What is happening to my Vectrex and is it repairable?

[EnzymeX1983]

Hi guys,

 

I just bought a Vectrex (one of the final pieces in my retro collection) from a legit seller that arrived the day before yesterday. If I recall correctly the first time it powered up it seemed to work fine. However, yesterday I plugged it in and the image was extremely distorted (pictures 1,2,3). The image is skewed, vectors are not aligned, the image is stretched, etc.

 

I found some info online regarding finetuning the screen, so I adjusted the dials, potentiometers, the DAC offset (shouldn't have done that..) and also the magnets around the tube.

 

I got to a point where the image was much better (see pciture 4 of vectrex start screen) but there was still distortion in the image. In retrospect I probably shouldn't have done this at all, but I'm stupid...

 

The weird thing is that today, after yesterday tuning to a better image, the image was again completely distorted, much worse than when I ended my tuning activities (picture.

The seller send me a recording with a timestamp that indeed proves the vectrex was fine before shipping.

 

It seems the image, although distorted, looks fine and also the sound is very good. I also saw the orange glow from the end of the tube which, if I read correctly, means the CRT is working properly.

 

My question now are:

• Is my vectrex repairable and if yes, what would be the next steps? A Recap or perhaps find someone specialized enough to run through these tests: https://www.reddit.com/r/Vectrex/comments/woqds8/vectrex_complete_screen_calibration_and_more/ ?). (Thx u/mattpilz for providing this info)
• It would also be very be cool to get some feedback on if the "raw hardware" of the Vectrex is still ok.
• Is it possible this was caused by the shipping of the item and/or the differences in humidity/temperature?
•  

Any feedback would be most welcome!

 

View the images here on imgur: https://imgur.com/a/AlP4SnR

 

Edited February 11 by EnzymeX1983

[EnzymeX1983]

Also just uploaded a video of the current behaviour

[EnzymeX1983]

I can also 100% confirm that if I leave the unit on, the image becomes much better by itself 👍 Is this an indication for the cause of the issue (for example faulty caps like some people already pointed out?)

 

[TheCurlyBard]

Oh hello, I think we spoke on fb earlier.

 

Mine gets better with use as well, somebody has already replaced most of my caps, but they left some of the odd polystyrene ones and from what I've read they are related to this issue. I plan to change the rest if mine, and double check the replacements chosen 

[EnzymeX1983]

Ah yes hello, i'm also going for a complete recap (both normal and integrator caps) and also exchange all the soldered and slotted ICs. Fingers crossed, it should fix the issue!

Edited February 11 by EnzymeX1983