Well; if you decide to give it a shot; I now sell translucent pointed skirts. Having said that; I'm not sure point skirts would help ... but there has to be a reason someone created it.

The ones with the point are to help prevent a ball from getting hung up on the top of the skirt and needing to be nudged loose. Your test without the spoon even being there sounds like there must be something physically wrong with the skirt or how the pop bumper unit was assembled or something is misaligned, if was me I would pull the whole pop bumper assembly out (the parts above the pf) and check the parts.

I have no back box lights. On the board that has the spinning disk. I'm trying to figure out the schematics. What controls or powers these lights? Fyi. I do have lights on the outer glass. "The ones along the back box perimeter." Any help would be great. Thx.

My bad. Traced it back to the fuse. Schematics were just a tad tricky to follow. Thanks. Have a good one.

Hey guys. I'm excited to be apart of the club. I bought my BH a month and a half ago and am now just getting around to the guts of it. Boy what a beast. First off the BH I bought was suppose to be in good working condition, it even a had a video of game play. Shame on me for taking someone's word as it was all ready to go when I went to pick it up. Got it home and set it up for a good nights playing, low and behold some things didn't work.

Upper drops didn't reset, spinning disc motor was loud as hell, center pop didn't pop, lower playfield tube kicker didn't kick, lower 4 bank drop doesn't reset, lower captive hole doesn't kick and the lower captive hole 3 arrow lights don't light up. Last time I will ever buy without seeing it in person.

Anyway I have fixed most things on the upper. It had a couple blown fuses and also the center pop spoon switch was loose and needed tightened.
The lower PF I haven't made any progress yet. The tube kicker I'm pretty sure is the transistor so I have a couple of those on order, but haven't figured out the captive hole, 4 bank drop reset and the three lights.

System 80s are definitely different. Any input or help is much appreciated on trouble shooting the last few issues. Thanks

Welcome. This machine is a beast! I'm constantly working on it. And it's not easy to work on. It also pops fuses constantly. I keep it because it's a stunning looking machine and has interesting game play. Flip on and enjoy.

I guess I feel really lucky that I've never had a problem with mine. I've literally had both my BH and HH both up and running without fail for over almost a year now. Haven't had to touch a thing.

Working on a Customers Black Hole. Fixed many issues and a new one sprung up.

The Pop bumpers trigger the lower playfield initiation, ( Lower playfield comes to life as if ball was sent down to it) Of course This shuts down the upper playfield and balls in play drain.)

I do not have a manual. Does anyone have ideas as to track down the issue?

Thanks

One of the switches in the lower playfield too sensitive and vibration triggering an event is my guess.

Just out of curiosity, have you already performed the ground mods for the game? Did you replace the orange capacitor on the bottom of the cabinet? Also, the under-playfield transistors may need pull-up resistor installed if they aren't there. I was afraid it would take me forever to get my BH working. It took a while, but since I've had it running I've had very few problems.

Clients machine came in just a few days ago. It doesnt have the ground mods yet something I am planning to do.

I took care of other issues first , Dead displays, Burnt sling coil, install nvram. I believe all of the boards need rework ,Caps etc.

Connectors need repining and POP bumper boards all need rework. I wanted to discuss this with the client for his approval.

There is some odd cross talk with the POPS as one triggers another with the switches correctly gaped.

In other words not vibration related.

The triggering of the lower playfield through the pops is not due to a sensitive switch.

There is something either in the harness, connectors or possibly on the MPU where the issue may be found.

This is a first I have seen this.

Gdonovan took my first guess but if that switch doesn't solve it I would look to the PBDBs. I can't recall if the an activated switch downstairs makes the 24v/38v switch or not, but if they did, my guess would be that the PBDB on the lower playfield are being activated by stray voltage (I believe their 5v is all tied together) or the header pins need to be reflowed. If those PBDB header pins are cracked they may fire upon vibration and switch on the lower playfield.

