Found The STRANGEST Thing Inside This Asteroids Arcade Game Power Supply - Sound Repair

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[@GRAHAMAUS]

Someone's tried to pull that one pin out in the past while heating it with a soldering iron. As they pulled it out, the 'wing' must have caught and melted through the wall before snapping off. Amazing catch though - most people would assume the connector was fine.

[@jasonudall8614]

That would fit. These machines have a past , you aren't there first

[@marktryer315]

This guy's got the answer right here.

[@dasworkshop4967]

I agree, and I've actually had the retainer prong embed itself in the plastic, but it didn't create a short. Great find to the OP.

[@djmips]

Quite plausible!

[@manuelolivas7718]

This guy grahamaus is a perfect example of my dad use tell me that don't you ever i mean ever think you're the biggest baddest person because there's always and i mean always someone bigger badder than you..in other words ronnie thought it was probably molded in to the housing but what grahamaus said made perfectly good sense👍i do wanna add that there's alot of youtube videos of people working on old and new arcades but i think ronnie is one of the sharpest he's a bad man he's got all my respect.

[@musgawp]

Not bored at all. It’s so good to share these things with you!

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Philip, we appreciate you hanging out with us!

[@cthlhu]

"Well, I've been to one world fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the" craziest thing I seen... great catch!

[@nigelbattersby7557]

That connector has been re-pinned at some point, somone has pushed a pin out and one of the little locking wings have pierced the wall of the hole and snapped off.

[@darklichny]

They probably didn't use the pin extractor, they just went ham on it... The tool is really inexpensive, I see this alot in bastardized welders... They just yank em out and mutilate the housing or break the wire right behind the pin...

[@stazeII]

Yup. This.

[@antonioboloniano8688]

Yes, I agree. It is unlikely that the plastic was cast with the metal joining the two cavities. It appears that a prior extraction left one of the little locking wings broke off and embedded in the nylon body.

[@diddrumdontdrum]

Ron. Your arcade videos are just the best. There’s plenty of other you tube channels about these classic machines but none deliver the info quite like yours does. The longer the vids are the more there is to enjoy. Thanks for what you do 😀

[@w00tDr]

15:28 Ron makes a really good point - it's best to fix electronics the way it is supposed to be in the schematic, rather than flip the plug around and change the wiring. A future repair guy will eventually figure out what you did, but why make it harder for him? Exceptions to this might include damage that requires some rigging, or stability enhancements recommended by the community (such as tying together ground planes), or adding a mod kit.

[@metroid031993]

I think not fixing it exactly to the schematic is fine, just DOCUMENT WHAT YOU DID.

[@w00tDr]

@@metroid031993 I think that I agree, in principle. What is good practice for documenting - write on the paper schematic, or include a note with the schematic, or put a tag on the changed things, or other?

[@metroid031993]

@@w00tDr I'd say, write somewhere in the cab, on the PCB, and maybe attach some label to the wires as well

[@andymouse]

It's a Potentiometer or 'Pot' because it has three terminals and is being used as a Potential Divider whereas a Rheostat ( mostly two terminal ) is used as a Variable Resistor, the difference is much easyer to understand with a drawing, Rheostat is a term not used much anymore and the devices tend to be physically big and used in high current applications, a Pot allows you calculate a voltage range or ratio but a Rheostat gives just a variable resistance, Rheostats nowadays are found in university lab's and Baron Von Frankenstein had shit tons of 'em ! I hope I haven't confused anyone....cheers.

[@sidween]

A pot can also be used as a variable resistor by using two poles also

[@andymouse]

@@sidween indeed.

[@DjResR]

Also rheostats can have 3 terminals, it's just wire wound that's how it can handle the high current._

[@Higgmeister647]

A rheostat can be made from a pot by tying the variable line (middle contact) to one of the other terminals. A rheostat is a variable resistor and the pot is a voltage devider. The schematic looks like it's a pot but can't tell without seeing more of the schematic.

[@andymouse]

@@Higgmeister647 indeed.

