I have a set of 6803 boards that I no longer need as I have sold my last 6803 game. Boards have been sitting on the shelf for 10+ years. Anyone interested in making me a resonable offer for the whole set?

Pics are here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nrvzYygcH8mfQKHWxnw4tgY47oc_GMeW?usp=sharing

I'm hoping someone can help me out here.

It's the Switch Matrix on a Party Animal.

I posted earlier about how it's behaving oddly. Pressing a switch will sometimes (not always) trigger another switch (or two or three) in the same ROW.

At first, I thought it would be the capacitors that are on some of the switches. They get old... they dry out.

Correct me if I am wrong, but those capacitors are there so when a switch is VERY QUICKLY pressed, that the CPU will still have time to detect that switch. Which means that removing those caps (cutting one leg) should allow the Switch Matrix to continue to function while losing some sensitivity on the switches with caps.

I have cut a leg on all switches with caps. However, my phantom switches are still occurring all over. Which means it has to be bad diodes, right? But my problem is, for example, I press the Left Outlane switch and it sometimes triggers the Mushroom switch. So I replace the diode on BOTH of those switches... and... the problem persists. Ugh!

Is there more to the story of this 6803 switch matrix? Is there another place I should be looking?

My game is triggering phantom switches all over the place. It seems like its not "a couple bad diodes".

Anyone been down this road before and know how to resolve this issue?

Thanks!

strange for sure, I replaced some diodes this weekend and it cleared all but 1 phantom switch fire. Is your game grounded properly? I have seen some 6803 games do weird stuff if some ground braid is not properly done.

I have no help for you other than confirming that if you simply disconnect the caps on the switches that it should still test OK for a "slow" hit. The cap just seems to make the signal longer so the control board can keep pace with a quick hit.

The matrix design kinda dumbfounds me and I can't find a wiring diagram for free online, but if you haven't read this: http://www.pinrepair.com/6803/ it might help.

Diode problems always form a rectangle on the switch matrix, meaning if two switches are closed and you press a third, then a fourth separate switch will trigger, and all four switches will form a perfect rectangle. Try to figure out exactly which switches are closed when this happens and see if there is a rectangle. If not, then I agree you should look for shorts to ground. Perhaps a switch lug touching the ground braid or a lamp socket. Finally, you can remove the playfield connectors from the back box and jump the pins for the columns and rows to see if all switches function properly in test mode. That is a way to isolate the problem and see if you have a board issue or playfield issue.

And, lastly, and I mention this only because I have done this myself, when you are pressing the switches in test mode, make sure you are not leaning on the rail with your arm. Your own body will create a short to ground and create the problems you are describing. That was a fun week for me when I was chasing that problem down before realizing I was my own short.

Hmmm... this might be a good lead.

My game came to me with all cables disconnected between head and cabinet.

There are some left over connections that I am not sure where they go. Can someone help me out?

First, in picture below there is a green wire with yellow stripe. It comes from J2 on the power supply. It ends with a spade connector. But I do not know what this connects to.

IMG_6581[1] (resized).JPG

Then in the picture above there is the metal braid wire that comes from below... where does this connect to?

Finally, as seen in the picture below, there are two green wires with spades on them... coming from below... where do these connect to?

IMG_6577[1] (resized).JPG

Thanks!

Looks like your missing the common tie point for all the grounds.
Here is a Motordome pic pre-restoration. The ground braid was stapled to the left side metallic cardboard.

pasted_image (resized).png

This might be your problem or at least part of it. Most of your grounding is disconnected.

I found it! Mine was hidden underneath the big transformer.

IMG_6583[1] (resized).JPG

Yep! This was totally my problem. Now with everything grounded, my switch tests are 100% perfect.

Thanks everyone!

Fantastic, so happy it was such an easy fix! Now go play pinball!

That braided bare wire should probably tie into the ground wire matrix that runs throughout your cabinet. I think it is more of a safety thing to keep you from getting zapped if something goes awry than it is for machine functionality, but I might be wrong.

I was doing battery replacement on my Party Animal... and it lost all it's settings.

However, when I scroll through the adjustments, the settings are all over the place like they were all scrambled with garbage data.

Is there a way to "reset to factory default settings" ?

Yes.

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! It's funny how they bragged about how great and easy the keypad was supposed to be... but... seriously... it's not.

One more question...

Is there a way to test the flashers in test mode? I don't see anything. Not even in solenoid test mode. Or maybe my flashers are all just bad?

It is good that you replaced the battery. After they die, they tend to cause all sorts of issues. I went with pinitech's NVRAM chip and ditched the battery forever. I highly recommend the switch. Easy to do and no worries that your battery will contribute to corrosion or leak acid all over your control board.

