FAULTY PacMan Thing | Can I FIX It?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- I paid 99p + P&P for this Pac Man Game Key Ring thing. It was sold as a faulty display, but let's see if that's accurate!
Let's crack it open, and try to fix it!
Hope you enjoy!
Steve
PS. I'm not an expert in repairs at all. I do this for fun, and it may not be the best or safest way to go about repairing broken stuff. I'm pretty good at melting plastic though. Please don't copy me - I'm an idiot.
SUPPORT ME on PATREON: bit.ly/ssf-patreon
ONE-OFF DONATIONS: www.paypal.me/...
MERCH: stezstixfix.com
AMAZON WISH LIST: bit.ly/ssf-wish
SUBSCRIBE HERE: bit.ly/ssf-sub
If you want to make a device donation to the channel, please use the following PO Box. PLEASE NOTE that this is not a repair service, and all items are non-returnable.
PO BOX ADDRESS: StezStix Fix?, PO Box 415, BOLTON, BL4 4AZ
Please only use this service if you are a UK resident and using Royal Mail, otherwise they'll probably lose it.
Some of the magic things I use to break stuff;
My soldering iron: UK amzn.to/2Isf360 US amzn.to/3dfq8Xe
My hot air station: UK amzn.to/3kPxaBQ US amzn.to/3xo0SoM
My microscope: UK amzn.to/2VP3msU US amzn.to/3DmDgED
My desoldering gun that goes "moo": UK amzn.to/3HHt73P US amzn.to/3QHJOkb
My multimeter: UK amzn.to/2LjBgnN US amzn.to/3qEiSHy
My blue mat: UK amzn.to/48ZgkI8 US amzn.to/3LcZUkI
My flux: UK amzn.to/3Cts6j4 US amzn.to/4fOqgHN
Filming equipment;
My camera: UK amzn.to/38IdR7s US amzn.to/3BiwyNg
My 2nd camera: UK amzn.to/3Rfjn6U US amzn.to/3BGOB1i
My microphone: UK amzn.to/3rCriPc US amzn.to/3QJwWtS
VOS's mic: UK amzn.to/3pz2c1L US amzn.to/3Lc7aO1
Links are affiliated where possible to help support the channel. Nice.
Hi, Piezoelectric transducers aren't speakers per say, they are thin crystal piezo attached to the silver and copper disks, they can work as sounders / speakers but they also generate voltages when flexed, vibrated and can react to loud sounds, similar crystals of piezo material are used in lighters to generate a high voltage spark when squeezed. When you measure the resistance of a normal speaker you're measuring the coil resistance, there is no coil with a piezo transducer, when you attempted to measure it you were pressing on it and probably flexing it generating a small voltage skewing your reading. Hope that helps! All the best, John.
Thanks John, that makes perfect sense. Thank you for the detailed comment, much appreciated! 👌
@@StezStixFix Yes. They work both ways - deform the crystal and it generates a voltage (so used in microphones), frighten it with a voltage and it deforms (so used as a speaker). The piezo in piezoelectric comes from the Greek *press tight, squeeze".
How is it possible to have comment made 6 days ago, while video released just today (Feb2)?
@@meesix Become a patreon. Supporters get early access.
@@meesixprobably was posted 6 days ago as a private video, possibly for patreons
Regarding the piezo and the volume, there is a possibility on why is not changing the volume. The piezo with the inductor creates a resonant circuit, the piezo acts as a capacitor and the inductor.. acts as an inductor :). A resonant circuit has a resonant frequency at which increases the voltage that runs through the circuit (it gets multiplied), the further away that a signal is from the resonant frequency the less voltage that it produces. To me it sounded like the pitch of the sound changed when you pressed the volume button, if that's the case and the original resonant circuit was tuned properly then changing the pitch would change effectively the volume.
With limited resources, he'd probably have to try different values until something seemed to work. But apparently for getting a ballpark figure, measure the capacitance of the buzzer while disconnected. In their example, the buzzer was 2nF, so they paired it with a 3.2mH inductor. Of course this was for gaining max volume, but it should be a good starting point.
HI Steve - I live in Poland, have no idea in electronics at all. You're awsome! My favorite cartoon channel. Just watching magical tricks.
Steve & Dave - FYI there aren’t enough ‘m’s in the Latin alphabet to cope with Mega, Milli and Micro. Capital M is used for Mega; lower case m is used for milli, but what do you use for micro? ‘u’ of course 😊 the reason the letter ‘u’ is used to denote ‘micro’ is that it is similar in shape to the Greek letter ‘mu’ μ. So if you were writing it, you’d write μF for micro Farad, but typing it with a Latin keyboard, you’d just type uF (which looks similar).
