Wild Man Jump problems

Panic Button · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:03 am Post subject: Wild Man Jump problems

I just got one of these off ebay...

It's interesting in that it's lit by a couple of bulbs inside the game - one at the bottom and one at the rear. However the problem with mine is that though the background is well lit, it's very hard to see the lcds of the wild man and everything else - they're really washed out. Does anyone know if there's a way to deal with this problem - cleaning the screen perhaps? Or is it just age related screen rot?

Rik · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:11 am Post subject:

I think it's related to screen rot, unfortunately... You can always try taking apart and cleaning it, but I'm not sure it will help.

WMJ is actually a 'reverse LCD' game (the LCD is black when it's off, and and the characters appear white or transparent). This is simply done by flipping the polarizing plastic on top of the LCD, but it makes screen rot show up as a real pale/faint LCD instead of a dark one...

It could be that the LCD just isn't getting enough power to operate properly, make sure you are using new batteries...

Rik

MADrigal · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:56 am Post subject:

The problem is due to "exhaust" polarizing filter. You need to replace it, but I have no idea where you can buy it.

Once upon a time, those filters could be bought from any photographer's shops, but nowadays they're hard to find.

My suggestion: buy a new, cheap, worthless tabletop game (or calculator, or whatever...) with a large LCD display, unmount it, take the filter, flip it and replace the one on your tabletop.

Rik · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:28 am Post subject:

Can the plastic filter actually go bad? I wouldn't have thought they could do that... Something to remember. Mr. Green

MADrigal · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:32 am Post subject:

Sure, Rik!

Do you remember the picture of VTech's handheld "Hot Line"? My unit has brown LCD sprites, and you thought it was MADE like that by VTech, since also the unit's plastic is brown.

Well, I changed the polarizing filter with my other VTech game, "Caccia al Ladro", and I could see the Hot Line sprites 100% pure black!

LCD displays doesn't faint: it's just the FILTER that faints! Wink

_________________
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Rik · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:34 am Post subject:

Cool, that's definitely good to know... I'm sure there somewhere that you can buy sheets of that stuff... Cool

I guess the LCDs can go bad by turning all black... And if it's getting light, it's the filters... (Also, keep in mind there two of these, one on top and one on the bottom of the LCD. Sometimes one (or both) are actually stickers stuck to the LCD (thus a real pain to remove/replace).)

Rik