I didn't find any way to test flashers in Party Animal... but I did find out that many of the flashers in the game I am working on were dead and that they were 906's... and this game requires 912's. 906's are 6 volt and 912's are 12 volt. Very important!

Also, there are two 1 AMP fuses for the flashers under the playfield.

Now my flashers are fully working.

It's amazing how much "life" flashers can breath into a game. You don't really realize it until they are all gone.

On the playfield parts list for my Eight Ball Champ, those are listed as "Playfield Support" p/n 0360-0114-00XF. A google search doesn't get me anywhere. That is usually when I call Steve at Pinball Resource. He doesn't use Bally part numbers, so just have the description ready.

I needed a new bracket for my Strange Science and I used a WPC one from Mantis: http://www.mantisamusements.com/bracketsupport.htm

The "WPC and WPC-95 Playfield holders: Style 2 higher of the two" worked and I think I had to just slightly grind it to fit.

Anyone know if the 14 digit glass is still being sold anywhere? I've got an issue with this digit and that digit is noticeably burnt. I'd rather just replace the glass part of the display than go the led route if possible.

15959743919224523895493031373326 (resized).jpg

I just picked up a Hardbody and both upper flippers flutter upon being hit once. Doesn’t appear to hold a low power? Have pics of the wiring, anyone have any idea where to look to fix this?

39F1CC0F-6BC8-4930-8AD7-65C4ED732964 (resized).jpeg

752DA531-DEF6-4486-A4D2-9FD949EE9725 (resized).jpeg

First, put a piece of paper between the EOS contacts on both flippers.
Second, use a multimeter and check the resistence of the coils.
Give the lugs a number (1 -2- 3) and measure between 1 and 2, 2 and 3, 1 and 3.
It should look like something like this: 3.5 ohm, 130 ohm, 133.5 ohm.
Report back here and we can tell you more and maybe what to do.

Peter

It took me ages to find a lockdown bar for my City Slicker. What a total bee-atch.
You’d think with the hate 6803s get you’d find more parted out!

You lucky devil! Hardbody’s are getting so difficult to find, been searching for a while now!

Hey everyone!
my Escape From the Lost World has started to have a bit of a sound problem. Sometimes its volume will rise and fall without the volume pot being touched. It seems that after a bit of an initial warm up the issue goes away, but I would still like to fix it. Does anyone have any ideas where I should start? I was thinking the volume pot might be bad, or a poor connection at the sound board, or maybe the speaker is bad. The pin is at my sisters house which is 40 minutes away, so I'd like to research it a bit before driving out to look at it.
Thanks!

I don't know if anybody else feels this way, but I would try a squirt of electrical contact cleaner on the pot when the machine is off and adjust the pot on the sound board up and down before letting it dry (or blowing it dry with canned air). My Squawk and Talk had some "dead spots" in the volume pot that cleaned right up and life is good now. Could also be the main volume pot if both sound effects and speech are affected.

Thanks for the advice. I didn't realize there was two volume pots, I had only played with the one on the coin door. I'll have to try adjusting both next time I'm there.

On my machine, the squawk (sound effects) and talk can be balanced by adjusting the pot on the sound board. The sound effects are only controlled by the pot on the coin door and the relative speech volume is controlled by the pot on the sound board.

In other words, if all sounds die together then it is probably the pot on the coin door. Same recommendation applies before swapping out parts. A little spray of contact cleaner has saved my bacon more than once.

I do feel the same way. In fact, that’s what worked for me when I had a similar issue.

Escape for the Lost World has a different sound board, not a squawk & talk board.
It has a Sounds Deluxe board.
Only one pot on the board and I think one on or near the coin door.

On the Pinwiki there is a section about this board.
https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bally_6803#Sounds_Deluxe_Board
Very highly recommended to take off the cap next to the DAC chip.

Anybody else have any issues with 6800 Bumpers vibrating or double pulsing?

Start by cleaning/adjusting the switches. I am not an expert at the 6803 board, but my experience is that the control board only scores the "hits" and the bumpers are reacting to the switch being closed. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong. I used to get phantom scores without bumpers being activated, so I am taking an educated guess...

Thanks, they seem to be right I can close and see sw shows it closed. If I boot up and touch one it’s like a machine gun firing

The control board reacts to the switch there's no direct connection between the switch and the solenoid.... the mpu has to interpret it, not only scoring, but firing the solenoid as well.

Adjust and clean the switches and if there are switch capacitors on it, replace them. Sometimes they will pick up a nearby solenoid's firing as noise, causing them to fire as well.

