St Charles, MO
Quoted from High_End_Pins:I have all three versions here and have done quite a few 81s
Only the 84 with the lamp boards has the diodes on the controlled lamps.
This is what is perplexing. It is the only one with lamp boards.
I am going to replace all the sockets so it makes me wonder if I need to add diodes to them to utilize the lamp boards without issue or if the diodes are just there because it is a newer game with updated lamp sockets and has no real impact.
Chris, some of the '82 LE games had lamp boards, too. Not sure when in the run they made the change, but I have seen a couple of them come through my hands. I don't recall any diodes on the controlled lamps on either one of those '82 games. They may have been there, I just don't recall them.
As far as those lamps with the diodes, I believe they would all run through the auxiliary lamp board-A9 with the controlled GI, while the lamps that use the playfield lamp boards run through the lamp driver board-A5. Not sure what problem Bally would be trying to solve with those diodes, might have to think on that one a bit. That A9 board did have a lot of problems with burnt connectors and header pins. Also, those playfield lamp boards simply replace the sockets and have no other functionality, besides being really convenient. Real similar to KISS in that respect.
