Grandstand Tron Capacitor Replacement Guide
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The electrolytic capacitors in the Grandstand Tron, Tomy's Tomytronic Tron, a vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) tabletop game that Grandstand distributed in the UK under code no. 11266.[1][2] No service manual, parts list or schematic has been published for Tron, and no photograph of its board has been found, so the number, positions and values of its electrolytic capacitors are not known, and no value can be given. Below are what is recorded about the board, how to record your own game's capacitors when you open it, and how to replace them. Faults that are not capacitors are on Grandstand Tron Troubleshooting Guide; general signs of a failing capacitor are on Capacitor Failure Symptoms.
What is known about the board
[edit | edit source]| Part | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Board | Label THN-02 2E114E07 | [3] |
| Microcontroller | Hitachi HD38800A88, with the program inside it; MAME clocks it at about 400 kHz, marked as an approximation | [3] |
| Display | NEC FIP10AM24T no. 2-8 1, ten grids, cyan, red and green | [3][4] |
| Power | Four C alkaline cells, 6 V; or an adaptor of 7.5 V DC, 200 mA, 2.1 mm plug, centre negative | [5] |
| Electrolytic capacitors | Number, positions and values not published |
Nothing about Tron's display supply has been published. MAME records the board of Grandstand Caveman, another Tomy VFD game sold by Grandstand, as TN-12 2E114E03, in the same 2E114E series as Tron's, but Caveman uses an NEC microcontroller and Tron a Hitachi one, and whether the two boards share any of their circuit has not been shown.[3][4] The capacitor guides for Caveman and Munchman show what Tomy's other two VFD games in Grandstand's range carry; they are different boards, so do not order parts for Tron from their lists.
Failure signs on Tron
[edit | edit source]No published account of a Tron has found a capacitor at fault. The two owners who have described repairs found battery faults:
- Keeper1st had left cells in his Tomytronic Tron for over twenty years. They swelled and leaked, and the battery terminals corroded until the game would run only from an adaptor through its power jack.[6]
- Ivory Tower Collections cleaned a Tomy Tron inside and out, removed light corrosion from the battery compartment, soldered back a wire that had come loose, and soldered a loose negative battery terminal that was not making good contact.[7]
Rule those out before suspecting the capacitors. Weak cells alone make the display dark and the game act wrongly.[5] The case is smoked clear plastic, so you can look through it for leaked electrolyte, a bulging capacitor or a broken wire before opening it; the large circuitry visible at the back is imitation, part of the styling, not the board.[2][8] A game that plays its switch-on fanfare but shows no moving pattern has a running microcontroller and points to the display or its supply; see Sound but no display.
Reading and recording your own board
[edit | edit source]- Before opening the case, photograph the inside through the smoked plastic from several sides; it shows where the board, the display and the screw posts sit.[2]
- Once the board is out, photograph both sides square on and note the board label (THN-02 2E114E07 according to MAME).[3]
- For every electrolytic, write down its designator if the board prints one, its value and voltage, its maker, its diameter and height, whether it stands or lies flat, and which way the stripe faces. Note which parts sit next to the display supply's transformer or power transistor, if the board has them.
- Measure each part once it is out; a meter that reads capacitance and ESR shows a dried-out part.
Values recorded this way would be the first published for this game.
Replacement procedure
[edit | edit source]No account of opening a Tron has been published: neither owner's account says how the case comes apart, and Tomy's leaflet tells owners not to take the game apart.[6][7][5] Work slowly and photograph each stage.
- Set the ON/OFF switch to OFF, turn the game over, lift the battery cover in the base and take out the four C cells.[5] Clean any corrosion from the terminals now, and check the leads and the negative terminal's joint.[6][7]
- Find the case screws by looking through the smoked plastic, and note any clips before levering anything.[2] The smoked plastic shows every scratch, so rest it on a soft cloth.[8]
- Lift the board out, noting how the display is held and wired before you move it; neither has been recorded for this game. The FIP10AM24T is a glass vacuum tube: handle it by its ends and do not lever against it or its sealed tip. The Handheld Museum's administrator has only seen the tubes of VFD games of this period fail when their glass was broken.[9][3]
- Record the capacitors as above, then note each one's polarity and remove it.
- Fit new radial electrolytics of the same capacitance and the same or a higher voltage, the right way round, and no taller than the originals so that the case closes.
- Clean flux off with isopropyl alcohol, refit the board, and close the case without forcing it.
After the work
[edit | edit source]| Check | Expected | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Battery terminals, four fresh C cells | About 6 V | [5] |
| Adaptor, if used | 7.5 V DC, centre negative, measured before connecting | [5] |
| Switch-on | A pattern moves across the screen and a fanfare sounds | [5] |
| First screen | Four Tron figures, four Sark figures, three red and green enemy light cycles, the MCP, and a score of 0 | [5] |
No voltages measured inside a Tron have been published.
