First time ever seeing or working on a bingo machine. Looking for information on the startup sequence for the machine to get it to the point of ready to accept coins. Right now as soon as you power it up it kicks a ball to the shooter lane and the shutter opens so the balls just go round and round.

I am familiar with EM pinballs, reading and following EM schematics and am pretty good with all things electrical, mechanical.

Any input as to where to find information for operation of the machine is appreciated.

Thanks for the information. When does the relay bank motor run, if ever? I have not seen mine turn at all. I am usually stuck with tilt on and the tilt relay is tripped so the machine won't do anything. If I manually reset the tilt relay then I can get the machine to do a little but I don't know if it is right or wrong. Should the anti-cheat relay be energized?

More questions! Is there an easy way to troubleshoot this thing? How do you have the playfiels up and cycle things without the balls shooting out and banging around in the bottom of the game? Are the slam switches and the plum bob tilt switch shown on the schematic? Is the red start button to use credits on the credit meter? I have lots of questions and figuring out some of them but it is complex, and I haven't even gotten to the playing and scoring stuff yet! Fun stuff, I am having a blast with this.

Thank you @binbopodcast, that is the type of information I was looking for as I learn how these games work. The relay bank shaft was seized up. Had to remove the relays, lubricate the top shaft bearing and move it manually for awhile to get it loosed up. Put the relays back on and it works nice and smooth now.

I don't get the anti-cheat relay to pick by itself now so I am tracking that down. Only 3 switches so it shouldn't be too hard, but it always is . Even when I trip the anti-cheat relay manually I can't coin up so there are other problems.

Sooooo....now I get nothing when I turn it on. Tilt light is on, anti-cheat relay energized. Replay meter has some replays on it but they do not reset like it was before. Does not do anything with the red replay button or coin switch. Seems like I keep going around in circles.

Is there a particular state the control unit cams have to be in or does the machine reset itself to a known state?

What is the key thing for and how does that come into play? How does it need to be set for normal play? I did not have a key for it so I replaced the lock and set it like before. Before the lock actuator was not pushing on the switch stack and it seems like it should since when you move the switch clockwise it actuate the EOS switch. Speaking of which someone had removed the brown wire from the EOS switch, cut the green/yellow wire in half and connected the brown wire to one side of the cut green/yellow wire. In the head the brown wire had been moved. I pot the wires back the way they were supposed to be and can now add credits with the key but was wondering if there are any other modifications that may have been done in conjunction with what I have already reversed that I may have missed. Not sure what it was all about but supposed it was for free play?

Thanks @mrbally, I have the instruction manual and the schematic. I am quiet familiar with analog computers as I worked on industrial control system back in the 70s where there were 3and4 bays full of 110volt Allen-Bradley relays. I got to the point I could troubleshoot it just by listening to the relays. But by then I had spent every day for 3 years trouble shooting them and knew what they were supposed to do. This is only my second night with a bingo machine and I am learning and very appreciative to all you folks patient enough to answer newbie questions. I do have to get a bigger schematic since my old eyes have a hard time reading the little one I have.

I found the initial startup problem! The switch on cam 5 of the cu was not making contact and passing 50 volts on the the rest of the machine. It now coins up and plays but only card 1 is lit and it doesn't pay on a winner. Some of the hole swirches light more than 1 number and a couple don't light any. I am slowly learning and figuring it out. Any tips are welcomed.

Thanks again for the explanation of the kum-back switch. Makes perfect sense when you know what it is for. I finally got that wiring returned to normal and it works correctly.

Learning this stuff all over again that I did for a living 40 years ago is fun. I am retiring at the end of April and will be glad to be done with the computer systems of the last 20 years. I have a stack of binges and em pinball machines to get going!

The Dixieland has cleaned up really nice. The instruction card were chewed up so I have to get some reproductions but the wood trim is nice.

Good for you! I worked for a company call Industrial Nucleonics, later changed to AccuRay. Used radioactive sources to measure weight of paper as it is made on paper machines, among other things. Went to work for a paper mill in 1986 and been there ever since. Was going to retire last year but stayed on to help with some new tracking system installations.

I enjoy working on the early solid state pinball machines since they use the same 1970s electronics that I learned in tech school, but the old em stuff is what I cut my teeth on when I started my career and it is what I enjoy the most.

Thanks bingopodcast . The multiple lights are where a ball in # 1 hole will light 1, 6 and 9 lights. I think I got that narrowed down to the search disk not stopping on the rivets properly. I tried adjusting the stop relay like the one beside but it is as far as it will go and it just barely stops where I want it. Have not looked in the manual yet, does it show the home positions for the wipers?

