My order arrived, brimming with LEDs to experiment with! Rocky & Bullwinkle has some dim lights near the back, so I definitely wanted to give them a POP.
SF2 is pretty bright as-is, but I was hoping to play around with it a bunch.
First issue: The manual for R+B is a terrible representation of the actual lighting. Light type are WRONG in a bunch of spots, and a few lights are omitted.
I ordered coloured LEDs for the B-O-M-B targets, according to the manual, but oh hey, they are ACTUALLY 44s, not 555s. grrrrr
 |
| Here is the lighting under the 8 WABAC values. we have 6 #555 bulbs on the board, with the last 2 as #44s. The blue and yellow upright target lights are also #44s. The manual? Said they were all #555s... *uggh* |
2nd issue: A while back I had noticed that the left "Aesop" scoop can also be used to light the WABAC value, just like the shot up the center, but alas the light was out! Now with LEDs in hand I went in to fix it and.... ummm. Wait.
 |
| It looks like an insert from a distance,but on closer examination, it isn't! Did they forget to cut it out? |
So, not REALLY an issue, but certainly a curiousity.
 |
| Underneath, you can see there aren't even any markings for it, but certainly there would have been enough room had they wanted to. So weird. |
I popped LEDs in to the WABAC awards, the rollovers at the top, and a few of the upper flashers, and at least those look good.
One thing to note is that after inserting they aren't as stable it seems, and I had to go back in 2 or 3 times too wiggle the connection. I wonder if there will be intermittentcy issues with them due to repeated openings of the playfield?
I did finally get an LED in to the Boris button / plunge button. The issue before was that the domed LEDs I had were a TOUCH too long to fit in to the chassis. I swapped out a low-clearance LED from the Flintstones (popped a domed LED in to there and you can't tell the difference,) put that one in to the lamp socket and... gah I had broken a wire. The hack-ful button strikes again! I had figured the capacitor had branched of it, meeting with the wire at the cabinet as part of grounding. My multimeter confirmed otherwise: their junction point wasn't connected to ground, despite being super close. So I ended up stripping the wire a bit and soldering it direct to the capacitor that branched off of the launch button.
In the end? It was cleaner and more accessible than what was there before.
And the Boris target button? GLOWS. :)
 |
| it doesn't look like much, but the domed one on the left just didn't quite fit. |
SF2 gave me a sad discovery, learning what "ghosting was. I had always assumed ghosting was a property of the electrical system that the LED didn't turn off fast enough, thus leaving a ghost impression. But I was wrong.
When the LEDs were off, they were still on. Barely. Gah, so annoying. So I will have to make another order for SF2 for specific non-ghosting LEDs.
For most of the PF inserts, much of it is bright enough with incandescent, so I might leave much of it and just replace the green and purple lights with LEDs.
SF2 has the potential to be comically blinding with full LED treatments...
Also picked up this cute guy, to wrap around parts and get lighting in hard-to-see places while working...
On the to-do list front, I'm going to give up on the line item of "try and reduce speaker hum" because with the high voltages and the inability to industrial shield the audio circuits, it's really not worth the bother to investigate.
ROCKY & BULLWINKLE
STUFF TO DO
adjust flippers to the dots
replacing the SAVED decals.
find a replacement ramps / repair ramps
deep disassemble-everything clean (including under-playfield trough)
add more LEDs
DONE clean flippers
get/install a Boris button
reconnect CN1 connector to increase reliability
install new levellers + casters, level the legs
wire Lion to 32 V instead of 50 V
replace the back box hat trick padding
Replace plastic Lion in hat trick
replace ball drain kicker
Update ROMs to 1.3
remove pop bumper screw.
repair first left orbit (hat trick) switch so that the diverter can work
CLEAN ALL THE THINGS.
replace beer seal
STREET FIGHTER 2
TODOinstall cliffy protectors
get non-ghosting LEDs (and replacing dead bulbs)
clean + adjust the flippers
adjust left extra ball center target
deep clean of playfield, removing all plastics + replace upper-playfield rubbers
cleaning the under-playfield troughs
clean car-crash mech and re-affix car
replace playfield glass
Replace car crash flipper rubber + glue car to crash mechanism
DONE
got flipper replacement kit (holding on to it, will use it when needed)
got stargate ramp coils (but not reason to do it yet though)
fix 2 out lights in backbox
secure coin door
solder diode across the right slingshot coil. Replace Q3 transistor on driver board.
left VUK: new spring, new plunger
get replacement fuses for under the PF
re-secured VUK mounts to provide extra-strong kicks + added extra screws
installed lower playfield rubbers
installed new power module
replaced Q3 transistor to solve right slingshot issue
reattached ground wires
replaced VUK solenoid to correct one
replaced fuse for stargate ramps
reattach tilt mechanism
bend left playfield bracket back in to proper place
new beer seal
Flipper rubber for Chun Li
Replaced flipper rubbers (except car crash flipper)
Cleaned backbox charring + replaced dead + charred lightbulbs
initial basic playfield cleaning
