Hi all, Moving post from Dr Who owner's thread to separate thread for tracking and future reference. Original text:

Issue: Everything works as it should until it gets to the final stage for multi-ball. As soon as the multi-ball is activated the miniplayfield just rises up and down continuously. Once you are back to only one ball in play the MP resets to it's resting position.

Hubby researched somewhere and thought a new Opto Board would fix it, so he bought this awhile back:
http://www.greatlakesmodular.com/products/pinball/dw_tbs.html

Before I go in there ripping it all out again late next week, I was hoping someone has seen this before and can advise if it is an opto board issue, or maybe something else is causing it?

From @pinball_faz:

Test Results:
Ok, I ran the MP tests and there were no errors, but the far left opto was showing blocked out on the board in the graphic on screen. Did the switch test with the ball and there was sound emitted with each opto except for the 1st opto on left. During the MP tests, no errors came back, but when you boot the machine on, the 'Check switch 75' came on, which is the far left opto.

Took the MP out (I am cleaning and adjusting MP back to fit cliffy's as well as figuring out this issue) and took a pic of the solder and wires which I've attached. However, after plugging back into the machine and running test, I couldn't capture the infrared on my phone... I know you mentioned it worked on an iphone, not sure if it also works with an android to view infrared? A quick google shows it should, so I'm not sure why they would not be lighting up when plugged in as they worked before I took them out.

Any ideas on what else I can do to try the infrared test? Should I try to reflow the solder on the opto cards, or just go ahead and replace them with the new GLM boards since I already have them to see if that takes care of the issues with switch 75?

Thanks for everyone's help, Merry Christmas!

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Will do, thanks McPin54 !

Thank you Faz, I may take you up on that at some point! I work from home and only had yesterday off, so will be working on and off with this as I can.

I have the MPF completely out right now, as besides the opto issue I'm going to clean (need to research that part later) and then slotting the holes to be able to push back a bit to fit the cliffy's on (which kindly everyone helped me with on the Dr Who owners thread).

I did complete all tests (in addition to 14) before I took the MPF it out, and all switches and tests were error free except for the far left Opto 75.
-Right when turning on machine, get a check switch 75 warning.
-While running test 14, did not show an error, but did show that far left opto block filled out on display.
-During switch test, did not make a sound when hitting it with ball, when all of the other 4 did make a sound.

I just completed the DMM tests you have listed above with all wires, pads and the connector (both opto and led board). All passed except for E3 and E5, which came back with zero reading for all three tests (wire, pad, and connector).

I'm going to try to hook up the opto board again to the power on the pinball to see if I can capture the lights, I'm guessing maybe I didn't have the plug pushed in all the way or something.

Well wouldn't you know, to add to the fun, yes, the middle battery had blown as well...

How can I tell if I will be able to clean off the battery leakage or if I will have to get a whole new board?

I'm guessing I would want to replace with a button battery set up as shown here to get rid of the AA's? http://homepinballrepair.com/index.php/how-to-get-rid-of-those-aa-batteries-no-more-ruined-circuit-boards/

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thanks @pinball_faz just went to the store to buy some sno bol... carefully reading the thread instructions as well as a few others. Will post a new thread after cleaned to get some feedback on the results and next steps.

After I get the battery leakage issue fixed then I'll come back to this thread so we can continue the opto discussions.

New thread for battery leakage: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/help-on-assessing-battery-leakage-board-damage-bally-wpc#post-4754474

Hi all, Happy New Year!!!

So...ended up getting a new board with NVRAM, so won't have to worry about battery leakage again. If you know anyone who wants to buy my original board to repair send me a PM.

So now I have time to get back to the Opto issue. I did get all opto lights to show on my phone powered up. I realize that the bad board may be causing some of the problems I had outlined earlier, but what I'm concerned about are my test results I've quoted below, as E3 and E5 did not pass the tests, which wouldn't be related to the board.

How can I determine if the problem with E3 and E5 is with the Opto board itself or the wiring? I have a new opto board set and was just going to go ahead and swap out while I'm at it, but not sure how to check if these fails are from the wiring and not the board.

Hi all, so finally got a chance to put on the new (from 2014) GLM opto boards. Not great news. Opto side (A1-A5) everything is great, but the receiver side when doing DMM tests getting nada (pad, wire, and connector). On the old boards, Opto side was also good, but on receiver side wasn't getting anything from only E3 and E5.

I've re-flowed the solder, no cold joints. I've triple checked the wiring and that's correct. (C-gray, E5-green, E4-yellow, E3-black stripe, E2-red, E1- black spots).

Are there any other tests I can do to see if there is something wrong with the board or check for broken wires? I went to contact GLM and it looks as though they may have gone out of business from what I've read on this forum and their website is down...

