(Topic ID: 286465)

100 point relay and bonus stepper unit issue

By NickNitro

3 years ago



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  • 7 posts
  • 2 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 3 years ago by NickNitro
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#1 3 years ago

Hi Everyone,
New member here and a little history on my EM. I have a 1977 Sonic Butterfly that’s been in the family since it came out, It was at our cottage and I brought it home to restore and keep in my man cave. I’ve cleaned as best I can the leaf switches with the business card trick, cleaned all the stepper units and put some conductive grease on them and massive cleanup of the playing field. I managed to fix quite a few things in the process but I have these 2 lingering problems.

#1 When 100 points get activated, the 100 point relay activates but the coil only releases when it’s “game over”. If the ball drains and a new ball comes into play, the coil still stays activated. I’ve been fiddling with the machine for about a week and only 4 times has the counter worked so I’m thinking it’s dirt somewhere, I’ve cleaned the 100 point relay and the ball index relay, not sure if it’s actually those or if I should look somewhere else?

#2 The Bonus step up/down unit isn’t activating when going into the kick out hole to increase the bonus numbers on the playfield. I’m trying to follow the schematics (found here https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=410), ball goes in hole, activates hole relay (E-16) and then activated hole eject coil but doesn’t activate the bonus stepper unit. The stepper unit does work as it does the up/down reset when a new ball comes into play and if I manually step up the coil the lights advance and the points do get counted. If I look at the schematic (D-30) it shows Y-R wire from the hole relay to the stepper unit, when I do a conductive test with my multimeter it does work but it’s odd because it’s at the 5th place on the stepper?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Also if you can dumb it down since this is my first attempt at repairing an EM

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#2 3 years ago
Quoted from NickNitro:

#1 When 100 points get activated, the 100 point relay activates but the coil only releases when it’s “game over”. If the ball drains and a new ball comes into play, the coil still stays activated. I’ve been fiddling with the machine for about a week and only 4 times has the counter worked so I’m thinking it’s dirt somewhere, I’ve cleaned the 100 point relay and the ball index relay, not sure if it’s actually those or if I should look somewhere else?

You may have something like a standup sw. that is gapped a bit tight, and after the 100 is energized there is just enough juice there to keep it energized. If you look at the schematic there are a number of things that score 100 so I would check them if it's not the standups.

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#3 3 years ago

So I checked the gaps and they were all fine for the 100 points. After forcing the coil manually a few times it started working fine and consistently, does this sound normal? I've heard EM's just work better the more they get played with.

Now I just have that advanced bonus unit to figure out why nothing is making it move except ball drains...

#4 3 years ago
Quoted from NickNitro:

After forcing the coil manually a few times it started working fine and consistently, does this sound normal? I've heard EM's just work better the more they get played with.

This is true.

Quoted from NickNitro:

The Bonus step up/down unit isn’t activating when going into the kick out hole to increase the bonus numbers on the playfield.

Does the stepper go up and down easily and with a bit of a snap if you manually push the plungers in the coils? It may need a good cleaning, based on your 100 relay. Read more: http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index2.htm#steps

#5 3 years ago
Quoted from NickNitro:

The Bonus step up/down unit isn’t activating when going into the kick out hole to increase the bonus numbers

I would check this circuit, esp. the make/break on Outhole. There are also a number of score motor sw. that are involved if that's not it.

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#6 3 years ago
Quoted from currieddog:

I would check this circuit, esp. the make/break on Outhole. There are also a number of score motor sw. that are involved if that's not it.
[quoted image]

Ok so after checking closer at the schematics, nothing is actually stepping up the bonus unit, so neither the out hole RE or anything in the advanced bonus RE.
But the stepper unit does move freely and resets when the score motor rotates when a new ball comes into play.

#7 3 years ago

So after reading what I wrote I went back and checked the R-Y switch on the advanced bonus RE, cleaned it again and that part is now stepping up!!

I'll go check that R-Y wire off the score motor and go from there, pretty sure i'll have this figured out now lol. Thanks for your help!

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