Cleaning MVS carts in water?

Dr. Jigglin · Nov 5, 2005

I've got an extremely dirty MVS cart that came from Yaton and I was wondering if cleaning the boards in water would be a good idea?
Will it damage the boards?

ttooddddyy · Nov 5, 2005

Dishwasher, there is a good thread on this, trying to find it.
I use a hose pipe

Dr. Jigglin · Nov 5, 2005

Is cleaning them in a water filled basin ok?

360heelflip · Nov 5, 2005

I got an electrical contact cleaner from Tandy, which I use to clean my carts contacts. I used it on my MVS carts I had before, there's a guide to cleaning your carts on HARD-MVS.

Dr. Jigglin · Nov 5, 2005

360heelflip said:
I got an electrical contact cleaner from Tandy, which I use to clean my carts contacts. I used it on my MVS carts I had before, there's a guide to cleaning your carts on HARD-MVS.

Yeah i've seen that, but this cart doesn't just have a little bit of dust...it's hardly dust,it's more like volcanic ash....

360heelflip · Nov 5, 2005

Bloody hell! That's not good! This stuff I use works really well, you should give it ago and is meant to leave a protective coat on the contacts.

Dr. Jigglin · Nov 5, 2005

360heelflip said:
Bloody hell! That's not good! This stuff I use works really well, you should give it ago and is meant to leave a protective coat on the contacts.

Oh..it's not the contacts i'm trying to clean, it's the main board.
The contacts are clean as anything it's just that it has background scrolling issues on the right hand side of the screen and maybe cleaning the main board where it's like pompey might fix the problem.

360heelflip · Nov 5, 2005

I would still use this stuff for that as well. I took apart my AES systems and cleaned the MOBO with it as well

doggydodomi · Nov 5, 2005

Just use water and dry throughoutly. No problem at all

MKL · Nov 5, 2005

If you want a board to be squeaky clean contact cleaner or alcohol with q-tips won't work, you just can't reach too many points and interstices between components. A professional way would be to use an ultrasonic bath tub but these things are very expensive, especially if you need one big enough for an arcade board. The only other inexpensive alternative is water and a small brush but keep in mind that water can rust metal (components legs) so after washing it you have to dry the board as soon as possible. Hot sun and a hairdryer would help. The other precaution you have to take with an MVS board is to REMOVE THE BACKUP BATTERY BEFORE WASHING IT.

Dr. Jigglin · Nov 5, 2005

MKL said:
If you want a board to be squeaky clean contact cleaner or alcohol with q-tips won't work, you just can't reach too many points and interstices between components. A professional way would be to use an ultrasonic bath tub but these things are very expensive, especially if you need one big enough for an arcade board. The only other inexpensive alternative is water and a small brush but keep in mind that water can rust metal (components legs) so after washing it you have to dry the board as soon as possible. Hot sun and a hairdryer would help. The other precaution you have to take with an MVS board is to REMOVE THE BACKUP BATTERY BEFORE WASHING IT.

Thank you for you're detailed information, it's helped clear my conscience of worry when cleaning boards with water.
I wont be cleaning my 1 slot as i'm not to sure on how to put the battery back on after I remove it, but I will some day.
I started this thread because I wanted to clean one of my MVS cart's and now that I know using water and a quick dry with a hairdryer will clean my cart up real good makes me quite happy.

ttooddddyy · Nov 5, 2005

havent been able to find the thread where briggs took a piccy of an mvs board in the dishwasher.

One thing worth noting here is that if you do put the board out to dry in the sun after cleaning with water, be sure to cover up any eprom windows with tape to avoid accidental partial erasure.

I run my boards under a tap and gently scrub with a soft tooth brush, usually use a hair dryer to dry them out.

Ajax · Nov 5, 2005

A friend of mine bought a copy of Metal Slug X from Yaton and it was FILTHY! Somebody spilled some curry on it or something. When he opened the package and looked at the cart, stuff was falling out of it!

