Do VFD games ever have capacitor problems?

[blanka]

Has anyone here replaced caps in a VFD game? I was wondering if a game shows heavy flickering, if the caps can be broken? With larger games and CRT tube circuits, this is really normal to happen after 20-30 years (and with the Game Gear), but I never found anything similar with VFD titles.

[Rik]

It's possible for any electrolytic cap to dry out and essentially 'die'. It's a little less common for the tiny ones, but it can happen. I have had to replace them for obvious problems like leaking or bulging, but other than for visible problems, I've never really bothered... (Usually when I find a bad VFD game, it's a transistor).

But, caps are cheap, I'd say replace them if you are curious. That'll certainly answer the question of whether they were causing the problem.

Flickering (is it the whole display, or just certain parts?) can also be caused by cold solder joints, and the high voltage transformer getting weak... I don't think a transistor can be 'problematic', but I'm not sure... In my experience, they either work, or they don't...

If you are good with soldering, the free thing to try first is just re-flow the solder joints on everything. Start with the transformer and the first 3 or 4 leads off the VFD in every corner that has them (or just go for it and do them all... If this is the problem, there's likely going to be more than one that will start to fail over time.) (If it's just certain parts of the VFD flickering, then do this to all the leads from the VFD and CPU as well, assuming the CPU isn't a surface mount... That can get tricky, so be careful if that's the case...)

Also, don't forget the REALLY obvious- power... Two sets of good batteries (just to be sure), or AC adapter if you have one. What's the game in question?

[blanka]

A Frog Prince. It almost looks like an Adventure Vision so wobbly.