Capt. Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy
Bally, 1976Captain Fantastic. Game formerly played fine. Lamps were flickering, but has now gotten much worse. Have lost all lights, including GI on the playfield and backglass, plus the insert lights on the playfield too. Game still coins up, score reels reset properly and game starts. As soon as a ball hits a pop bumper I get a constant buzzing noise.
Any tips on where to start in diagnosis?
Capt GI issues seems common these days,recent similar thread. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/captain-fantastic-lots-of-stuff-not-working#post-2056764
Quoted from RoyF:As soon as a ball hits a pop bumper I get a constant buzzing noise.
Check see if the pop bumper is not releasing.
Fuse block. Make sure your fuses are in there tight. Bally from that era have notoriously bad fuse holders
--Jeff
The Jones plug by the tilt mech has issues! That's a 12-pin plug and receptacle (6x2) I think. One pin in particular is toasty black. Cleaning that pin with steel wool doesn't appear to yield good results (but works fine on the other pins). So my temporary fix will be to solder around that one wire. Plus replace the 3-fuse block because it has one noticeably weak fuse clip in it so lets replace them all.
What do you EM experts do when dealing with a bad Jones plug. Buy a matching set of replacements (male and female) and replace to keep things original? Does anyone even sell Jones plugs? Or perhaps use a more current connector pair, like this one from GPE (only one half shown here): https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=03-09-1126
If I use a more current connector to do the replacement, what size do I want to handle the amperage going thru that plug - 0.093" or something else?
Quoted from RoyF:Cleaning that pin with steel wool doesn't appear to yield good results
I use 150 grit sandpaper which cleans them well,just wipe the sanding dust off before plugging it back in.
Jones plug burnt pin bypassed (soldered both halves of wire to female lug). Still no lights. Will replace the fuse block today and if no lights then check for voltage at both sides of the fuse block.
Looking at those Jones plugs elsewhere in the machine, they sure do get covered in that white / grey metallic "fuzz"! Cleaning them looks like a PITA. Suggestions I've seen so far:
1 - sand paper. Do you make some sandpaper "strips" and slide a loop of paper over a pin and pull the paper loop back and forth, or is there a better technique?
2 - wire brush. Not sure how that one works as there are adjacent pins??
No suggestions yet from anyone that replaces the Jones plug pair with something else...
There are jones plugs available but they don't look like the factory ones. If your looking to keep it original your out of luck. If you just want it to be fixed use a molex plug and crimp pins. And the GI lighting is most likely bad fuse holders, they lose tension and get hot then burn the fuse.
Hi Roy,
I just simply run the sandpaper along pins on all sides best I can, plus I have a small file set and one is square that fits the female sockets pretty well. That is usually "good enough" for a decent connection.
However, I agree with Grumpy (!) on the fuse holders being more likely the culprit - I invested in replacements from PBR, plus if you have not already, I'd make a couple of the "circuit breaker avoid blowing lots of fuses" thingies in case you have a short. I bought mine here https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/products.asp?cat=56 with some cheap jumper leads from Radio Shack
Can save a lot of frustration in the long (EM) run...
Fuse holders replaced, and one burned Jones plug (in the bank by the tilt mech) has now been bypassed. GI is back and looking better than in a long time. The tension on even the best of the 3 original fuse holders wasn't great, and one holder clip snapped with just gentle pressure on the clip.
Dremel wire wheel works wonders cleaning any corroded electrical parts; jones plug pins, fuse holders, and especially switch contacts. Any older Bally game should have the fuse block replaced for maximum reliability.
If you have a burned jones plug pin I recommend replacing both the male and female side of the connection. If it burned once it will burn again.
You will have to source used parts. It won't be that hard to find and it won't be that hard to replace for a 6x2.
If it was just a bad connection between the male and female side cleaning it up will work. Make sure there is enough contact from the female side.
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Highland Heights, OH