I don't think I've joined this club yet.

I currently have:
Evel Knieval (have CPR playfield and plastics for it)
Mata Hari
Paragon (very nice spare pf, but may get CPR, have CPR plastics signed by Paul)
EBD (have IPB plastics, need playfield!!!)
Centaur (have CPR plastics, decent pf)
Xenon (CPR Gold edition playfield and plastics, Comet LEDs)
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/xenon-with-comet-leds-and-custom-upgrades

Had:
Vector
Paragon
Xenon
Flash Gordon
Silverball Mania
Spectrum
Star Trek

Classic Sterns I have:

Catacomb
Quicksilver (pf retouched and cleared by Classic_Stern)
Flight 2000
Meteor
Seawitch (soon to have Greatwich pf)
Nine Ball
Freefall
Star Gazer (soon to have Greatwich pf)
Lightning populated pf and bg (need cabinet)

Had:
Trident
Orbitor 1

I use washers or plastic protectors on the posts that support the plastic. This will raise it up a bit and give you more clearance for the posts underneath. You could also put a little piece of adhesive backed felt on the heads of the screws to keep them from scratching the plastic.

Another one back from the dead

Three ways to do this:
1. Drill a hole in the cabinet or coin door and mount a switch and wire it to one of the coin switches.
2. Stack a switch on the credit button switch and wire it to a coin switch. Every time you start a game it will add a credit. I prefer this solution.
3. Set a replay score to 10,000. Not exactly free play, but it's the only way without actually modifying your game.

barakandl

Just sold one he rebuilt recently.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fs-bally-driver-board

My Xenon is full LED and I haven't experienced any problems either.

Agreed, battery is not required, but you'll want memory retention for some of the game features. Just choose something other than battery backup, like NVRAM or memory cap.

Magic Eraser and Simple Green does wonders, but as aobrien said, be prepared to protect it with either clear coat or mylar.

IMG_2947_(resized).JPG
IMG_0581_(resized).jpg
IMG_0584_(resized).jpg

Yes. Your 5VDC logic is derived from the 12VDC supply (TP3), not the 6VDC which is used only for controlled lamps. Check F1. If it's good you may have a failed BR1 or a short on the playfield somewhere.

3.5 degrees? What the hell are they thinking??? I'd never set my games at 3.5 degrees. If I did and let people play them, they'd never come back to play my games again. Ever.

All of my early SS games are set at 5.5 to 7 degrees. All of them. I may be a little aggressive on a couple of them....Xenon and Meteor come to mind, but these two are normally easy games and now they are very challenging and have that 'one more game' appeal.

They didn't use foam.

Also, there could be slop due to a worn nylon button on the flipper pawls.

I have one installed in a classic Stern (dual 5101s) that I took to a show and didn't set up for 3 months afterwards. All settings were retained.

Yes

I've been playing Xenon since 1980 and I've NEVER seen or heard of that happening. I was thinking bad ROMs, but since you're running Alltek boards the ONLY thing I can think of is to go into self-test and clear out every audit register manually. Some of these games do strange things when the RAM is corrupted so maybe that has something to do with it.

It doesn't sound like a power drop to me as that would cause the MPU to reset. The rectifier connectors and boards used in Xenon and later are not as prone to issues like the earlier models. I'm not saying they don't go bad, but they're typically more robust than the earlier generations.

That said.....and this is a big stretch because I don't know/haven't studied how the Alltek architecture utilizes the ROM.....but the programs for all of the games are stored in one ROM. If a power spike or dropout caused the CPU to jump off track...maybe corrupted the stack pointer or something, AND the other banks of memory were accessible, processing could resume in another game's program. I would assume because of the DIP switches used for selecting the game, that is not possible, but could be investigated.

The game is not detecting a ball in the outhole. There should be one in the outhole and one in the trough. It will let you coin up and start a game, but waits until it sees both balls before continuing and allowing more players.

You're not missing a connection with the metal bar. It only serves as a spacer/heat sink so the board doesn't flex when screwed to the backing plate. With the rectifiers/heatsinks on the front you don't need the metal bar and don't need to screw it to the plate.

The first thing you need to do is look at the schematics and measure the AC voltages at the connect points on the rectifier. Post pics if you want us to look at it.

