Right, if I take a 5+ hour drive out of town for a pin (LA / Portland for me), I want my GF with me, and I wouldn't know where to put her in this configuration if the deal were a 2-fer...

-mof

BC Gambit, congrats on the Centaur CPR "special-white version" PF sale !!! $1200... hot damn...
-mof

Well, let me say it was a bit nerve wracking, luckily, a lot of the drive was at night and I was able to go around downtown Atlanta. I had little visibility directly to my right so had to carefully track any cars I passed, not a problem. If the head had been removed from the Centaur it would have made things much easier.

Like I said, I had a long piece of plywood, about a foot wide, set as a ramp and a 2x4' piece atop the seat so the machine would sit there. Previously I carried two pins with one on it's side, but it was a Space Invaders so only about 20" deep for much of its length. It is possible to do and when we got the Centaur slid up front the coin door was facing forward. That way, the TSPP would not slide in. So yeah, in the front seat, we turned the Centaur completely around, then things just fit.

One issue I'm having now is the extra bell feature (multiball) won't kick and I get a lot of high pitched noise/squeal from the Centaur. Going to do the standard transistor driver checks and replace capacitors on the sound board but the Say It Again board seems to work, for now.

Damn, I want in this club so much. PFs come up all the time and I don't buy, SIA replacement boards shipping now and I don't buy..because I don't have the machine yet!! I should probably just collect all this stuff as it comes up as it might be hard to find when I finally DO need it.

May or may not be wise, you might end up with extras when you track the game down, like I did...

Thank you.

Also, in relation to my sound issues jumpering it according to the manual turned out to be a bad plan (I had to do/undo 2-3 jumpers on the Squawk and Talk Board to get it wired like the manual said...) and that ended up locking up the sound board (LED solid on). The good news is reversing these changes seemed to fix the problem (it now flashes the expected number of fimes...).

Now I will just see if installing the FF jumper to run without the Say it Again board works, or I will wait until the replacement Say it Again comes. I removed the Say it Again connectors yesterday and actually could hear faint music with electronic "stuff" In place of speech (it is not supposed to work this way without the FF jumper on) so that is at least something...

Congrats on getting your centaur home Mark!

Got the multiball kicker working last night. Replaced J3 Header and repinned those. Magnet still wouldn't work. Turned out to be one of the supply wires was broke. Fixed it and works fine. Replaced the Driver transistor for the ball kick to playfield, think that was the problem. Except for two wires out and a hack repair for the right return lane plastic (replaced with a rubber and two posts, must fix that!) fully working. Anyone point me to the return lane plastic supports I need to order?

do you mean the little plastic to the right of the flipper? ( they have bally standoffs that look like a smaller version of the standoffs on the queens chamber plastics) .. if not post a pic

Yes, that is the one.

I decided to try to fix my Centaur's sound bug again tonight, at this point I boldly jumpered FF on the squawk and talk board to bypass the Say it Again board and voila, I have sound and speech.

Looking at the schematic, I notice that (on the schematic) pins 7 and 8 on the squawk and talk connector J2 appear to join together, and then mutually go to both pins 1 and 2 on J2 of the Say it Again Board.

However, my wires for this part of the circuit do not join together, when someone was creating this custom looking harness perhaps they made an error.

You might ask yourself, why not just connect these and see what happens? The schematic can't be wrong? As I have documented previously in this thread the wiring schematic seems pretty far off in regards to this area in my copies of the digital of the Centaur manual. If I blindly followed it I might have exploded my game at this point.

So, can someone please check to see the connector that goes to J2 on both the S&T and the Say it Again Board has continuity between pins 7-8 (S&T) and 1-2 on the Say it Again board.

Here are some photos of mine, I hope it is wired wrong and this is what has been bugging me...

centaur harness far.JPG

centaur closeup.JPG

If anyone is selling a centaur I'd be interested In buying! Thanks guys

I have one .. ill send you a PM

I bought a gold class CPR playfield while I was trying to buy a Centaur locally. Turns out Shimoda got to it quicker. Now I have a beautiful playfield and no game. If anyone wants it, I'll sell for the price I paid if you throw in your old playfield (as long is it's not too trashed).

.. did you fix it in the end? or still need help?

Mind if I join in?
DSC01516.JPG

Now that's a fine looking lineup. Welcome to the club.

...now I need to find me an Embryon.

Sorry, I thought I had posted about it here ( I did in another thread, I will copy and paste below)...

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/centaur-wiring-harness-question-st-to-sia

Thank you for the help Matthess, my Centaur sound is now fully working.

The wiring harness from the Squawk and Talk to the Say it Again should be as per below, and NOT what is in the manual/schematic (at least this is how my machine is now wired and works, wiring below documented by Matthess):

J2 of the squawk and talk to the 6 pin connector on the Say it Again
J2-7 > single wire > CN2
J2-8 > wire and bare > CN1
J2-9 > single wire > CN6
J2-10 > wire and bare > not connected.

So basically the Schematic is very off on Centaur's sound wiring... and even the jumpers on the Squawk and Talk board (mine did not work after jumpering as per manual).

nice view !
-mof

Just enough room for Fathom if I get rid of that useless bookshelf.

Already a great line up , put Fathom in there and it will be really awesome .

For interest - thats how mine is wired as well!

A Centaur CPR PF just went up on ebay for $999 buyout. These have sold for $1250 lately.
-mof

Can I join, or is the my Centaur version excluded?

