Hi joined the club a few weeks ago w a semi project machine. Needs a better trans light some cleaning and polishing, and has one major problem. All optics are out and only getting 5.05 volts. Started a separate help thread on Pinside and has someone post some ideas from pinwiki. But the pinwiki guide says power goes to optio’s through rectifier br 5. Can’t find a br5. Any ideas?

Found problem with voltage: Rectifier BR4 was bad. Pinwiki said to check BR5, but in Breakshot there is no BR5.

Still have a number of issues. Working through them one at a time.

Google and Pinside searched for new translite for my Breakshot with no luck so far. Anyone know where I can get a NOS, or reproduction of the original?

Thanks, sent them a message through their site tonight.

Well, been working to get this game completely up and running, and every time it seems like have it dialed, something new pops up. This one has me stumped so far. Was working on "tuning" pop bumpers, had just finished the hopefully final adjustment on the upper left pops under PF switch. Lowered the playfield, turned on the game, and it almost immediately displayed "Slam" on the dmd. Checked the coin door slam switch. Found the white / brown wire broken. re soldered it to the switch. No change. Desoldered both black white, and white brown wires from switch. No change still. Traced the circuit through the wiring diagram, pic attached, to the J2 plug on the coin door board. Which is where my significant lack of SS expertise brought me to a halt. Also looked for another slam switch in the game, but can't find one.

What am I missing here? Any ideas?

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Wow thanks. Completely missed switch 29, physically looked in cabinet and under pf and couldn’t find a slam switch. Didn’t think to look at pf switch page in book. Followed link and will look into plug wiring tonight. Thanks, and btw jealous of your color dmd. Maybe when get game truly dialed in......

For anyone looking for translite / backglass: just received answer from CPR. They are converting translites to backglasses to sell through Marco. They haven't converted and don't have digital file for Breakshot yet. In any case, I would prefer a translite (being cheap) so if anyone has a lead on one, please let me know.

Great lead on the service bulletin. But darn, ring already in this game. Pulled connectors anyway and checked wires snug around ring, and connectors looked in good shape. Still slammed. Pulled one off at a time w game off, with just J24 unplugged was able to boot game and run diagnostics. But game wouldn’t eject a ball due to trough opto in same connector. Will keep trying.

Thanks

Great will try that. Interestingly in tracking white green wire from switch 29 discovered that at least one of the optic switches are triggering the slam. If block the left looping switch game will start but report a center post malfunction.

Tried 4th loop. No luck. Think there is something going on with the white green wire circuit. Upper left looping opto triggers slam. Right flipper button triggers slam. Unplugged w/g wires from flipper, no slam. So going to spend a while tonight looking for problems in the w/g wire path. Any suggestions would be great.

Btw: since this troubleshooting going longer than expected. Should I move this to it’s own thread?

Thanks and checked diodes visually. Also interesting that the actual slam switch doesn’t cause a slam tilt. Only switches 21, 53, and 61. How’s that for random. May not be able to work on it tonight. But will try again soon.

Oh, and switch 37 doesn’t seem to work at all.

Thank you both, for the input. Couldn't work on it tonight, will try again tomorrow. Re my background, been refurbing (not full restoring) EM's for about 3 1/2 years. So have learned a lot, but still a lot to learn on that side. Just bought a project Gottlieb Baseball, which is my 31st pin, with 10 still in the collection. So been bz with EM's. But....... anything with circuit boards has strictly been "phone a friend" situations. Which I did with Breakshot, and thought he had it fixed when found the BR4 rectifier was bad. When it shortly after started this problem, I decided it was time to dip a toe into trying to work through as much of it as possible with just advice type help. And as you can see, not going great so far since what I know about anything circuit board related wouldn't coat the bottom of a thimble. But will persevere, and really appreciate the help.

Found time to work on it today. Tested every diode, and all seem to test correctly, and from visual inspection are installed correctly. My suspicion is it is a problem with one of the opto's. Most likely the one that isn't working. Not sure how to test this, but will work on it. There is also either a secondary or related problem. When the game boots up, the DMD says there is a center post malfunction and runs a diagnostic. Then says after that their is still a malfunction. Don't know how to diagnose this, just for the moment hoping that it is related to the slam switch problem and clears up when that problem is solved.