Dr. Jigglin · Nov 6, 2005

Fully cleaned my KOF'96 cart with water and a trusty old toothbrush and it fixed the gfx problems!
Looks like I will be cleaning my carts/pcb's with water from now on! :cool:

Lee Gray · Nov 6, 2005

lachlan said:
I've got an extremely dirty MVS cart that came from Yaton and I was wondering if cleaning the boards in water would be a good idea?
Will it damage the boards?

lol when i read this topic i thought i would make a post in here about the dirty cart i got from yaton and then i see that is what your post was about

i had a really dirty breakers revenge cart of him and i use a damp flat sponge and got in in all of the groves one by one, it took about 3 attempts on each one though as some of the dust remained.

when i played the game afterwards must have been a little bit of water seeped inside as the sound was all garbled and fuzzy at first but then it was ok, i wouldnt do it any other time though but the cart looked like it had been burried in a pile of dirt

Neo Alec · Nov 6, 2005

It goes without saying that you have to make sure you only use distilled water to avoid rusting. Just how filthy are the inside of these carts anyway? Wouldn't pressurized air be enough?

Dr. Jigglin · Nov 6, 2005

Neo Alec said:
It goes without saying that you have to make sure you only use distilled water to avoid rusting. Just how filthy are the inside of these carts anyway? Wouldn't pressurized air be enough?

I doubt my water cleaned cart will be rusting any time soon seeing as it was dried with a hair dryer until the board was too hot to touch and then cooled and dried and then put back into it's case.

You see I have to go out and spend money to get pressurized air when I can chuck my cart's in water that's does an even better job.
If pressurized air was all I needed then I wouldn't of had gfx problems with it even after the contacts where cleaned with alchohol.

The dirt that was in my cart was a black and sticky substance that was dry and q-tips can't get into the hard to reach places like between the chip pins and under the chips ect.

Neo Alec · Nov 6, 2005

If they're that dirty, I'd say it's time to ask for a refund. That sounds beyond reasonable. Yaton is usually pretty good about accepting returns. Just tell him the carts aren't functioning properly.

Gummy Bear · Nov 6, 2005

I though this was a joke thread! :glee:

I shit myself when I even think about this stuff.
What did that wise man once say? "Water + circuitry = BAD!"

High pressure air duster, q-tips and a camera brush, that does the trick for me.

ki_atsushi · Nov 6, 2005

No, it's true. Water works. I'm going to dunk my yaton carts pretty soon. They are coverd in filth. Qtips end up tearing up and getting cotton caught in the chip pins. Not good.

Gummy Bear · Nov 6, 2005

ki_atsushi said:
No, it's true. Water works. I'm going to dunk my yaton carts pretty soon. They are coverd in filth. Qtips end up tearing up and getting cotton caught in the chip pins. Not good.

This dude Yaton sounds like he needs sitting down and talking to.
Can he honestly not clean the carts before he sells them?

If I got a cart that looked like it had been up someone's arse, it'd be going straight back!

Dr. Jigglin · Nov 6, 2005

Gummy Bear said:
This dude Yaton sounds like he needs sitting down and talking to.
Can he honestly not clean the carts before he sells them?

If I got a cart that looked like it had been up someone's arse, it'd be going straight back!

Well he can't clean hundreds of cart's.
He basically found a whole warehouse full of them.

Neo Alec · Nov 6, 2005

He orders more from China too. From what I can tell, he doesn't act like he knows a lot about Neo Geo, so he's basically learning this thing as he goes along, and doesn't take a lot of responsibility for the condition of the carts.

I will say again, everyone should clean the contacts for any cartridge for any system if dirty, but ALWAYS use only distilled water.

Dr. Jigglin · Nov 7, 2005

Neo Alec said:
I will say again, everyone should clean the contacts for any cartridge for any system if dirty, but ALWAYS use only distilled water.

Can you're cart still rust if you used tap water and then dried quickly with a hair dryer?

ttooddddyy · Nov 7, 2005

lachlan said:
Can you're cart still rust if you used tap water and then dried quickly with a hair dryer?

Thats the method I use and havent had any rusting issues.
If you dry the board out quickly there should be no time for corossion or rust to form.

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