Happy to have had the opportunity to join the club over the weekend with an LE. It's been on my list for a while and happy to get EBD in either classic form or LE form.

After a brief looking over, I notice that most, if not all of the lamps are wedge base. I want to fit this game with LEDs; do these still strobe like crazy without an LED board?

Thanks Quench! Is there a way to solder a resistor onto the wedge socket? Would I do it across the leads?

Mine has lamp boards with twist sockets in them. I don't mind doing the work. A resistor is a penny or less, otherwise the addon boards are $45 and $30 for the main lamp board and an aux, lamp board (I thought I saw one). I already have the resistors, so I should be good there.

I will have to take a closer look to see what's exposed/not exposed. If it's too difficult to access and solder, then I will just have to plunk down the money to get the boards.

How is the wood underneath? You might have to fill the hole with a toothpick or use a bigger screw.

I'm having a bit of a problem. I swapped Comet LEDs into my game. Added resistors to the twist sockets, but the rest of them seem to be ok. No resistors on the GI but those are LED also. Now, I'm having problems with 3 solenoids. The outhole kicker, the saucer kicker, and the 4 bank reset. Running through solenoid test, when the game calls for these 3 solenoids, they fire different solenoids instead. I checked underneath the PF, and cant see any obvious shorts. It was playing fine before the LED swap. Any thoughts?

It has an alltek solenoid driver board.

I reseated the connector. The connector was replaced at one point. I didnt do any soldering in that area either. Speaking of which, I must've gotten a game that the intern worked on because the solder jobs are bad.

No changes. When the 4 bank solenoid should fire, it fires the 2 ball target; saucer fires the ball bank reset; and outhole fires the 1 ball target.

I did . I swapped an incandescent back in. What damage would I have done? Still behaves the same after the incandescent was put back in. Why is that even there?

No resistors on GI.

I did and replaced the bulb with an incandescent. How do I get the proper solenoids to fire at this point?

The lamp does not light in lamp test mode. The lamp does work in a working socket.

This bulb, right?

20200712_130505 (resized).jpg

I checked that and it isnt shorted against anything.

Do you have 6 VDC on the screwed tab?
I have 7.0 V

If you temporarily jumper a wire from the two thin blue wires to ground, does the lamp illuminate?
Yes

Do you have continuity from the thin blue wire to the lamp driver board at pin 11 of J3?
Yes

Does grounding the metal tab of SCR Q54 on the lamp driver board illuminate the lamp?
No

Does connecting a jumper wire from test point TP3 on the lamp driver board to the "Gate" leg of SCR Q54 illuminate the lamp?
No

Can i presume that i need to replace SCR Q54?

Thanks for the help guys! I will do more investigation/rework later today and will report back. I don't have any of those SCRs on-hand, but it appears that there are a few unused ones that I can swap around.

The alltec board is the SDB, the lamp board is still factory. When I ground the tab of the lamp, the lamp lights and I can hear the relay on the SEB clicking.

I will have to take off the lamp board to investigate anyway, so I will see if there's continuity between the tab of the SCR to the pin. Maybe I wasn't jumpering the wire properly, plug I was having my just-turned-5 yr old tell me if the lamp was lighting or not, so my assistant may have been a bit under-qualified

So grounding the metal tab to the rail doesnt light the lamp, but connecting the tab with the blue wires to the metal tab on Q54 does light the lamp.

Uhhhhh yeah....

20200713_155430 (resized).jpg

I repaired it with a jumper wire and now the light is on all the time and the ball bank reset coils dont work. Looking again at the schematic, I cant find any of those SCRs that are unused, so I'll probably have to order some.

I assume that the gate isnt working on that SCR?

Probably me putting an LED bulb in the socket pictured above?

Is it just me, or does this game score a lot of 1K and 500 pt increments? I see a lot of XXX,000 scores or XXX,500 scores. Occasionally a XXX,030 or XXX,530 score (I think one of the switches by the pops scores 30 pts.) Just making sure that my scoring is correct!

The next time someone plays, let me know what types of points you're getting. I thought that pops and slings would score in the hundreds, but maybe not. I haven't played this game enough to know exactly what scores what. I'll have to double check mine again, I just found it odd.

I just did Comet 2SMD in sunlight in mine and it mostly went fine. What I did (with the game off obviously) is took a flat head and gently pried opened the wedge socket and the bulb fit in without too much fuss.

Newb note: DON'T replace the bulb under the playfield next to the solenoid expander board!

So I confirmed that my pop bumpers scored 1K when lit solid, slings scored 500, and that there were only 2 "rubber" switches by the pops that scored 30. All other scoring switches scored their proper value, usually in the thousands. I would have thought there would have been some 100 switches somewhere, but guess not...unless there is?

Report back what you find. I would be interested in converting mine to LEDs also. I thought maybe these strips would work somehow.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07T2PVDFY/ref=twister_B08K32VBFS

5V strip that could be tapped off of the GI line?

7yrs on Pinsde and the first time rebuilding flippers?! You're 6.5 years overdue

It's not hard. I've had good results from Pinball Life as well as Pinball Resource. Quality parts IMO from either place. Make sure you get a flipper gauge or cut one out of an old credit card for spacing the flipper bat to the bushing:
https://www.pinballlife.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PBL-300-0162-00

In a pinch, you can use an old gift card/credit card, etc. It's a similar thickness so should work without any issues.

No problem Scott! Feel free to post up any questions you have while doing it. Just me, but I would do all 3 flippers. It completely changes how the game plays.

toothpick, wood glue, redrill hole

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

IME, the Seigecraft boards do a pretty good job, but I've had a few that still flicker. After getting them for a few games, I just decided to do the resistors. You wont need to do every socket, each game is different. Some will be more, some less. Resistors are super cheap.

The Alltek boards are supposed to eliminate the need for any LED solution, so I would be a bit disappointed.

Soldering large components is easy just get your iron hot enough. Work hot and fast. You can do one in a minute or so.

But yeah, get your PS going first if you think that might be an issue.

Looks like some spliced wiring with clear vinyl tubing, instead of traditional heat shrink. Just me, but I would properly re-splice those wires and use heat shrink.

You said that the lamps were working when you tested the game before sale?

So that was your first mistake Just me, but first thing to do is move this ground braid attached to the board down to the ground braid in the backbox.
2d34cb849704d420ce74d006a36ab9e687d440a9 (resized).jpg

EDIT : I guess I was a little slow on my response and is seems that you've spotted it already.

*Some* people are replacing the flipper mech that is not the linear design. Let's just be clear on that.

Glad you're in the cool club

I have both EBDLE and CII. I don't/can't have them set up side by side (one day), but they grow on you after a time, and when you're playing, the cabinet style doesn't really matter.

I find that the dimple marks on the 2 CPR swaps I've done so far are not accurate at all, in regards to mounting the mechs. If you think that the sling shot arm isn't sitting centered and squarely in the holes, I would fill the screw holes and remount the mechs and try that out.

Please put the right flipper bats in your game! Mech talk aside, I think we are all on the same page as far as flipper bats go.

So tempting. I've got a Centuar II and a Joker Poker both in line for pf swaps. My EBDLE has a decent playfield, but a fresh new pf is hard to say no to...

I prefer the 81' version as well, but I got both of my LE and CII for about half the cost of their OG counterparts. At the end of the day, when I'm playing, the cabinet is the last thing on my mind. Plus it grows on you.

You can always test your connections with a DMM if you really wanted. Some people just replace them altogether for reliability, and with the SEB, it's a small enough connector. But reflowing solder and testing with a DMM should make you informed enough.