But my guess is the gravity tunnel switch being out of alignment. I had that issue on my Haunted House before the shop.

Check your diode strips to see if you have any shorted diodes. That could be another place to check for clues. But again, as I recall, the 5V on those boards is daisy chained in a pretty flimsy way on a point towards the back of the playfield.

Was leaning towards the PBDBs but need the clients approval before reworking them. Will speak with him this eve.

Hopefully reworking them will fix the issue.

This might be totally unrelated, but if you aren't against going non-original I suggest a modern replacement of the power supply. It will reduce energy consumption and heat. It can also improve the grounding situation.

I would get intermittent coil chatter, triggering of the bottom playfield and random sounds after several minutes of play (with ground mods done). I went with a modern replacement, even removed the ground mods (except for the beefed up connector), and have had no issues since.

If it were me I would go with all modern replacements. Its the clients call.

Had a chance to look at the machine again and its the Left drop bank that is initiating the lower playfield.

I was mistaken in thinking that the Popbumper was the cause as I didnt notice the ball hitting the drop targets duh.

The center pop bumper is machine gunning and then causes a tilt. Another issue.

I can begin to narrow it down by following the connection to the drop target bank.

Sounds like you've got a switch matrix issue then...

And how does one go about dissecting and fixing a switch matrix issue on a Sys80 if the switches in question are apparently fine? Something from strobe 3 shorting or something on return 2 shorting?

Follow up. I

Upon starting the Ground mods I discovered that there was no Ground wire in the Back Box!

After addressing that and doing all of the ground mods, I tested all of the Diodes in the machine (All tested good)

I powered up the game and played 3 perfect playing games then boom the same thing happened 3 stand up targets hit and the lower playfield initialized.

I turned the game off and powered it up again and had 10 games with no issues.

I even tested everything with ball in hand for about 4 games.

It appears that the ground mods are working but not sure what caused the issue on the 3rd game.

The client ordered all new POP bumper boards and a power supply rebuild kit.

Once I install those maybe the issue will never show up again.

Any thoughts on the cause aside of not having any grounds?

Do you mean the lettered drop targets or the captive hole round stand up targets? If it were the drop targets, are they any 3 in particular that make it happen? If it is the "B" "L" and "A" then I would have to agree with zacaj that it looks like a switch matrix issue. I guess, as I suggested above, I'd check the diode strips and see if they need any attention. Maybe they're shorting out or something like that.

It was the stand up targets the one time after the ground mod was installed but I havent had an issue since.

Im still working on the machine so I will have time to see if it rears up again.

Question about a Spinning disk mod.

I had a BH in my shop about 10 years ago and its motor was wired to run only when the lower playfield was initialized.

Would anyone know the wiring schematics for that Mod?

Does the original game programming have a free play setting?
Mine has all the recommended ground mods.
And all original boards.
I have to coin it up every time I turn it on.

There are about a half dozen ways to achieve this. My preferred method is bending the center chute leaf switch so that it's activated when you hit the coin return. Easily reversible, easy to do.

So no OG free setting.
Just mod workarounds.

Thanks for the info.
Cheers.

This one as well will give you free games. I made mine with alligator clips instead of soldering it.

8C1C1922-EFDD-4F0B-8D5A-0290129655E8 (resized).jpeg

My black hole has a somewhat random problem that doesn't seem to have any real negatives.

The display on the lower playfield, and on the credit # and ball # sometimes comes up as garbled lines.

Sometimes after it warms up, it just goes away.

Other than this my game has no issues.

Could be 5101 RAM on PCB. or it's socket connection issues.
Also, maybe need to re-pin connector and check/reflow solder at backside of display.

I'd also shine up that display board's male connector pads with a fine scrubber pad and then wipe clean with alcohol-dampened cloth. Same with the board connector pads on CPU board J2 and J3 (two connectors on right side) which are involved with the display data.