If you measure across E8 and E10 you should be reading 173VAC. What do you get?

Yes, one lead on E8 and the other on E10. And you're right, you don't need the HV for LED displays so you could just pull out fuse F2. Out of curiosity, what color wires do you have soldered to E8 and E10?

If it's not cold solder joints on the display board I would replace the chip.

Trident has them but doesn't store state between balls. Meteor has them and does store state. Both 1979 games.

As long as the flipper relay clicks it's not the MPU, that's its only involvement. Otherwise, it's the 7 or so connections between the flipper coils and ground.

Pins 12 and 13 are probably not the problem, but J4 is. Repin the connector and J4 on the SDB.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1041-third-coast-pinball

I read in one of his posts that his next endeavor is backrack cables, specifically for EBD, but maybe for others too.

I cut the battery off my Star Gazer, but didn't install a memory cap or NVRAM. It would hold data for 2 or 3 days -- high score, last game scores, credits! Never investigated why, but thought it was pretty cool!

Yes, just verify jumpers are correct for the S&S ROMs.

http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bally/Stern#Bally_AS-2518-35_or_AS-2518-133_Jumper_Info

My guess is there's a disconnect between the battery holder and the MPU. Maybe one of the wires broke.

I had a similar issue with a Radio Shack battery holder that had an on/off switch on it. The switch failed internally and the circuit was always open.

Maybe he could make said piggyback board that would connect to J5 with an extra connector on it so you could still connect Stern sound board cables.

It's a high-resistance, low-current solenoid. It can stay energized indefinitely.

1. Typical slope for this era was 5.5 to 6.0 degrees, but don't take that as gospel. Set it where you like it best. I've used 3" leg levelers and 2x4s to get steeper slope on some of my games.

2. According to the manual, there were two different ROMs for this game. Try turning off dip switch 24 on the MPU to disable background sound. If that doesn't work you'll need to obtain or program the other ROM.

How do you decide which one to play? I mean, that's a real problem.

This is a good place to start. I've worked on several machines where there's no continuity between the tilt bob and the ring and I had to clean them to get it to work.

If you don't lock the backglass, you take the chance the glass will rattle and rub against the displays. At least move the displays back safely out of the way if you can't find the top metal piece to lock the glass properly.

I was thinking of Split Second also, but I think all of the classic Stern "hurry ups" were just timers, not a decreasing point value award.

Wiggle connector J4 on MPU. If it resets you need to repin the connector and replace the header. If not that you probably need to recap the solenoid driver board.

The score switch you referenced would be fine. You don't need the other switch.

https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=618

You'll need to buy some 1N4148 diodes for them too.

There could be, I don't know. I haven't ordered any switches from PBR.

The manual on IPDB has the switch matrix in it.

Should just replace the headers anyway. No doubt the plating has been compromised.

I would normally say GPE, but he's been out of kits for a while. Try Big Daddy or Marco.

It won't work just by powering the board. You need something to control the lamps, which is the MPU. And to power the MPU you'll need regulated +5V and unregulated +43V. The lamps are normally +6V unregulated, but you could use regulated +5V if you want.

I would just use a computer AT power supply for the 5V, but you will also need a transformer to "fake" the zero crossing circuit on the MPU, something in the 21-24V range. Might be difficult to find.

What I would suggest, and what I did since I also have a SI head with no body, is to buy a E122-125 transformer and rectifier. Take an AC power cord and wire a connector to supply power to the transformer (I'd have to check the schematics to see which pins are the AC supply). Then you can power everything in the head including the sound board and displays. I made a switch matrix board so I could actually coin up, start a game and score points. It makes a very cool wall hanger.

It says 5A max and those look like some beefy drive transistors so I have to assume that's 5A per channel. You'd have no problem running incandescents with it - 8 per channel as you need.

It was discussed in this thread:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/phantom-scoring-with-drops-on-mata-hari#post-4786034

Typically a coil stop problem.

Where did you get your flipper kit? I stopped buying them from PBR because I don't like the black metal. My flippers did not feel as strong and I had snap back problems like you're having. I replaced them with Marco kits and they're much better.

I recently bought a Bally kit from Pinball Life. They look good, but I haven't tried them yet.

Memory capacity is the biggest difference.

Visually, the -17 will have all ROM locations populated with a socket where the -35 will leave a couple blank.

