Very sad today. And also willing to admit I am an idiot.
Recently got my first 2 pins, and have fallen in love with them. I always wanted a pin, and when a High Speed finally came along at a good price, I jumped at it and assumed it would be my first and only one. However a Demo Man came along a week later, and at a fair price, and fell in love with it too...so now have 2 pins in my lounge and luckily a girlfriend who loves them as much as I do.
Did a lot of research, and not being an electronics guy, decided I would be very happy to clean, polish and fix things like rubbers etc. But wasn't going to tackle things out of my league like electronics. We have been cleaning and sorting plastics and changing bulbs etc for 2 weeks and loving it. Both machines work fine..no real errors and mainly cosmetic stuff to do.
Demo Man is my fav, and have been sorting it out mainly.Sourced plastics, have new rubbers coming, and even repaired a faulty flipper. (wire came loose)
All was fine. Until....
Thursday night we did some cleaning with a dry cloth in the back box. Know enough not to move any connectors or short anything out. At least I hope not. Was stupid enough to remove the ribbon cables, one at a time. However I am really sure that we put them back the right way. Red stripe to pin 1. The only one without a pin 1 is the thinner one to the DMD, and that seems to have a little triangle showing pin one I assume? Larger triangle on the ribbon. I am fairly sure we got them back the correct way. Have since checked a few times, and still think they are correct.
Anyways, we also put in some led's and polished the playfield a bit. New bulbs in the back board too. So I am not sure exactly what action caused the result. When examining the back box, I pressed every connector I could see...to make sure everything was seated.
Then I turned the game on. And that's when a little part of me died.
As soon as it turned on, all flippers activated upwards, and there was a hum.The DMD came up with scrambled random dots. In about 3 seconds, I turned the machine off..as I could see this was not right, and I was freaking.
Checked the ribbon cables in case I had flipped one around. Pressed all connectors. Then turned it on again, this time for about 5 seconds. The flippers activated (and maybe other solenoids..I was too freaked to note) and then there was a flash, and a fuse blew. I immediately turned the machine off. There were about 4 LED's still glowing after the machine was turned off. They lit for about a minute after the plug was unplugged.
So this is where I sit. I have checked everywhere to see if there is a short, but cannot visually see anything. The fuse that blew was F112 (secondary solenoids?)
If I turn it on for 2 seconds now, the DMD is scrambled, and I suspect in a few seconds that fuse will blow again since the flippers are activated and it just sounds ominous.
I am depressed as hell. Being in South Africa means that there aren't a ton of repair guys or parts. There are one or 2 good guys I think..but don't want to lose the machine for months and be told that i need to replace boards for tons of money. But I also love this game and want it working.
So here's my dilema. I need to know what can a novice check and do before I am forced to hand it over to a pinball technician? I have a digital MM and can do basic soldering.
Because the flippers/solenoids were activating..does this indicate a short on one of them? Cannot see any lamp's that are shorting, but not to say they aren't I guess.
I am scared when switching it on that i am going to blow more than a fuse. If I leave it on past the fuse blowing, can I do further damage to a board? because if I can leave it on longer than a few seconds, I can check which LED's are lit. I think the 5v one was on, along with the others that are supposed to be...but cannot be 100% certain. I don't want to damage anything more.
Can i disconnect ribbon cables without damaging anything...in order to see if I can get it to start? If so, I would start with the one on the fliptronics II board and only connect the ends to the boards, and not the middle connection?
Or what cables can I disconnect?
I will try and check all the fuses, but since the game was playing fine before...I don't think the problem is there. I should have one 7A slow blow to replace the one that blew (F112?)
I have repeatedly checked all connectors in the back board. Nothing seems loose or disconnected. Pressed the chips and anything else I could find..nothing loose. Not that i can see. Nothing appears burned or shorting. But of course I could have missed things. None of the solenoids look stuck or sticking.
What would cause the flippers to activate on startup until the fuse blows? Something to do with flashers? I have no idea.
I would really appreciate any advice or comments. I know I am an idiot...but I don't think I did anything that was really beyond me. Obviously something was though. My main concern is to prevent further damage. Boards cost a fortune, and finding out if only a part of a board is gone is tricky.
I have the manual, but have to look up everything if told to check cap X or bridge Y etc. Please can anyone help me get what was an excellent condition Demolition Man up and running again?
Thanks in advance
Chaos