Bad Cats
Williams, 1989The seafood wheel in my Bad Cats has a new motor, new motor board by homepin, and new drive transistors on the MPU. However the motor won't Spin. It just sort of moves back and forth slightly during test. It looks like it shaking or jiggleing. The motor in the backbox does the same thing during test but during gameplay it works perfectly. Any ideas as to what might be wrong?
I also replaced the resistor for the motor in the backbox. That fixed the cat lady with the broom but now she's not working again. The cat spins but she doesn't move. The old resistor was really burnt. Do I maybe have a short somewhere?
arcademojo just fixed mine and it was doing the same thing. He replaced the voltage regulator and the transistors (I think). He'll probably see this and be able to help you.
Is the new motor a Homepin supplied one that came with the new board?
If not you may have motor wires swapped around at the plug. These need to be in the correct place or the moror won't switch correctly and can jiggle back and forth.
Quoted from MrArt2u:Have you checked the optos/opto board under the seafood wheel? The optos like to break right off.
OP said he fitted a new board, it is supplied with a new opto on it.
Quoted from Homepin:Is the new motor a Homepin supplied one that came with the new board?
If not you may have motor wires swapped around at the plug. These need to be in the correct place or the moror won't switch correctly and can jiggle back and forth.
I ordered the motor from Marco and the stepper board from Pinball Wizard. I just realized Pinball Life sells the whole kit. If I had know I would have ordered that. My motor probably is wired wrong. Do you know how the motor should be wired to the homepin board?
Quoted from 1iblind:I ordered the motor from Marco and the stepper board from Pinball Wizard. I just realized Pinball Life sells the whole kit. If I had know I would have ordered that. My motor probably is wired wrong. Do you know how the motor should be wired to the homepin board?
We match our motors and boards. You will have to identify the two windings and try swapping the two wires on one winding as a start.
Quoted from 1iblind:Thanks! Is it possible to blow anything up if I swap the wrong wires?
No. The motor just won't turn correctly
Identify each pair of wires on the motor then refer to the schematic for where each pair connect.
You then have 4 possible different combinations and one must be correct
Quoted from Homepin:Identify each pair of wires on the motor then refer to the schematic for where each pair connect.
You then have 4 possible different combinations and one must be correct
I was hoping for something obvious, which it is not. Time to pull the drawing from the manual.
Quoted from PinballManiac40:I was hoping for something obvious, which it is not. Time to pull the drawing from the manual.
I have been away from the factory on business for a couple of days so haven't had access to our files. I will look for you when I go in today and give some more information BUT it probably is going to come down to identifying the two windings with a meter (these are not always obvious by looking at the connector and the wire colours are not always the same between different motor manufacturers).
Our motor colours are red/grey and green/yellow as pairs so be cautious about the actual colours.
I would meter the two on the motor you have to confirm red/blue and yellow/white are actually the two windings first.
Then confirm the connection to the plug which "should" be:
red to pin 6
blue to pin 5
yellow to pin 2
white to pin 1
....according to that info from Marco.
It looks to me from your picture that red and yellow are transposed - I would swap them around and try again.
Here is the schematic in case you don't have it (it wasn't included in the original manual).
Using my meter I figured out that it was actually wired correctly. When I first installed the stepper motor board the seafood wheel, during wheel test, it just jiggled, and the broom lady in the backbox did the same. In gameplay broom lady worked fine but the wheel still jiggled. After a few minutes of gameplay the seafood wheel and broom lady worked perfectly. The wheel was spinning smoothly, stopping, and giving the correct award. Then I turned off the game, turned it back on and both the wheel and lady went back to jiggling. It didn't matter if it was during test or gameplay. Neither worked properly. I was done with it for the day so I turned it off. Then the next day I turned it on and I got nothing from either motor. Then the motor for the broom lady smoked and I turned the game off. That's where I'm at now. Totally stumped.
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Albuquerque, NM