Looking to gather up parts to finally start my restoration. First thing I noticed was the flipper switches are missing. Any one have parts numbers for the switches they used for left and right side? I have read they needed to be tungsten. Any one kind enough to post pictures of inside your cabinet to show the switch setup would be great. Thanks

Do you mean depth, or wall thickness?
Some basic dimensions on a similar baffle here:
https://www.pinballlife.com/single-backbox-light-baffle.html

Should be this:
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/SW-10A-48

Thanks.

Thanks I will use the dimensions from that.

Also wondering what tools are needed to repin the connectors in system 6's? Ive only really have experience with repining gottlieb system 1's

Anyone here know where I can get a set of Blackout pop bumper caps? Really only need one, but figured a set would match better. Any input would help as I can’t find repros anywhere.

Thanks!

1980 Williams Blackout
w/ Comets, Titans, Cliffy's
9/10
Includes a mostly populated second playfield
$4,000 (CDN)
Hamilton, ON
Comfortable shipping but local sale preferred

Pics on Kijiji and FB marketplace

Hi,
I'm getting a Blackout up and running and the only issue I have is the yellow drop targets randomly will not reset. They try to...you can see a pulse to bring them back up. If the ball drains, they reset no problem. It's totally random. Could be the 3rd time or the 5th+ time they drop they remain down, or in any order of dropping. Coil is replaced and all mechs cleaned and they work great except for this random issue. Any advice is appreciated!

Did you replace the original round header pins on the driver board (J9 and J11)?
If not, that would be my first choice , followed by replacing the connector.
Has the correct transistor been used (TIP122 or TIP102)?

No, I have not done anything (yet) to the original boards except replace batteries. Thanks for the areas to start looking. “Random” always seems to be connectors. The boards might be candidates for sending out to rebuild.

Random, could also be the horseshoe switch on the drop target that doesn't make contact well. Inspect the drop target unit, clean the little PCBs maybe sand gently the cupper area and register again the contact . Also check daisy chain solders.

I was going to suggest making sure the assembly was clean too, I just had a Williams that someone GREASED the coil and sleeve.

Reset was erratic till it was all cleaned.

Thanks everyone. I did have the unit apart and it was filthy. Cleaned the contacts and horseshoes with rubbing alcohol, but being my first time trying this I might not have a good sense on clean and how much pressure the contacts need. Daisy chain wiring seems solid.

For cleanup of the contacts nothing overly aggressive. If something is really tarnished I use a fine 3M abrasive pad dipped in solvent like acetone. Even then it's a light touch as you don't want to take the gold coating off.

What I have noticed (and maybe it's normal) but when the targets do not reset up again, if I wiggle the top of one target in particular, they all reset up like they should. So, something makes a good contact and the coil fires.

Put a meter across all the sets of contacts to make sure they make and break like they are supposed to.

Also, seriously think about replacing those horseshoe with NMP sensors. Makes all the difference in the world.

Just replace those horseshoe sliders with NMP sensors. No adjusting - nothing to get dirty.
Contact me at [email protected] or Troxel Repair.

IMG_7926c (resized).jpg

Thank you Bob. I’ve been watching some videos on your amazing product.

I put these on my Blackout and they work great.
Also have them on Gorgar and Flash..

Sound on my blackout started acting up. Had the original roms so went to burn new ones except IC7 fails. Pulled the rom off ipdb. Using an older gq-4x with a power adapter.

I can burn any other file, but ic7 fails at the same spot every time. I tried downloading mame roms and same deal. Anyone run into this?

Ended up stealing a rom from the centaur I picked up over the weekend. I am still missing yellow and orange when I run the self test on the sound board. Guess I am going to have to go look at checksums.

Just got a Blackout a few weeks ago. Has a sound issue where the tilt sound is playing for many of the sounds like the lane rollovers, pop bumpers, right spinner, and more. In audit mode solenoid check, solenoid 11 has no sound but should. For the record, solenoid 9 is the tilt sound. I've done a board mounted diode test on all the pre transistors and transistors and they seem to be good. I checked the voltages on PIA IV and pins 2 through16 are all low in attract mode. I've checked the voltages at IC3 and IC4 during attract mode and they seem to be appropriately low except the blanking pins which are high. I've grounded the metal tab on the TIP102/TIP120 transistors and Q35 does not generate a sound but the other four do when grounded from the tab. Grounding the 5 pins at 10J3 on the sound board all generate sounds, so this should rule out a soundboard issue. When in attract mode the 2N4401 pre transistor voltage between ground and the center leg is the similar on all 5 at 178mV to 180mV with one at 194mV (not associated with solenoid 11), but they are all stable. The left leg of each of these is 4.9V and the right leg is -1mV. The voltage between ground and the metal tab on the TIP120/TIP102 transistors is 4.9V except Q35 (solenoid 11) is constantly variable. The center leg is 4.9V, right leg -1mV, left leg -1.5mV, however, just like the other 4 transistor. I suspect this transistor is bad, but interestingly, sometimes the sound works correctly on the machine. Is it possible for a transistor to be bad but work correctly some of the time? Or should I be looking elsewhere for the issue?

I want to replace the backglass on my Blackout. I know Coos makes them and they aren't the cheapest option but look great. Have anyone here ordered the one Planetary carries? I was curious as to the quality of it.

I have it and the quality is very good, in my opinion.
Haven't noticed anything missing or wrong.

Same here. Ordered from Planetary about 2 months ago and the backglass is very nice and super quick to ship. I normally use CPR, but this one is on par, or even better I think.

I have one too, I haven't installed it but it looked good when I took it out to check it over

Screenshot_20230728_195001_Gallery (resized).jpg

Great to hear. I'll get one on order.