Hi Faz,

I tested using the DMM voltage tests at the pad, wire, and connector. All good for the opto side, nothing for the receiver side. I don't have a pen light, but can get one if that's what's needed next.

I would want to make sure that I can get a reading on a DMM for the receiver prior to putting it back into the game to test, wouldn't I?

Before I took the MPF out, with the old opto boards in, I ran the MP tests and there were no errors, but the far left opto was showing blocked out on the board in the graphic on screen. I did the switch test with the ball and there was sound emitted with each opto except for the 1st opto on left. During the MP tests, no errors came back, but when you boot the machine on, the 'Check switch 75' came on, which is the far left opto. When I took the board out and did the DMM tests, on the old opto board on the receiver side, E3 and E5 were dead. On the new board everything is dead on the receiver side.

If you're saying that it's possible the receiver is working even thought it's not registering on the DMM, I will put it back together and do the MP and switch tests again. I just didn't want to go through all of that if the DMM test results meant that something was definitely wrong with either the opto receiver board, wiring, or connector outside of the machine.

Thanks!

Thanks Faz, really enjoying learning all this stuff!

Ok, so I did the light tests and got ohm readings on every component except for Q4. Reversed the red and black probes, and then got a reading from it as well.

Does it matter that Q4 had the positive/negative reversed from the other components? If not, then it sounds like I should be good to put the MPF back together to do the MP and switch tests?

Appreciate your help!

Thanks! Will do and report back.

Ok, here's the results...

1. All optos show lighted on phone
2. When going into test I get the message to check switches 76 & 77 for the mini opto ejects and that's it
3. For the 71-75 switch tests, all switches show closed with light on, and then open when light off/optos pushed

So it looks like everything is working, except I think I read where the switches are to show always open, and then closed when the optos are pushed/light broken?

Yep Got mpf straightened and cleaned, new opto boards in, the new wpc89 board in with nvram, epoxied the divets right in front of the mpf and put on cliffy there, as well on mpf and ramp.

Got the mpf bracket holes elongated for clearance of cliffys when putting mpf back in.

Currently out and about, but very excited to get home and put in mpf for final testing!!!

Ok, well good news and bad news.

The good news is that it goes up and down beautifully and it doesn't bind, even with both cliffys on (the board and the mpf).

Bad news, getting error that CCW Direction is Reversed. Does that mean the wiring to the motor is swapped? Someone put a big red dot on the plastic on one side of the terminals, so that is where I put the red wire (should have not assumed and checked... ).

When I did the MPF tests, it went up and down as it should, but the MIDR, MIDL, Up and Down all had error at the bottom after it went up or down. I don't really understand the test animations to compare anything to them.

Went ahead and had hubby play to test and right when you turn on the game you hear the mpf check for balls (or mpf ball eject/kicker sound?) and then it goes into ball lock and up to the first level before you even touch the flippers. It keeps making the ball check/eject sound on and off as you are playing.

Then the other thing is it seems like it's super sensitive, like once up at second level when trying to get in a door, if you hit one of the bumpers outside of the door, it acts like a ball actually went in, when it didn't.

Do I need to get it out and swap the motor wires and then try all the testing again?

Getting closer....

Thanks @mcpin54 and @catch86 !

As earlier, good news and bad news.

Good news, switched the wires to the motor and no longer have any errors during MPF test.

Bad news, it's still doing what I have outlined below: When you turn it on to play, the MPF kickers make noise and then it goes to level 2 as if it thinks 2 balls are already locked before you do anything. It then keeps randomly making the kicker noises as you play. Then if you hit the MPF frame it thinks a ball when in when it didn't.

Any idea of what could be making it think there are balls in the MPF when their aren't any?

Good morning everyone

Ok, so this morning when I ran the tests, it did give me the Check switch 76 & 77 opto ejects message, which it didn't last night. When in test both R & L opto ejects show (A) Open.

For some reason I couldn't get the MPF faults to clear when pressing the credit button while in T14, it just kept acting as the escape funtion and took me out of the T14.

Here's a quick vid snippet of what happens right when you press the play button, not touching the flippers:

Hey Faz, sorry, I'm not sure where the optos are on the ejects? I remember the optos above the cam circle, and of course the 5 mushrooms, but not anywhere else.

Gotcha, will give it a go tomorrow, thanks!

Hey Faz,

Ok, put it in test, and the two squares on top of the house are already lit as soon as you put in test, IE it thinks the balls are already in there locked. Put two balls in and they stayed locked/lit, then they did eject during the 14 kicker test. Pic attached.

FYI hubby has renamed mpf to mfp....

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Thanks Faz, I figured taking it back out was going to be next. So what am I looking for/ doing after I pull out the mpf and locate the optos as shown in the pics? Just double checking that the wiring connections are good?

Gotcha, thanks!