Hello all,
Looking for some help with the Bally paragon machine I have. The switched lights on the playing board are not working. All the normally on lights work on the board. I’ve tried going around and moving the connectors to get better connections with no luck. Also the sound board connector needs to be wiggled everytime to get it to work. Anyone have a fix for these or where to start ?
Thanks!
Much as I love Paragon, machines of this age need all the recommended fixes suggested in the PinWiki to make them reliable.
Here is the pinwiki section on Bally Lamp problems:
https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php/Bally/Stern#Lamp_problems
The above suggestion to 'Reflow all boards, Repin all connectors' is crazy hard, an insane amount of labor, and absolutely correct. (Though reflowing for me means to reflow lots of things on the board other than connector pins... all connector pins need to be replaced as well as all the terminals in the plugs.)
At this point for machines of this age, to make this reliable you are faced with a LOT of work.
Personally, before I would offer a machine of this age for resale I would do the 36 pages of recommended fixes, probably replace the rectifier board (new pins and plugs here are absolutely necessary), repin all pins and plugs to all boards, and strongly consider replacing every lamp that is under an insert under the playfield with a Yoppsicle.
Yeah, it's a lot.
But it's your machine. Wiggle some connectors, keep it going for a week, month, year. It might stay reliable enough for you to keep playing for a while. It may be possible to bring your machine up by just replacing the fuse associated with the controlled lights, this doesn't address the underlying reliability problems, but you might get it working for now.
Read the Wiki about your lamp problems, and let us know if you have any problems.
If you need us to help you step by step, the first thing to check is the fuses, particularly fuse F1 on the rectifier board, lift one end of the fuse and test it with a meter, you can't tell visually if a fuse is working.
On the rectifier board make sure you are getting around 5.4v dc on test point tp1.
Then let us know what you find!
I messed with it tonight tested all fuses and they are good. On the sound board I can get the sound to work when I press the connector to the right or left, I tried bending the connector pins to make better contact and it still does not work without pressing the connector. I thought one of the pins on the board came alittle un soldered so I re soldered it with no change. Is there a website to get new connectors?
Definitely not necessary to repin all connectors, it's overkill IMO. Assuming this is a game that's been sitting for a while, a rebuild or replace of the rectifier board is definitely in order. Now I do suggest repinning all those connectors (male plugs and female housings), changing the 20a fuse clips, and changing the bridge rectifiers with more beefier rated ones if you stick with the original. On the solenoid driver board, reflow all connectors, repin as necessary, do the ground mods, change the two main filter caps, and there are usually a few toasty display voltage circuit components I change too, including the voltage adjustment pot which I find is always falling apart. On the lamp driver board, reflow all connectors, repin as necessary. On the MPU, reflow all connectors, cut off the battery if old and deal with it (NVRam or remote battery pack are a couple options). Ensure all fuses are the properly rated ones, if the AC wall plug is missing the ground prong put a new plug on
I own 13 Classic Bally games. I’ve reflowed and repinned most of my games……except one. Centaur. Guess what? Bonus lights stopped working a few days ago. The game has worked forever. It has the “zero insertion” connectors that are crap. I have put off because of the statement above “an insane amount of work”. Time for me to live up to my word. In the end if done correctly it will give you years of reliable play plus you’ll develop a new skill. Rectifier is also an area that always needs attention. Full replacement is also smart. Most are damaged and some fuse areas can be fried and look burnt. I own a Paragon and did just that. It eliminates many headaches in the future. Take a look at Ed from Great Plains Electronics. He has what you need. If not there are other vendors. The work needs to be done on these classics and one needs to be handy to keep them running. If you don’t have the skills buy one that has already been serviced or consider a new game. It’s not difficult, there is a learning curve. Enjoy your Paragon once fixed. Great game! Welcome to the club.
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bally-paragon-issues?hl=nhpolarbear and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
Palatine, IL