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Powering On & Off
Question from Ryan: Hi There, I came across your website while trying to find a way to fix my old Defender stand up arcade. Sound comes out but the monitor is dead. I was able to fix this a couple of years ago because I noticed one of the fuses was blown out but that doesn’t seem to be the case this time. I’m going to look through your postings but I was wondering if there was a way to power the machine on and off without possibly shorting out the monitor? Or a proper way to turn it on & off? There doesn’t seem to be a main on/off switch. Thanks again, Ryan
1 answer
Response from Jonathan: Ryan,
You can wire up a power switch if there is not currently one in your cabinet. Most Williams cabinets (including Defender) came from the factory with a power switch on the back of the cabinet in the upper right hand corner. If your power switch is missing for some reason, you should be able to add one pretty easily since the cabinets were designed with this switch in mind. Here’s a link to some replacement switches from Twisted Quarter in case you are looking for one: http://www.twistedquarter.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4_48
Now, let me mention that unplugging and plugging in your game (while inconvenient) should not cause any problems with the game hardware itself (that includes the monitor). A power switch pretty much does the same thing when you flip it (i.e. cuts AC power directly to the cabinet). If you didn’t want to mess with all the wiring for an internal power switch, you might think about putting your game on a power strip that has a on/off toggle so that you don’t have to unplug/plug in the game every time.
On your monitor issue, highly recommend checking out our posts on Troubleshooting Games That Are Playing Blind and Checking Diodes On An Arcade Monitor. These posts discuss some of the common problems that can cause a game to “play blind” which sounds like the issue you are currently experiencing with your Defender. Of course, feel free to contact us again if you have any specific questions about your monitor.
Hope that helps. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.
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