[@Shamino0]

Regarding rheostat vs. poentiometer: Both are variable resistors. There's an internal resistor and a "wiper" that contacts it in a variable location that moves depending on where the slider/knob is positioned. The key difference between a potentiometer and a rheostat is how they are used in a circuit. With a potentiometer, there are three wires - two (usually the outer two pins) connecting at either end of the internal resistor - providing a fixed constant resistance between them. And the third (usually the center pin) connected to the wiper. The outer two pins connect to a voltage source (input). The center pin and one of the outer pins provide the output voltage. The wiper divides the input voltage based on its position along the internal resistor, causing the output voltage to be a percentage of the input voltage, based on the wiper's position. With a rheostat, there are usually only two wires. One connects to one end of the resistor and the other connects to the wiper. The resistance changes based on the position of the wiper, changing the voltage-drop across the rheostat and affecting the overall current drawn by the circuit. You can use a potentiometer as a rheostat if you leave one of the end pins disconnected (or alternatively connect it to the wiper's pin). The other way around is not possible, because a part designed as a rheostat only has two pins. For example, in the previous video (working on the display board -kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4LWdZV5dq6SoLc ), you can see that the contrast control (R516) and brightness control (R517) are rheostats because they have only two pins. In this video, at time index 1:20, you can see that the volume control is a potentiometer, because it has three pins and they are wired as a voltage divider. The white and brown wires connect to the ends of the resistor and the white/brown wire connects to the wiper. The voltage-drop across the resistor (between the white and brown wires) is divided to create the output voltage (between the brown and white/brown wires), with the percentage depending on the position of the wiper. See also www.electricalterminology.com/rheostat-vs-potentiometer/

[@donwebber7034]

Agreed

[@bobblum5973]

I agree as well. I think part of the problem is the misuse of the word rheostat, so over time the definitions tended to blur and overlap. It's like the capacitor in the distributor of a car or truck engine being referred to as a condenser (as in "points and condenser"), only in that case it's two different names for basically the same type of part. Or the American "ground" versus the British "earth". 🙄

[@hoodro2]

Love your classic arcade repair videos.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Hoodro2!

[@npessoa2]

I have worked as a technician and electronic engineer for more than 25 years and I never saw a short-circuit in connector!

[@LyonsArcade]

Pretty wild, I think there must have been some sort of machine that installs the pin to have enough force to throw that 'wing' through the side of the wall that far....

[@markl1129]

This was FANTASTIC! You did NOT “spend too much time” on this. There is NO substitution for experience! Thank you for a hilarious episode! Love your videos!

[@DLDietz]

Awesome catch on that connector. Seen many a tech spend hours looking for a problem like that and assume the problem could NEVER be something like a shorted connector.

[@LyonsArcade]

The older it is the more likely something obvious isn’t obvious 😀

[@harriettedaisy2233]

Dude, I was waiting for you to get continuity between the pin in the connector and the pin sitting on the desk. 😂🤣😂

[@LyonsArcade]

Haha I should have faked it that would be hilarious

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

Stuff "growing" on old electronics is more common than you think. I repaired a tube guitar amp once, mostly with an X-acto knife. Some critter (cockroach most likely) shorted across two leads on the PCB. It oozed and started to burn. As it burned, the PCB also got charred, creating a permanent short. Only solution, was to carve out that section of board, with a knife.

[@PlumGurly]

Yeah, insect feces can cause problems. Microwave ovens are among the most likely to have that problem, though that happened with TV sets too. I remember one TV repair story where, according to the service manual, the readings the tech was getting would be the time to replace the CRT. However, he had a CRT tester that said it wasn't shorted. So Richard removed the socket board and found a huge dead cockroach between the terminals. He photographed it for evidence purposes in case he'd have trouble collecting the warranty pay since the customer apparently allowed this to happen. Then he scraped the cockroach off and he got a display after that.

[@dablakh0l193]

I've had an arc between two pins through an inner wall on a molex that caused a similar issue, many years ago. I had to wrap one of the pins with cellophane tape . I may have a few extra pins amongst my collection of molex parts over the past 40 years. What part number were the sockets? or what number was the header supposed to be?