Excellent choice for the closing song!
😁
I was hoping the closing song would have been Pie Jesu, but the on you picked did not disappoint
A new episode of StezStix fix is exactly what I needed... I work at the post office and we barely got done running over 100k mail pieces tonight and I'm pooped!
Those battery throw edits are getting so clean mate 🤩
I binged watched all of your videos
And I must say that you are the most entertaining electronics repair
Person on TH-cam.
Absolutely Love Your Videos.
Ditto. Love this guy's videos.
Solid.
Dave approved
he is a money grabbing greedy person, he makes enough money to not sell adverts on 21 mins of content, 3 lots of adverts, why !
Yeah, same here. But recently i feel the fix videos has been a bit "easy", This one was OK I guess but I miss the longer ones.
Someone whispered in my ear once that piezo drivers look like capacitors in the eyes of an audio amplifier. They are pretty cheap, but with the right knowledge and resistors they can sound pretty awesome as tweeters/high-mids. They are also kind of like perishable foods, with a best by date and much like a frozen pizza they don't get tastier the longer you bake them.
Unlike normal dynamic drivers, they deteriorate by usage. They're probably good for a few hundred hours of continous use before the quartz in them begins to develop cracks.
I can't say much for how the piezo speaker works, it's just that for experimenting with the transducer I would have just tacked on a couple leads to the board, and then used a breadboard to swap out the piece until I found the one that worked.
I think having multiple parallel resistors/ inductors would've provided volume control, since that's how volume control usually works with a potentiometer
Rip Monkeyjoe Tokyo from the patron list.
NOOOOOOOOO
Rip I will foreal remember you from all the raps burned into my brain!
Why? What happened?
@@Avalagon either stopped supporting or passed away.
@ ok instantly jumping to assuming they're dead is a bit morbid lol i'm sure they're fine
You're officially my favorite British person, cheers mate.
Damn I thought he was Australian lmao
hi from Turkiye :) I have been following for a very long time. and I love ur works. Thank you for your sincerity.
Hi Stez, I have one of those and I checked, it is just on or off volume, and it seems to work on random presses.
FINALLY!!! THANK you for touching on the screw/post issue!!!!
I have a brand new furby that doesn't work if you're interested in it for a video. Having taken it apart. I can get the thing to move by shorting on the ic's, lights working etc. But won't do anything control wise when pressing buttons etc. Just a thought anyway.
Ok this was so funny, i watch our video’s when offshore on a ship and i need to set the quality low to make this work on shit internet. But I accidentally clicked another audio track.
I must say, your video’s are even more entertaining with Japanese audio selected. I’m genuinely laughing oud loud!
Lol!
..is there something like a 'Supercut' of all the great music this man makes?
(almost)..every time!
It's such a treat, thank you if you are reading this..
Greetings from the Baltic Sea ~ Island Ruegen, Germany
Could always cut the "Plastic" coating off the defective coil and see if you could solder the coil windings back together. I mean it would be closer to the correct value that way and maybe even allow your component tester to read it and display a possible value... Just an idea...
Really enjoyed this one, thanks!
4:32 Thread Steve, thread 4:43 THERE u go lad !
I think the volume control seemed to be making a tiny amount of difference to the volume - off, quiet, medium, high then back to off.
I think you settled on the best option there in any case 😊
What happens if u press and hold the volume button steve btw love the channel and I look forward to ur uploads and rap
That is exactly what I thought.
It's probably not that subtle, but I was wondering about holding the volume button down while pressing on of the directional buttons? Maybe that would lower the volume?
Nah, I remember having a game like that around 40 years ago, game starts at full blast, 1 press goes off, low volume, mid, high, off again. Some games have just low, high, off.
That speaker really is the ... piezo de resistance.
I really enjoy this format, thank you for all of those great fixes!
Welcome back Steve!
Nice one Steve love the outro 😂
I think that you may be able to fix the inductor. At least take in bits and unwind the coil and measure the length of wire. Find some new wire of the same thickness and identical length. Solder one end to the lead and wind all the wire back on and terminate to the other lead. You will have a new inductor of unknown inductance until you put it on your test meter and get a new measurement. Then we will all know and appreciate your dilgence to the art of science! 😁
Hi I have one of these my mum bought me that I've never actually played coz it's stupid! I've checked and it has 3 volume options off low and high! Hope that helps in some tiny way! Thanks for the content
Trully, a quality build.
