This is a pretty basic question - but Anyone know the screw size to secure boards to the back of offhand? My paragon lost two during my last move and I think the lack of ground is causing a sound buzzing issue.

ok - so the screws didn't help, so maybe you guys can point me in the right direction. When I turn on my paragon, all i get is a loud buzz coming from the speakers... Sound board already has a cap kit. Rebuild connectors on the sound card and work back from there?

It's a Paragon. I had thought it was the ground issue - so I tried to both tighten it down to the backbox, then also float it off the backbox and neither paid any dividends... I'm pretty sure it's connectors... I've replaced a few here and there but I really need to buckle down and just replace them all.

I have this working machine's sound issue and 3 more AS-2518 generation machines (strikes/spares, flight 2k, big game) in the pipeline, so I'll likely be messaging you with another large-ish order depending on what I find after I get the power boards I got from you last month installed.

Question - I'm troubleshooting a Solenoid Driver Board (Stern Rev H) and I started going through the rebuild. I found that tying together TP1 and TP3 totally resolved my problem (TP3 was dead) - which is great... but what exactly does that do and should I have any concerns?

I'm happy it's working, just trying to learn something that I can apply to future repair sessions...

That's really odd cause I just repinned that connector as well. That got it working for a short while... After I was adjusting finalizing my initial shop out and adjusting contacts, I hit the left sling with the ball and caused it to machine gun a bit. I quickly turned the power off (maybe 5 seconds?) and then was dead in the water again until tying those points together. (actually did it on the front with an alligator clip to test). I tested all fuses, transistors, etc - everything was completely fine save tying that test point together.

I need to bulletproof the rest of the board/connectors - but am trying to get it functional and moved downstairs to the arcade as I'm tight on garage space. Strikes n Spares is next unless I move to buzz out continuity and repair rodent chewed wires on Big Game. I'm sure I'll be back with other questions.

No - everything booted fine MPU wise, just no solenoids. I'm running a new MPU from barkandl until I can find the time to repin the sockets. No acid damage on the original MPU (trust me I was shocked) - but it keeps hanging on the 2nd Flash. I buzzed the socket to the chip and had a few legs fail - so it's time to do some board work. Unfortunately being in the process of settling into a new house; my tools are all over the place and my bench is a total mess. I grabbed a three game deal one week after moving and it's taking up significant space... I'm trying to get as much working (or at least cleaned) and garage space cleared so I can set up the bench/tools - then go from there.

Anyway... It was just odd that it kept kicking in and out between power on/off. I'm going to pull the board and do the mod to the back of it correctly - maybe I'll see some damage on that side to explain the issue. On the top side the board looks shockingly pristine for 37-38 years of age. Only two small transistor burn marks that were corrected (and verified by my DMM).

I actually did the TP1 <-> TP3 mod on the original SDB and it's been working 100% without issue since.

Now I just need to fix one drop target and resurrect the original MPU-200 so I can use yours in my Big Game that has significant acid damage (The Flight 2k board shockingly had the battery attached and didn't leak!). I buzzed the failing chip (U7) and it looks like the socket has just gone bad over time; Which for a Stern MPU 200 I'd totally expect anyway.

But the Big Game has a nest in it - and the wire harness has been chewed a bit. That's going to be a major undertaking to review (buzz wires, review each to replace/repair/etc). So I'm just happy to have F2K working for now while I work on the other.

So I'm looking at the manual and can't find a switch matrix for the life of me. I know this era is a 5x8 array and am trying to pinpoint some odd behavior.

Anyone have any idea where to find the switch matrix for a strikes and spares online? Or is it as easy as writing down the switches in order (if so, is it 1, 2, 3 down the first column, or across the row?)

Also - any tips if you get a credit by wiggling a controlled lamp? (Not kidding... Figured I'd start with tracing the wire but had to ask)

You killed it man - Thank you so much. I couldn't find this in the manual I printed, must be in the larger PDF version. Either way - my issue is on I1 - That controlled light that's triggering coin ups is hitting on the left coin slot as well. Left coin slot is working fine, but the other non-working switches are the other 4 on that line. Looks like I know exactly where to dig in. Thank you again!

So I have a quick question about Backbox GI...

I'm finishing up a strikes n Spares - and long story short - the backbox GI seems to be split among 4 wires - White/Red on the upper half, Orange/Green on the lower. I'm assuming 1 line is power, 1 line is return.

