But there's only the one speaker in the center! Actually maybe replacing the "blind everybody" flashers in the topper with speakers would work.

I have an #Eight Ball Champ with the 6803 MPU. One of the thumper bumpers is not working and I think I traced it back to a blown Capacitor. I changed out the capacitor and when I ran the coil test, the new capacitor blew. Any ideas wat can cause the capacitor to blow? I replaced the coil as well, so I don't think its a bad coil. I ordered a new replacement board and my biggest fear is that its something on the playfield that is causing the capacitor to blow and it will happen on the new board. Are blown capacitors usually from an issue on the 6803 MPU or from an issue somewhere on the playfield? New to all this so please be patient. Thanks!

Sorry everyone, I think I had it wrong in my original post... I believe it the Resistor on the 6803 Board that keeps burning out, not a capacitor! I warned you I was new at this

Hi. Any chance you reversed the polarity on the capacitor when you installed it? I'm not an expert, but the only other thing I can think of is the voltage feeding the capacitor was too high. I would run a voltage test at all the test points to see what they come out at. Maybe there's another problem causing that cap to blow.

I definitely triple checked the polarity before I soldered it into place. Plus it was apparent that the old capacitor was already burnt out as well. I will try to figure out how to do a voltage test. Do I need to replace the Capacitor before doing the voltage test? Sorry if these are dumb questions... As i said this is all new to me.

No, worries at all. I know only enough to be dangerous myself, and usually diagnose through trial and error. I would run a voltage test of all the test points before you swap in a new capacitor. Without knowing for sure how that cap flows in the circuit, they'll either all work and give you a reading, or one won't because the cap is out. I'm guessing something led to the cap blowing. Just got to figure out what that was. First guess is it got too much power. Weird.

Have you tested voltage points before?

No I have not. Like I said I'm very new at this.

Sorry everyone, I think I had it wrong in my original post... I believe it the Resistor on the 6803 Board that keeps burning out, not a capacitor! I warned you I was new at this

I did a voltage test at the coil and I'm not getting any voltage. Does that mean its definitely something on the 6803 MPU board or can it still be something on the playfield?

If the 330ohm resistor is vaporizing that usually means the coil dead shorted or there is a short circuit around the coil.

Find the coil associated with this transistor, measure ohms. If it is shorted (zero ohms), cut the diode off and check again. If it is still shorted, or looks burned up, it needs replaced.

When the coil is not turned you should be able to measure volts DC on both sides of the coil. If the voltage is missing check the fuses.

I did an ohms test on the old coil and it was shorted out (zero ohms). I replace the coil (which came with a new diode) and the ohms test shows its a good coil now. When I put the game into coil test mode, all the other coils register voltage when they fire, but this Thumper bumper stays at 0 volts. Someone suggested it could be the Q19 Transistor or the C81 Cap that are next to the R169 (which is the resistor that keeps burning up) See image attached. Thoughts?

print_17_Bally_MPU6803_1_1_LI (2) (resized).jpg

That is a diode, not a capacitor. The transistor is the most likely component, you could also change the diode while you're in there just in case since it's so easy.

Sorry if my wording was a little confusing. C81 is right above the Resistor. The Diode right next to it and the resistor itself were changed out. So I guess the next thing to try is the Transistor and the Cap. Thanks for the help!

Hi BarakandI... I ordered one of your replacement 6803 boards and I'm hoping that it solves this issue (along with some of the Lamp issues I am having as well). I will let you know how it goes when the board arrives (hopefully tomorrow). Please let me know if there is anything I should be double checking on the playfield itself before I plug in the new board!!!

Shouldn't I only ready voltage when the coil fires? None one of my working coils read any voltage unless they fire.

ThatOneDude Oh man, if only you were not so far away...i'd take it in a heartbeat!

For Eight Ball Champ when a playfield lamp never turns off, what is typically the cause? Also I have about 6 lamps that wont turn on and for two of them it turned out to be a cold solder joint on the negative (ground) cable. for the other four, after confirming the bulb was good, i checked the ground and it was fine as well. Is the issue usually an with the lamp drivers on the 6803 Control Board for both of these issues (never turning off and never turning on)?