[@LyonsArcade]

last thing you'd expect, glad we found it!

[@peter486]

i love these videos , i like the Arcade ones alot more than the pinball repair videos. for me it has alot to do that its the foundation of game design. and also the hardware that drives it, also a nostalgic trip to my childhood, i also get the feeling that you are saving old broken machines and let them live on. thank you for upload lads.

[@beavis6363]

I'm pretty sharp and have common sense but yep, that plug would have made me a little crazy for a few minutes. Congrats on the repairs, hearing the game brought back flashes of old memories.

[@gregoryschmidt1233]

I STILL love this game. Thanks for the great video.

[@vhm14u2c]

Whoever was given that connector was ‘special’. ;-)

[@LyonsArcade]

maybe it was Friday at 4:45 LOL

[@tahustvedt]

I'm still amazed at the ability of a CRT to draw vectors that fast. I know it's trivial for the hardware, but it's still amazing to me.

[@theoldbigmoose]

In my experience, the transistors do not fail; but the 40 year old heat sink compound dries out and the transistors loose thermal contact with the heat sinks and therefore run at higher temperatures. If I remember MIL-HDBK-217 from the old days... every 10 degC increase in component temperature reduces it's life by around 1/2.

[@LyonsArcade]

That makes sense, thank you BigMoose!

[@cheeseparis1]

Great video, loved to see the short without any connector in... First I was thinking about quantum mechanics and entanglement !

[@LyonsArcade]

It may have had something to do with Quantum Mechanics but i don't know what that is :)

[@kjrchannel1480]

I liked to put a powered sub in mine. There was also a 60 hz hum on the audio so I added a choke in the audio power supply that got rid of it. If you never had a situation where the slam switch was shorted. Then you don't now the frustration that can cause. I think at one time when that audio connector was reworked. A person may have inserted one pin backwards and may even used a soldering iron to remount it. At which point it melted to retention tab through the connector. As far as haters go. There is a real chance technicians out there are giving you the evil eye, because you are helping to put them in the poor house. I used to have a rule, to never tell a customer how to repair anything, but always to charge them a realistic fee that kept them coming back.

[@PelDaddy]

Transistors don't normally wear out. Capacitors, on the other hand, absolutely do dry out and fail. Those I would replace. They are cheap. Thanks for sharing. Your videos are entertaining.

[@hwhack]

MSEE here: You are correct. Rheostats are 2 wire devices and potentiometers (a.k.a. pots) are 3 wire devices. Potentiometers can be hooked up and used as rheostats. Transistors fail all the time from usage and old age.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you for watcihng hwhack!

[@gmf121266]

Haters just hate anyone having fun.....Personally I Love your posts. Great to see the old machines get the TLC they deserve. Great work.

[@RichardHartness]

Interesting enough, I use to work in Rock Hill (over at Atlas Copco) and I would come by your shop if/when I ever made it into downtown Rock Hill. I use to work there years ago. I was looking you up online about a year ago to see if you had a web store, and I was surprised to see you had a KZbin channel. I don't live near that area anymore, but I love seeing the old store.

[@eastonvonschist2283]

One of my favorite games back in the day and would love to get my hands on one someday.

[@adamdavies163]

As others have said, a rheostat is effectively in series with the circuit, all of the current flows through the wiper. Any 3 terminal variable resistor can be (and often is) used as a rheostat by shorting the wiper to one of the other two terminals. In a potentiometer most of the current flows through the main resistive element which sets up a voltage drop across it. The wiper then moved up and down to pick off the required voltage. Although some current will flow through the wiper in a 'pot' it is usually a lot less than flows through the main resistive element.

