Eight Ball
Bally, 1977Hello,
I have a Bally Eight Ball that won't boot. When I turn the game on the lights all come on, and that's it. No sounds or any other noises. I checked all the fuses, they are OK. I replaced the batteries. I also re-seated all cables on the boards. Not sure where to go from here.
Quoted from Dallas_Pin:Did you pull each fuse and check it or just a manual inspection? My money is on fuse.
I put the meter on them while still in the fuse holder. Should I completely remove them?
Quoted from djreddog:Should I completely remove them?
Remove them and check them that way
Pulled all fuses from the back box, all tested good. Found 1 fuse under the PF, tested good.
As for flashes on the MPU, I don’t see anything flashing. I do have a Mata Hari sitting next to it. Not sure if there are certain parts I can try and swap to narrow down the issue.
Quoted from Billc479:Since there are no flashes on the MPU, it's time to check the power supply voltages. List what the voltages are for each test point on the rectifier board and the Solenoid Driver Board (SDB) and report back.
OK I tested the rectifier board, results below.
TP1 - 3.2
TP2 - .05
TP3 - 5.15
TP4 - 7.27
TP5 - 16.45
As for the solenoid test, I didn't get any results. Noobie here when it comes to testing voltages, etc. So I'm assuming I either didn't perform the test correctly or I had my DMM setup wrong. DMM was set to DC - 20. I tried putting the black probe to the ground wire on the back box and then testing each TP on the solenoid board with no luck. I then moved the black probe to the GND connector on the solenoid board and tested again with no luck.
EDIT ON SOLENOID TEST: My DMM got switched to AC by accident, so I put it back to DC, then re-rested all 7 test points. Results below:
TP1 - .38
TP2 - 1
TP3 - .38
TP4 - 1
TP5 - 1.46
TP6 - .36
TP7 - .36
Those are unusually low voltages for the SDB. What readings do you get on the rectifier board? One of the test points is AC voltage, I don't remember which one. Refer to the Pinwiki guides for the voltages. Also, as Astill pointed out, how do the connectors look on the rectifier board? Are they burned, melted, etc?
These should be your rectifier values, I believe,check that one of these is your model board
Model TP1 TP2 TP3 TP4 TP5
AS-2518-18 +5.4 +/-.8VDC +230 +/-27.4VDC +11.9 +/- 1.40VDC 7.3 +/-.9VAC +43 +/-5.4VDC
AS-2518-49 +5.4 +/-.8VDC +230 +/-27.4VDC +11.9 +/- 1.40VDC 7.3 +/-.9VAC +43 +/-5.4VDC
Those rectifier voltages aren't correct either, see here http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bally/Stern#Rectifier_Board_Test_Point_Values
Quoted from pinzrfun:Those rectifier voltages aren't correct either, see here http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bally/Stern#Rectifier_Board_Test_Point_Values
Went back and re-tested all the TP's. Got to TP4, which says AC, so I switched the DMM to AC20, and when I tested TP4 it emitted a pop & a spark. Not sure what happened, nor what damage was done. Since I'm a little over my head on all this testing, I'm pausing for a bit until I can get my buddy over here. Just unsure what setting to set the DMM to when testing all the TP's, too many options.
In the interim, can I move the rectifier board from Mata Hari over to Eight ball to see if that fixes the issue?
I think you can move it if MH is working, but if there’s something downstream that’s bad, you might blow that board, too.
If you’re in over your he’d like you suggest, wait until your buddy comes over and begin systematically troubleshooting per the PinWiki Bally/Stern guide. It will walk you through checking the power supply first, then connecting the other boards one at a time to find issues. There’s no point in shotgunning an issue when there exists an established logical progression of troubleshooting and bulletproofing.
Yeah I'm going to wait for some help. I just took off the board from Eight Ball, then realized it's not plug and play. Gotta desolder to disconnect it then resolder the Mata Hari board on. I'm not going through all of that.
Quoted from Billc479:I think the transformer and rectifier board are one complete module. That means a few screws and connectors are involved- no soldering.
This is correct. You can swap out your transformer and rectifier board as a complete unit with your Mata Hari. Just disconnect the 3 connectors and remove the xformer and pcb, keeping it mounted to the backing plate. Probably a good chance your rectifier board has an issue. Once fixed, I would also highly recommend repinning (or replacing) the rectifier connectors, especially if there is any browning/burning on the connectors.
s-l1600 (resized).jpgSo I moved the transformer from Mata Hari over to Eight Ball, still nothing. However, I decided to put the transformer from Eight Ball into Mata Hari, and that works, game plays fine. So from there I swapped the Solenoid Driver board from Mata Hari, no change and then I swapped the MPU board, still no change.
Ok. To me, those moves pretty well confirm your problems are with the connectors/wiring assemblies. Look closely at the connectors - are the pins green looking or really tarnished badly? Remove one of the pins and look at it. Does it look worn? Chances are one pin would be representative of the others.
Try checking resistance between the pins, following the wiring diagrams. I think you’ll find they read bad.
Quoted from djreddog:All fixed. Powering up issue was 3 bad pins. Coil locked on was a bad transistor.
Thanks for all the help!
Nice work! Congrats
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Magnolia, DE
Collingwood, ON