When I measure the White and Red - that's certainly the case (one showing no voltage and continuity with ground, the other showing 6.3~). When I measure the Orange and Green (the half of the GI that is out - both are showing at 6.3~)

Here's my question - If I alligator clip the green line that should be a return to ground - the GI lights up no problem. I know the 'correct' thing to do is trace the green wire and find why it has voltage - but this is a barn find game with damage that'll always be players condition and I don't want to spend a ton of time with it. Is there any long term issue bridging the ground line from the green to the other pair on the backbox wire itself? (especially since it's running at such a lower voltage with LEDs now installed). I don't want to make a garbage repair - but I'd rather spend my time resurrecting another machine than running down a problem that might have a 3 minute fix.

Fair points - I'll trace through the wire and do it the correct way. I was thinking the LED draw would make it less than a problem, but keeping the next owner in mind, especially since I don't plan on owning this one for a very long period of time is a very good point.

I already repinned the connector, so it's unfortunately not that easy of a fix, and I'm pretty sure I buzzed it for continuity already, so it may be a board trace/cold solder joint. (Barakandl - not the last one I got from you... I ended up resurrecting the original and keeping yours for whatever next machine comes in with a totally jacked power board)

Update - I'm an idiot and backbox GI runs off J3 of the rectifier board... I had repinned 1 and 2, 3 didn't look so bad so I let it ride. Pulled it off and lo and behold - the thick Green ground return was crispy after all. One connector and back in business. Learn something new every day in this hobby, I swear...

Tech question... Working on a big game using known working SDB and an Altek MPU... Can't get it to boot. Voltages are good for 43 and 5 on the MPU TPs, seem ok on SDB, it's a new regulator board also testing within range. I did switch the jumpers for MPU-200.

I'm assuming it's the very gross connectors at this point. Already repinned the large 25 point SDB but no dice. Thoughts on next ones to start with or anything else that could cause this type of issue? I'm getting 1 flash, then a other second flash, then either it flashes again and stops, or goes like 2-3 more and locks on.

Yeah I tried the reset button. No dice.

Update (got some work in while the kids napped)

If I remove the J1 connector on the MPU, it'll boot (7 flashes and verified via coin door/start a game/switch activation triggers sounds). However I have no solenoids (confirmed voltage present and fuses good) and obviously No lamp or display information.

I tried booting with J1 connected and displays removed, that didn't work. Tried it with just the displays and lamp board disconnected, no luck there either.

Solenoids I believe are going to be the J4 connector... the power is there, logic just isn't firing them. I already repinned MPU J3, so J4 SBD is really all that's left.

At this point I'm thinking I should do every connector then revisit... I may drive myself crazy trying to pin down a cause before redo.

So - I feel like I need to delete my previous posts... But I'll leave then for posterity and own up to my ridiculous mistakes in case it saves the next guy.

Long story short... This Big Game had a mouse nest in the head, and the harness was in a pretty rough way. I took the whole thing out, ultrasonic cleaned it, then checked it inch by inch to either splice in new wire or use liquid electrical tape to insulate where there weren't any holes.

Long story short in getting everything back together... Lamp Board J1 and MPU J1 are the exact same size with the same key. No joke. I moved the game downstairs as I was at least done cleaning it and realized my mistake reading the schematic and seeing the size and key pin we're good, but the wiring colors weren't matching up. And as I out it back together a second time, my rebuild 'MPU J1' kinda naturally reached to the lamp J1 and I went 'oohhhhh shit'.

Luckily - no improper voltages were shot through either board and it was a harmless mistake. I still feel like a dummy.

They aren't original cause the originals had the Stern 'S' lightning bolt design on them.

I just had the target bank off my Flight 2k last week and I don't remember seeing a height adjustment. You might get away with just sanding off the bottom of the target little by little to conform with the others.

ok - So I'm back with a really peculiar issue... I'm still working on resurrecting this mouse infested Big Game. The Good news is - the whole game is up and functioning, and while there is still work to be done (mainly controlled lamps) everything is back to player's condition up and running. The bad news is - I'm pretty sure the critters used the display board platforms as their outhouse, cause these displays are all by and large WRECKED. So - I went ahead and bought a set of the Pinitech Uno boards since there wasn't any salvaging what was there. Unfortunately, I put together the 6 digit board for the credit display - and it doesn't work when I plug it in.

Now here is where it gets weird...