Hey Steve! The volume to me sounds like all it’s doing is changing the sound wave, from sine to triangle and then a combination of the two. Maybe it’s not actually a “volume” option, but rather a “sound” option and was poorly labeled.
Is it possible it was a variable inductor and the volume option changed the inductance to adjust the volume?
And baby bears inductor was just right. 😂
You could try a potentiometer with it and see if you could do a volume mod
nice to see you back again always look forward to your new videos
For test purposes you may be able to try resistors below 1 ohm, if it works then find an inductor with the same resistance.
I'm no electronics expert, just my 2 pence.
It's good advice that you're giving about the screw threads, but lately it seems like a lot of videos I watch, they're giving the same advice. Are people complaining that they've cross threaded screws in the comments? That's me just being weird I guess. Oh,and while I'm thinking of this, please, in the name of all things good and holy, get some hot tweezers! I swear to God you'll love them! Total game changer!
Stez try holding the volume button and using up and down buttons for volume.
I don't know if you would ever read this but i'm 35 and have around same knowledge about the electronics.
Never had a formal education about electrics or electronics but thanks to my grandpa he always pushed me to hold on to part of what he's doing everyday. That could have been electric related ( winding a new wire on an old ceramic breaker fuse (this might be REALLY outdated for current generation), or plumbing a new pipe for bathroom, or renovating kitchen with tools...
Somehow i had understanding from early age about "what works how" with electronics and mechanics...
Thanks to him including with my parents moving their house and mine changed around 6-7 house and our household never needed a handyman. From plumbing of water heater to dish washer or electric conduits or carpentry job i did in our house since i was 13. Most honorably never once went bad or wrong. 😅
Now, my current employment just ended and don't know what to do... I know from what i'm watching that i can do almost all of that but don't know where to start... I hope one day can put my crap together and start doing something...
PS. If by any chance you would like to give me any advice i'm all ear!! Best regards...
Foot note; my apologies
Hi; i would Try Holding Down the volume Button while Simultaneously Pressing one of the Direction Keys, I.E., Up or Down, Left or Right
No visable screws my favourite song btw 😊
Very nice videoes. Continue good work. I wish could prepare electronic courses where we could learn electronics as well. Thanks.
Have you put the inductor in the right place?
Did you try to press and hold the volume button, one press and hold for up and one press and hold for down....
A better test of speakers is hooking up a tone generator. They're ten bucks on the Chinese sites. Look for FG-100. You'll need to buy a BNC to alligator clips for another few dollars. Pick the frequency and wave type you want. Plenty of amplitude for any speaker.
The inductor conductor... 🎶😆
Love your vids mate there "PURE" gold. 😂
Just a thought but wat if u hold the volume button down while u press up or down to adjust quieter or louder?
A piezo element should be very roughly about ~2k ohms. Being piezoelectric means that if you poke it or bump it or [etc] it will respond by putting out a voltage burst. Even speaking near it is enough to trigger _some_ output, which is probably at least part of why your multimeter couldn't get a meaningful reading from it.
Also a standard inductor should read as a dead short, in terms of resistance or impedance. Coils are measured in _inductance_ (DC) or _reactance_ (AC) and the proper unit you're looking for is the milliHenry.
The reason, BTW, speaker voice coils aren't _exactly_ 8 ohms resistance is because technically they're 8 ohms impedance -- when fed a tone of a particular frequency. (Apologies, I don't remember offhand what the frequency is that's used for that, but IIRC it's a standard.)
The inductor is there to make the piezo disk sound louder.
Love the music on your videos 😊
22 uH is probably the sweet spot
I think the volume just is off and on. Another good one, Steve!
I would say that the loose black wire to begin with shorted somewhere and melted that inductor.
I liked that' loud inductor.. only thing I guess you could have added a potentiometer somehow to increase and decrease the volume.. I'm not sure about that though.. and I was wondering why not replace the cheap wire used to make the fix durable
Who freaking skips the MC sessions? That's why we watch these videos 😂
Jolly nice video.
Have you tried the MilliStephens as opposed to the MilliHenrys?
Having no knowledge whatsoever, my only experience with induction are stove hobs and wireless charging. Both require close proximity- maybe the inductor needs to be immediately behind the piezo to work properly?
