the issue of a slow warm up. At start I can hear the music and sound but the sreen stays black, then after 5 minutes or so it plays just fine... I come up thinking of spraying some WD 40 into the power-volume knob... do you think it will work? Thanks a lot in advance knowledgable people of the Vectrex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BinaryStar Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 If it takes time to warm up and display, you will likely need to replace the capacitors. As the CRT display operates on high-voltage, you will need to discharge the monitor flyback before working on it or risk painful electrical shock or even death. If you are unsure, try to find an old-school tv repairman in your area to do the job for you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 Can also be a sign of the flyback on its last legs as well. But caps have to provide enough charge to the flyback to get it going, so it likely needs to be recapped first and go from there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Type Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 Mine also had a 5 minute monitor switch on delay. If I turned it off then back on again, sometimes it would come up quick, sometimes slow. It was the power switch, it needs cleaning. Now I just leave it on all the time and unplug from the wall socket. I'll fix it properly one day... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprazzi Posted February 13, 2018 Author Share Posted February 13, 2018 Mine also had a 5 minute monitor switch on delay. If I turned it off then back on again, sometimes it would come up quick, sometimes slow. It was the power switch, it needs cleaning. Now I just leave it on all the time and unplug from the wall socket. I'll fix it properly one day... Thank you for your input. May I ask How did you clean the power switch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Type Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 I didn't. The unit powers up after 5 minutes once the switch has made contact and now I just leave the switch turned on. There are some step by step guides on the web that show you inside the switch for cleaning, here's one: https://circuit-board.de/forum/index.php/Thread/25374-Die-Vectrex-Kur-Kondensatoren-richtig-tauschen-weg-mit-dem-Brummen-Tipps-Tricks/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprazzi Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 Thanks for your reply gentlemen. I ordered a capacitor kit and found someone in my area who is willing to do the replacement for me at a reasonable cost... All should be accomplished in a couple of months. I'll keep you informed! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprazzi Posted March 17, 2018 Author Share Posted March 17, 2018 A little update on the matter. I ordered the caps kit from console9 and my friend (who is very knowledgeable) did replace all of them. By the way, he noticed that C411 was not present and C523 was not part of the kit, so didn't replace it. Still, unfortunately, the vectrex has still the same problem... There's "no light at the end of the tube", so to speak. I don't know how to put it in technical terms. Any ideas fellows? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Type Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Make sure your on/off switch is working e.g. by hard wiring it to on. But you knew that already 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprazzi Posted March 23, 2018 Author Share Posted March 23, 2018 Gentlemen, we are at a dead point now as for what we know... We're taking it to a TV techician this saturday. I'll let you know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprazzi Posted March 24, 2018 Author Share Posted March 24, 2018 (edited) THE FINAL CHAPTER. So today morning the technician (a former Westinghouse employee) in Milan changed a diode on the power board (101 or 104 not sure). Anyway he thinks it may be the LM555 causing the delay; he didn't have a replacement on hand, but anyway he said it could very well go on for another 30 years... So at the end of the story (recapped and diode replaced) the startup delay finally has reduced to a 40ish seconds. Not as new but not bad... what do you think? The total cost has been the kit replacement (15 euros + 15 shipping and a beer or two to my friend) and 35 euros of TV technician manwork... Edited March 24, 2018 by sprazzi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Nope. Something is still significantly wrong. Should reach full brightness in just a coupla seconds at most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ls650 Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Yeah, my Vectrex has a decent picture within a second or two of power on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 It would be a good idea to interview the next person that works on your Vectrex. TV Technicians are fine and all that. But I bet few of them have experience with aging consoles. And Vectrex is more than just a CRT. Lots of digital stuff happening. Most technicians, at least the ones I've met, don't dig too far into the problem. Replace the bad part, done. They're not considering the effects of stress and aging on these consoles. They're all reactive and not pro-active. They've been trained that way. And it's how the business works. But there's lots of TLC and preventative maintenance that goes into prepping a console for the long haul. Not just fixing problems as they arise. What parts are falling out of tolerance? What effects do they have? What happens when you have a mix of fresh/new/strong parts and stale/old/weak parts? What is going to fail next.. a new part trying to make up for the weak part? a weak part being pushed past it's limit? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprazzi Posted March 28, 2018 Author Share Posted March 28, 2018 THE SAGA CONTINUES.... So after playing for a while the Vectrex just died on me. The screen fainted in a second, and like shrinked towards the top right corner of the video, then disappeared completely. I can still play "blind minestorm" as I hear the sounds, but no more screen... Back to the technician and let's wait for what he has to say. I've still faith because I see the will to make the machine work again... Let's hope so. Thanks for your words, they are inspiring. I'll let you know if there are some news. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seob Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Did you order the cap kit form console5? Cant find a console9 shop. Need some cap kits for my 2 vectrexs, but shipping costs put me off. 27 dollar shipping is a lot for a little kit. Did find a supplier in Germany, but his cap kit costs 29 euro. Can order at console5 since i also need some c64 power savers, but those are out of stock at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprazzi Posted March 29, 2018 Author Share Posted March 29, 2018 Did you order the cap kit form console5? Cant find a console9 shop. Need some cap kits for my 2 vectrexs, but shipping costs put me off. 27 dollar shipping is a lot for a little kit. Did find a supplier in Germany, but his cap kit costs 29 euro. Can order at console5 since i also need some c64 power savers, but those are out of stock at the moment.Yes i'm Sorry the actual name is console 5And Yes the shopping cost is as Much as the cost of the kit itself... But buying Them One by One was no choice for me.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprazzi Posted April 10, 2018 Author Share Posted April 10, 2018 Yes i'm Sorry the actual name is console 5 And Yes the shopping cost is as Much as the cost of the kit itself... But buying Them One by One was no choice for me.... By the way... I just noticed Amazon sells kits of 200, 300 even 600 assorted capacitors for quite cheap... Does anyone know if there's one with all the caps included for the vectrex? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprazzi Posted April 15, 2018 Author Share Posted April 15, 2018 THE VECTREX SAGA - THE FINAL!!! Sooooo... After borrowing an oscilloscope we found out that the diode was cutting the power in We ordered a spare replacement (about 10 euros) and now we have a fully functional vectrex!!! So happy about it, so grateful. Thank to you all and your support too! Cheers from happy me 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ls650 Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Congratulations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 Awesome!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 What a great feeling to get it working 100%. If you could post a picture or verify which diode was replaced it would probably help someone in the future to fix the same or a similar problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 Yes please!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprazzi Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 (edited) Of course, gentlemen, I'm more than happy to oblige!!! I just wanted to let few days pass to be sure everything was OK, this time for real. So... this is what I did: First of all I put a classified to find someone in my area able to fix my Vectrex slow to light up; I was very low on hope but I was more than lucky to find this man (who works more than 20 years in electronics in my town) who is proficient in electronics... and loves retro games! (He's into neo-geo by the way) So I ordered the cap kit from console 5 (shipping was expensive) and he managed to replace them all in less than 1 hour! (and made his research so he did know that he should have been generous with the solder on the Vectrex...just to say) But then the vectrex was still 40 seconds late in coming up; I was happy with that, it was an improvement after all. But the next day it died on me...just sound, no more video. I returned the Vectrex to him: at this point he borrowed an oscilloscope (the only piece of machinery he don't have) and after 14 day of research (in his spare time) found out the power was cut at this diode here. Replaced it and voilà... now it works like a charm!!! Its serial number is T000994A italian. I'm no expert, but any question you may have I'll try my best to reply. Now if only I could get my hands on a Vecfever.... :) Cheers! Edited April 26, 2018 by sprazzi 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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