- I threw the Pinitech Uno display in my Paragon as player 2 - and it works totally fine (so the display itself is fine, it's not a hardware/my soldering issue)

- My Paragon had 1 7-digit Stern display when I got it - which I've been using as my player 1 display while rehabbing/testing... I pulled a 6 digit board out and threw that in the Big Game credit/display slot - THAT works totally fine (so it isn't likely connector/voltage related)

I messaged Wayne, and the only thing he could think of is if there is an extra ground on the connector on Pin 2 and 13 like he saw in a shuffle board Stern machine, but had never seen in a pin to date. I've checked that now - and though the schematics do show a ground on 2 and 13 - I only have a ground on 13 just like the LED board would require (and tested continuity and ended up repining #13 just in case) to no avail.

Anyone have any ideas? Other than repin the whole connector (and again, since the plasma works fine I'm highly doubting that's the case) I'm pretty much at a loss here.

I was able to test it briefly this morning before leaving for work - I plugged it into P2 (which is downstream from the cred display, but I only had like 5 minutes), t while I got nothing at first, the display started to light dimly after about 30 seconds. I also noticed that as it did the 1-7 count during Big Game's attract mode, each number that popped up made each LED get progressively dimmer (even after adjusting the POT). That seems to point to the 5v connector getting enough to drive the logic, but not quite enough juice to light the LEDs.

On a good note - the numbers it dimly showed were all correct and segments all there, so I'm hoping it's just that 5V connection. I had the whole harness out to clean it and repinned a number of connectors so far; so a few more isn't really surprising.

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Well - the display connectors were actually all fine - but while I repined the J3 on the solenoid, the male pin was tarnished enough that only about 3.4v was making it to the displays. That's been replaced and everything is working is tip top shape.

Special thank you to Wayne for going the extra mile in helping me troubleshoot it. The Pinitech Uno displays are slick, easy to put together, and I'll definitely head back his way if I need anything else (Also sells a Gottlieb Sys3 NVRAM that nobody else has even bothered with that was easy peasy if you're comfortable with the soldering)

my AC power in the house had inverter noise.blockquote>

So - a few stupid questions from someone who is thinking seriously of moving to Solar and has a bunch of these Bally/Stern games...

1 - What does the inverter do on your A/C line in relation to the Solar? Does it help efficiency? I can't imagine they'd have put it in if it didn't have a reason
2 - There isn't a solution other than turn off the inverter?
3 - Do all solar solutions require/recommend an inverter?

Thanks!

Took my kid down to play (he's 2 1/2) and for the first time (since he's an impatient player ), I noticed that even during the boot up cycle, my Strikes/Spares has functioning flippers. Other than 'it's incorrect', is there any reason to rush to fix it? Pretty sure I know how, just trying to figure out where in my list of fixes I need to prioritize it.

What Quench said - Do the TP1 to TP3 wire mod on the back of the board to solidify that 5v. I've had coils drop out on my Big Game and F2K in the last few weeks - both resolved in 5 minutes by that mod. (and I'd repinned the connector on both)

For the Strikes and Spares guy - Just something to throw out there if your wires were hacked - trace back the items that are misfiring as it could be a wiring issue. I just rescued one from the bonfire as well that had a mostly cut main harness, and this one definitely had a few wires that were the same color, but there were multiple of them (ex - Brown w/ White was both a switch and a controlled lamp). I'm not sure if any of the coils had the same issue, but it's worth considering if the obvious answer (refurb connectors) doesn't resolve everything. I know I was going through troubleshooting controlled lamps, then all of a sudden jigging a light scored 500 points. I connected the wires backwards and had to reverse my fix.

If you're regularly rolling a Harlem Globetrotters, set that baby harder (more incline, 3 balls, no outlane rubber, fatter rubber by the spinners, etc etc...

Ballpark guess - +/- condition, working internals, etc etc? $1,500

FatPanda - the number position is next to it on the schematic - in your case - it looks like TILT is right next to position 18 - so it should be in the 18th position of the connector (Which on a 23 position connector is definitely not 3rd from bottom).

Looks like in your case you can use the Player 1 (16th) and Player 2 (20th) to help navigate and determine the correct positon (plus the board should have pins 1 and 23 screened on there)

My bad - the pic he posted had a little smudge on the 0 and it was a bit blurry. (and it's early, haha).

B - Paragon, centaur
Stern - Flight 2k, quiksilver

That's a known shortcoming to the Bally SDB... It's on the 'things to do/bulletproof' when you get one. I'm kinda surprised you sent it off to be rebuilt and it wasn't done.