I was happy with mine that i purchased several years ago
had a few errors when it was light up
the K , O and U had some bits missing
it looks washed out in the pics but it looks great

displays fixed (resized).jpg

I just bought a "factory second" from planetary for Blackout and it is amazing. The mirroring is beautiful, colors are vibrant, the masking is excellent. I saved a few bucks bc it is a second, but I really don't know what is wrong. Maybe the red screen is slightly off, not sure. But I am very happy with it.

Anyone buy the Comet LED kit for Blackout? I’m really just wondering what’s in it, bulb temp/colors/etc.

Yes, I always start with Comet kits which are mostly warm white for GI and correct color for inserts (red, blue, etc). It's a basic starting point then order what look I want from there. But, in my opinion Comet makes great products. I use their "matrix" system as well to add trough lights, and on Blackout (and other games) to light up the ball locks/ saucers from under the PF. For Blackout, I used their 'Ice Blue", Red, Green, and Orange 2SMD bulbs on the PF in the areas the represent the "condition red" and so forth. Probably over-kill, but I think it looks great! I'll try to post a pic later.

I'm having a couple of odd issues on my Blackout that I think are centered around the top lane rollovers. I've noticed that they seem to often score multiple times on one pass through - so if you're tapping the flipper you can effectively light multiple lanes.

Then more recently I'm seeing behavior where sometimes flipper activity when top lanes are completed appears to sometimes cause the game to end - flippers die, the displays act like it's in attract mode, but the game will keep playing whatever sound was going at the time it happened, generally whatever frequency the state of the spinners had the game at. Happens maybe 20% of the time and this is the only trigger for it that I've seen.

I'm not sure if these two things are related for certain.

Power supply board is original, recapped
MPU board is a rottendog
Swemmer combo sound/speech board

only hacky repair I can find is that a wire going to the light relay was jumpered from where it pulled out of the connector at the MPU side instead of being repinned

I was hoping someone may have an idea of where to look on this

Hey all,
I’m working on a Blackout for a friend. It keeps popping the 2.5 amp SB fuse with pop actuation. If you replace the fuse the game will power up fine and everything works until you actuate a pop bumper. So I checked the pops and I don’t see any obvious shorts, all the coils seem ok, plungers move freely.
The weird thing is it can happen with any of the three pops and it takes 3-5 actuations to blow the fuse. All the boards are new except for the power supply board. I’m wondering if there is an issue with the board itself and it’s sending too much amperage through the circuit over time??
Thoughts?

IMG_6778 (resized).jpeg

Are the correct coils installed?

Yes, originals

I have had diodes go bad... the coils move freely etc.
But, a bad diode would pop the power fuse.
And you probably would need to repair the transistor circuitry.

I have a new power supply board incoming. Going to throw that in there and see if it fixes the problem. Something that blows a fuse over repeated actuations but not every time seems like an issue of increasing amperage from the board that is building up slowly until the fuse pops.

I’ll let everyone know how it comes out.

Hello, all! I am acquiring a Blackout soon, and one of the displays is out. This has led me to wonder: Is there a best replacement display recommended for this game/era, ideally perhaps one that scrolls to allow for millions instead of rolling the game?

I like Wolfpac or xpin, but you would have to replace them as a set and not just an individual one. No display will show millions without alot of modifications https://www.pinball4you.ch/okaegi/pro_d7f.html

There is a divide by 10 ROM you can use if you are rolling over the score. If a display is bad you can look for a good used display or get a whole fresh set of LED displays. The Wolffpac are excellent. If you go that route you can sell your original working displays to offset the cost.

Thank you guys for the insight and tips! I’ll keep those in mind as I dig in here I don’t know anything about displays yet, aside from there being high voltage and danger involved, so any and all tips and recommendations are welcome, including the best replacement brands and what kind of effort has to go into replacing or modifying them.

Thank you again, and hope you had/are having happy holidays!

I doubt the power board is at fault. It will not increase amperage. Any of the power boards can supply more current (up to the fuse size) but that all depends on the load connected to it.

Something else is wrong in the game.

Where might I get these ROMS? I’ve a tournament venue with tons of Bally games

+1

The divide by 10 was done for Firepower but works in most System 6 games including Blackout. You should be able to get it from this page:

https://www.pinball4you.ch/okaegi/pro_soft.html

It’s hard to tell what all that person did/had to do…if it’s just fitting/mounting new 7-digit displays, maybe swapping in a Sys 7 MPU, that doesn’t seem like it’d be so bad? If it requires altering game code or something, though, that’s not something I’ve ever done and wouldn’t know where to start :/

Not that I’ve done a display or MPU swap, either, hah

If someone is rolling over the score then that is what the divide by 10 patch handles. You keep your 6 digit displays but all of the scores are a tenth of what they normally are so it acts like a 7 digit game. Just imagine there is an extra invisible zero on the right of each player display.

There are instructions in this ZIP file on how to patch the ROM. As I recall you only need to patch one chip and burn a fresh one with the new image:

https://www.pinball4you.ch/okaegi/p-fpall.zip

The patched ROM used to be online but it looks like many alternative versions of code have been pulled.

Yeah the divide by 10 ROM makes sense, and def seems simple enough to implement, but it has the same bummer: You have to mentally manage your score in some fashion. If it’s not something crazy to make the game report and record 7 digit scores, that’d be the ideal, *but* I’m guessing since there isn’t readily available, easy to follow steps on doing it (at least that I’ve been able to find thus far), there probably isn’t a particularly straight forward way to go about it?

I'm sure there are several on here that have the images. I think I have a spare one ready to go. Would just need to look through my parts. I have a couple games that can use it.