Working on the feature select right, does not seem to step up with coin. I can manually actuate the selenoid and it lights properly on the backglass. I visually checked it as you just suggested and did not see anything obvious. Will try to watch it as a coin is deposited to see if it tries at all.

Exactly what I have been doing. The disk giving me problems just doesn't quite have enough adjustment. I got it working for now but it won't be reliable and it doesn't seat clear down into the notch so I'm afraid it will chew up the boars after some time.

Got the feature selection working, another dirty switch on cam #5. Normally on EMs I will just go through and clean/check/adjust all contacts before I turn it on but for this I wanted some problems so I could troubleshoot and get familiar with a bingo.

Thanks, I may have to go that route if what I did doesn't hold up. I put the bolt in the first hole and through to the back plate and put the back bolt through just the bracket so the back of the relay sits on top of the bolt, then pushed the front of the relay up as high and forward as it would go and tightened it up good. Had really good alignment on the rivets. We will see how that holds up.

Got the game going up to the scoring part. Not sure about the searching stuff, just doesn't seem quiet right. The last game I played I put the balls in the holes so I would have 5 across. After 5 balls I pushed the C button and it did it's search and gave me 2 credits. It then clicked a relay 4 or 5 times and quit but wouldn't start another game. I could keep pushing the C button and it would do the search again but not give any more credits Just keeps doing that over and over. Something not right with the end game. I'll investigate that tomorrow.

BTW - Is there an easy way to remove and get the stepper plates in a good position for a decent scrub down?

Thanks for the details bingopodcast , I knew it wasn't going to be easy. I think I will get it running as well as possible before I start tearing into the search units. This looks like it might have been gone through before in the past so maybe I can hold off of full disassembly, just clean what I can get to easily.

I have a Tahiti machine to work on next and it looks like I may have to try the full disassembly on that.

I use Blue Magic polish to clean discs and pretty much all metal parts. Slight abrasive plus chemical reaction really makes parts shine and after rubbing it out leaves a protective coat that keeps the parts clear and shiny for a long time. Cleans pretty quickly too. I hand polish bolts, screws, nuts and most small parts with it by hand. Much quicker than a tumbler, used to use the tumbler a lot but not anymore. You do want to use rubber gloves and not breathe the stuff but overall the best solution I have found for polishing up parts.

I may have found some of the issue with search and scoring. The relays at the very top left side of the back door are completely seized up, the plastic ladder won't budge at all. The 2 top ones had something dripping on theM and created a bunch of rust. Same thing that seized up the relay bank reset shaft that I found yesterday. I will pull those out today and get them cleaned up and working and see how much it helps.

I will try to post some pictures later so you can see the machine and see what you think of it.

No spare Tahiti parts that I know of. A friend bought a number of bingo games on the cheap, something like $25 per game. There was the Tahiti, 2 Dixielands and I think 3 others but I don't remember the names. There are in storage close to where I live. I can go get the names of them tomorrow and let you know what they are, maybe parts from one of them will work for what you need. He gave me the Dixielands and he wants me to get the Tahiti working for him and has no interest in the others. One is for sure a parts machine, broke up cabinet, smashed backglass and in general just trashed.

Can't get the game to do anything now. Just what to confirm I'm not trying to fix what is not broken. The random motor/disc runs all the time, is it supposed to? The wiper search relay is energized. That doesn't seem correct. The search disc cam switch is open but still has zero ohms across it. When I power up the machine nothing happens except the random motor runs, and the control motor runs and the motor for the 2 search unit on the back door runs. Tilt light is on and no response from coin or start button.

What am I looking for?

Thank you bingopodcast . I am still trying to figure out how to upload pictures. My old iPad 1 doesn't want to connect to my mail account to get pictures from my phone so I will try figuring that out shortly. In the meantime .....

The problem was on search disk 3. That is the one I fussed around with trying to get adjusted. I was adjusting it to stop on the same rivets as #2, I did, but did not notice that then the index switch was then not on the pin and open. I adjusted it back so when the relay plate is in the notch the index switch is open. But now I am back to the issue of the hole switches lighting multiple hole lights, a ball in hole 1 will light 1 and 6 and 9 lights and it scores accordingly. So my question is: what is the correct alignment for the fingers for each search disk?

I will do that again and list them out. I did not see in the manual where the home position is, I am probably just missing it and I don't see any marks on the disks themselves, again probably missing it since I don't know what I am looking for.

The games I have in storage are Golden Gate and Venice. Venice is the one really busted up. Golden Gate looks like it may live again.

