Troubleshooting PCB Setup

[thaIllsburyFlowboy]

Hi all,

I've bought a supergun (with power supply) from eBay and a Tiger Heli PCB with a Toaplan to JAMMA adapter. I'm getting audio (coin inserts and stage 1 sounds) but no/distorted video. I've tried:

1. swapping the SCART cable with an s-video to s-video cable - same symptoms except no audio with just the s-video cable, which is expected.
2. flipping the adapter at the PCB, and at the supergun. Those produced a "no signal" output from the Retrotink 5X. With the normal orientation of the adapter, the 5X reads out: Source is SCART-RGB, input lines are 267p, input h-freq is 15.26 khz, input v-freq is 57.16 hz, samples per line is 1716, adc clock is 26.19 mhz, and buffer lag is 2.0 ms. I don't know what most of this means but generative AI insists that these are the figures I want (and they are better than no signal). I haven't tried flipping it at both the PCB and supergun but generative AI says I'm going to fry the PCB if I keep doing this.

I think the issue is likely the adapter, since it appears to be homemade and was shipped from overseas, so I ordered another from https://pcbjunkie.net/index.php/jamma-a ... a-adapter/. But, if that's not the issue, I'm not entirely sure how to proceed. I could order another PCB and test that, but at this point between the Retrotink, Tiger Heli, and the supergun I'm $700 deep and still no videogame. Is there any way I could use a multimeter to determine whether the adapter or the PCB is the issue?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Hi all,

I've bought a supergun (with power supply) from eBay and a Tiger Heli PCB with a Toaplan to JAMMA adapter. I'm getting audio (coin inserts and stage 1 sounds) but no/distorted video. I've tried:

1. swapping the SCART cable with an s-video to s-video cable - same symptoms except no audio with just the s-video cable, which is expected.
2. flipping the adapter at the PCB, and at the supergun. Those produced a "no signal" output from the Retrotink 5X. With the normal orientation of the adapter, the 5X reads out: Source is SCART-RGB, input lines are 267p, input h-freq is 15.26 khz, input v-freq is 57.16 hz, samples per line is 1716, adc clock is 26.19 mhz, and buffer lag is 2.0 ms. I don't know what most of this means but generative AI insists that these are the figures I want (and they are better than no signal). I haven't tried flipping it at both the PCB and supergun but generative AI says I'm going to fry the PCB if I keep doing this.

I think the issue is likely the adapter, since it appears to be homemade and was shipped from overseas, so I ordered another from https://pcbjunkie.net/index.php/jamma-a ... a-adapter/. But, if that's not the issue, I'm not entirely sure how to proceed. I could order another PCB and test that, but at this point between the Retrotink, Tiger Heli, and the supergun I'm $700 deep and still no videogame. Is there any way I could use a multimeter to determine whether the adapter or the PCB is the issue?

Yes, the above listed Toaplan to Jamma adapter is solidly built. I've ordered a Konami to Jamma adapter from pcbjunkie with shipping from Canada to the USA (which took some considerable amount of time to arrive).

You want a supergun with an on-board voltmeter to indicate that the said arcade pcb is getting adequate +5v at 5.00v (you can adjust the +5v pot trim on the arcade power supply unit so that it's outputting at 5.00v precisely with a flat-head screwdriver).

I recommend RGB's HAS v5.1b as it has an on-board voltmeter to display the necessary +5v to power up the jamma pcb (or a non-jamma pcb with the appropriate jamma adapter as in your particular case): https://rgbslab.com/products/has

The Meanwell arcade power supply units are excellent and recommended for use with superguns (the Meanwell RT-125A psu is the one to get -- of course, it doesn't come an A/C power cord which you'll need to order one, preferably
one with a built-in power switch, to power it up). Amazon sells the Meanwell RT-125A here: https://www.amazon.com/RT-125A-RT-125B- ... r=1-1&th=1

The power cord with a switch to power up the Meanwell RT-125A is listed here: https://www.amazon.com/FILSHU-Gauge-Swi ... r=1-5&th=1

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It could be that the Toaplan Tiger Heli pcb's edge connector interface is very dirty & grimy (hence the no visual graphics being shown on-screen or distorted graphics that you mention of) and would need to be cleaned on both sides until they're super shiny and don't have any grime/dirt on them -- you can use a pencil eraser by rubbing it on the gold contacts and get them all super shiny & with a Q-Tip dipped slightly in rubbing alcohol to further remove all traces of the pencil eraser debris. Very important -- make sure that the rubbing alcohol is completely dry before powering up said arcade pcb!

Yes, arcade operators/owners were known to not perform regular general "house-keeping" cleaning at regular intervals with said arcade jamma pcbs to keep them running in "tip-top" shape -- this pressing issue would affect their "bottom line" in regards to earning/maximizing "profits" on the more popular arcade game pcb hits.

Over the years, I've bought many used and second-hand arcade jamma pcbs with the "56-pin jamma edge interface" all super dirty and have had to clean the gold contacts to make sure that they were "clean as a whistle" to run them properly on candy cabs and superguns -- as expected, it comes with the arcade pcb hobby and is to be expected, especially in dealing with with the older non-jamma arcade pcbs from the early-to-mid 1980s era.

I have a Konami Gyruss non-jamma arcade pcb circa 1983 that requires a Konami to jamma adapter to get it to boot-up/run properly + the fact that it outputs in stereo sounds is absolutely incredible (as most early 1980s arcade pcbs were presented in mono-phonic output at best) -- it's well-known that Konami of Japan licensed Gyruss to American arcade company/distributor Centuri to sell and distribute in the USA back in 1983 (which was quite cool for it's time indeed).
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Hope this help you out delving into the world of arcade pcbs/superguns/candy cabs hobby spectrum.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~