Creature From the Black Lagoon - Ramp Chase Lights Issue

My first time reaching out to the Pinside community

I just completed a complete tear down of the playfield on My Creature From the Black Lagoon. After 23 years of play, it really needed it.

The issue im having is that the Chase lights on the main ramp are not working correctly. The Ramp has two sections of chase lights. The ones towards the right and back of the ramp flash separately than the ones on the left and front of the ramp, in addition to the two sections not flashing at the same time there are multiple bulbs in the main section on the left that are not illuminating and the bulbs are good.

What do you think the issue might be?

#2 9 years ago

DAD

fiberdude120

Pinside member

http://www.ufopinball.com/CFTBL-Chase/about.htm

Are you sure they are plugged up correctly?

#3 9 years ago

XXX

Gotpins

Pinside member

11y 91,800 990 1

I had chase light problems on my Creature. I swapped the control board for one from UFO Pinball and all is well now. Here is a link to the board.

#4 9 years ago

XXX

Gotpins

Pinside member

11y 91,800 990 1

On second thought, before you go buying the replacement control board you might want to check for cracked solder joints on the ramp light boards at their connectors. Also, look for broken traces or faulty light sockets on the light board as well.

#5 9 years ago

DAD

fiberdude120

Pinside member

Before you go buying a control board PM me first I may have an extra laying around for less $

#6 9 years ago

???

DJ-NeedleFuzz

Inactive member

Fiberdude120 -
1- Thank you for asking - I checked and the ramp sockets are plugged in correctly.
2- I may take you up on that.

Gotpins -
1- Thank you for your reply - This is great news!
2 - Good idea. I'll look at the boards tonight.

Thank you guys for your help. What a great community!

#7 9 years ago

???

DJ-NeedleFuzz

Inactive member

I just thought about one more issue I'm having with the Pop Bumper lights I installed on the CFLBL.

I'm new to this - Should I start another thread?

Question:

I installed lights in the 3 pop bumpers - Soldered wire to the metal stripes and connected to the closest GI bulb with alligator clips in three different locations.

I only had the game on for about an hour max and two bulbs are already burnt out.

Too much electricity? I'm using purple 555 from pinball life.

I don't care for the LEDs in the pop bumpers.

#8 9 years ago

j_m_

Pinside+ Frequent

11y 124K 7,590

the reason for putting LEDs in the pop bumpers is that the ramps are such a pain the rear to take out so that you can get the pop bumper tops off to replace burned out bulbs. with LEDs under each pop bumper, you may never have to go in and change them again

if your bulbs are burning out that quickly, it sounds like you didn't tie into the existing GI circuit altogether (potentially hitting something else with a higher voltage) and are getting much more than what the rest of the bulbs on the GI circuit are receiving. I would check the voltage on a few of the bulbs on the GI and then test what you're getting on the pop bumper sockets to try and isolate your issue.

#9 9 years ago

???

DJ-NeedleFuzz

Inactive member

Your right about those ramps. Fishing all those cables through those little holes is a real challenge and it's time consuming. I may have to settle with the LED's - But I don't care for the look.

I'll check the voltage tonight.

Thank you for your help.

#10 9 years ago

JAD

jadziedzic

Pinside member

11y 45,150 629 8

Don't settle - install #259 lamps (vibration-resistant equivalent of the #555).

#11 9 years ago

???

DJ-NeedleFuzz

Inactive member

Do they sell those colored? Looking for Purple.

#12 9 years ago

!!!

ranchdrsn

Inactive member

Cedar Rapids, IA

11y 27,150 319 3 6

You can always dip them in translucent hobby paint like Tamiya. Not sure if they make purple paint but you can always mix it...

#13 9 years ago

???

DJ-NeedleFuzz

Inactive member

Good idea. Thank you.

#14 9 years ago

DAD

fiberdude120

Pinside member

I dipped mine in translucent green and it worked great. You get the color with that incandescent glow

#15 9 years ago

???

DJ-NeedleFuzz

Inactive member

Nice - I'm going to try that.

1 week later

#16 9 years ago

???

DJ-NeedleFuzz

Inactive member

Update:

I want to thank every one for helping me figure out the issue with the chase lights on the Creature.
It was not the Chase light board, Fiberdude120 you nailed it. There are two identical plugs under the table, I had them switched around. My Buddy Millz solved the issue, I guess after having your head under that table for a month you cant see the forest through the trees. The swapped cable issue is probably why the pop bumper lights were burning out too.

Thank you!

#17 9 years ago

DAD

fiberdude120

Pinside member