7 replies to this topic

[Jess Ragan]

Last night, I was incredibly bored and decided to tinker with some of the old Coleco tabletop carcasses I had in my closet. I had no luck bringing these games back to life in the past, even after fashioning crude battery terminals for one of the cases and checking the traces on the circuit board for burnout points. I decided to take a risk and connected the bottom of my only working tabletop, Pac-Man, to the Ms. Pac-Man circuit board. After a little soldering, it worked like it was brand spankin' new! I was shocked... I thought that my battery terminal, being made of metal, would work just fine, but was convinced that the Ms. Pac-Man circuit board was a lost cause. Now I'm tempted to roll up my sleeves and see if I can get the Donkey Kong tabletop working as well. I just wish I could find some replacement battery terminals, because I sure as heck know that the one I made isn't going to do the job.

[pboland]

Jess Ragan, on Tue Nov 4, 2008 2:59 PM, said:

Last night, I was incredibly bored and decided to tinker with some of the old Coleco tabletop carcasses I had in my closet. I had no luck bringing these games back to life in the past, even after fashioning crude battery terminals for one of the cases and checking the traces on the circuit board for burnout points. I decided to take a risk and connected the bottom of my only working tabletop, Pac-Man, to the Ms. Pac-Man circuit board. After a little soldering, it worked like it was brand spankin' new! I was shocked... I thought that my battery terminal, being made of metal, would work just fine, but was convinced that the Ms. Pac-Man circuit board was a lost cause. Now I'm tempted to roll up my sleeves and see if I can get the Donkey Kong tabletop working as well. I just wish I could find some replacement battery terminals, because I sure as heck know that the one I made isn't going to do the job.

That's great to hear. I'm not 100% sure how the inside of the tabletops battery compartments look, but you might want to start looking for other cheap battery operated toys to snag the terminals from. Just a thought. I know they would never be a 100% match, but it might be worth a try. This is what I did for an old Radio shack table top I had.

[Jess Ragan]

Yeah, someone recommended that I grab terminals from an old cassette tape player. I wish they sold these separately, but I've never been able to find them on their own, so I've been forced to cannibalize parts from other equipment.

By the way, I was able to get a Donkey Kong tabletop on its feet too. I had to rip the terminals out of an Astro Command game, but since it has an AC adapter jack on the side, it's not much of a loss.

[keilbaca]

You can get battery holders/encasements at radio shack. I got a 2 AAA one to fix up a Gameboy pocket. I'd go there if you want to spend a few bucks.

[pboland]

Jess Ragan, on Wed Nov 5, 2008 11:10 AM, said:

Yeah, someone recommended that I grab terminals from an old cassette tape player. I wish they sold these separately, but I've never been able to find them on their own, so I've been forced to cannibalize parts from other equipment.

By the way, I was able to get a Donkey Kong tabletop on its feet too. I had to rip the terminals out of an Astro Command game, but since it has an AC adapter jack on the side, it's not much of a loss.

I guess the Donkey Kong would be more valuable than the Astro Command, but I actually like the Astro Command table top game. Any battery operated toy or cassette player from that time frame should have similar terminals in them. I'm surprised that more restoration hasn't been going on with these old toys and video games. Maybe somebody can make new decals for these Coleco tabletops. That way when you get one that has been through hell, you can bring it back to life.
Just a thought.

[ProperRogue]

You guys ever heard of a place called McMaster? I use them from time to time for off the wall pieces I can't find @ RadioShack.

Maybe this link has something you're looking for.

Battery Holders

Here is the Main Page

[Jess Ragan]

pboland, on Wed Nov 5, 2008 6:13 PM, said:

Jess Ragan, on Wed Nov 5, 2008 11:10 AM, said:

Yeah, someone recommended that I grab terminals from an old cassette tape player. I wish they sold these separately, but I've never been able to find them on their own, so I've been forced to cannibalize parts from other equipment.

By the way, I was able to get a Donkey Kong tabletop on its feet too. I had to rip the terminals out of an Astro Command game, but since it has an AC adapter jack on the side, it's not much of a loss.

I guess the Donkey Kong would be more valuable than the Astro Command, but I actually like the Astro Command table top game. Any battery operated toy or cassette player from that time frame should have similar terminals in them. I'm surprised that more restoration hasn't been going on with these old toys and video games. Maybe somebody can make new decals for these Coleco tabletops. That way when you get one that has been through hell, you can bring it back to life.
Just a thought.

Oh yeah, I have fond memories of Astro Command as well. Epoch had a knack for making LED/VFD games that were similar enough to arcade classics to make them instantly appealing, but different enough to stand on their own merits. I have a spare Astro Command in the closet (in the box!), so I wasn't too concerned about gutting the old one for parts. I think I can get it running anyway by connecting it to an external power source.

I keep wondering what I'm going to do with the case for that Pac-Man game. I liked playing it, but I don't have enough terminals to go around for all three of my Coleco tabletops, and most of the decals have been peeled off the unit anyway. I keep wanting to use one of these cases to build my own micro-MAME cabinet, but I just never seem to get around to working on it. I suspect that it will be a lot more difficult to do than just dropping in a Pocket PC or similar device.

[awace]

I have a COLECO PACMAN AND A FROGGER the pacman uses batteries and the frogger has a power pack soldered to it I do remember as a kid having a pacman (coleco) i got from good will it lasted for 1 year normal w a power pack and a 9v clip soldered into motherboard and lasted a while then p1 joystick failed now remember the top part was broke off for a long time and battery case either so it was basicly a flat device w the bottom of the circut board exposed and only the pizeo speaker dangling under the black electrical tape i coverd the bottom w then one day the speaker was broken off by a kid and they gave it back saying it still works you can still hear the ghosts I said no way then i listened my self HMM coooooool you can HEAR The ghosts inside the TUBE IT SELF this was cool no it was not hearing the ocean but actually hearing the speaker input going into the 70volt tube heater lines witch is cool cause you could actually hear pacman.. I stole p2's joystick connections and fixed p1 as i never played p2 games very mutch since it takes 4 c batteries I knew it took 6v so i just decided to use a 9v to see what happened as i thought it just made it brighter but the 9v died to fast so got a lithuim 9v witch lasted longer but to get hours of play just use a lantern battery or you could use nickel hyryied c's I dont like c's cause they die to fast an I prefer the power pack option I have since lost the old pacman pcb but I do have a crappy original pacman pcb complete w no battery cover but the rest is intact the stickers are pealing and its a little dirty but the plastic screen is still clean and i have a sound switch in the back to mute the annnoying sound if needed although i think the sound is the best part of the game.. The frogger cabinet has a small crack in the plastic screen but doesnt hinder play to mutch . the pacman has no connections to the battery terminals now but does have the blue and red wires sticking out of the battery hole i think the red one is + and the blue one is (-) ... SO if I was you i would just steal the bottom case part for the battery connections or just solder a 6v to 9v power pack into the pcb you could also take a broken device witch has a good power pack and break the plug off the pcb and just solder that to the motherboard then you could plug the power pack in and make a super small whole so you could put the battery cover back on and if using batteries you just put connector under the cover in the butt of the batteries..
GOOD LUCK..