[@3DPDK]

Separate comment: The sloppy soldering shows that someone removed the connector. *They (most likely) pulled on the connector to get it off the board while heating it with the soldering iron.* The tine or tab on the metal socket prevents the socket from coming out the back of the connector - pulling on the connector (or inserting the pin side of the connector) puts pressure on that tab making it bend outward. One of the two sockets was still firmly soldered, but hot enough to melt the plastic while the tech pulled on the connector. The tine bent as the tech pulled on it and melted through to the next chamber. Solder a 200 to 1k ohm resistor in series to the LED signal connector to dim the LED. You'll have to test for the proper value. This basically drops the voltage going into the LED. This is an acceptable field modification although there is probably a current limiting resistor on the board that could be increased instead. Also; the 125 vac (max) rating is for the switch contacts, NOT the LED input.

[@BTom16]

I'm loving the Joe's KZbin-a-thon. Thank you for the excellent content.

[@3DPDK]

The word "rheostat" is the oldest describing a variable resistor. They were/are high current devices and always made as a wire wound resistor. Because they are wire wound, they are inductors and are good resistors for audio (varying voltage) and A.C. signals. A "variable resistor" describes all other carbon resistor types. The term "potentiometer" originally described the use of a variable resistor as a controllable voltage divider - a metered potential, but is now accepted as the name of the variable resistor itself. The board you are calling a power supply is actually the audio amplifier and the TO-3 packaged transistor mounted in the heat sink is the high power output. The black, (probably) 8 ohm (probably) 20 watt resistor mounted in the heat sink is the primary load protection for the transistor. This type of amplifier MUST be connected to a load at all times or it risks going to overvoltage and cooking itself. The rheostat is the secondary output load, but the wiper of the rheostat picks off a portion of the audio signal to send to the speaker - also (probably) an 8 ohm, 20 watt speaker coil. If you disconnect the speaker, the amplifier still sinks through the windings of the rheostat. (I should wait until the end of the video before I comment) NOW ... those connector sockets have a small "tine" to hold them in place - just a tab cut into the metal of the socket. The tool you refer to compresses that tine so you can slide the socket out. Some arcade "tech" tried to pull the socket out without the tool (or tried to insert the pin side with a bent or "fat" pin; or tried to pull the connector off the board before it was completely de-soldered); the pressure bent the tine, pierced the nylon and made contact with the other socket. The tech realized the connector was shorted and replace the socket, but apparently didn't know what caused the short in the first place. In the field, 90% of failures are ultimately "operator error" caused, but this one is on the tech.

[@tahwnikcufos]

Looks like someone tried pulling it apart while it was hot and the tab just cooked it's way across and broke off. Doesn't take much to soften these Molex type connectors at all.

[@Joe_HamRadioGuy]

That's a very nice clean game. Brings back a lot of memories wish I had one lol thanks for the great videos.

[@PipThorne]

Once again a great video. Did you work out if it had a multi game board installed? Would be nice to see a demo of it doing Astroids deluxe and Lunar lander?

[@cyberhornthedragon]

no hate no issues just for those who might wonder What is a rheostat vs potentiometer? rheostat is the number of terminals; potentiometers have three (input and 2 outputs) while rheostats have two (1 input, 1 output). ... A potentiometer is basically a variable voltage divider; as the knob on the device is turned, a sliding contact creates a voltage divider between the input and the two outputs. What is rheostat in simple words? Definition of rheostat : a resistor for regulating a current by means of variable resistances.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Cyberhorn!

[@atheron1776]

In an earlier video you pointed out some kind of addon board and said you'd investigate to see exactly what it was. Is that what you mentioned at the end and just for saving high scores? Since that wasn't really a thing you could do in '79.

[@simonjandrell5897]

two great Games of the Day Asteroids and Defender. always makes me wonder how these Game Wizards get to 3 Million

[@jankro1]

The new button Led brightness might be easier helped if you wire a trimmer pot in line with the new Led and adjust the brightness to match the original Led.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Jan!

[@Zerbey]

Never seen anything like that with a molex connector, but glad you figured it out. Alternative would have been to use a different type of connector but as you say then it wouldn't have worked in any other Asteroids cabinet.

[@AzrialAlaria]

That high score! Daaaaaamn, I can't do that...

