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Can VFD Screens be repaired?

 
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vcoleiro1
Tiger Jawbreaker


Joined: 08 Jan 2012
Last Visit: 07 Jul 2020
Posts: 221

PostPosted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 5:30 pm    Post subject: Can VFD Screens be repaired? Reply with quote

Just wandering if anyone knows whether old VFD and LED screens can be repaired. I know they fade in time etc. But once they do, can they be restored?
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Jamtex
Coleco Pac Man


Joined: 15 May 2011
Last Visit: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 37
Location: Ibaraki, Japan

PostPosted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 11:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

LED, not really. Unless you can change them.

VFD, I would replace all the electrolytic caps in the handheld first though as if they are dried up then it can cause the VFD to be undervoltaged and cause display issues. If that does not work then you can increase the brightness of them by slightly increasing the filament voltage (it is normally around 3V, but you have to do this carefully as too much will burn them out and make the whole display useless). Second however is that you would have to safely replace or bypass the circuitry on the board to do this.
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Rik
Site Admin


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 25 Mar 2024
Posts: 1932
Location: California

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, it depends a lot on what game you are talking about... If it's normal LEDs (look like tiny light bulbs), you should be able to swap them out with new ones (but they don't really die that easily either).

If it's LED like whats in Mattel Football, those would be nearly impossible to replace/repair with microscopic soldering gear. It might be possible to replace them with tiny surface mount LEDs like they use in cell phones and such, but you won't get the exact same look...

VFDs- If the VFD really is dead, there's nothing you can do but replace it. Like Jamtex said, you might be able to squeeze more life out of a dying one, but if it is the display itself, it's going to stop working eventually...

If it's other electronics (caps, maybe even the little transformer dying), that should be replaceable...
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blanka
Atari Cosmos


Joined: 14 Dec 2010
Last Visit: 13 Oct 2022
Posts: 561
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

First measure the voltages of the power supply with vfd's. If they are ok, then the panel might be bad.
Three things to check:
- put multimeter to AC 20v, and measure the outer 2 pins on the panel. Should be 3v
- put the multimeter to DC 200 v and connect black to the neg of the batteries/adapter. Measure Vdisp (if you give me the ic number, i can tell you what pin to check). It should be between -25 and -30v
- put the multimeter to 20v dc, and measure Vic. Should be -10v
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