Locate the ball count stepper unit if you have not already identified it. On your game, it is mounted down inside the cabinet, on the bottom board. It's on the left-hand side, just behind the score motor.

The ball count unit has sets of wipers on a moving arm that make contact with a number of rivets on a stationary disc. The wiper arm rotates a specific increment (one step) each time you advance to the next ball in play. On your game, there are a double set of wipers at the lower end of the moving arm. There needs to be a jumper wire soldered across the top ends of these two wipers. This jumper often breaks off, and if the jumper is detached, the game won't go into game over. That's because it is these two wipers, contacting two rivets on the disc, that complete the circuit to the XB relay when the ball count stepper is on the last ball in play. If these two wipers don't complete the circuit between the two rivets, your XB relay will never be energized.

If the jumper is intact, you should still check that the wipers are making good solid contact with the rivets, and that both the wipers and rivets are clean. Each wiper is spring-loaded, and the wipers need to move smoothly up and down in their mounting bushings in order to make good contact with the rivets so that the XB relay will energize.

- TimMe

This image shows the ball count unit on Flying Carpet. The red arrow points to the double-wiper I described in post #5. The jumper wire that is soldered between the two wipers is covered in a black cloth sleeve. Check to be sure that this jumper wire has not broken off, and also confirm that the wipers are aligned correctly and are making good contact with the rivets when the ball count unit is on the last ball in play.

ball count wiper (resized).jpg

Photo credit: John Gray, posted on the Internet Pinball Database: https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=899&picno=60184

You are basically correct, but the sequence is a bit different. The ball count unit is advanced AFTER the ball is kicked from the outhole and toward the shooter. The trough that connects the outhole to the shooter lane has a switch at the far right end (next to the shooter lane) that moves the ball count unit up one step. So after the fourth ball drains, the outhole kicks the ball back to the shooter, and the ball rolling over the the switch at the far right of the trough steps the ball count unit up to ball 5. At this point, the bridging wipers on the ball count unit are now in contact with the two rivets that allow the XB relay to energize, but the XB relay doesn't trip because the O relay is not pulled in. After the fifth ball is played and it drains, that is when the switch on the O relay (and the score motor switches) will trip the XB relay and end the game. At that time, the ball count unit does not move.

If you look at the schematic provided by @HowardR, you can see how the wipers and rivets of the ball count unit are shown at the far right side of the circuit for the XB relay:

ball count contacts (resized).jpg

You may also find it interesting to note that, if your game is set for 3-ball play, a different set of rivets would allow the XB relay to energize as soon as the 3rd ball in play has drained. These two rivets are located on the disc such that they will be contacted by the bridging wipers when the ball count unit is on ball 3.

- TimMe

Excellent troubleshooting. Yes, the problem now is most likely on one of the other switches in the XB relay circuit.

Note that there is a switch on the XB relay itself that is supposed to be closed when the relay is latched (in the up position). This switch will open when the relay is tripped. If this switch isn't making good contact when the XB relay is in the up position, then the XB relay will never trip. So check the switches on the XB relay and see if there are any issues there.

The O relay is one of the small relays on the row of relays running along the right-hand side of the bottom board, from front to back. There should be a label on the bottom board identifying each relay. Each of these small relays are attached to the long metal bracket with a hairpin-type clip. If you remove the clip, you can take the relay out of the row and get access to the switches. The switches are small but you should be able to clean and adjust them as needed.

- TimMe

Could you please tell me specifically what two points you jumpered together to make this happen?

Those wires go to the switch on the XB relay:

xb relay switch (resized).jpg

On the schematic, any place that you see two short vertical lines, it represent a switch. The label on the switch tells where the switch is located (XB in this case). The horizontal line on each side of the switch lines represent the wire that attaches to that side of the switch.

On this specific switch, the diagonal slash across the two vertical lines indicate that the switch is normally closed (NC). This particular switch will open when the XB relay trips. This is the switch I mentioned in post #10.

By the way, if there is no diagonal slash through the vertical lines representing a switch, that means it is a normally open (NO) switch.

- TimMe

Thanks for the pics, that is helpful. In photo 1, you are showing the switch stack at position 1A of the score motor. It sounds like you are saying that the two wires you jumpered together are the BL+BLK (blue and black mixed) and WH-OR (white with an orange tracer) that are attached to the last switch on the 1A switch stack (by "last switch,", I mean the switch on that stack that is the farthest away from the cam).

If you jumpered that motor 1A switch, and the XB relay tripped when the 5th ball drained, it means that specific switch is the one that is causing the fault - it is not making good contact. So you will want to clean the contacts of that switch, and watch the switch contacts while the motor runs to confirm that the switch points are closing and making good contact. If the switch points are not closing and making solid contact when the score motor runs, you will need to adjust the switch blades. Note that this switch will pulse five times during one score motor cycle. The XB relay should trip on the second pulse when you are on the 5th ball, and the ball drains.

- TimMe

Excellent, thanks for the clarification.

The OR+BLK wire you jumpered to (photo 2- jumper 1) is the wire shown on the schematic that is connected between one side of the XB relay coil and one side of the XB switch.

The BL+BLK wire you jumpered to (photo 1 - jumper 2) is the wire shown on the schematic that runs between the other side of the XB switch and the score motor 1A switch. So, if you jumper those two together, and the XB relay is tripping, then you know the fault must either be at the XB switch, or the wiring between the XB switch and the motor 1A switch.

Flying Carpet is one of my favorite wedgeheads (as you can probably tell from my avatar) and so I looked at the wiring in my game because I could not see the BL+BLK wire in your photo 2, and it should have been on the other solder lug of the XB relay switch (opposite from the OR+BLK wire). It turns out that the BL+BLK wire goes from the motor 1A switch to a solder lug on a TB relay switch. The TB relay is located at the right-hand end of the relay bank. And, there is a thin jumper wire from that TB switch solder lug that connects the BL+BLK wire over to the solder lug on the XB switch. This jumper is down very close to the relay bank frame, and it is difficult to see. Anyway, if you were wondering where that BL+BLK wire was, now you know.

The next thing I would do is check that thin jumper between the TB relay and the XB relay and confirm that it has not detached at one of the solder lugs. If you are sure that the thin jumper wire is making a good solid connection, then the only thing that could be causing your fault is the XB relay switch. Cleaning and adjusting that XB relay switch should fix the issue.

- TimMe

Great, glad to hear you got it working! I used to play Flying Carpet all the time on location in the 1970s, and it's still one of my favorite players today. It can be a tough game, but once you light the specials, you can rack up a lot of free games. Back in the day when I didn't have much money, getting free games was really important.

I agree those lockdowns are very difficult to find, I could use one or two myself.

- TimMe