I have a random question on a Bally -50 sound board. I've had it on this Paragon for awhile, but have an issue that I'm sure someone has seen before, but I'm not quite sure of.

1 - Big Daddy Cap Kit was already done, work fine for a time after that.
2 - started to get a loud/solid BUZZ sound on boot
3 - took the board off and did the other basic maintenance I never got around to (reflowed header pins, replaced POTs, repinned connector) hoping that would resolve the issue.

Now when I plug the board in, the Potentometer (upper of the two) lit up like a Christmas tree and smoked itself. Also, within around a minute the lower right resistor started to smoke. For the brief period it was on, sound was back, but all were very short (likely due to the potentometer). I've confirmed no pins accidentally made connection.

Any ideas which component(s) to check next?

Quench Great call, sir - both transistor and Zener at C4 are out of spec. Transistor is jacked and Zener has same low resistance both directions.

For replacement - I'm guessing the Zener is a Zener and should be exact, but is there a better alternative for the transistor? (Like How you always replace a TIP122 with a TIP102, etc).

When I measured TP3, I only came back with 5.5v, so I knew something was wrong pretty quickly. Well that and I didn't even get through boot up testing before the Potentometer started smoking more and the resistor was uncomfortably hot to touch.

I'll check the full circuit as noted and get to replacing parts. Thanks!

Hey guys, I have a Bally Sounds Plus (AS-2518-56) board out of a Xenon that I'm having a hell of a time with... I'm seeing the below and am relatively stuck on where to go next...

SYmptoms - no sounds (or vocals)

1 - Took the board out - Cap kit was done prior to my involvement (looked new and correctly connected)
2 - repinned the connectors and replaced the POT
3 - Voltages are 13.6 and 5.17 on 1 an 2 (14.9 on 3, 3 on 5, and 13 on 6 if that matters, but I believe the 5v and 12v are the keys)
4 - Replaced each chip on the board with ones out of my spare MPUs and/or working 51 board (I'm back home testing in my Mystic...)

Still - no sounds. I do hear hum when the playfield lights shift around

Any expert advice on where to go next? I'd recommend just replacing the stupid thing if it didn't need to be that special board to mate with the vocalizer. (and it's for a sweet elderly couple that have had it since the mid 80s, so I'm kinda pro-bono on this one and trying to resolve it in house)

Alright, have a controlled lamp driving me batty... I've done the following - any ideas?

1 - replaced socket. Can confirm clipping tab to a neighboring tab works.

2 - repinned connector. Twice.

3 - confirmed connection between socket and wire. Ran a brand new wire just to be safe

4 - replaced lamp board from another 100% working Bally game. Still that same one lamp out in game. (Conversely, other game is working 100% with the other board).

Seems it has to be above that - but given how it all works I can't believe the MPU wouldn't only misfire one single lamp. Any ideas of something I missed before I keep swapping and repinning?

Strikes and spares has the issue - 2k bonus light (Q29)

Confirming against 18k bonus light (Q29) of a Mystic for reference

Also, MPU is an Altek (was bought new and sold with the game, obv no battery damage)

Son of a bitch .. it had perfect continuity and everything, but I reflowed and there it is. I was leery of it being a reflow/transistor issue, that's why I just swapped boards. Very strange both worked just fine without any adjustment or modification in Mystic

Thank you Inkochnito... That's what I get for being in a rush

Has anyone dealt with the Bally 6802 boardset? I went to a customer's house last night to clean/rerubber/etc and saw the board looks like a -17/-35, but actually has a 5114 memory chip instead of a 5101. Has anyone used a 5114 NVRAM in one of these before? His battery had just started leaking and I abated the minor surface damage - but want to see if I can go the NVRAM route or the remote battery route.

Thanks in advance!

anyone have a spare Future Spa backglass laying around? (or a decent res scan to print a translite for temporary?)

thanks Jethro - appreciate the heads up.

So, here's one for the group I need some suggestions on... Take a look at this pic. It's a Speakeasy, so it's a resin playfield... And it's cracked. Can confirm that crack shows through the other side as well. How the hell would you reinforce this so it doesn't get worse?

Sidenote - though cool as hell the flyaway targets are an absolute mother to work on

20210104_234832 (resized).jpg

I had kinda hoped that would be the case, but wanted to check. Is there anything preventative you'd recommend? It's luckily in the corner, so doesn't seem to affect gameplay or level.