Guess I gotta be a little more careful when trying to pull a sticky dirty worn-out sleeve out of a flipper coil. First time for everything. C-C-CRACK!

141670169_1841714435983837_6780158749633686240_n (resized).jpg

I wouldn't be that upset. It if was that stuck the coil was likely shot anyway.

I think the old coil was okay, after I cut it out I was able to pull the sleeve out. Happened so quick I'm not sure but I must've slipped while I was pulling on the sleeve and it jerked the coil breaking off the whole set of lugs. Put a new coil in yesterday and all is good.

It was very, very long on my wishlist I am also now finally member of the Black Hole Club, got one from the PAPA sale and it works flawless after traveling almost 3000 miles on it's legs.

Only one thing is strange; every 10.000 points it gives a free play and the knocker goes off. I prefer to do that diode solution instead (and will install a switch inside next to coin door).

How can I disable that 10k free play hack?

10k is the minimum threshold for a replay score, which is just a standard setting. Is it something different than that?

Yes, it is probably that, but I cannot find in the manual how to change that. I am new with Gottlieb machines from this period.

Need some help Identifying connector locations for the Spinning disc motor mod.

The wire colors from the manual don't seem to appear at the connector.

Has anyone done this mod do you have pics?

Connection points needed to be identified are at A3J3

_
A Red Gray Gray wire

13 Brown Yellow Yellow wire

Thanks.

Screen Shot 2021-01-31 at 12.51.53 PM (resized).png

Spinner Mod (resized).png

Which mod? I've seen one that makes it spin only when game is playing, another that only has it spin when ball is on lower playfield.

Press the self test button on inside of door while in attract mode, your three replay levels and HSTD can be set there, credit button will reset each to zero and holding the button will increment it to what you wish.

qwerqwsdfsdfserqert (resized).jpg

Energized when Ball is in lower playfield.

Bump

Can anybody tell me what the part number for the volume pot in the cab is. Looking on drawing but the only one i can find is the 2 that attaches to the sound board. Thanks

The two on the sound board are trim pots.

You should be good with this one: ebay.com link: Centralab HMS 100 100 Ohm 2 Watt Long Shaft Potentiometer RV4NAYSK101A

In my games I've opted for 10turn pots for better low volume control.

Thanks for the help

Hey guys looking for some help. Ive been trying to track down why my lower playfield tube kicker is not working. I have changed out the pull up resistor with a new 4.7k. I have replaced the 2N5875 transistor. I have installed a new coil. I have verified the coil is getting voltage. I have verified continuity to the driver board. I have replaced the Q15. The ball gate drops the ball to the tube and then just sits there. The switch recognizes when the ball is there and not there.

Not real sure where to proceed from here. Any ideas?

Also does the tub kick coil fire in either of the coil tests?

The solenoid test does not fire the tube kicker, the manual says it is assigned as solenoid #9 in the test but it's incorrect, #9 is the outhole kicker.

Did you change both transistors at the same time, or one and then the other? Unfortunately I have had the case where both transistors were bad and when I replaced just one, it was immediately killed when I tested it. It only worked when I replaced both at the same time.

If you ground the coil, does it fire?

Have you checked continuity not just to the board, but all the way to the transistor on the board?

Thanks for the reply. I had not replaced both at the same time. The last thing I replaced is the pull up resistor and now the 2N5875 is not showing good again. I just need to start from the beginning again and place all new in before turning it on. The 4.7k resistor is good and the Q15 transistor is good on the board.
I have voltage to the coil on both lugs but does not fire when grounded. I took it out of the machine and is only reading 0.3 ohmes which is not right. Manual says 15.3. Which the coil is brand new. so not sure how that happenes.

So I plan to just use a spare good coil for now, buy a new beefier replacement transistor, I bought a probe to check up to the chip. See what happens.

What should be the on either side of the pull up resistor? The fuse side had 25v and the other had 5v is that correct?

Thanks again for the help.

I got it done. Thank you!