Sperg Burg Arcade

Discussion of arcades and other gaming locations with music/rhythm games

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MonMotha
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by MonMotha » Fri Apr 03, 2015 9:06 pm

Normally it's the lamp (bulb) or starter, but if it responds to percussive maintenance, that would suggest a loose connector or wire.

If the lamp is bad, you'll be a bit dismayed because they're a size really only used/sold in Japan. The starters are also Japanese, but they can be acquired stateside.
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by Riot » Sun Apr 05, 2015 1:59 pm

I'm honestly not tooooo worried if I don't have lights on behind the marquee if the bulb is going bad, as I care more about playing the game/working out than aesthetics right now. I'm also not very good at diagnosing and identifying problems - think I should just unscrew the marquee design (never taken it off that I remember) and just try to replug in any loose wires. I don't have any volt meters, but would I even need that stuff? Basically not sure if I'd see any physical issues or if it'd be something more hidden/internal.
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by Riot » Fri May 29, 2015 11:35 am

I played again for the first time in awhile today and after I turned down the bass/treble volume, it seemed to help. I wonder if it had something to do with the speakers being too loud/rumbly? There was still a few instances of the flickering lights, tiny horizontal line of static on screen for a sec, and the speaker maybe fizzling out a tiny bit. With the volume down it only happened slightly maybe once or twice in 30 minutes. So yeah, maybe not a light issue but potential speaker issue? Would that affect the lights and screen too though?
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by Ho » Fri May 29, 2015 11:54 am

Sounds like a loose connection and turning down the bass reduced the vibration that was affecting the loose connection. I think you're still looking at a lighting/wiring issue.
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by Riot » Fri May 29, 2015 12:38 pm

Not even sure where to start to diagnose. Just take off marquee, check connections? Something internal if I open up the back? Not sure if there's a specific wiring area that sounds like it would be affecting it like it is.
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by Ho » Fri May 29, 2015 1:17 pm

I guess I would start at the light, check that the lamp is securely in the fixture, maybe take it out and put it back in. Check the starter to make sure that it's secure. Then, follow the wires going to the fixture, gently moving them as you trace them back to the source (be careful if they look damaged since this will be house current).

At some point, something you do is probably going to cause that light to flicker. Either a loose component (like the lamp or starter), a loose connection (the wires going into the fixture or some other joint along the way), or the wires themselves are bad (maybe got pinched or partially cut somehow).

Alternatively, you can probably just remove the lamp from the fixture, your marquee will go dark, and you probably won't have any of the other symptoms since that whole circuit will then be broken. Then you can turn your bass back up, if you wanted.
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by Merk » Fri May 29, 2015 3:28 pm

Riot if you are super concerned about getting shocked then I recommend buying a pair of rubber gloves if you don't have some already.
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by MonMotha » Fri May 29, 2015 3:44 pm

I agree that this sounds like a loose connection or, worse, a bare wire/connection that's resting against a metal surface (all of which are well grounded in Japanese/US cabinets) and making intermittent contact. You can test (though not 100%) this theory by whacking the side of the cabinet with your hand while it's on and seeing if you get similar behavior.

If indeed it is a wire grounding out on something, simply removing the marquee lamps wouldn't fix the problem. If it's just a loose connection to the lamp, removing it probably would, but you should still fix the loose connection as it could be a fire hazard (though less so with the lamp removed).
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by Riot » Fri May 29, 2015 4:24 pm

Merk wrote:Riot if you are super concerned about getting shocked then I recommend buying a pair of rubber gloves if you don't have some already.
Not worried about shocking myself, but don't want to hurt anything in the machine!
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by Ho » Fri May 29, 2015 4:58 pm

At least you have your priorities straight.
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by Riot » Sat May 30, 2015 12:16 pm

When I knocked on the upper left speaker it kinda crackled and did the light/screen flicker. I didn't notice it happening at all during normal play today. There was one instance where it crackled on its own a bit, and that was when the preview music of a really warped bass-heavy dubstep song played a little bit. Guessing there's some bass frequency that when it rumbles speaker too much knocks a wire loose or something. I unscrewed the front 4 screws on the actual marquee design itself but it didn't budge. I didn't mess with it much since it seemed to be working mostly fine, but in case I keep investigating tomorrow, are the rest of the marquee screws on top? Bottom too? It's been a couple years since we opened it up and even then I think Chad/Merk were the ones who helped put that part on.

Is there anything specific I should check for if I've determined that it seems to be that speaker that's causing the issue? Would there be anything in the back of the machine that may be causing it at all, or only some wire inside the speaker itself up there?
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by MonMotha » Sat May 30, 2015 11:12 pm

If the marquee light is flickering when you hit the cabinet, it's pretty unlikely that the speaker or wiring thereto is the cause. My guess would be that some connection to the marquee light is loose. This would cause crackling on the audio as the light's connection makes and breaks when you hit it due to electrical noise on the AC side.

There's an access door on the back of the marquee. This lets you access almost all the wiring up on the marquee box. Just check it for loose or broken connections such as exposed wires.
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by Riot » Sun May 31, 2015 11:49 am

Opened up the back of the marquee and took a peek. I didn't notice any of the little plastic connectors being loose and didn't see anything that looked particularly fishy or exposed except for one potential thing.

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(link to larger image if you wanna see closer - http://i.imgur.com/nk5G61O.jpg)

In the top right you can see a little looped wire that's just kinda hanging out not attached to anything. Any clue what that is? Not sure if it's supposed to be attached to something. After I took off the back plate and kinda messed with the wires to make sure nothing was loose, there was a decent amount of static when I played for a bit after. The marquee light even turned off for a sec mid-song.

If that wire isn't the culprit I don't mind just keeping the marquee lights off but will have to figure out which is the right wire(s) to pull.
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by MonMotha » Sun May 31, 2015 8:45 pm

That loose ring terminal is a ground. It should be connected to the metal frame of the lamps.

Those don't appear to be the original lamp fixtures. While the replacement doesn't look particularly hackish, it's quite likely there's a loose connection in there somewhere. Your marquee light going out entirely at times would be consistent with this. Those butt splices are quite unreliable if not properly crimped (and nobody does it right).
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Re: Sperg Burg Arcade

Post by Riot » Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:08 am

So there is a screw on a little metal plate holding on the light kit if I recall (not in front of it atm, obviously). Should I unscrew it, put the loop down, then screw it back in through the loop to ground it? You think this is even part of the problem in the first place?

I didn't get a super great look at the whole thing since I couldn't really scoot the machine out far enough and I was balancing on a little stool trying to peek up there, but I wonder if I should just figure out what to unplug for the lights in general and bypass it. I wish I knew more about electrical and stuff to diagnose it all myself =/ I appreciate you guys' help as always. If I just unplug whatever wire comes up from the cabinet into the light would that get around the problem you think?
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