I just picked up a 2nd Firepower the other day and got it back to 100% working order. My question though is about the pair of #89 flash lamps under the "fire" and "power" inserts. This ended up being the last issue I had to fix on this 2nd Firepower machine.

The 2 flash lamps were always on, weather in game or attract mode. During attract mode they would get brighter when they were actually supposed to be just flashing normally and going out, and then return to their "on" status. I had already swapped known working driver boards in to the machine and the issue didn't change. There is a small contact board under the play field that brings together the wiring for these 2 flash lamps and a pair of resistors. My 1st Firepower game is working 100% so I had a look at those connections on the 1st game. They turned out to be very different. I swapped the wiring and 2 resistors around on the 2nd game with the locked on flash lamps but there was no change. The larger resistor did get very hot, so I removed it and the issue is gone. I installed a new resistor, but the issue reappears with the new resistor. I have about 15 new ones and have checked multiple resistors but the issue is always there with the resistor in place in the same manor as my 1st Firepower game.

I suppose my question is, is it really necessary, seeing as it works without it? Is the most that could happen that the flash lamp life span is shortened a little bit because of the higher/faster current flow to the flash lamps without the resistor? Since a new one doesn't fix the issue, is there actually an issue on the board somewhere? A board issue is hard to believe seeing as it works just fine in the other Firepower machine.

It's great that it's working and all, but it would be nice to know if not having that resistor in there is going to cause issues in the future.

I've included a photo of the parts I'm discussing. One is without the resistor, and it works fine that way, and the other is with the resistor in the position as it is in, in the other working game with the resistor there.

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Perfect. Wrong resistor explains why it doesn't work properly then I would assume. I'll see if I've got that one on hand. I don't have LEDs in the game yet.

How about a data east power supply.... is a 2n5550 a suitible replacement for a 2n5551? Has a little less voltage rating though....

Just did some investigating on the schematics on the Data East power supply. It is in a Laser War that I just picked up yesterday, as-is untested. Just plugged it in today. I'll make this it's own thread. It seems there is an issue with the power supply and power going to the displays.

Fuse f3 is not blown on the power supply (100v circuit for display power), nor are any other fuses in the game. I did remove fuse F3 from the game for the time being. When I powered on the game I heard a couple pops. TR1 is gone from the power supply (the 2n5551 transistor). Well, the legs are still there, but the case blew right off of it. Also, C10 (or C11) I forget at the moment, popped the top and shoots out smoke a good few foot distance with the back box open. TR3 looks to be blown as well, as there is a piece missing from the front of it's case. Probably need to just rebuild the high voltage section here is my guess and to a cap kit on the power supply.

The power supply is still sending out the proper 5/12 volts and the game plays and runs like it should, other than the displays all being out, since they aren't getting any power.

These are interchangeable with Williams displays as far as I know, so I can test the displays individually in a few of my other games to verify they are good. If the displays test good, and fuse F3 is the proper size and not blown, I would think the rebuild of the HV section on the PS would bring this thing back up to par. Are there any known issues with the display board or the glass displays causing an issue of parts popping and smoking on the PS?