Oh I didn’t even notice the “2962”. Sorry about that.

They either have chimes or the “brook” sound I believe.

I pulled this SDB out of my parts stash which was missing both heatsinks plus a few other parts. It has one burned trace, but other than that it’s in pretty nice shape. I’m using LED displays so I went ahead and removed the HV components. I’m using a PSU7 for the 5V supply which will support the increased load from the LED displays.

I have to say I really like the clean, simple look of the board.

Question: Does anybody have any experience with these PSU5 and PSU7 regulators? They say heatsinks are optional. I spaced it away from the board to allow airflow, but I’m wondering if I’m going to need to mount it on a heatsink.

ECDB0EAA-8101-4BD2-A226-D23276F91568 (resized).jpeg

I tested the board last night in-game. Initial no-load power up reading was 4.37 volts. I tweaked the adjustment pot up to 5.01 volts and connected the MPU. It booted, but the voltage dropped to 4.5 volts. When I connected the other boards it dropped to 4.18 volts and would not boot. The highest it would go was 4.48 volts under full load and still wouldn't boot.

What else are you using for LM323K replacements?

I don't see why the PSU-7 wouldn't work in place of the LM323. However, I have a PSU-5 that I can try and see if I just had a bad part.

You may have worked with an older version of the PSU-5. The regulators are adjustable now.

Tonight I replaced the PSU7 with a PSU5 and the results were even more dismal.

No-load power up reading was 4.13 volts. I was only able to adjust it to 4.6 volts. With load it dropped down to 4.01 volts.

I refuse to believe I have two bad regulators, which has me wondering if this is really a drop-in replacement on the Bally/Stern SDB. After some searching i found the answer here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/lm323-replacement-released-at-ezsbccom

CoreyStup mentioned the resistor they used to raise the LM323 above ground needs to be shorted. After shorting R50, the no-load reading was 5.35 volts and I adjusted it to 5.00 volts. Under load it dropped to 4.99 volts. Much better. Played a few games and after 30 minutes it read 5.02 volts.

Check the 1A slow blow fuse under the playfield near the flippers.

Do you have 43V on the coils? If not the fuse holder is bad or J1 on the rectifier board needs to be repinned.

The harness connectors would be the same so the simple answer is yes. The harness would not route the same on the playfield from game to game so wire lengths could be a problem and of course you would have to connect the correct wires to the correct solenoids and switches.

Verify all the coils associated with the solenoid expander are the double diode type.

If one of them was replaced with a single diode coil it will not prevent current from flowing through the coil on the other bank of the relay, which will cause the intended coil to fire weak.

Your voltage readings look normal.

Speaking of J4, do any of the coils fire more than once during one cycle of the coil self-test? If so, that's a sure sign J4 on both boards needs to be repinned.

Have you verified power on these three coils?

They are usually wood screws and the ball beating them to death rips out the playfield leaving a big hole. Get the posts @treborlicec linked, drill your playfield all the way through, and put a washer under the base to protect your playfield like this.
A6ECCB7A-C0BB-4B2C-BBA2-C7F39E0BA55B (resized).jpeg

I just looked through his site thinking he already had. This needs to be made.

Depending on whether it's a flicker and one flash or flicker and two flashes, it would be either the 6810 at U7 or the 5101 at U8.

Stick with the 10/32's, they'll take a beating better than the 8/32's. You need to drill out the holes a little bit for 10/32 and you should be able to buy the correct size nuts locally. Don't forget to put a washer between the playfield and post so the force of the ball hitting it is spread out over a larger area.

Topside down (may splinter a bit underneath) or go both ways and meet in the middle.

Yes and yes. But without the battery it won’t retain the high score, credits and any settings made via the coin door test button.

As Mathazar said, if the flipper shaft has grooves from previous use, the bat will continue to slip until the set screws are in the grooves.

Maybe you used the left flipper on the right side. Try swapping them and see if the grooves match the alignment.

Another option is to grind the shaft and remove the old grooves.

Correct, the two pins on the far left are not used.

The post is really just a guide, not a clamp. There are notches in the wood side rails that the ends of the arch sit in. Try pushing the ends of the arch towards the top of the playfield. This will help keep the arch in guide posts.

For GI sockets it doesn’t matter, they are AC.