Night Rider EM
Bally, 1976New guy with currently just one Bally machine. EM Night Rider in over all good condition. I have had it a few years and have never been able to get the back box to light up at all. I have some experience from working on my Rock Ola 448 juke box, hoping that some one can point me it the right direction. Thanks!
I don't have the schematics in front of me, I will look at them tomorrow if you're
still having a problem.
Did you check the fuses?
Do the feature lights work? (if your machine has them)
With the machine on, check the voltage on one of the GI lamp sockets.
Post your results.
If the rest of the general illumination (GI) on the playfield works, I would suggest unplugging the Jones plugs that connect the cabinet to the backbox and giving them a good wire brushing. As Dug said, the problem is likely in the connector.
Good luck,
Art.
Thanks for the input. I went back to the machine and noticed that some of the lamps on the play field near the flippers where not lighting a bright as they should. Also some of the fuses have been wrapped in foil. I was wondering if perhaps the foil was not a good enough conductor and perhaps there was just not enough power for the back box. I was wanting to start by replacing the fuses. I have found 4 fuses all together. One near the service outlet that is not wrapped and seems to be good, and 3 on the front left side of the cabinet near the coin mech. door. These are the ones wrapped in foil. The card strapped near the holder calls for the top one to be a 50 volt 10 amp and the bottom two to be 6 volt 15 amp. I am having difficulty locating a 50 volt 10 amp fuse. I tried Radio Shack and Google searches. Any suggestions?
Also, I would agree on the jones plug issue.
Sometimes just wiggling it a little will do the trick.
Check it out in the backbox.
The male pins could probably use a good once over with a wire brush.
Dim lamps = loose or dirty sockets.
Read this for info from the "ninja" on both issues...
Lots of very good information on that link. I will try to use some of that information this afternoon. Hopefully all goes well.
The label next to those fuses means the 50 volt coil circuit is fused at 10 amps. The other ones marked 6 volts, 15 amps is for the lights which is split into 2 circuits: playfield lights and backbox lights.
Radio Shack # 270-1015 and 270-1073 will work.
Quoted from Prmailers:RS should have the 10 amp fuse.
Lose the foil...
And here I thought regular foil was the same as aa 10 amp fuse, heavy duty foil is the same as a 15 amp and the dollar store junk foil is like an 8 amp. Silly me,
Just kidding by the way. Foil beats the No-Blow cut 1/4-20 bolt.
I put in the new fuses by the coin door on the left side and got no results; darn! I checked and there was voltage going to the fuse so I figured the fuse holder must be dirty. Used a 30 caliber rifle brush to clean out the holder and the lights lit up. Great! You guys pointed me in the right direction, would of never gotten it figured out with out your help. Thanks a lot! Now I will have to order a tune up kit with new rubbers and poppers and the game will be as good as new.
Update: got a nice rubber bumper, light bulb, play field shining, ect kit from a gun in Canada on Ebay. Kit worked well and machine shined up nice. Also bought a popper kit however I did not realize that soldering was involved. Oh well now there is another project!
Quoted from MrBally:The fuse holder for the backbox lighting could be bad. They usually are bad after 36 years.
Thanks for this tip. This saved me from pulling most of my hair out. I found a tarnished fuse holder in our Wizard.
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Laughlin, NV
Beauharnois