(Topic ID: 166455)

Bulletproofing save me from a fire? And.. what now?!

By PA28steve

7 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

You

Linked Games

Topic Gallery

View topic image gallery

cirbreaker_(resized).jpg

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider PA28steve.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

#1 7 years ago

I have an old Black knight machine - The kind with the system 6 power system still.. As part of preventative maintenance, I added Inkochnito's kit to fuse my full wave rectifiers (http://www.inkochnito.nl/). Everything was great, until I just turned on the machine, and I couldn't get it to play.. I had been having trouble with the start button switch input, which is what got me to start the bulletproof project in the first place, and so I immediately thought it was just not registering my start game, but then after running switch tests and realizing the switches were all OK, I noticed that it actually WAS starting, but that NONE of my solonoids were working at all. Additionally, the flippers were dead. Very long story short, I traced it back to a bad fuse on the newly added board.
The purpose of the fuses as I understand is primarily to prevent a fire in case of a shorted bridge rectifier. I have tested the rectifier on the add-on board, and it seems fine, so I'm curious about where else to consider looking for a root cause..
I haven't replaced the fuse yet, so I dont know if it was a one time occurrence, or if it's going to blow right away when I fix it, but I'm concerned that perhaps the other bulletproofing measures may have changed the load on those solenoids, and maybe 8 amps isn't the proper size for this fuse? I have replaced the driver transistors and the associated high wattage resistors with the jumpers as otherwise discussed on the bulletproofing thread, and I'm wondering if that might make my system take more amps than a "standard" configuration.

I'm just about to go out to radio shack and buy a handful of fuses but I was curious if I should try a higher amperage one? Normally I wouldnt consider replacing a fuse with a higher value one, especially as someone who had a house fire in 2014, but since these fuses are add-on protection that weren't even in the original game, I figure there's enough wiggle room to ask what the 8 amp value is based on?

Any opinions?
Thanks!
Steve

#7 7 years ago

Thanks for all the responses.. @ForceFlow, I would typically be as adamant as you, regarding not increasing fuse values, but since there was no fuse there in the first place, my question was whether someone did some calculations to come up with the 8 amp, since that wasn't an original design value..

I had tested the bridge, and it was fine.. and, although it doesnt get much use, it's been 6 months or so since I installed the fuse kit, and it's always worked fine. I can't remember that it failed, so it makes me think someone who was over must have been playing it, and it broke, and they just walked away without telling me, and later, I just shut it off..

After posting earlier, I replaced the fuse with an identical 8a slow blow, and it came right up.. I played for 30 minutes or so, with no problem (other than my terrible rusty pinball skills) but the power light on the board that indicates the voltage is good would dim whenever a flipper or solenoid fires. I never looked before, so I dont know if that's new or not..

Anyway, if it's not unusual for the occasional fuse to blow, perhaps I'll just consider myself lucky that this is the first time on this machine, and just keep the spares handy (I bought 8). And, if something did short hard, then I'm really glad I installed the fused bridge board, because maybe it would have started a fire while unattended, whenever it happened!!

Thanks!!

Promoted items from the Pinside Marketplace
$ 95.00
Cabinet - Sound/Speakers
Pinball Mod Co.
Sound/Speakers
3,000 (OBO)
Machine - For Sale
Egg Harbor Township, NJ
From: $ 90.00
Tools
Pincoder Store
Tools
$ 17.00
Playfield - Decals
Metal-Mods
Decals
$ 299.95
Lighting - Led
Pin Stadium Pinball Mods
Led
From: $ 5.75
Playfield - Other
Rocket City Pinball
Other
$ 649.95
Lighting - Led
Pin Stadium Pinball Mods
Led
From: $ 9.00
Boards
KAHR.US Circuits
Boards
From: $ 26.95
Playfield - Other
Hookedonpinball.com
Other
$ 59.95
Playfield - Toys/Add-ons
Hookedonpinball.com
Toys/Add-ons
$ 135.00
Cabinet - Toppers
Sparky Pinball
Toppers
From: $ 11.00
$ 399.95
Lighting - Led
Pin Stadium Pinball Mods
Led
$ 59.95
Playfield - Toys/Add-ons
Hookedonpinball.com
Toys/Add-ons
From: $ 649.95
Lighting - Led
Pin Stadium Pinball Mods
Led
$ 12.50
Lighting - Led
RoyGBev Pinball
Led
$ 15.00
Playfield - Decals
Metal-Mods
Decals
$ 1,059.00
Flipper Parts
Mircoplayfields
Flipper parts
$ 5.95
Playfield - Protection
The Pinball Scientist
Protection
Wanted
Machine - Wanted
Newcastle, OK
$ 44.99
Cabinet - Shooter Rods
Pinball Shark
Shooter rods
$ 129.00
Cabinet Parts
Bob's Pinball Stuff
Cabinet parts
$ 69.00
Gameroom - Decorations
Pinball Pimp
Decorations
$ 115.00
Cabinet - Shooter Rods
Super Skill Shot Shop
Shooter rods
$ 69.00
Gameroom - Decorations
Pinball Pimp
Decorations
From: $ 8.00
Cabinet - Other
NO GOUGE PINBALL™
Other
$ 959.00
Flipper Parts
Mircoplayfields
Flipper parts
$ 13.50
$ 53.95
Eproms
Pinballrom
Eproms
$ 18.95
Eproms
Pinballrom
Eproms
Hey modders!
Your shop name here

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider PA28steve.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bulletproofing-save-me-from-a-fire-and-what-now?tu=PA28steve and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.