Creature from the Black Lagoon
Bally, 1992You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider rvermeire.
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Got a Creature in last weekend. Just ordered a Pin2dmd and looking into other mods.
2 questions:
1) Unfortunetly Holo is RIP, considering the alternative from Pinball center, used by somebody, worth the money ?
2) My speaker grills are grey painted (circles) without the Mic or Creature signs in it. Can't find these anywhere... suggestions where to get them ? Or maybe somebody as a framework/design of it so I can paint it black manually ?
speakers (resized).JPGYesterday i swapped my film lamps to green LEDs and when starting up again I got continuously 2 balls in game, nice to get better multiball skills but would like to go back to 1 ball 
. New game or starting on off doesn't help.
At starting up I get missing pinball error, but game can be started.
Did a switch test and left through switch stays open, with ball on it or triggered by fingers.
Never had a defective switch.... Can this be measured with a DMM ?
Soldering is fine.
Or maybe the diode is RIP ?
Suggestions?
IMG_5813 (resized).jpgFuse 111 blew and had no solenoid power... Replaced it and now everything works but with very low power... all TP pins measure correctly except TP6 which should give a 70 to 75V reading but only reports 20V... (sufficient to make things move but not enough to eg eject a ball) Fuses F101 to F105 are ok. F112 has a 6.3V (SB) fuse instead of 7V fuse (SB) but can't imagine this would be the reason of low voltage... anyone ideas ?
Quoted from stumblor:Check all the other solenoid fuses on the right hand side of the power board. A blown one on that side can cause the high voltage line to run low (can't remember which)
Quoted from stumblor:Check all the other solenoid fuses on the right hand side of the power board. A blown one on that side can cause the high voltage line to run low (can't remember which)
I changed F111 / 113 / 114 for new ones. (right Amp levels)
Same for F112 but only had a 6.3A SB while it should be a 7A SB. Do you think this can have an impact ?
Quoted from stumblor:So I've had a bit of a look through the schematics, and there's really not that many components that could be the cause of it. I still have a suspicion its one of the fuses (might be worth checking these again), otherwise the only thing it could be is the the bridge rectifier at BR3 or the cap at C8. My guess is the bridge rectifier.
https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_WPC#Low_Coil_Voltage
Is there a way to test br3 without removing the board from the backbox?
Quoted from Ashram56:Few questions:
- Did you measure idle voltage at the coil (ie not energized)
- can you measure resistance of the entire circuit taken from the power board connector. There's almost nothing between the power board and the coils, you should see a value of a few ohms (careful with the direction, the flyback diode can affect the reading). A typical coil is about 3 to 4 ohms. A higher resistance will result into a lower current, thus reducing the magnetic effect. Likewise a lower voltage than expected (should be 70V) decrease current for a fixed resistance value
If your voltage level is too low, issue is likely the rectifier (but then all coils on the same power rail should exhibit the same behavior)
If your resistance is too high, there 's something in circuit raising resistance. Check solder connections and wiring, especially at the connectors
Control transistor might also be bad, although to be fair I'm not quite sure I understand how a transistor could' partially fail (ie switching, but limiting current)
Power loss is on all solenoids/coils. So I guess it will indeed be BR3 which is I suppose at the origin of my 20V reading on TP6 and making game unplayable.
Quoted from stumblor:Testing things in circuit is always troublesome, since the component reading will be affected by everything it's connected to. When you're testing TP6, effectively you *are* testing the outputs of the bridge rectifier - however as I said, this isn't a true test. The only other test you could do would be to continuity buzz the diodes (AC -> DC legs), but again, when doing this in circuit it will lead to confusing results, and you'd need to board out to do it anyway since BR3 is covered by a massive heat sink.
Heat sink is only on BR1 & 2, BR3 & 4 are standalones. Getting rectifiers in today, having fun this weekend
Quoted from KJS:I made one a while back
[quoted image]
For sure a lot cheaper than fake copy hologram or LCD solution
What stl file did you use for it and what about the plants in front of it ?
How did you make it move ? pics available ? Thx
At every hard start all my settings are gone.... My CFTBL was equiped with a Pinled CPU board when I bought it with I guess a Lithium battery.
These last for 10 years I tought but no idea how long it has been in it.
Can these be swapped (Model, type ?) ? or can I just remove it and solder a battery holder with 3xAA batteries?
Or could something else than the battery be an issue?
Quoted from Manny65:A quick google shows others have replaced the battery (using the same type) but it's not straight forward as swapping out AA or coin batteries.[quoted image]
Thx
found some rechargable Li-Ion batts as well but wonder if 720mAh (€7,-) is ok or need rather a 1500mAh (up to €50,-) or are the ones installed non rechargeable... what's best to use in the long run ?