I am totally lost on figuring out the search disks and where the home positions is suppose to be. I did figure out the the numbers stamped in the Bakelite are the positions that are in the manual and when looking at the rivet side where the numbers are marked you count counter clockwise and the drawings in the manual are the wire side. That was not all that obvious to me..

Jones plugs look okay. I did not buzz them out but inspected them and did not see any shorts. I have cleaned them before and them nice and snug. Did not see any wires off in the female side and all the sockets look good.

The light test results:

All okay, only lighting the light it is suppose to on all cards are; 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22 and 24

19 is probably okay also but it didn't light on card 4, may be a bad bulb.

18 does not light on cards 1, 2 and 3 but does light on 4, 5 and 6.

1 lights 1, 6 and 9 on all cards.
6 lights 1, 6 and 9 on all cards.
9 lights 1, 6 and 9 on all cards.

3 lights 3 and 5 on cards 1, 2 and 3
3 lights 3, 4 and 5 on cards 4, 5 and 6

4 lights 3 and 5 on cards 1, 2 and 3
4 lights 3, 4 and 5 on cards 4, 5 and 6

5 lights 3 and 5 on cards 1, 2 and 3
5 lights 3, 4 and 5 on cards 4, 5 and 6

23 lights 23 and 25 on all cards
25 lights 23 and 25 on all cards

18 does not light anything on cards 1,2 and 3
18 lights 18 on cards 4, 5 ans 6

The second switch (bottom of hole) for 1, 7, 9, 22 and 25 do not light anything.

A simple question - the manual says the card lights are 17 volt and that is what the schematic shows. I cleaned and checked all the bulbs a couple of days ago before I turned the machine on and they were all #44, #47 and #55s. I replaced all bulbs with #47s and the lights in the cards show up okay. I checked the voltage across lit ones and it is 6.3 volts.

So do people re-wire the games to use all the same bulbs? What was the purpose of having the card lights different? Was it just so they would be brighter or last longer and not burn out as quick?

Thanks. I will work on getting pictures posted now. I'll tahe the shutter bord off and check again. I've had it off a number of times already. Had to fix a couple of solder connections on the plates for the common wires since someone in the past had not done a good repair job.

I am slowly figuring out how this all fits together and works. Many thanks to you for helping me out, I know I ask a lot of questions and I am keen on details.

Not sure what angle you need. Let me know if these are not suffient.

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Still do not understand when you say one of the rivets is marked. Marked how?

image (resized).jpg

So what it looks like to me is the disk for cards 3 & 4 is one off. It is sitting on 48 which is in circuit. 49 & 50 are unused so the home needs to be on one of those, the other 2 are on 49. Of course it is the hardest to get to the screws to adjust the position of the relay . I ave it set, just need to tightened it down good. In the meantime I will finish testing all the switches since I have the shuttle off.

Switches are fine. Unplugged the playfield Jones plugs and buzzed everything out and nothing shorted and all switches work well.

Got disk 2 adjusted and tightened down. Did not help at all, still the same issue, maybe a few more now. Back to thinking about it some more and studying the manual and schematic.

That is what I thought also but I don't think I have enough adjustment to get them there. I looker closer on disk 1 (cu one) and saw it was on 48 which is in circuit. I adjusted it to 49 and my multiple light problem went away. It does not score correctly though. 3 in a line on single card 1 gives me 70 credits. It acts like it gives the desired 4, pauses an instant and then counts on up to 70. Still lots to do but making progress and learning.

Here it is so far. I will need to get better cards, I just put those on so I would know what it is suppose to score.

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Just noticed in the attached photo I have some multiple lights on again, rats!

I have all #47s in the game. Just wondering about why the schematic says 17 volts for the card lights but it measures 6.3 volts and #47 is a 6.3.volt lamp. Has it been rewired or is that just a mistake on the schematic and it read 7 volts.

So, one last "getting started" question and I will close this thread and open a new one as needed.

Is the search disk on the control unit (cards 1 & 2) supposed to always come to rest at it's home position? I have noticed that it does not and was wondering if that is something I need to investigate. The other 2 seem to always be in the home position and the way I read the schematic they should always be there unless they are searching.

Got it. Thanks to both of you. Strange they desined it that way but I have been around long enough and have done enough software design to know designers pretty much build onto what already exists and then you look at it from a current standpoint and wonder why in the world they did it like that

I checked my parts Dixieland in storage and all 3 of the search disks were set on 49. I fussed around with mine to get it to 50 and then realized that if I did actually get it to 50 then the index pin would not be actuating the switch so I am becoming convinced that they should be set to 49.