I'm going to go in a different direction on this one.

YES, AP should have just sent you a replacement board (that probably costs them $25 in bulk) and said "Thank you for believing in us!"

BUT, the real issue is that the boards are not Field Serviceable.

For that last 85 years, pinball was designed to be serviced on the spot. I used to yell at my guys "That game had better have caught fire!" if I saw them bringing a game back into the shop. (sometimes someone would flip an EM over and every switch would need adjustment, or Williams games were actually known for catching fire).

Every minute a game is down, it's losing the owner and the location money.

Drivers and pre-drivers kick the bucket all the time in the world of pinball. Probably the most common repair run.

So if an operator has to buy a $100 board every time + pay his tech (I charge $100/hr) + make 2 trips to the location + lose over a week of income = that might easily be a $500 loss.

It's OK to use surface mount components to save money, BUT on common failure parts, there had better be a blank set of pads next to it so a tech can solder in a thru-hole .40 cent replacement in the field.

No schematics, is of course, as bad as it gets.

But pinball techs that go out to fix a game are not going to have a Hot-air SMD Rework S-
tation in their tool box; even if they do know how to do SMD Rework.

So, well designed SMD boards always have empty Thru-hole pads on the boards so that on-site techs can make repairs.

Zoom in on this pic:

jjjjj (resized).jpg

See how even though it's a surface mount board, there are empty holes next to each component to allow field repair with thru-hole parts?

See how a tech could fix this board with .30 cents worth of parts and a soldering pencil, instead of buying a new $100 replacement board?

Extra points to them for even supplying holes for parts that seldom fail.

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If you ever repair your washing machine, you will see that that motor driver board has the same SMD transistor drivers on the board, but also has Thru-hole pads right next to them. This way the dopey appliance repair guy can solder in new transistors on the spot.

He does not have to come back with a whole new board as you go a week without laundry.

Exactly.

And then you have to worry about having the current board version.

"Wait, I have v1.1 board, are you saying that won't work???"
"Unfortunately, that game takes v2.2 or higher boards, although not higher than v4, because that's when the pinout changed...."

SMD components have been around for 50 years, so it's not like pinball techs are learning anything new.

But since you can't repair SMD on location, they were not a good choice for games that constantly need their components replaced.

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It's the same with guitar amps that use tubes. On tour, every amp you see is an old tube amp.

It's not really the "vintage tone" because there are new amps with the exact same circuits done up in SMD parts.

The reason that everyone uses those old amps is that the roadies can quickly service them on the spot with just a soldering pencil.

When us Ops started to transition over to SS, we were already familiar with on-location board work from the jukeboxes and even early video games like Pong.

If games would have required us to buy new boards every time they broke down, pinball would have been over in the 70s

Gerry,

Thank you for your prompt response!

Now, assuming the OP does not have a SMD rework station, how much will you guys charge to repair his blown board so he can have a spare on hand?

Interesting.

So if that's the case, then the OP sure did not need to buy that 2nd board - yikes.

Again, thanks for the prompt reply!

I can't even imagine how badly a SMD IC on-site repair would go from the average pin tech. lol

If pinball games can't be serviced on-site, they will die off.

Dark games don't make money, and earn less money when they are finally brought back online. "Hey want to play Sloth King?", "No that thing is always broken...."

Those are only for the cool kids in Texas.

Nixie Tube Pinball (resized).jpg

What he is saying is that, for instance, Stern commonly replaces faulty electronic parts a year latter for free, even if you are the 2nd owner.

I found this old 80s campaign button in a drawer the other day.

s-l16hh00 (resized).jpg

Here is a real life example of how some other companies in the market handle things:

I buy a NIB Transformers LE, 2 years after the game came out.

I don't buy it from any authorized vendor, just from a clod who bought 4 of them, thinking they would go up in value like Tron LE did.

When I unbox it, I find that it must be an early production and does not have the plastic ball trap guards that came latter with the game.

I call my local distributor, and he says you have to get them directly from Stern.

I call Stern, to order a set of the guards:

Vid: Hey, I bought a NIB Transformers yesterday...
Stern: [interrupting] That's a fun game, I still play it every day.
V: But, when I set it up this morning, I noticed that it does not have the ball trap guards under the ......
S: Hmmmmm, yeah, we added those [typing in the computer] after some had shipped.....yep got it!
V: Got any in stock?
S: Sure, can I get you to read me off the serial number of the game? What's your address?
V: It's 666 Raven Lane....
S: Excellent! Oh wait....I'm sorry UPS already went out today....Uh, can I get out to you tomorrow?
V: That's fine, do you need my CC number?
S: Nope. The serial is all we need.
V: Wow, that's cool.
S: Thank you sir.

Now that is a company that wants more of my business. No faxing in the invoice, no worrying about that I did not buy it from an authorized dealer, no worrying that I'm the 2nd owner, no trying to put obstacles in my way. Not even a "REALLY??? You just unboxed a 2 year old game that you bought yesterday?????"