I will require a bit of soldering but that's ok.
Still having issues with my CFTBL but managed to isolate the problem...
It's a Lamp issue.
Every pair row 2,4,6,8 activates 2 lamps instead of 1.
Eg in PAID (upper inlanes) In test menu single lamps :
P is 1 lamp 11 and is ok,
A (2/L12) is also activating letter D (4/L14),
I is fine 3/L13,
D activates A as well...
Similar situation for all other mentioned rows...
Reseated all J13x connectors.
In lamp test i activated a problem lamp pair and then removed connectors from all other lamp boards one by one hoping one lamp would go out on issue board... didn't. While i did this I also disconnected near coindoor I/F
anyone has more ideas ? Thx
Quoted from JBtheAVguy:I am no expert here...could there be a bad diode?
could be of course... but which one and this diode is only affecting the even rows 2,4,6,8.. kind of strange, but far from expert as well
There is not a single cable (color mix Red+x or yellow+x ) connecting them all... (these rows i mean)
Quoted from MiniPinHead:For reference:
[quoted image]
Can you please provide more examples of lamp combos that occur during single lamp test?
bottom line are off, but is I suppose related to Q83 which I noticed yesterday is a bit loose on the board.
But suppose this has no effect on row 2 & 4, will resolder (or replace Q83) later today
Quoted from MiniPinHead:Can you examine J133 to see if J133-2 and J133-6 are somehow connected? Maybe even behind the board? Has this always been happening, or did something recently change?
You should also trace Red-Black and Red-Yellow to make sure there’s not a short somewhere along the line of the wires. This more likely where your issues is based on how you described what’s going on. Check around anything that recently changed, like any mods.
Thx, nothing changed and have creature for more than 2 years now. hereby pics of connectors and board. seems ok for me...? Checked all bulbs and lamp boards, all cables are well soldered and not touching anything... very strange....
IMG_0498 (resized).jpgIMG_0499 (resized).jpgIMG_0500 (resized).jpg1)
Red/Yel and Red/BK have continuity ! in plug J133
Removed Red/Bk from the plug
Issue remains... 2 lights on : in row 2 and 4 (on same yellow cable when row 4 is activated) eg: letter D also activates letter A in PAID, A doe snot activate letter D (normal red/BK is off). But when the Red/BK was on and in continuity with Red/Yel A also activated D.
removed cables from all 7 lamp boards but no effect (which seems normal, after some thinking, as they all are pass through except last one (cable end) on the board with lamp 41/42/43/44 (1)
Then I removed the red/bk cable and tested one by one the stand alone lamps (there are 3 with a red/bk cable) effect stayed but only row 4 activates row 2. (initially when red/bk still connected row 2 also activated row 4). you still follow ?
2)
and what is even more stranger is Row 8 : no lights at all ! reseated the red/grey cable on the cable. changed cable to other PD connector. The pin has 16.5V
Also replaced the Q83 (initial one gave no beep and measure result outer pins was 0.8)
Maybe this is the cause of everything ? or is it a totally other issue ???
Thx
Does anyone has an image of the route the Red/Black cable is following ? or can that be found somewhere online ?
I suppose it's starting at the PAID lamp board and as lamp board 41/42/43/44 has no cable pass through i suppose it ends there...
Quoted from MiniPinHead:The image will just be from the manual and the matrix:
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
I believe you want to find where the continuity is between the above lamp row wires. You'll have to follow it or locate these spots on the underside of the playfield.
The manual will have a map of them if needed.
It's that map I can't find. Would like to know which is first spot in the cable after start from connector on PD board... I already have continuity in the connector on the PAID lamp board (RED/BK and RED/Yel) and there is no stop or cut bewteen point A and B
Quoted from MiniPinHead:The image will just be from the manual and the matrix:
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
I believe you want to find where the continuity is between the above lamp row wires. You'll have to follow it or locate these spots on the underside of the playfield.
The manual will have a map of them if needed.
Problem solved, a friend who had the machine for a while had to solder one of the flipper coils cables and dropped some soldering on a lamp board connector 
and it was exactly making contact between these 2 wires (Rd/BK & RD/YEL) on the plug... scratched it off and all ok now.
My Row 8 Q83 problem is also solved. I replaced the tip but contact with R155 was not ok, did some resoldering and now contact is back and row8 also back in business, thx for everybody's help and ideas.
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Ghent
Anaheim, CA