I've had the IPB and both CPR Eight Ball Deluxe playfields but never had one of the Mirco EBD playfields.

Does anyone else have any experience with them?

Are they the correct thickness etc.? Any shortcomings?

They look nice form the pictures.

Have any EBD owners replaced these Molex connectors? If so, where'd you get them? Mine are getting the green slime pretty bad. Thanks.

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Was planning on replacing all the boards in my EBD and Flash. Partly just for the fun as looking at building boards when possible. I could fix the other's, but thought was to get the games going this year and then look at cab/pf restores next year.

CPU will be Bally FA.
Displays for FG are wolfpac, might get them again or go with lisy displays. Like the foam cover that comes with the wolfpac's though and cost for the kit is within 15 of building a one off of lisy.

Weebly makes kits for the lamp and aux lamp board. I plan on doing leds, but wondered if there was a benefit to going with xpin or alltek? Does one have better fade support?

Driver board doesn't seem to matter who I go with.

Power supply board would probably be weebly.

I have one S&T and it supposedly works and was recapped, but leaning toward geeteoh's when he releases version 3. There is the one out of the UK, but it still uses the original chips which are getting scarce.

I just put LEDs in my EBD-LE. I already had the Alltek Lamp Driver and Aux Lamp Driver boards.

I added the jumpers as directed to support the LEDs, but some of the LEDs still flicker some (most noticeably the "chase" lights to the left of the Bonus Multiplier drop targets and the similar ones to the right of the 8-ball lane).

Is this normal / expected? The flickering is not terrible, but is just enough to be annoying. If I added those "resister-pack connector things" would it be improved, or would it not make any additional difference?

I'm sure a ton of these will flicker after I'm done swapping sockets... bleh.

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Unrelated: why the hell didn't I splice in molex so I could completely remove the drop banks? I bent the hell out of so many switches...

FYI The later versions of EBD have connectors for the drop banks making them much easier to remove.

And you can get most/all of the Molex connectors at Big Daddy.

So no one on here has ever seen the Mirco EBD playfields?

I'm probably going to have to buy one then.

I can't remember what thread it was, but I read this past week about some quality control issues with their playfields. I have never bought one, so I cannot attest to the statements that were made. You may want to do a search on it and read up on them. I was also curious how their playfields were, compared to CPR's.

Yeah, seems I got the frustrating bastard of the bunch..but I definitely like the 81 cabinet style/construction over the 84. It is what it is. I'll molex the stupid things and fix my screw-up outside the machine.

I'm not much for playfield swaps -- the entire concept scares the shit out of me -- but I've heard good things about Mirco. About the extent of my knowledge of them, unfortunately. CPR released the "corrected/improved" EBD playfield last year IIRC. If my hardtop doesn't work out this time around, I guess that's what I'll be going after.

I have a nice HUO EBD that I plan to assemble another playfield for. The original playfield is nice and it will remain unmolested. The replacement "player" playfield will use the wiring from a later version of EBD including the playfield twist-loc lamp boards and the drop banks with the Molex connectors.

Right now I'm leaning towards using my last (and best) IPB playfield. I bought 8 of them in one order about 10-12 years ago and have been saving the final one, which was the best of the lot.

Can't speak to the Mirco EBD's, but there was a discussion on the discrepancies on the Mirco BK vs. the originals. Discussion starts here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/black-knight-clubmembers-only/page/46#post-5887673

Yes the chase lights will still flicker even with the Alltek led boards. There was some discussion about it here awhile back. It annoyed me to. The only real fix that I know of is to put regular incandescent bulbs in those sockets. They will not flicker. That’s what I did. I put regular incandescents on everything above the playfield (GI and those chase lights) and LEDs everywhere else.

Yes it’s in this thread somewhere. Somebody had a Mirco EBD and there were full sized holes were there should have only been dimples. I think it was around the flippers. Major screwup.

Post # 3523
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/eight-ball-deluxe-owner-club-guests-welcome-as-well?tq=Mirco+holes&tu=

Finished with my CPR playfield swap and led install. I want to tone down some of the GI lights at the top, as they are too bright for my senses. I do like the rest of the lighting with them. Has anyone used rubber bulb caps, ala old school to cover, or just go with a different bulb? Compare how bright it is next to the incandescent Dolly lights.