[@LyonsArcade]

The guy was on epic mode that day

[@Robert-le2zp]

That switch is rated at 125V 0.1A, So it can take 1A at 12V. Also, with that red LED being smaller, it's probably a lower wattage which makes it brighter, not to mention that red LEDs require the least amount of power to run. One last thing I can think of, is that because the light starts off as red, less of it gets filtered by the cap. Looks good though, I like the idea of keeping the original :)

[@scottmarshall6766]

If it's wirewound and bigger than 1/4w, it's a rheostat. Pots are 3 wire, variable resistors are 2 wire (and quite rare these days) I suppose the conventions may change, but I hail from the 70s, and that's how it's worked all my life. Freaky problem for sure. I've seen a couple of similarly weird things through the years - mostly in my younger days repairing tv;s for a living. Stuff falls in pots, spiders make homes in them as well. I found a mouse that stuck his nose on the plate cap of a 36mc6 horizontal output tube and was well done by the time the set went down. The smell must have been incredible. A couple of years ago, a woodchuck came in one of the floor drains in my shop, knocked a spray can lid in the hole. Being trapped, he tried to exit by chewing around the hole in the siding where the service entrance cable came in, found him frozen there, where he eventually chewed into 2 phases at the same time - lights out - literally! Congrats on fixing a bizarre problem long in wait for your skills.

[@sleepib]

could put a resistor in series with the new LED to knock the brightness down to match the old one.

[@yuwish6320]

A potentiometer has one end wired to the voltage source, the opposite end to common/ground, and the wiper to the load. This allows the pot to be set anywhere between full potential, and ground. It is essentially an adjustable voltage divider. A rheostat has one connection to the voltage source and the wiper to the load, making it a strictly series resistive element. It only adjustable between full potential, and whatever the voltage drop is across the device. This typically gives it a finer adjustment, and allows for current monitoring and adjustment, since one knows the voltage and resistance. You can use a potentiometer as a rheostat simply by disconnecting the common/ground lug. But like any electronics part, it has to be able to handle the total power load. Devices designed to be used as a rheostat tend to require better current handling capabilities. But current does not dictate whether the device is a pot or a rheostat.

[@robertbox5399]

A rheostat is invariably wirewound, usually high power, linear mechanically and just a variable resistor. Pot is generic for a 3 terminal device.

[@dnbreyen]

Thanks Ron! What a find!

[@garylucas637]

Hey Ron, superior video. Is it true that the original Asteroids game has two speakers; left and right? Any Asteroids I've played I only heard sound on the upper right, nothing on the left. I'm curious because I just had my first experience volunteering at a "soon to be open" arcade center here in Girard, Ohio; called Past Times Arcade. They have an original Asteroids game that was not tested yet but hopefully it will be able to be tested soon and will listen closely to hear if both speakers are working; if there are two. If there are two; are they both above the monitor under the marquee?

[@LyonsArcade]

There's only 1 in Asteroids. You can see how it was set up in the manual: arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Arcade_Atari_Kee/Asteroids/Asteroids_TM-143_2nd_Printing.pdf

[@tattmanndann]

If the games help you fix them, this one definitely hunted you down to get that metal piece out of that connector!

[@LyonsArcade]

Haha could be 😀

[@waynegram8907]

JOE CLASSIC, Why are they using a 12 watt pot or rheostat? because its hard to find high wattage potentiometers. Most arcade games are adjusting the volume level on the outputs of the amplifiers chips. Most amplifiers circuit you use a very low wattage potentiometer on the INPUT of the amplifier compared to arcade games using a very high wattage rheostat connected on the OUTPUTS of the amplifier which doesn't make sense why the arcade games designers decided to use a high wattage rheostat on the outputs of the amplifier instead of using a potentiometer on the input of the amplifier. It has something to do with "signal to noise ratio". The rheostat is not using a carbon track but using a coiled wound wire which they call it a rheostat instead of a potentiometer which has a carbon track. If you open up the 12 watt rheostat it should have a coiled wound wire instead of a carbon track because of the wire wattage. I don't think a carbon track can dissipate heat more than a 1 watt or 2 watts, but I'm not sure.

