I recently acquired a 1987 Bally Party Animal pinball machine and have been going over and assessing it's condition. Any debugging help that you can provide is greatly appreciated. At this point I can play a game, but I don't have any display messages/score or sound.

1. When I first powered it up, the GI came on and stayed on, the green LED on the control board blinked about four times and that was that. I noticed a jury rigged fuse (3 amp?) coming off the transformer (red wire) that had some electrical tape wrapped around it. That tape was holding a spring loaded fuse in line. The plastic fuse connector is broken that I assume was holding that fuse in place at one time more securely. I have found that if I tinker with that fuse the attract mode lighting works. On my todo list is to get a better holder for that fuse -- I assume the game needs it there. Kinda odd.

2. The display had been working, but lately nothing.. nada.. zip. I tried to reseat the display connectors (on the displays and the controller board), but no luck. As I mentioned the displays were working great and then they stopped working. Any ideas of what to check here?

3. This game hasn't had sound since I got it. Reading online help and the operating manual I tried to adjust the sound potentiometer (inside the coin door) along with checking the connectors
J1 and J2 as the manual suggests. The display was working at this time so I tried the self test. I also noticed that the green LED on the sound board never comes on... I am thinking that the sound board needs to be gone over and repaired. What are your thoughts?

That is my Party Animal adventure so far. Any input or suggestions on how to get this pin working are greatly appreciated. This is definitely a project pin.

Thanks!

Thanks. I will check those out.

Looks like the lower AC voltages are good on the power board.
The higher DC voltages (230v & 190v) are not. The 3/4 amp 250 v
(FU2) fast blowing fuse is blown. Replacing it causes that fuse to blow again
right away on system power up.

Any ideas on how to get that fuse to live a longer life?

I will check to see if this fuse should be fast or slow blowing.
Looks like these are supposed to be a fast blowing fuse.

_{Post edited by HeyYouSir : Added clarification of whether this should be a fast or slow blow fuse.}

Searching by part number it appears to be a fast blowing fuse.
I will definitely take a closer look at that board to see why it is blowing that fuse. Thanks!

The little red SW1 device on the sound board?
Does that need to be turned as well to adjust the sound? Will give that a try. Thanks!

Duplicate post.

J1 and J5 on the power board were a bit fried. Solder bad on the back.
Melted the connectors. The high voltage area of the board looked OK.

I am going to see if I can get a pro to take a look at this board and repair it.
Any recommendations for someone in the Twin Cities?

I don't have a lot into this pin so I am hoping it can be repaired inexpensively.

Thanks for the clarification.. I will take a peek.