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Or one day I can't fix my 15 year old MESA Boogie bass amp. The tone controls just don't seem to be responding.

MESA: Good afternoon, Mike from tech here!
Vid: Hey I've got a MESA 400+ and even though all the components seem good, the tone circuit seems to have almost no effect.
M: Hmmmm, do you have the schematic?
V: No, I searched the net, but could not find that exact same model.
M: Got a fax?
V: Yes, its .....
M: OK, I'm going to fax you the schematic, we don't seem to have it in digital form anywhere in our files.
V: It's an odd amp for sure.
M: Yeah, I'll get this scanned and put up in few days. Anyway, what I guess is that you are missing the .00000047 cap from the .....
V: I'm looking right now and I don't see it at all.
M: You did not need it when the amp was new, but as all the component values drifted over the years, you need it.
V: Gotcha. I don't even see anyplace online that still has that part.
M: I'm going to send it to you.
V: Can I also buy the standby rocker switch, mine is cracked.
M: Sure.
V: And a dozen of the black case screws with the odd heads, mine looks like it got one of each screw ever made...
M: LOL, yep, seen that before.
V: What's my total?
M: Nothing. You are all set....Boogie is not here to nickel/dime you. What is it like $10 worth of parts? A $200 set of tubes is going to be a different story....

I've told the above stories probably 100 times.

You can't buy goodwill like that.
ind;l;ex (resized).jpg

Spooky covers the entire game for 1 year.

JJP covers all the boards for 1 year.

Chicago Gaming covers all the boards for 1 year.

Stern says 9 months on display boards and 3 months on everything else, but in practice, covers the boards well past 1 year - even for the 2nd owner.

But don't forget, AP told the OP that a surface mount part had failed, and that the only option was to buy a new board @$95, as they had no way to replace that particular chip

They did not tell him it could be repaired for $2, that's for sure.

927400016776deeed5f4c207465d5a3da562f830.png (resized).jpg

I think most of us are upset that they told him there was no way to replace a surface mount chip, and he had to buy a $100 board.

Exactly.

A customer calls the manufacturer of an item, and they tell them that "we" can't replace that chip, "the ONLY thing we can do is have you replace the coil driver board" .

THAT's what I imagine most people are upset about.

Let's say you have a Ford Mustang and the trans blows 5 months out of warranty when you are out of town. You are the 2nd owner.

You pay $2200 for a rebuilt one.

When you get back home, you write to the Ford Warranty Dispute Resolution Program, and mail in all your receipts, towing bill, photo of the odometer bla bla bla

Of course, Ford could say "Hey, it was out of warranty, rules are rules.", but Ford does not do that.

Back in the 80s they did some studies. An average happy customer tells 3 people they are happy, a customer that feels they got ripped off tells 100 people.

Ford knows that you will vent to 100 people "I bought a Mustang, and the trans blew 2 months out of warranty!!!!! I'd never buy another friggin' Ford!!! They are not built to last!!!!"

So instead, Ford reviews your case and often sends you a check. Maybe not for the entire $2200 but some odd number like $2056 (so it seems like there were actual calculations involved). Sometimes they even refund the entire amount.

Now that it seemed like Ford really bent over backwards, you will probably tell many people "Hey, I had a Ford that blew the trans, and even though it was a few months out of warranty; Ford took care of it anyway!"

In fact, often the only reason someone even knows about the Warranty Resolution is because they heard about it from someone who got help from it.

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Where does Ford "draw the line"?

When is it too far past the warranty to get assistance?

No one knows.....

There are hundreds of circuit board cloning services in Taiwan and China.

You send them a populated board and 1 week latter they send you the Protel files, component list and schematic - cheap.

Using out-house electronics is a very good thing, in my eyes (think of all us OPs who had no fear of buying SS Stern games, because they used the same boards as Bally did).

You are missing the bigger picture.

No one would have ever known about the warranty length and how rigidly it is interpreted.

No one would have ever known about the repair advice given when you call for assistance.

No one would have ever known the warranty only applies to the first owner.

(sure you can say "well they could read the warranty", but what a company puts on paper, and what they actually do when you call for help - are two very different things)

Everyone has owned a few Stern or JJP games, so we have tons of data points and know what happens when we call for guidance.

AP is totally new, so 99% of Pinsiders have no experience with their tech help or warranty.

This thread is SUPER valuable to everyone on Pinside.

You can still buy a Houdini (and I think you should), but now you go in with your eyes wide open.

Pinball boards sometimes break the same day you unbox the machine, that's just how it is.

I'd way rather have it break at the shop during break-in, than 2 weeks latter when I have to go fix it on location.

(You'd way rather your new cell phone break in the showroom of the phone-store, than after you have had it a few weeks)

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What we need as pinball operators and owners is:

1. Good advice - Don't tell us we need a new $100 board if a .50 cent thru-hole part will fix it

2. Good schematics - We need to be able to follow the circuit flow to troubleshoot quickly.