Related pages
[edit | edit source]- Grandstand Tron
- Grandstand Tron General Maintenance
- Grandstand Tron Troubleshooting Guide
- Grandstand Caveman Capacitor Replacement Guide
- Grandstand Munchman Capacitor Replacement Guide
- Capacitor Failure Symptoms
- Battery Explosion, Capacitor or Corrosion Damage
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ Handheld Museum, "Grandstand Tron" (retrieved 2026-10-18): 1981, VFD, four C batteries, model 11266; "Grandstand was the distributer for Tomy's Tron in the U.K."; photographs of the Grandstand-branded game, with "GRANDSTAND TRON" on the bezel and "TOMY" on the front of the base, and of its box ("Code No. 11266", Tomy, "Three electronic games in one").
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Handheld Museum, "Tomy Tron" (retrieved 2026-10-18): 1981, VFD, four C batteries, model 7601; "the entire case is made of a smoked clear plastic so you can see the inside of the game (and it has some large, simulated circuitry in the back...)"; released by Grandstand in the UK.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 MAME source, hh_hmcs40.cpp (retrieved 2026-10-18). Driver notes for Tomy Tron: made in Japan; PCB label THN-02 2E114E07; Hitachi HD38800A88 microcontroller, 1-bit sound; cyan/red/green VFD NEC FIP10AM24T no. 2-8 1. The chip list dates the HD38800A88 to 1982 and lists it for Tomy Tron (THN-02) only. Inputs: four directions read through a multiplexed interrupt, and one button; the machine configuration clocks the chip at 400 kHz, marked in the source as an approximation.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 MAME source, hh_ucom4.cpp (retrieved 2026-10-18), file header on VFD games: NEC FIP part numbers give the number of grids after "FIP"; "after decades passed, all the colors fade". Also the driver notes for Tomy Pac-Man (NEC uCOM-43, D553C 160) and Tomy Caveman (NEC uCOM-43, D553C 209, PCB TN-12 2E114E03).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Tomy Corporation, Tomytronic Tron instructions, no. 7601, copyright 1982 Tomy Corp., Carson, California, and MCMLXXXI (1981) Walt Disney Productions; printed in Japan. Hosted here as File:Tomy Tron Instructions.pdf. Page 2: "Illustration 1", the battery cover lifted on the underside with four C cells in two rows; "Set the On/Off switch to the Off position. Turn the game over and lift the battery cover ... Insert four 'C' size Alkaline batteries"; recommended AC adapters Archer cat. no. 270-1551 A and Recoton AD-10UL; adapter requirements 7.5 V DC 200 mA, 2.1 mm ID coaxial plug, tip (centre) polarity negative; "Illustration 2", the CONTROL button (right, up, left, down), the ON/OFF switch and the SPEED/SHOOT button; at switch-on "a pattern will move across the screen and a fanfare will sound", then the first screen shows four Tron figures, four Sark figures, three red and green enemy light cycles, the MCP and a score of 0. Pages 3-5: the Light Cycle, Ring and MCP games; the skill level rises after all three are completed, up to six times. Page 6: scores above 1,995 shown as green bars, maximum 15,995 then back to 0; an extra Tron at 2,000 points, at most five; care: no excessive heat or cold, avoid wet or dirt, "Don't take it apart", don't shake or drop, turn off and remove the batteries for storage, no dead batteries left in; "If the batteries become weak the display screen will become dark and show incorrect action".
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Keeper1st, "TRON hand-held electronic game (Tomytronic, 1982)", YouTube, 19 December 2010 (video description, retrieved 2026-10-18): "I had left the batteries in it. The batteries since had expanded and leaked, making a big mess and corroding the battery terminals to the point where batteries cannot power the game anymore. But thankfully it has a jack for an external power supply!"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Ivory Tower Collections, "ITC Shorts#9 - TRON - Tomy game play and testing after repair and cleaning", YouTube, 2 August 2020 (description read and video looked at, 2026-10-19). The description: the Tomy Tron "needed a good fully cleaning inside and out and some small repairs to remove some light corrosion in the battery compartment and to solder back on a wire that had come loose along with applying solder to the negative battery terminal that was loose and not making good contact". The video shows only a game being played after the repair, not the inside.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 GenXGrownUp, "1981 Tron Handheld from Tomytronic in LIKE-NEW CONDITION!", YouTube, 29 June 2023, 8:58 (watched 2026-10-18; no transcript available; chapters "Hardware Tour" 1:31, "Original Manual" 3:06, "Clean-Up" 3:58, "Power On!" 5:33). Shown: the smoked case, with imitation circuit patterns visible through the rear of the hood; the battery cover on the underside carrying a printed instruction label, and the empty battery box with contacts for four C cells in two rows; the panel and case seams cleaned with a cleaning putty; sticker residue on the smoked rear removed with Goo Gone and a microfibre cloth; the game powered on with fresh C cells.
- ↑ Handheld Museum forum, "EPOCH Astro Command - dead or dying", January-February 2016 (retrieved 2026-10-18). The site administrator (Rik), writing about VFD tabletop games in general: the games play and make their sounds without the display; displays fade unevenly with heavy use; he has never had a display fail unless the glass was broken.