Hi all, I picked up an Eight Ball Deluxe 84 earlier this year, previous owner wasn't really a pinball person so not much was done to it but after bringing it home and testing the game out everything seemed to be ok until I knocked down all of the ball drop targets and then I noticed a slingshot was firing when the stand up deluxe targets were hit, pretty soon after I could smell something heating up/burning and found the q7 transistor was burned on the solenoid driver board.

I sent the board to Chris Hibler for service and he mentioned the q4 was shorted and q7 transistor was inoperable, he fixed everything up but I am wondering if it's safe to plug it back in or will it likely happen again. Still new to diagnosing and I'm unsure why the transistors were shorted to begin with.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks a lot that's reassuring to hear. Much appreciated!

Good idea thanks for the suggestion. I'll be sure to check the diodes just in case.

Getting ready to start working on my 84 EBD. It's in good shape but needs to be shopped and has a few hacks I need to undo, going to start with this one. I had the boards serviced by Chris Hibler with new male connectors so those should be good to go. Will be my first time replacing a connector and I'm not sure which one to get. Could someone please let me know which connector and pins to buy to replace this one? Thanks!

0F11ED50-E924-4ECF-8BAB-A64BCB18B4C8 (resized).jpeg

Thank you for the info! Much appreciated!

Previous owner ripped out the left side of the grounding paper in the backbox, not sure why they did that but the ground braid is now only touching this spot. Should I add a short length of ground braid to connect to the rest of the ground backing or is it ok to leave as is? Thanks.

4B4F147F-C12F-4960-A91F-9986200AA805 (resized).jpeg

917B5901-81ED-45DF-9F6A-F44B85D2E1A7 (resized).jpeg

Excellent info thank you both for the responses! I agree it is not pretty and I plan on replacing the backing but couldnt find a source for the foil paper so thanks for providing a link for that. I do have some other backbox work to do so I'll tackle it together. Was hoping to get the game fired up after getting the boards back from being serviced but don't want to cause any damage, is it advised to address this issue first or in the meantime is it ok to power on the game if I add a length of braid as a temporary solution? Thanks again!

Thanks a lot! Yeah it's definitely a wiring hack, one of a few I've found since buying. Actually this is an 84 as well. It has been powered on before once at the sellers place to see that it powered on and could play a game but I didn't do a lot of inspection while I was there. Once I got it home I powered it on and play tested a bit but soon found/smelled a transistor had burned up on the driver board so I sent out the boards for service and recently got them back and so far have not powered it back on.

If it's not too much trouble I may need some pictures later on of your connectors so I can see how my hacked ones would have originally been wired. Thanks again!

Thank you for all the info it's very much appreciated. Reassuring to know that if I get stuck I can reach out here for help. I do have a manual/schematic so that should prove useful. Will definitely check out your restoration thread for any tips. Thanks again!