Luckily I have a second set of fly away targets. This game came from PAPA and had a number of extras in the coinbox to fix it up with. Still maintain whoever engineered it should be taken out back and slapped around. You can't even change the rubber as it. The circuit board is hard soldered and wire runs through the plastic to a board underneath. I had to cut and install a molex to thread it through

20210104_101844 (resized).jpg

20210104_101911 (resized).jpg

Might be easiest to buy ground braid and toss some heat shrink tubing around it. Would be more secure unless you're going for exact inside the cab look.

Have a quick question for the Bally hive mind here... I've done, at least a hundred games with LEDs before and I can verify I'm not one of the few that's sensitive to the 60hz strobe in the GI. However - I have a players condition Mr/Mrs Pac Man here that, lo and behold the GI strobes noticeably to me. I have a spy hunter next to it - same LEDs, Same power outlet, Same circuit that looks totally fine and other Bally/Sterns down here as well. Can anyone think of an issue with the circuit I could look into that might exacerbate the strobing to the point its detectable (or cheap fixes for it, else I'll keep it incandescent)

UPDATE - Found a thread here that explains it's likely due to the GI Flash circuit... Odd that there's 7 games in total that use it and I've never seen the GI flicker like this before... but at least gives me a direction to go down. Honestly I'll likely leave it Incandescent... it isn't a terribly valuable game and this one has some PF wear. It'll be a solid players game and there's nothing wrong with that.

While I'm here... I also picked up this non-working spy hunter, which after a quick review was easy to find why it wasn't working... Say some idiot (not me) tried circumventing the driver board's pin 13 to 25 by stripped/splicing that wire onto a test point, but picked the wrong test point (TP 5)... I can see a blown part or two in the reset section, but otherwise the board is shockingly clean. Any insight on how far up the Logic circuit the 12v could have traveled if I try to dive into fixing it over a few beers one night?

Well - I managed to fix the MPU that was in it - but I could always throw that into the Spy Hunter that was 12v nuked thanks to a careless TP tie in by the previous owner (Mentioned above) and stick one of the 2 I have coming from you in there ...Or the Paragon that was recently resurrected with your MPU... (hence why I ordered 2 MPUs... always like to have a complete set of your main boards on hand with all the Bally/Stern work I do!)

so - I'm finding plenty more wrong with this stupid Spy Hunter as I go along. Quick question on Bridges/power rectification/checking my understanding;

The TP3 in the cab could read far too high if it isn't under load. However, if it is under load (and looking at my schematics - that 12 Unreg is being fed to both the SDB to make into 5v as well as the Cheap Squeak to do its own power rectification) - so say, the cheap squeak was unplugged but SDB was still plugged in and make a nice, smooth 5v... and the power rectifier is still measuring 18v - that's gotta be the problem right there.

Blue 14VAC is good, so it's safe to assume that CRs 5-8 should be replaced to repair the circuit, correct?

That's exactly what I thought, but then C10 on the cheap squeak shot at me like a party popper and I was trying to figure out why.

Oddly enough, going back and trying it now (even with C10 visibly toasted) - it... works? I know they're just smoothing caps, but still surprised to see it functioning with multiple torched parts. (C22 is also gone from before I just noticed). I'm going to replace that and the other caps to be safe.

Who knows what voltage was going to it before I bought it... Again - I've repaired my share of boards, but there's a reason I took a look at this hack job and decided repin/confirm wires and drop 3 of your boards in it to start with was the way to go. - Thank you again by the way

Literally all you need to do is test continuity (on a meter) by placing one lead on the ground lug of the plug (the round one in the US) with the green wire in the cab, and ensure that green wire is secured to the line filter box. That'll confirm if your wall plug is good.

If you're worried about your outlet itself - go to Home Depot and buy one of those plug in testers. They're like $10 or less, they light if all is well, it's really foolproof.

This isn't a Bally where GI is controlled by a TRIAC, is it? (RS is 1980... I think that's a year too early for it)... That triac can cause a flickering in the GI LED. Can you upload a short video?

Does anyone have a size/part that'll work well for reattaching this guide to the side rail? I tried grabbing .15" x 1/2" spiral nails from Marco, but those are still too large. I haven't been able to find a specific answer anywhere, and given it's a full PF swap I'd like it to look as solid as possible.

Thanks all

20230823_104733 (resized).jpg

No, the girth was too big. I'm trying to find something with a decent round head on it that's 18 gauge... grinding it off and repointing isn't much a problem.