For some bizarre reason I have 2 of these in my office desk. I’ll throw in some batteries and see how their volumes behave. This could just be their normal output. I’ll report back tomorrow evening
Just leaving this here for the results 😂
Both work as expected and there is a clear difference in the 2 levels of volume + mute
More please
I have the exactly same one for a Christmas present. The volume on mine is exactly the same as this. It's also chuffing loud.
SAY THE LINE STE
"...easy as that 😢"
YAYYYYYYYYY
Zebra? You mean zebra 🏴😂
Mine works perfectly!! 😆👍
I have one of those and it operates the same way.
hi STEZSTIX and everyone and a grate video!!
Hi love your content and raps. Curious what kind of probes are the ones you use with your multimeter? Thx
4:44 yeah don't forget it is Dave's friend Fred ;)
Hi, On these games, volume is often just on or off.
For the volume problem it would be good to see the audio signal on a scope. Piezo beepers can only be driven by PWM, so not by amplitude modulation as a regular speaker could. The button presses should vary the duty cycle of the PWM. If this is NOT happening it could mean the blob chip is bonkers.
No way, how my old analog power amplifier drives my piezo tweeters?
@@sebastian19745 You're right and I postulate the opposite. :-D But I BET that in this PacMan it uses PWM. Still would be nice to see the waveform.
@@root42 Oh, yes, modern devices with piezo beepers use PWM. Actually the old wrist watches with melodies used PWM some 30 years ago.
@@sebastian19745 I don't think he said they HAVE to be driven by PWM.
ok just found the instructions manual for it, and it does not Say what i Said to do, but i would try it Hoping the instructions are as Cheaply Made as the item itself
Piezo crystals are so mysterious
Who is Henry and why is he so small?
What overhead camera do you use for filming your videos please?
can i say only just found you and you make my day keep up the good work
*Pssst*🤫
Your component tester is colour coded, So Inductors
may need to be inserted into Slots Three and One or
Slots "Green" & "Red"..
Gonna take a wild guess and say a kid is not gonna use it as a key ring. Probably attach it to their schoolbag or something.
those strips always remind me of dolly mixtures lol
Stez is back!!!
@stezstixfix You missed a good opportunity there, the music should have been "The scat man", you could have sung "The Pac man". LOL
The original is a ferite core inductor. Maybe it has something to do with it
Nice
Item cost $5.95, repair cost parts and labor $150
…the enjoyment from watching Steve fix it, priceless.
@@XGempler + music show
🤣
1:55 the flow!
Isn’t the volume mend to be “mute”?
I suspect the inductor failed due to overvoltage or reverse polarity.
Inductors don’t care about polarity. But something made it heat up. Maybe it was shorted at first and then burnt through going open. Who knows…
The change in sound(volume button), sounds like sine wave/square wave/triangle wave
Ahhhhh he's done another video! Quickest click ever
For pocket-sized Pac-Man style games, you'll typically want to use an inductor with a value in the range of **10 µH to 1 mH**. This range should provide a good balance for controlling the volume without significantly affecting the frequency response of the game's audio.
I believe (from memory) the ' volume ' button is just one volume or off nothing else
Hi Steve, can you do a video about how you make your songs please? Thanks for all your videos.
Hi Fred, His name is Steve. Not John. So now you know, Fred, I mean Craig. Best regards, Anthony. Otherwise known as Jack. Or Bob.
@@GTI1dasOriginal😂
@@craiggilchrist4223 ah... You edited your comment now showing the correct name. Good job, Fred.
*Greg (unedited)
*Graig
It wants to live.
I heard volume differences. Just slightly, but it was there.
As a Brit, should you be saying Zed-bra? 🤣
He seems to like his Americanisms for some reason
Poor Henry.
What an awful lot of work for the game I bought at Lidl Spain last year for 6 euros 🤣
Cool, I learned about the use of inductors for piezzos.
uH should actually be µH as the Greek Mu letter. On Macs, that's usually alt-m. On my Belgian keyboard, the is a µ key.
mH = milliHenri = 0.001 H
µH = microHenri = 0.000001H
nH = nanoHenri = 0.000000001H But I'm not sure that's even a thing, let alone pico or femtoHenris. 😆
You can't really say you've got inductors unless you have at least 1 attoHenri one. 🤪
Just wondering are these electronic fixes just an excuse for Steve’s muisical ambitions. Steve why not do a video on your rap preparation and recording. Some of us actually listen to it and don’t fast forward all the way through 😅
the µ character everyone calls 'u' is actually a greek mu character- it's a greek m, which is why it's the abbreviation for micro.