Okay, a *brief* summary of what I found (in the interest of sharing information): (1) The newer NTSC card I was using is different that what was originally released for DL. These are newer cards that until recently, Wells Gardner was still producing. The output is negative sync and in theory if you hook it up after creating a short inverter circuit, it should work. I found a better solution (below) so I moved on. (2) The original NTSC card that I had (with snipped wires) does have its own iso transformer, and can be plugged in to the AC line right where the monitor plugs in. My card would not do color, just mono and it wasn't the color burst crystal. I needed to find a replacement. (3) You can use the original DL Electrohome version of the NTSC card. The great news here is (a) the output is positive composite sync, which you need as input to the VMB card and (b) even though power in is supposed to be 16V, I had no problem getting it to work off the 12V line. (4) Very important: I could not figure out why I could pump in the output from the NTSC card into the monitor and it would work. Then, when I connected to the VMB, I'd never get picture from the player. The reason is the pot on the GSI board. I suspect that by adjusting that, you're adjusting the potential difference between the video signals from the GSI and the NTSC card. This is probably how the VMB knows which signal to select to feed into the monitor. (I didn't care to really examine the circuit to confirm this but it wouldn't surprise me if that is why it works). So, if you are not getting any video from the player (but sound), try to adjust the GSI control. So the good news is that I have a functional Cliff Hanger ... (and almost enough parts for a second). It was a bit frustrating because we seem to be missing some schematics -- most importantly the ones for the original NTSC card that was in the cabinet. Thanks for people that offered help. I've been working on and off for a year to get this up and running :) --James Bright www.QuarterArcade.com Restored Arcade Games for your Home
-----Original Message----- From: owner-techtoolslist@flippers.com [mailto:owner- techtoolslist@flippers.com] On Behalf Of James Bright Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 9:46 PM To: TechToolsList@flippers.com Subject: Any Cliff Hanger experts?
Yes, I'm a laser guy. Purely for my collection. I've got a few neat laser games ... besides my son likes them.
I'm having an issue with getting my Cliff Hanger finished.
Has anyone tried using a different NTSC card inside of the card that came with the game? I am attempting to use a WG card... this card would work in a DL game for example and it is what we used to install in our games that we retailed (they're not made any more). I already found that it outputs neg sync and the VMB expects pos sync (no big deal, I can fix that with an inverter). I'm getting horribly distorted pictures from the player/NTSC, while the direct output from the GSI is fine. If I run the player/NTSC directly to the monitor, it looks great as well so I do know that the NTSC card actually works. Worse case I could use that and ignore the added graphics. Being the "purist" (snob) I am, I'd really like to get it working 100%.
The card that came with the game has two problems. One, wires were cut so I'm not 100% sure what goes where. The best schema I have is hand written and has a wire that I'm not sure about (just labeled "B" and was hard wired to a Sanyo? Monitor for blanking...). Two, I don't even know if it is working. Aside from the "B" line, I hooked it up how I thought it would work but I didn't get anything. I'm going to play around with it a little more but I would think that any old NTSC should work. It looks like the output signal is just not strong enough to drive the VMB and so it looks very bad
--James Bright www.QuarterArcade.com Restored Arcade Games for your Home
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