Been on that screen quite a few times and was very helpful isolating some of the switch problems. But last test it was acting strange, like a switch was rapidly turning off then on. Will post a video later if can figure out how.

Thanks will try that, but may be a couple days.

Have fun at the hall of fame. Been their a few times. It’s Ok, but wish it were as nice as Pacific Pinball Museum.

Well ended up disconnecting every switch connecting through the white green wire circuit and no change. Also disconnected the right center pocket switch. The test display flashes the center pocket switch message rapidly with the right top lane message just displaying briefly once in a while. Could this be a board problem?

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Update: worked on it Sunday, with help. No progress. Helper going to bring a switch tester next weekend. Personally beginning to think it’s possessed.

Don’t know normal, so not sure. How was Vegas?

Glad Vegas a blast. Agree that phof disappoints. Lots of potential, but.....

As for Breakshot. Checked closed switches against switch matrix in book. Definite pattern. Just not sure what it means. May be hard to see, but pencil dots show closed switches. And the don’t work on PF.

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Yep that’s what I’m afraid of, thankfully will have help more knowledgeable than me. He’s just busy.

Thanks, I have a video of the switch diagnostic screen. Just don't know how to show it on Pinside. Let me know if you want me to send it another way, or if you know how to get it on here. Also, when the playfield is not plugged in, nothing shows up.

thanks again.

Thanks for the post Mike.

Odd, I clicked and took me right to the video. http://gallery.antelopearcade.com/default.aspx?moid=3852

copied it here in case that helps. Otherwise, do you want to pm your email address to me?

Thanks, may be a while before I get back to it. Family medical stuff. Will post progress when get back to it.

Hi, well been a lloooonnnnggg while since have had a chance to work on Breakshot. Family on going medical situation, and decided to finish Gottlieb Baseball em project while on Breakshot break.

Now back to it and re-read all the diagnosing posts from months ago.

Current status: The game will light up, but won’t start a game. re ran the diode tests. All diodes on the white yellow, green, blue, and purple wire paths show continuity instead of giving a diode reading. All other switch diodes ok.

First question: should I start a new help for this machine thread instead of taking up more space on this thread?

Updating this old post to celebrate having a working Breakshot. Long boring story won't share here, but game ended up with Pinball Pirate Chris, in Benicia CA. He was able to trace the issues to multiple fried chips due to a short, which included a ROM replacement and upgrade to 1.3. Just picked it up last night and works great. Now, just need to get a new translight for the back glass. If anyone knows where to get a good original translight, please let me know.

I started a new forum post looking for an original translite or artwork. A generous Pinsider offered to stitch together multi scans of mine to create the artwork. But mine is in pretty bad shape. Any Breakshot owners out there already have a scan or scans of a translite in good condition? Thanks.

Found someone who can provide a Translite of the original Breakshot back glass image. Mike can be reached by email at mgpacak <[email protected]>

Sorry if not clear. Yes, buying just a translite, finished product not artwork or backglass. Some of us EM guys get easily confused.

Sorry to hear that. Worked out great for me. Sent him a check (don't do pay pal) and he sent the translite right away. Looks great.

So am I the last Breakshot player in the world to figure out that not shooting to fill the center and start Breakshot frenzy, is the best way to improve scores? Mine have gone up considerably since I started shooting the left and right orbit shots to increase bonus multiplier, get extra ball going, and collect super cues. Still go for the frenzy, and jackpots, but more as a side effect of the occasional stray shot that heads that way. Of course, the other possibility is that I am so bad at getting a Breakshot frenzy going without draining to the out lanes, that I am the only player where shooting to the top of the playfield is a better plan.

I know for many of you this is a no big deal score. But more than doubled my personal best tonight. On a day when it was nice to have something as overall unimportant as pinball gives me something to smile about.

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Thanks, I will try the frenzy after countdown. No idea on the power issue other than the wiggle the cord suggestion. Sure sounds like something loose somewhere. Those intermittent problems are the worse.

Glad you found it, and I don't know enough to answer your question, although don't know why it would be a specialty part. Hopefully one of the other Breakshot owners here will know.

Just posting to sadly say I have left the club. Had to thin the herd, and while a tough decision, Breakshot lost. Already miss it. Will try to rejoin someday.