2013-12-14 16.41.20.jpg

Great line up Gregg!

you're in for sure..no centaur gets left behind.

Awesome...I feel like I'm a part of the gang now

Is there a dipswitch for changing replays to extra balls?
Sorry I don't have a manual...

http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/476/Bally_1981_Centaur_Manual.pdf

Yeah, I'm a new Bally owner, I'd like to know the same thing. Right now, the replay is set to 1 point or w/e so it knocks when you first start playing it. I'd surely like to undo that and set the thing up right.

Ideally, earning a replay = extra ball, is that even an option on a Bally?

-mof

Thanks Stu, I always forget to check there...
Extra balls here I come.

First game with extra balls...

DSC01525.JPG

Schwarz: "Under the menu settings via the coin door not the dip switches; change 16 to 2 and change 17 to 2."

It works!

-mof

Bumping this. Would like to avoid shipping, so if we can work out a deal where you're in/near KC in the future that could work.

Perhaps you'll still find one jayhawkai.

I had a great game the other day. Unfortunately didn't realize my last ball was a shoot again and someone else played it. Who knows how far I would have gotten but it felt great. Unfortunately my right flipper which I just rebuilt is acting sluggish, I believe it is the cabinet switch and I can't find my darn flexstone!

2013-12-07 20.01.51.jpg

EDIT: Sold to a fellow Pinsider

I've had no luck finding a game and need cash. My CPR playfield and plastics are available to anyone in need for $xxx shipped. The playfield is rated Bronze due to slight misregistration of the red ink. The playfield is otherwise spectacular. I can deliver to MGC if you want it for less. I'm in a pinch for cash so would need quick payment.

Centaur Playfield & Plastics:
http://pinside.com/pinball/market/ad/9920

Centaur Playfield - 9 Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mnhotrods/sets/72157638834145733/

Way to kick its butt Schwarz. Glad to see you're enjoying the game.

The very first game after I shopped it, I put up 6.6 million. I thought, man this game is easy................. and then I played another game. Didn't go quite as well.

My max is 2.6 mil after 200-300 plays, I have lots to learn to make 6 mil no doubt...
-mof

My first instinct was to get the 5x on the first ball, just so happened I ended up racking 79 bonus to add. After that it was multiballs and scooping bonus's up the right side. Haven't been so lucky since however.

On mine that upper right shot is iffy -- I am wondering if I have the right rubber on there, might be a tad loose, and therefore slows the ball a little, but I think that adds to the difficulty, honestly.
-mof

Queen's Chamber!
What's the deal with the ball in the QC? Should it be a standard pinball size, or is it a different ball/size?

thanks!
-mof

Its not in the machine manual or the parts manual but why would you consider anything but a standard ball?

It IS a larger ball....

oh cool .. what size? i have some machines to change! is it documented somewhere or are you just wise and learned?

mine was original and when I restored it I had all the balls in a baggie and noticed 1 of the balls was larger so I pulled it out & compared it to a regular ball and there it was > larger....

I have since replaced it with a Black Pearl and I have to say it is actually more functional as well as looking badass...the Black Pearl is a bit heavier and thus carries more Momemtum when struck so making the Stationary Target (Release) shot is much easier (I have my game on a very steep incline for speed games).....

I guess I should add that the Larger 'original' ball is heavier as well and would carry a similar momemtum to make the shot....

you're right .. heavier makes much more sense. experiments are required!

Stu,

I restored two original playfields and the ball size in the Queen's Chamber was standard. I'm going to investigate this some more, but do you think the previous owner of your game added the bigger ball because the clear retaining plastics were widened a bit from play, and not holding the ball anymore?

Count me in the club; just picked up a C2 from a fellow member. Been looking a while and I'm glad the search is over. I'm having a slight problem, however. Was working fine at seller's house. I posted a tech thread before I found this. Here's my post:

EDIT: Solved! Thanks, Eric_S. Turned out to be a game setting. Weird that it worked fine only days before. Time to change batteries.

"New to classic Ballys so was hoping someone could give me a hand with this. Got my Centaur home, put it back together (had to take head off to transport), turned it on. Originally it was doing all sorts of random stuff, like it was confused about what switch should do what; found two shorts, straightened them out, and now all is well with that. However, now when I start a game, voice will only say "Centaur" instead of "Destroy Centaur" and there's no music at all (there is sounds though). Then, on subsequent balls, there is no "Destroy Centaur" voice at all; other call outs seems to work though. Disconnected/reconnected connectors, they look to be in good shape. Voice test on S/T board is fine. I will say that the 4700 mfd cap on the S/T board is in BAD shape; cap kit on order. However, I think I remember reading that the music is generated from the MPU and not the S/T board? Anyway, any help would be appreciated. Thanks."

I have seen at least 7 Centaurs ( + mine ) with a larger ball in the Queen's Chamber....And to clarify: I have a Black Pearl in mine now which is the exact same size as a "regular" pinball which fits just fine, the original factory plastics had no damage and were not expanded/widended through use of play......I guess it's possible that all 8 of the Centaurs I have seen with a larger ball in the Queens Chamber were not original but " I " tend to doubt it, then again anything is possible.....

Also, Not sure about this, but the Flyer refers to the Ball in the Queens Chamber as a "Boot-A-Ball" and also makes note of the "Game Ball" in the same sentence....see Link for the Flyer Refference:
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=476&picno=3809&zoom=1

This same reference ( Boot-A-Ball ) is made in the Official Bally Press Release:
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=476&picno=11056&zoom=1

Stu