Flintstones, The
Williams, 1994I am troubleshooting why my friends Williams The Shadow.
So, is there any way to fix continuty errors without remove the board?
I am looking for a solution without removing the board.
Also, found a pic on internet of the boards back, it seems that there are no traces on the back i.e. only a solder point to the fuse, thats it. I suspect the traces are in a layer between the front and the back, am I right? So even if I remove the board I am not sure how it will help...
Opinions?
Quoted from ravve:So, is there any way to fix this or must I remove the board? An ugly fix is OK as long as it works, could I connect a wire between the fuse and J115-3 perhaps? I read somewhere that GI lights passes lot of current and therefore maybe a wire will burn up?!
Unless you use really thin wire it's not going to burn up. Don't do that though, because it's not something that's either professional or recommended.... fix it right.
Quoted from ravve:I am looking for a solution without removing the board.
What's your objection to removing the board to fix? You might very well be running a wire on the backside of the board. Usually the GI strings go through an SCR though so that might be why you're not getting continuity - there could be an issue there that needs attention.
All possilble solutions are going to involve you removing the board without major hacks.
I rather not remove the board if i can avoud it. The reason is that im afraid to break a pin or something when remove all the connectors. Hm maybe i can unscrew the board but let the connectors be attached and just tip over the board to its back and do the solder?
Remove the board, dont pull on the wires grab the plastic housing for each connector and you will be fine. There is only one way to do something...the right way.
Quoted from Xenon75:dont pull on the wires grab the plastic housing for each connector and you will be fine.
Plz can u explain that further? Not sure i understand what u mean 
should i connect a wire on the backside between the fuse and j115 connector leg?
Ok, now i discovered that J115-2 (that goes to F106) and J115-3 (should go to F110) are connected together.
So, there is no continuty F110 to J115-3 BUT there is continuty from J115-3 to F106 (as well as J115-2 to F106).
This cant be right??!
Quoted from ravve:Ok, now i discovered that J115-2 (that goes to F106) and J115-3 (should go to F110) are connected together.
So, there is no continuty F110 to J115-3 BUT there is continuty from J115-3 to F106 (as well as J115-2 to F106).
This cant be right??!
Yes there is continuity there. Check out the wiring in this diagram. All the GI strings go back to the same input from the transformer entering at J115.
Is fuse 110 good? Remove from the holder to test with your DMM.
There are no traces sandwiched in the middle of the board, only on the front or the back. Sounds like the fuse holder F110 will need resoldered.
You can label all connectors and take a bunch of pictures. Carefully unplug the connectors and remove the board. It’s a little overwhelming the first time but you can do it. As stated do not pull the wires, grab the plastic connector body only.
You can count the number of connectors and their locations so when you reassemble you can make sure you got them all. Take your time and be careful especially with the ribbon cable. Make sure all pins are lined up before pressing it on.
@emsrph: wow, thanks for that reply!
My last question is: I measured continuty between all pins on j115, there is continuty between them all but only when measured on the cable. If measured directly on the pins there is no continuty between them, exept for between pin 2 and 3... is this correct?
Really appreciate your help guys!
Quoted from ravve:emsrph: wow, thanks for that reply!
My last question is: I measured continuty between all pins on j115, there is continuty between them all but only when measured on the cable. If measured directly on the pins there is no continuty between them, exept for between pin 2 and 3... is this correct?
Really appreciate your help guys!
Hmm. Someone can correct me but if you unplug J115 there shouldn’t be a connection between pins 2 and 3.
Something is going on with that connector and fuse 110. Was there previous work done there?
That is exactly what I am suspecting, no continuty should be between pin 2 and 3 i think (when cable is off).
I havent removed the board yet, but yes it seems like f110 has been soldered before at one leg.
The only light that aint working is a 5 lights pcb at the rear, behind the playfield (according to the manual GE string 1 goes to those), maybe my easiest fix is to connect those lights to some other GE string and problem will be solved... is that doable or will it be overload on that other GE string?
this is not a showstopper for me so i rather fix it without removing board if possible.
Quoted from ravve:That is exactly what I am suspecting, no continuty should be between pin 2 and 3 i think (when cable is off).
I havent removed the board yet, but yes it seems like f110 has been soldered before at one leg.
The only light that aint working is a 5 lights pcb at the rear, behind the playfield (according to the manual GE string 1 goes to those), maybe my easiest fix is to connect those lights to some other GE string and problem will be solved... is that doable or will it be overload on that other GE string?
this is not a showstopper for me so i rather fix it without removing board if possible.
No, I wouldn't double up any other GI string with these additional lights. It's probably heat that killed this connector's header and adding lamps would not be a good idea.
What you'll need to do (eventually) is remove the board and desolder old header at J115. Solder in new header and replace J115 connector with fresh pins. This way you can see what has happened to the fuse connection. You can get a pin buddy to supervise you if you're not ready to tackle this step alone.
Quoted from emsrph:No, I wouldn't double up any other GI string with these additional lights. It's probably heat that killed this connector's header and adding lamps would not be a good idea.
Just a thought: When people connects extra lighting (spotlights etc) to the playfield, where do these usually connect to? One of the GI strings? My issue is only the 5xlamps PCB, if I could hook it up somewhere else I would be satisfied, just as if it was an extra (not from factory) lighting... If it is possile to connect extra lightings, then why shouldn´t I be able to do it with the 5xlamps PCB?
Because Williams already put too many lamps on one GI string which is why they burn in the first place, adding that many more will only cause the other string to do the same. People do piggyback spotlights but that’s also something I wouldn’t do for the simple fact these circuits are already working beyond their capabilities with incandescent bulbs in.
OK, so where is the correct place to connect extra lighting to (or maybe the correct way is to connect extra lighting to an extra power supply or similar)?
How about changing the GI lighting to LED, the load on the GI strings should then be significally less, hence making it possible to connect more lights... or?
Is there a way I can measure how much current is flowing to a GI string, so I can know if it has more capacity (or if the string already is overloaded)? Maybe it is not the current that should be measured?
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Snell, VA