Blue Chip
Williams, 1976I have worked out the big gremlins that were in my game. Now that I'm able to play it I've noticed that it doesn't award extra balls consistently. Some games it awards them correctly and other games it doesn't award them at all.
What would I need to look at to get this fixed?
I believe it randomly works/doesn't work on those switches, but will need to double check. The main time I've noticed is for achieving a set score. I believe it is set to award an extra ball for 240,000 320,000 and 410,000.
You won't get an extra ball if the match feature is "on."
If not that check SM Imp-A and the Make/Break on Game relay for extra ball problem.
Capture (resized).PNGThe match feature was on. I cleaned the male part of the jones plug and moved over to off. For the first couple test games it worked right but then did what it was doing before. I checked and cleaned the make/break on the game relay it looks good; I could have maybe tightened up the gap a bit on the switch that is normally closed but it was making pretty good contact so I left it alone. I think the switch on the score motor you are referring to is on switch stack farthest from the score motor gear box, bottom most switch. It looked ok. I went ahead and cleaned the switch, it was like the switch on the game relay where I could have tightened up the gap a little bit but it was making contact so I left it alone.
I lit and checked the three special switches and they award an extra ball 100% of the time so it appears the problem is in the scoring portion of the extra ball.
Anything else I should look at or do?
Quoted from pindude80:the problem is in the scoring portion of the extra ball
Inspect and diagnose this circuit with Alligator clip jumper wires.
http://www.planetimming.com/Pinball/troubleshooting/EM%20Troubleshooting.pdf
http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index3.htm#features
Pinball (resized).pngHowardR, I did as you said, I studied the 2 links you provided and gave it a shot; thanks for the education! I have a couple general questions I will ask at the end.
During the test I had to skip the W-Gray on the 10,000 point drum because I couldn't tell which one was W-Gray, can you tell from the picture? I went to the next step which was the 10,000 pt relay and I could not get the ball count unit to advance like it did everywhere else. Is the B-R wire bad somewhere?
I noticed on the schematics on the 100,000 pt drum I was supposed to check the BLU wire, there is another number next to BLU, maybe a 5, or letter after it that I can't read; same with the wire on the 10,000 pt drum, looks like a 4? What are these numbers/letters?
IMG_20181124_170418 (resized).jpgWhich wires to check on the 10k drum, the 100k drum, and the High Score Adjustment depend on what you have the High Score Adjustment set to.
Quoted from pindude80:I noticed on the schematics on the 100,000 pt drum I was supposed to check the BLU wire, there is another number next to BLU, maybe a 5, or letter after it that I can't read; same with the wire on the 10,000 pt drum, looks like a 4? What are these numbers/letters?
This picture from 19B on the schematic.
Pinball (resized).pngQuoted from pindude80:I couldn't tell which one was W-Gray, can you tell from the picture?
If your schematic is more readable than my copy from IPDB you should be able to tell from the wire colors next to it. If your schematic is my same blurry copy, I suggest you buy a good hard copy from one of the usual suppliers.
Quoted from currieddog:You won't get an extra ball if the match feature is "on."
If not that check SM Imp-A and the Make/Break on Game relay for extra ball problem.[quoted image]
Not true. I had a "Blue Chip" once, and I had it set for extra ball play. I also left the match feature plug enabled. It would award extra balls as well as continue the game if it happened to match after the last ball drained. On one game, I had three consecutive "matches" which continued the game after the last ball left the playfield. You don't see the match number, but you do get an extra ball if a match condition exists at game over. The other extra ball awards are not affected by the position of the match award plug.
Quoted from HowardR:Which wires to check on the 10k drum, the 100k drum, and the High Score Adjustment depend on what you have the High Score Adjustment set to.
Quoted from HowardR:If your schematic is more readable than my copy from IPDB you should be able to tell from the wire colors next to it. If your schematic is my same blurry copy, I suggest you buy a good hard copy from one of the usual suppliers.
I printed my copy off of IPDB so it's about the same thing you have.
What should I look at since the B-R wire isn't activating the extra ball on the 10,000 pt relay?
Quoted from jrpinball:Not true. I had a "Blue Chip" once, and I had it set for extra ball play. I also left the match feature plug enabled.
Refer to the manual snippet in post 2. Seems something was a bit screwy in your BC. Or lucky, depending on your view!
Quoted from currieddog:Refer to the manual snippet in post 2. Seems something was a bit screwy in your BC. Or lucky, depending on your view!
Nope. Nothing was wrong with my game. I've seen others do the same, as well as other Williams machines which have multiple award modes. It's only a recommendation to disable the match feature when on extra ball because the match feature is supposed to award a replay. It would probably only cause confusion to leave it enabled in extra ball mode, because you don't see the match number when you match for an extra ball, and there wouldn't be any way to explain the continued play on the instruction card.
Most people would probably walk away from the game after seeing the last ball drain, not realizing that they had an additional ball to play. A quirky design flaw, but normal. Thus, the reminder to disable the match on extra ball mode.
Quoted from jrpinball:I've seen others do the same, as well as other Williams machines which have multiple award modes. It's only a recommendation t
Interesting! My two Williams, a Fun-Fest and a Space Mission, are either/or.
Quoted from currieddog:Interesting! My two Williams, a Fun-Fest and a Space Mission, are either/or.
They are both multi-player machines, so they're not true add-a-balls. Having the match feature enabled would not light "same player shoots again" in any case.
:-)From your prior thread on Blue Chip "I still get 5000 points, the minimum bonus, lit at the start of a ball," I also own blue chip and this is it's correct functioning. Reading this thread I will say that my instruction card indicates free ball at 2 scores and awards properly upon achieving the lower score but does not at the next score. I have not tried to fix this but is probably just a jumper setting.
BTW I have the original schematic and manual, should you need a reference. 
Quoted from Pmedic871::-)From your prior thread on Blue Chip "I still get 5000 points, the minimum bonus, lit at the start of a ball," I also own blue chip and this is it's correct functioning. Reading this thread I will say that my instruction card indicates free ball at 2 scores and awards properly upon achieving the lower score but does not at the next score. I have not tried to fix this but is probably just a jumper setting.
BTW I have the original schematic and manual, should you need a reference.
I watched a couple videos and noticed all of the Blue Chips in them also start out at 5000, seems weird, but like you said it is correct. I took apart my score reels and cleaned everything hoping to fix the extra ball problem, but it still intermittently awards extras balls; I'm going to work on and post about it more when I get a chance.
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Cincinnati, OH