Thanks,
Chad

Sounds like we need to find a pinsider who is traveling cross country!

I just had one stuck on and it was a bad diode on the light socket.

Thanks! I will check the diodes on those lamps. Any Idea about the random lamps that wont turn on? The bulbs are good. Is that usually a lamp driver issue or something on the playfield?

It's fairly common for the 2N5060 lamp driver transistors on the MPU to blow if you have ruled out any wiring issues.

Do you know what diode I need for the lamps? It looks like a few of them are bad. is it IN4004?

1N4004 is typical. Yours should have it written on each Diode. I have seen mention that anything from 1N4001 to 1N4007 will work fine in this application. Make sure the white/silver band on it faces the same direction as the rest (polarity)

Perfect! Thanks

Is anybody making the frog for Party Animal yet?

Diagnosing a Hardbody

Biggest issue right now is that the game won't boot. The motherboard (6803 control board) LED blinks 1-3 times before getting stuck. It mostly has been blinking 3 times.

I've been getting past that issue by letting game to warm up in the partial-power-up state, then cycle power. Doing that gets all 9 LED blinks & bootup.

So do I need to replace the chips at locations U2 & U4? Is it a bad NVRAM? Could something else be causing them to fail like a bad R27?

Some more minor issues, when I can get the game to actually boot:
-Upper Left Flipper - was working after rebuilding assembly and replacing with new coil, then stopped working for a while, then came back to life suddenly. It currently works, but I don't like that I do not understand why it died in the first place.
-Left Slingshot is dead - (similar to above) it was working fine, then suddenly stopped. The slingshot is still currently dead. I have not touched the drive transistor yet (Q11)
-'x3' Lamp insert on lower PF will not light - I've replaced the diode on it, however the wire going to the lamp does not seem to be getting enough power.
-'triceps' orange upper PF insert has the same issue with it not lighting. I haven't dove into that yet due to it being deeper in the cabinet.

It looks like U4 needs to be inspected.
Is the socket still good?
If you used a nvram, you could bridge diode D8 with a wire to get the 4.5V up to 5V needed for the nvram module.
Check the voltage at TP4 to be sure for the correct voltage.
This will also tell you if R27 (82 ohm) is bad.
Also easy to check with a DMM.

Did you check the print headers for bad solder joints?
Are they the kind without the plastic housing (single pins)?
Is the tin plating still in place or do they look black or tarnished?

The 3X and orange triceps lamps go to the same thyristor Q54 (J13-11)
It may be a connector issue or bad thyristor.
http://www.pinballrebel.com/pinball/cards/Tech_Charts/Bally_Hardbody_Tech_Chart.pdf

Peter
http://www.inkochnito.nl

A friend owns a Heavy Metal Meltdown and went to power it up yesterday and he said it was just flashing a 3 on the display. I have zero experience with bally 6803 machine's and he is a couple hours away so was hoping someone on here could offer up some ideas I could use to have him troubleshoot over the phone. I searched the forum for 6803 flashing 3 and got zero results. Here is a text that he sent me with what it does. Thks

Screenshot_20220317-093337_Messages (resized).jpg

One possibility is memory corruption in case the memory protect battery has failed, which happened to me on a party animal. Try a factory reset from Basic Settings (65, Enter, A keys)

To expand upon the above:

-Hit "Test", to enter operator mode.
-Hit "A" until "Feature Options" is displayed.
-Hit Enter.
-It will say "Reset Factory Is".
-Hit 6, then 5, then Enter.
-Hit "Game" to return to attract mode. You'll know it worked because it will take longer than usual to reach attract mode, and
the display will flicker slightly as the computer clears the memory (this is normal).

Thank you both I will pass this on to him and see if it helps.

Thank you for the info Peter! I tried a few of your suggestions.

