(Topic ID: 205781)

Fried Bridge Rectifiers

By snowvictim

6 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 3 posts
  • 3 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 6 years ago by ts4z
  • No one calls this topic a favorite

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#1 6 years ago

I was wondering what could cause bridge rectifiers to become blackened (as I gather from overheating?)? A while back, my Twilight Zone stopped working. When I pressed both flippers, the game would reset, and I understand this was caused by a drop in voltage below the 5V minimum needed for the logic board when the 50V circuit was triggered. I changed all the bridges on my WPC driver board back then and the problem subsided. Recently, however, the problem returned. Today, I replaced the bridges yet again (as I didn't have any clue what else to do) and the problem went away just like last time. Obviously, therefore, I assume the problem with my Twilight Zone game is something that causes the bridges to become faulty and then create issues with the logic board. Any clues as to what might be affecting my board?

#2 6 years ago

Check the connectors at J101 and J102 on the upper/right side of the driver board. When you replaced your Bridge Rectifiers, you removed the board and it’s connectors. By doing that you reseated the connectors when you reinstalled the driver board. That “wiped” the connection between the male and female pins allowing for temporary contact BUT as you played the game, resistance builds up again and your reset issues can return.

This happened to me on my Fish Tales and the only way to correct it was to replace BOTH the male and female connectors at J101 and J102. For me, the bridges had nothing to do with my issue but I thought I had fixed the problem after changing them. Just like in your case, the resets returned after a short while.

Try it out and let me know how it goes!

Eric

#3 6 years ago

@erico201's notes are good. I doubt that your bridges are fried (and that they were ever fried). There are at least half a dozen things that cause low voltage in a WPC game. I think the easy fix is the kahr.us daughterboard. But you could also replace the connectors, make sure the nuts are tight on the regulator, re-seat the "Z" connector hanging in the cable loom between the CPU and driver board, replace C5 -- I've had all of these help, but the problem has recurred. There are some other changes that can be made on the driver to make that +5V a little higher, too.

Re-seating the "Z" connector fixed my TZ reset problem for years, but it came back. Right now, the daughter board is in my game, but it's awaiting a long overdue shop job.

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