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I jumped on the LED bandwagon early into my learning how to refurbish early SS's but like you, I found them a bit overwhelming for the topside lights (even the toned down LEDs). I finally settled on doing incandescents for all topside GI and LEDs for all under playfield inserts. Went with this scheme on my BK, EBD, MH, and BJ and have been very happy. For the backboxes, it depends on the art. Went with incandescents on EBD and BJ but put in color-coordinated LEDs for MH and BK.

I like the soft glow of the incandescent lights too.

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EBD really goes nicely with incandescent GI lighting, the art and colors really go well with "warmer" lighting imo. LEDs for the inserts is fine, but I'm kind of a stickler for incandescent lighting... especially on old classics like EBD.

Yeah, I'm kind of regretting redoing the GI sockets. The ones I went with are too tall to accommodate incandescents :\

Are there any settings to control the brightness of the LEDs? I know nothing about the boards that offer LED support, so that's just a thought. If so, you might be able to find some "warmer" incandescent-style LEDs and turn down the brightness, perhaps?

I had standard 555 bulbs in my EBD forever, but when it sat next to my new MBr, it just looked so dim and depressed in comparison.

Now it's all bright and happy...

Of course...now my WH20 looks sad, so I guess it will have to get the LED treatment soon.

I had to go with domeless 1SMD warm LEDs because everything else in the inner chase was too tall. The rest of the GI was 2SMD warm. I'm too lazy to redo it at this point so it's going to be that again when (if?) I get it back together.

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I can't *NOT* LED my games. Just. Can't. Do. It.

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That's the great thing about this hobby - there's no real wrong answer here. You do want makes you happy, to your taste, and screw everyone else!

Yeah we ran into that when we did my playfield swap.

4th socket down. PBR part # A4762 is the correct socket to solve the height issue. It took us 3 tries to get it right.

http://www.pbresource.com/sockets.html

I ordered both the A4762 and the A2915s below it. Whatever is installed in there now is still too tall. I'll check to make sure they're the A4762s and not the A2915s.

I need to place an order with PBR anyway.

I think my wife is planning for that phrase to be on my tombstone...

Lmao. No doubt. Mine is usually PBL, not PBR, but I digress.

Hmm, that’s strange. I would think the A2915s would sit even lower and give you more room. Are you sure you have the right part numbers? I sound like Steve haha. This is a photo from my swap comparing PBR# A4762 to the original 555 GI sockets. You can see the height is almost exactly the same.
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Edit. If you maybe have the A2914’s they will sit too high. Been there done that.

Also check key posts 2099 and 2103 in this thread from Madmax541 showing socket height issue.

I didn't install 'em but I had both A4762 and A2915s shipped to my friend who was going to put those in specifically for the chase. However, looking at them, they certainly appear to be flat/staple sockets which we both know would be the wrong ones for the chase. I'll order another set of A4762s and swap them out.

//Edit what did you end up doing for the eight ball socket, which sits directly under the edge of the target bank? It's got a laydown socket and the best I can seem to find is this: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/E-120-99

But I don't think that's right either.

Half tempted to just space it comfortably out some and use a flex bulb from Comet. I imagine that is probably a real nightmare to reach with the game fully assembled.

The only one that did sit right, although maybe a hair low, was this one. It appears to be one of the A2915 sockets... which would make sense as to why it sat a hair low.

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I think that’s the exact laydown socket I used for next to the drop target.

As for the chase lights and GI, the staple down was the first ones we tried. Too high. Then we tried one from Marco that has the same Bally equivalent # as PBR.( Bally E120-81). But the PBR and Marco’s are slightly different. Marco’s are too high. It has to be PBR’s A4762. It was frustrating and we wasted a lot of time but we finally got it right. Dave Macy did my swap. I’m glad we changed them out. The original 555’s were old and brittle and several were broken. It was well worth the effort.

lol, my bag of A4762s have been located, so I'll swap those all out when they're here.

This EBD may be the death of me before it's all said and done...

I really need to place one of my orders so I can get these stupid mechs out of here. They're making everything else exceedingly difficult to work with..and I really don't want to paint myself in a corner by removing switch stacks. I've got enough of a damn mess as it is.