Update:

Most of the tin plating looks decent.
Left slingshot - the diode was wired up wrong to the wrong pins. Re-soldered that and fixed the problem
Replaced Q54 - the old one measured as bad. 'X3' & 'orange triceps' now work!!
I couldn't see any visible cracks on any solder joints. So I just reflowed the solder on all connecter headers for Motherboard, PSU & Sound PCBs. I did not reflow the solder on the chips sockets. That is still something I can try.
Reseated the U2, U3 & U4 Chips
R27 measured as good
Couldn't find any bad voltages on PSU or Motherboard on test points.

TP2 GND
TP1 5.1 VDC
TP3 15.5 VDC
TP4 5.4 VDC
TP5 5.09 VDC
TP6 5.09 VDC
TP7 5.09 VDC

Still has the boot error, I have not tried the voltage increase mod yet. Looks like getting new chips is the next step.

How do you test if the socket is still good?

Sockets can't be checked simply.
Most of the time I just replace them.
Did your board have any corrosion from the battery?
Since U4 is close to the battery I would suggest to replace it.

As a side note, I have had a socket actually have the leaf pins broken inside and you couldn’t tell. Happened to be giving the board a bath and when I blew it dry with the compressor, I saw the metal flittering around. You never know, just replace it to be safe

Does anyone have a fuse chart for Truck Stop? Just picked one up that boots and plays but has acid damage on the MPU and no displays, tested with a second display and no dice, so thinking maybe it’s a blow fuse

Try pinball rebel... they have all charts for games to reproduce ... or check IPDB and see if the manual is download able

Inkochnito to the rescue

http://www.pinballrebel.com/pinball/cards/Tech_Charts/Bally_Truck_Stop_Tech_Chart.pdf

The manual sucks for some reason!

Thank you! Much appreciated snakesnsparklers for finding that.
Inkochnito you are a legend for making these!. I’m printing this out and slapping it in my game.

The fuses I suspected appear to be the issue. It doesn’t fit in the holder. I’ll check both F8 and F2 shortly

Does anyone in here know where I can get the coin slot bezels for a 6803 coin door. I have a machine missing them. Thanks!

B6130615-7A83-403B-9B2B-15DBAC54D869 (resized).jpeg

I did every search term I could think of in my email and didn't find anything. I know I ordered one in the last two years. The same coin doors were used on the arcade games like ms. pac so you may have better luck searching under that. IIRC I found the part number for that piece somewhere obscure.

Damn. Would be nice if someone could just link it

https://www.arcadeshop.com/d/47/coin-doors-parts.htm

Have fun

Yeah! That's the ticket.

Anybody doing repros on the coin door itself? Mine is a little dinged up.

Pull it straighten it and have it powder coated make sure they sand blast it first. Hinge might be a bit gunked up when you get it back but semi flat spray paint matches flat black powder coat exactly if you scratch it a bit getting the hing loose again

Just got a Special Force and there’s a connector just hanging near the control board (see middle of pic - the slightly blurry black connector in the middle of the pic). It doesn’t seem this connects to anything. Looking at other photos online of special forces boards I see this same connector just dangling there. What is this for?

4c9d531192e0e08a9d10c4e217e7c1e20272200e (resized).jpg

IIRC it's not used on SF. It was a generic harness for most 6803 games.

Does it come from J9-6? (Q22)
It should be for the Weapon drop target down.
http://www.pinballrebel.com/pinball/cards/Tech_Charts/Bally_Special_Force_Tech_Chart.pdf

Peter

I looked at my SF and that plug is not being used.
Just hangs there like yours.

Didn't trace the wire back actually. Will take a look.

OK this makes sense actually since I've seen pics of others with it just hanging and with Impzilla having the same thing. That makes sense.

HOLY PINGODS! IT LIVES

I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS!!! Played hours and hours of this game last night! Truck Stop is extremely underrated.

Needs a new display, and it’s missing some plastics, but otherwise it’s a great playing machine. Really happy to bring it back from the dead.

A32D7C45-B05D-4059-B537-7BF97A344251.jpeg

The rubber chart on Marco is not correct. Can any Truck Stop owner please post pics of the rubbers?