Will do thanks

Could all 3 go bad at same time as they all 3 do it

They could. Old Bally caps don’t have long lives in the post 2010 era, in my experience.

Im hunting for a 6803 Transformer for a bally Atlantis. Barring that Ill take a transformer set for bally truckstop. and last but not least, any 6803 game with 14 digit alpha displays. if anyone has any of these please let me know

Not sure if many of you guys know already, but Wolffpac Tech has some great LED display kits for 6803's now. They have Red, Green, Orange, Blue and White options available. His kits are very well made and easy to assemble. I recommend a regulated soldering station and a fine tip, as each board has around 420 pads on them. I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out, and I also love being able to assemble them myself like an adult set of legos.

Note, my camera does not show the displays very clearly in low lighting...they are crystal clear in person!

https://www.wolffpactech.com/bally-6803-dual-display

20201012_173029 (resized).jpg

20201012_193112 (resized).jpg

20201012_201801 (resized).jpg

That's awesome news. I have his displays in my Lost World. They are quality.

Good news for 6803 fans-

I am going to be making the 3 piece set of Party Animal ramps soon...sometime on or around Thanksgiving. If you would like to get on the list, I will keep you posted when they become available. PM me your email address to be added onto my list.

Also, I now have the chopper ramp/bowl assembly available for Special Force. PM me if you would like to order, or you can order from my Pinside store when I have them in stock.

I posted this on another thread but got no answers could someone help out here? The game is Heavy Metal Meltdown...

I just brought this game back to life after it was sitting in a basement for 5 years! Everything seems to work but the ball locks don’t work all the time. The game seems to take the first ball lock every time but some balls after that I get the sound but the game doesn’t kick out the second ball or whatever ball I’m trying to lock after the first. I don’t think this is a switch issue because it works 100% in test and i can hear the sound it makes when it hits the switch etc.. Should the ramp switch have a diode or cap on it or just the two wires? I read another thread on RGP that a guy had the same issue he said he replaced the fuse sockets on the long board on the left in the head but I don’t see how this could of done anything as that board is for flashers only I thought. I did clean all the clips up as I don’t have enough to replace them. I also tested the ball trough switches and they are working 100% in the game and in test. Any ideas where to check from here would be great!

Well I did find a little connection point under the playfield for the load chamber switch and it did have a cap on it and a diode. I tried changing the cap out but that didnt help i also cut one leg on the cap and that didnt help. There is another small connection point for the eject chamber switch but that looked as though it never had a cap or diode on it. Can someone take a picture of these so I can double check the wiring since I already found one switch not wired correctly. Not sure what else would be causing this issue since i get the sound every time th ball hits the load chamber switch...
Thanks,
Joe

Yeah I put the cap back on and the game worked one time then i shut it off turned it back on tried again and same problem came back when it gets stuck it seems when i hit that switch it just says meltdown nothing else after the ball hits the switch the first time it always says the heavy metal meltdown.. I cleaned and checked the connectors and even switch the 6821 chips on the mpu everything is the same this is really a strange one. maybe i need to change out all those fuse clips on the board in the left hand side of the head.

Snagged an Atlantis a while back and finally have some time to take a look. Came in missing a few things including the transformer. I managed to make a new transformer setup using a dungeons & dragons and space shuttle flipper transformer respectively. After getting power to the game I started on the MPU as it appeared to not be booting. There was slight acid damage and obvious damage to the memory socket as the top 2 legs had a little green crud on them. After I pulled the socket and neutralized the acid I went ahead and rinsed the board. Using the compressor, I blew the board as dry as I could. Paying partial attention to getting the chips and sockets dry, I noticed a little glint of metal in the rom sockets. 3 leafs in the top socket had broken and would have never let the game boot. Posting this as more of a “check here guys” and less of a “look how good I am”. I just got lucky! Hope this helps someone else

34C757EB-3E3A-4B50-B12E-98D86841D545 (resized).jpeg88BC6426-5082-417A-A27A-0180DF4A8329 (resized).jpeg

Check the in game menu settings.
The slingshots can be deactivated.

Special_Force_slingshots (resized).jpg

No, no driver in common.
Check the Tech Chart: http://www.pinballrebel.com/pinball/cards/Tech_Charts/Bally_Special_Force_Tech_Chart.pdf
Do you have power (43Vdc) at both ends of the "broken" coils?
If yes, check the connector and driver.
If no, you may have a broken coil winding. Replace the coil.

Check the MPU board for bad solder joints.
Problem number one with these boards.
Bad print headers too.
Both coils use J8....