It will all be worth it when it’s done. My new playfield plays like new. The only bad thing is my scores are much lower because it plays so fast. That’s probably because I’m just a lousy player!

During my hardtop install, I added Molex connectors to the slings, pops, and mechs....so glad I did. I have the '84 model so the big drop target assembly was already Molex'd, but it's nice having them on all of them for quicker maintenance work.

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Yeah, I think I'm more or less going to do the same.

I think I'm going with Molex + Z-connectors though..kinda like a modern Stern would. Thoughts? Any particular reason you went with those plugs instead?

Molex connectors are a great idea. I have the 81 version and I’d really like to at least molex the drop target assembly. That thing is a beast and very difficult to work on while it’s in the machine. Mathazar, can you take some closeups of the molex connectors for the drop target assembly? Thanks.

PBL had good prices for all this stuff. Free plug for those guys

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Which one (the big one with 7 targets or the in-line one for the multipliers)? The former's Molex is factor installed on my '84. The in-line one I added for the solenoid power.

I'm doing 4x4pin molex for the rack drops because that's how my wires are bundled. I'll use another 4pin molex pair on each of the coils. Going to mark the sides of the z adapters with different colors of sharpie.

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I'm tired. I should be able to secure the mechs and plug it in to make sure my lights all work..... right? Or is it going to be bad that I have a ton of switches that are now closed when they shouldn't be?

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Question...

Re-did my ‘81 EBD from the ground up.

Last time before I disassembled, it was blowing F3 at startup. I was not concerned since I was restoring.

2 years later...I fired it up and blew F3. All new boards, even S&T from Jim Askey. All re-pinned, all new coils, all new switches. Literally, everything replaced.

So, if I disconnect pins 8 red and 9 orange from the J4 connector on power board, it boots and does not blow fuse.

All lights work, most solenoids but the SEB ones, but SEB is good in test mode...lamp flashes and clicks. No sound, but I have pins 8 and 9 disconnected.

Not sure where to start, since I am mostly ruling out a bad component, since all is new. Whatever is wrong, I had it before the disassembly.

Thanks!

The big one with the 7 targets please. I know these molex connectors were from the factory on your 84. I’d like to see how they did it so maybe I can add them on my 81.

Pictures please when you do this. I want to do this to mine but that’s a lot of wires. I’m not sure where to start.

I'll take some pix tonight....watch for them soon.

This is test mode. Attract mode has a few (yellow arrows up top, specials, eight ball--all three of which I think are correct--and the top one on the middle as well as the 4th one down in the middle which is clearly not working *period* that don't light up when I let it sit. A few are dimmer, etc. The socket to the bottom bonus (green) isn't in...because I don't have one right now.

For those middle ones and any that are dimmer... hopefully I can diagnose those. Not bad only having a few to address.

//edit just loose sockets. I'll see if I can fix them the next time I pull this out (when molex arrives)
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phillyfan64 - here are a dozen close up shots of the Molex connector for the big 7 drop target assembly on my '84. If you need a better angle on one, let me know.

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Mathazar thanks very much for the photos. They should help a lot. Is that just one connector on the entire assembly? They had to route the wires differently than they did on the 81. On the 81 there’s no easy way to pull it away from the harness running up along the outside edge on the machine. Can the back of your assembly where the switches are be removed from your machine?

I really wanted to just do one connector but it seemed either really difficult or completely impossible with wires routed how they are. Oh well.

Those thick red and orange wires are for the general illumination in the back box. They're tied to fuse F5 on the power/rectifier board. Is F3 blowing a typo?
If it's indeed blowing fuse F3, what happens when you disconnect the Squawk & Talk board?

The Squawk & Talk board connector has two orange wires.
One is the thick orange G.I wire from the power rectifier board J4 pin 9 that goes to the S&T connector J1 pin 7
The other is two thin orange wires for the games 12V supply that comes from power rectifier board J3 pin 10 fused by F3 that goes to the S&T connector J1 pin 10. The second thin orange wire on this crimp goes to the solenoid driver board at J3 pin 12.

Maybe someone's recrimped the S&T connector and mixed up the thick G.I orange wire position (7) with the two thin 12V orange wires position (10).

Solder a resistor across the socket and it won't flicker. I usually use a 470 ohm (IIRC).