[@chrisrhodes5464]

Watching this video makes me want to play the game again

[@jackielinde7568]

Don't think it was cast with the metal in it. I suspect that (either at first assembly or when someone tried to repair it) they pushed the socket in wrong, part of it broke off in the housing, they replaced the socket, and left the metal because they're too lazy to check their work. EDIT: Also, those connectors aren't in the housing when the housing is cast (injection molded). They're added in after the fact. Most connectors are made that way. It allows for the flexibility to either crimp a wire or solder the darn thing to a board.

[@kiwidavenz]

Isn't that molex connector cast in two parts then put together? Looks like there's a join line. It was probably trapped in between the two halves when they were assembled. Is that a join line that's visible in the video, or is that a dirt mark from where the cable plugs into the connector?

[@LyonsArcade]

It's some kind of line that's cast in, not sure how they're formed...

[@senilyDeluxe]

On our Asteroids, the player 2 LED also stopped working rather suddenly and unexpectedly. I pulled apart the button and the LED just... kinda disintegrated. Luckily we have a ton of period correct NOS LEDs.

[@simonjandrell5897]

u could tell by those Solder Joints lotta heat somehow shorted those Pins used to see this back in those Old School Days Amazing.. miss those Fault Diagnosis days as they are Unique.. recons flooded with Solder

[@DarthEd77]

I love Asteroids! I'm a sucker for all of the Atari vector graphics coin-ops. Playing tip: Shoot faster! :) I like to leave a couple slow-moving small asteroids (definitely destroy the fast-moving ones-they're more dangerous) and then fly up as fast as it will go until a UFO comes out. Stop thrusting at that point and then turn sideways and shoot fast to kill the UFOs as soon as they appear. You should be able to get to 10,000 at least on wave 1.

[@franganghi]

Just add a small resistors in series with the led leads, before the connector! Job done.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you for watching franganghi!

[@youvsyou945]

Man that is CRAZY ha! Another great arcade repair video, thanks!

[@jimnelson7697]

Factory defect, lol. Great video.

[@johnneilokowitz2682]

One of big reasons to watching your videos is they show your just Ike us we all have problems but you work them out

[@sside8]

Ron, I didn't see a link on your website for the acrylic pen that you use for the black lines on playfield touchups. What do you use?

[@LyonsArcade]

They're these ones : amzn.to/3oJ4NbX

[@mpag6195]

I've had an IEC cable that developed leakage current through the sheath. It would trip the supply and I could measure resistance in the plastic.

[@LyonsArcade]

That is wild. I guess plastic isn't on the periodic table so it's mixed together with some stuff that may be conductive at some point....

[@tromptowers]

The TP on the diagram ... twister pair, lowers the chance of interference. The wires are twisted together.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Ben!

[@douro20]

0.1A at 125VAC is the switch rating. I've seen the same switches in a few Midway games as well.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you douro20!

[@timblake5844]

Ron, the repro lava buttons, as of now, are trash. I bought one for the same reason as yours. Led wasn’t flashing. I will say it works, the click is not as pronounced, the led color is more of an amber than a red, and I have to leave it slightly loose in the control board or the switch will bind. Quality is just not the same as the original. So, found a gentlemen on klov who was willing to sell me a working used one. Just a heads up to anyone who is thinking about spending 25.00 for a replacement lava button. And as always, thanks for the great videos!!!

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Tim, yeah unfortunately all this shit is made in China now, you just can't get high quality stuff a lot of times.... to keep the cost down they go as cheap as possible and you run into all kinds of crap like you described! Luckily the originals can often be repaired.... thanks for watching, we appreciate it!

[@timblake5844]

Exactly why I kept my original.... :) can’t wait for the next video Ron! And merry Christmas!

[@Hammerjockeyrepair]

you dont replace the transistors due to age, but electrolytic capacitors do begin to leak over time and when you catch them before they leak its considered good luck and you should replace before it does happen

[@joshonthetube]

I imagine you could dial in the brightness on that LED by adding an external resistor, if you were inclined.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Josh

[@CanadaBud23]

I imagine that it was a piece of debris cast into the mold and possibly over time from heating up and warping it touched a few times and created that tunnel between the two connectors. May have passed QC at first since everything is fresh and new insulated just enough but over time it just arced itself until it made a steady connection. Possibly when the audio was turned up and drew more power. I see this happen in automotive wiring too. I'd just grab another pair of whatever inline 4 wire connectors probably from old desktop PC hardware and just change them.

