Hi,

My recently aquired Abra Ca Dabra is acting up a bit. When I first got it the drop targets were dirty and gunky, so I decided to clean them. When I reinstalled the assemblies, a problem had developed.

As you probably know, Abra Ca Dabra has two times five drop target banks. Upon game start the targets reset just fine, and the problem only occurs in-game. On five balls, when you drop all targets, the centre target is lit, and when you hit that the banks are supposed to reset - but now they do not. The centre target becomes lit, so I guess that all drop target switches register. Besides, I have checked all switch gaps on both assemblies and the centre target , made sure that there are no shorts on the switches and checked the relevant fuses.

Any pointers would be much appreciated. This is the first EM I am working on, and I am eager to learn.

Best,
Archieball

Did some more probing around on this. Changed a dodgy fuse holder for the target bank fuse, but to no avail.
To break it down a bit:

- when a game is started, the drop targets all reset
- all the switches on the target banks check out as well adjusted.
- dropping all the targets lites the centre target and hitting it registers the score
- both switches on the centre target are correctly adjusted
- hitting the centre target does NOT trigger the reset of the drop targets. The motor does not kick in it seems, even though the manual and schems say that it should. As far as I can tell, as I am pretty new at reading schematics.

Any thoughts, guys?

Thanks a lot guys! Good input here. I will get back to you when I get some testing done. Most likely tonight.

I did indeed change the jones plug from three to five balls before the problem manifested. We might be onto something here!

Good news!. By changing the game back to three ball mode I managed to track down the switch that was the culprit. It was a matter of micromillimeters, but there was that one switch that did not touch when the target dropped. Thanks so much for the feedback guys.

I am not out of the woods yet though. I have been so focused on finding the fault that I haven't noticed that the game scoring is all wrong. Whenever I drop a target it scores 1000 instead of the prescribed 500. The same seems to apply for the rollovers. Should I be looking at the score motor next perhaps? Any input most welcome.

Oki, thanks Playdium ! Seems I have some serious cleaning of the machine and reading up to do before determining whether this really is a fault or just down to dirty or misaligned switches.

I have one last n00b question though. I noticed that only three of the four score reels have an additional plate with contact points on it. The plate says Decagon. The reel in the 100 spot is missing this plate, and I am not sure if it should be this way. Is this related to my problem of getting 1000 points when I should get 500? Or does it have something to do with the match? What is this plate called in the schematics?

Thanks a lot!

decagon-missing (resized).png

Ah, ok, thanks HowardR - that explains it. All is good then.

@woz: it just increments the 1000 reel. No action on the 100's reel. The playfield is dotted with switches that should score 500, both on the drop targets and the rollovers, but they all score a straight 1000. Only the L relay fires as far as I can tell, and according to the schems that has to do with the 10.000 and 1000.

Yes, @woz, the G relay does operate.

Trying hard to get my head around the schematics here, but it is really a first for me so bear with me here. Am I right in looking for some sort of interaction between the 500 point switches and the L relay? Looking at the schems I can't really see any.

I made a video of the problem:

On a sidenote, where is the I-relay disc? If it is the one close to the chime unit, it does seem a bit maladjusted, with the fingers just barely hitting the contact points. It does seem recently lubed, so it might be the previous owner who has done it. Is the outer finger supposed to touch the first contact point in the first position here, or is it (like the ball count unit) starting somewhere else/outside?

This is the first position:
IMG-2677 (resized).JPG

Thanks for the feedback, guys! Based on what you write, I will do the following this evening (morning to you guys I guess):

- Make a new video (with sound) where I take special note of the motor and the E relay.
- Re-align the bonus score unit. @woz, can you please provide me with a picture of the starting position? Unless it looks correct in my picture. Playdium : I tried to adjust it using the allen screws, but I did not have much luck. Will try with the help of the screws you point to.

First of all, woz : here is the video with sound (Do forgive the kids playing Smash Bros. on the WiiU in the background. They'll come around. ). As you can see, the advance bonus relay fires alongside the 500 relay (is it supposed to do that?). The score motor runs. One chime - I guess the 1000 one, well... chimes. In the back box the L relay fires on the 1000 reel.

I got a tip that I should try to trigger the 500 relay manually. Doing that scored 1000 points. My very uneducated guess there is something up with the 500 relay so I went on to test. And right you are, one of the switches reads always closed/short, even when I manually open it. The short is not on the switch even though the lugs seem close in my picture. The only place in the schematics where I find corresponding wire colours is on the attached picture. And this is where my brain melts. Can you guys see anything in the schems that could cause the scoring a 1000 points issue?

500-relay-G (resized).png
G_blueyel_redyel (resized).jpg

What the bleepin what, woz ?!? That was it. The left outlane rollover switch!!! The blade closest to the playfield was touching the middle one. I know this is all supposed to be logical and all, but I must say that I am deeply impressed. Would you mind walking me through what was happening here? Either way, massive thanks!

Again, woz , thanks a million for the informative last post. I have learnt a lot in this thread, and I don't find EMs as intimidating as I did before embarking on this project. This picture makes it all worth it I think!

IMG-2701 (resized).JPG