[@lurkersmith810]

I think all the Dislikes are coming from relatives of all those saucer pilots you shot down! Of course, after watching this, and not having room or funds for my own Asteroids game, I've got to hunt down a copy of Mame and see if I still have the Asteroids game I used to play back on Ubuntu 12!

[@theatomicpunkkid]

I'm noticing something right after you shoot in the audio but I figure it's close enough for rock and roll right?

[@03natib]

You can order molex connectors with bridged contacts. Mostly for specialty type of applications. Willing to bet when that connector was re built it was installed backwards. The - rail for the speakers are bridged on the board anyways. Should check left speaker is on the left.

[@FetKiller]

Yep your right about pots and rheostats at least in my experience.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you FET Killer!

[@BugsWisely]

Give it a name. The female voice you did was crazy good. And the Yankee thing is perfect.

[@FrankHeuvelman]

I think it's some kind of conductor that accidentally got into the plastic pellets reservoir, melted and was forced into the mold that formed this connector housing. Only question is why it wasn't short circuited from the beginning. Maybe the connector got really hot while driving the speakers under full load?

[@JaysElectronicTinkerShack]

had this a few times when i worked int he arcade sometimes its a rogue leg ive also had it where the actual plastic with it bein old and heat soaked etc has gone conductive its very wierd

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you for watching, Jay!

[@Sartek]

potentiometers have three terminals (1 input and 2 outputs) rheostats have two (1 input, 1 output). potentiometers can be used as a rheostat when one of the terminals is left open

[@Skeemaster]

Just a few points shy of the high score.. I know you got it when the camera was off though (wink wink) LOL .. thanks for the video =) (PS- if you got haters, then you're doing something right!)

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you for watching OnefoYo!

[@samueltaylor4989]

I’ve noticed that KZbin stopped showing how many dislikes there are on videos. You used to see the number of likes AND dislikes. I think it’s better now because people won’t see a number of dislikes to add to!

[@LyonsArcade]

Yeah I kind of liked having the dislikes, that way people could see how petty folks were and how useless the 3 or 4 of them are, lol

[@rjinhobart7748]

Didn't read the rest of the comments, sorry if I'm repeating anything. I'd dump that pot and put a pot on the input sides of the TD2002 amps. They appear to be in push-pull mode so there's probably an opamp phase splitting then driving the TDAs - need to see more of the schematic to be sure. Yes not OEM but a more reliable system of volume control. That speaker connector looks like a disk drive Molex connector. You could replace that with a disk drive fly lead and avoid the connector breakage.

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

Another name for a low resistance, high power, variable resistor is an L-pad. Yes, normally if it has 3 wires, its a potentiometer, indifferent to power rating. 2 wires, a reostat, but all reostats are made to handle power. But, in the end, language is flexible, so it really doesn't matter. The function of a potentiometer, is act as a variable voltage divider, so that the actual resistance doesn't matter, but its the ratio of resistance, that allows a portion of the voltage applied to be passed.

[@TikkTikHive]

at 07:05 when you hold it up to the light you can see where they put 2 halves of the conictor together it did not get tight enough. So you can see dirt and dust between pin 1 and pin 2 probably enough metallic or oxide in there to bridge the two pins. I have taken a lot of these apart and found that same problem. Always at the half way point of that connector

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Grana Saber!

[@GordieGii]

It's a variable resistor. Potentiometer and rheostat are applications. A variable resistor of that high a wattage would normally be used as a rheostat, but in this circuit it is hooked up as a potentiometer (voltage divider), so you are right: Two wires, rheostat; three wires, potentiometer.

[@kazarenko6300]

Had the connector just been put on upside down - it looks like 2 of the connector pins are shorted on the bottom of the board (speaker returns?), so the connector could have been designed with those two pins shorted on purpose?

[@kazarenko6300]

Never mind - as I continued watching, you can see that the metal is the wing off the connector.

[@LethalBacon479]

Ya, like others have said, the "wing" tabs that keep the pins from sliding out got caught on the side and then broke off when someone tried to yard a pin out. Seen it before.......and boy, like you found out is it a PITA to figure out!!!

[@jimsherman8665]

I love Star Castle!

[@LyonsArcade]

Great game!

[@Mr_Joseph979]

@Joe's Classic Video Games I like how the scoring is set to the million's place. That would do me allot of good when I'm turning the game over many times in a multi-hour session. Is your machine set to display winning ships across the screen overlapping themselves or does the next row of ships tab beneath the first row? Just asking for... Reasons!

[@demofilm]

That is one of those faults that can haunt you for ever . Lucky that you found this

[@LyonsArcade]

Just gotta track it down 😀

[@xboxbml]

You need to move a bit and have more rapid fire…asteroids was one of my favorites when it came out.. that and defender..great find on that short.. quite bizarre..

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you for watching xboxbml!

[@kazarenko6300]

I think that a potentiometer has 3 terminals (it is being used as a potential divider to vary a voltage) and a rheostat only has 2 terminals and is just varying the impedance between 2 points (so used to control the current). You can use a potentiometer as rheostat if only using 2 terminals

[@peterbonucci9661]

I see the two of the pins are shorted on the PCB. Maybe the connector is supposed to be like that, but was installed backwards.

[@ejonesss]

i think that who ever repaired it before you used too low powered of a soldering iron to remove the connector and did not melt the solder quick enough and got impatient and pried the connector (also the same can happen if you have multi layer boards where there are 2 traces) and heated the pin enough for the locking tab to melt the plastic housing. then the pin pulled out and did not realize that the anchor broke off inside the housing and put the pin back in. and the speaker still worked until now where it failed. you are lucky that it did not blow the power supply or the amplifier

[@krellft]

That connector has had work done (obviously), hence the flux ... I personally think that the reworked speaker socket connector was over-heated with the iron and therefore melted through to the other connector which made it weak and broke off but ended up wedged as a short ... Those 2055's are like tanks ...

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Krell I think that may have been what happened…

[@bdawg3853]

That metal in the connector is from someone failing extract the pin correctly and the tried to force it and pushed metal from the terminal into the plastic

[@Sizzorfite]

It's an Lpad, the same thing as an attenuator... for a power amp output to speaker.

[@xang72]

Difference Between Potentiometer and Rheostat A potentiometer is a three terminal variable resistor, but a rheostat is a two terminal variable resistor. A potentiometer can be used as a rheostat but a rheostat cannot be used as a potentiometer. Potentiometers are often used to vary voltage and rheostats are used to vary current.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Soby!

[@johngarvey4448]

cheap old solder grew a crystal spike over time maybe? or not a clean plastic molding when they cast the plastic.

[@LyonsArcade]

Maybe!

[@91rickstar]

@Joe's Classic Video Games put a 120ohm or bit bigger resistor in series with the led on plate 2 just test it out properly 1/2 watt this will dim down the led

[@serge.crispino418]

Great find - 1 in a million

[@glennchartrand5411]

Rheostat and Potentiometer. I've never seen an argument over those terms when both sides werent wrong. A variable resistor used to control current = Rheostat. The same exact variable resistor used to control voltage = Potentiometer. The terms dont describe the component, they describe what its used for. Saying all three wire variable resistors are potentiometers is like saying all 4 door cars are taxis.

[@LyonsArcade]

That was kind of the conclusion I came to as well, but I keep getting people telling me how wrong I am :)

[@AcornElectron]

Reckon the sound has been knackered since factory?

[@WalterGreenIII]

Rheostat and potentiometer in the same device, just as a condenser and capacitor are the same. Rheostat was the term used in my grandfathers day, and was still being used (rarely) by modern electronics. The condenser in in the ignition of your car, was also used in electronics. Slightly different packaging. But later it was called a capacitor.