Future Spa
Bally, 1979Hello , just picked up what looks to be a home use only future spa in crazy nice condition . The mpu is shot , has heavy acid damage . My question is would this be enough to keep the game from powering on ? All my experience is with EM repair . Gonna get my meter out today and dig around but just thought I’d ask
First disconnect all the MPU connectors.
Then check your fuses on the rectifier board, one is probably blown.
Quoted from zacaj:could be a bad connector on the rectifier, bad line fuse, or bad line fuse holder. or something wrong with the power cord
One of the fuse holders does look to have some damage . Also on that rectifier board is it common to have wires soldered directly to the board ?
Quoted from EMpins16:One of the fuse holders does look to have some damage . Also on that rectifier board is it common to have wires soldered directly to the board ?
If you mean coming from the transformer, yes. Check out the pics here:
If your rectifier board is shot, it’s a relatively cheap and easy part to replace. My Future Spa was suffering a similar problem, although my GI did have power. I got no boot LEDs from the MPU, though. I did some rectifier troubleshooting but eventually realized I’d rather spend some cash than some time and bought this replacement:
https://www.pinballlife.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PBL-100-0070-00
20 minutes of soldering later (do yourself a favor and remove the whole transformer from the game), and I was back up and running. I still don’t know what was wrong on the old rectifier board, but I don’t much care anymore. 
Quoted from CKrueger:If you mean coming from the transformer, yes. Check out the pics here:
https://pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bally/Stern#How_To_Hook_Up_a_Bally_AS-2518-18_Rectifier_Board
If your rectifier board is shot, it’s a relatively cheap and easy part to replace. My Future Spa was suffering a similar problem, although my GI did have power. I got no boot LEDs from the MPU, though. I did some rectifier troubleshooting but eventually realized I’d rather spend some cash than some time and bought this replacement:
https://www.pinballlife.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PBL-100-0070-00
20 minutes of soldering later (do yourself a favor and remove the whole transformer from the game), and I was back up and running. I still don’t know what was wrong on the old rectifier board, but I don’t much care anymore.
Great info . Thanks . Yea I know the mpu is shot , perhaps doing the rectifier and mpu In one shot will save me a head ache in the long run
It’s certainly the easy way out, if expensive!
I banged my head against my Black Hole’s CPU issue for 6 months, and then fixed it in 5 minutes with a Pascal board. My only regret was not spending the $300 before I drained numerous evenings attempting to teach myself to diagnose the CPU issue.
If you mean wires soldered to the BACK side of the rectifier board, then yes that is ok. Shouldn't have any on the front. Did you check your power cord where it connects inside the cabinet? I have seen to spade lug fail a few times, I would look there too
Quoted from Blenderhead:If you mean wires soldered to the BACK side of the rectifier board, then yes that is ok. Shouldn't have any on the front. Did you check your power cord where it connects inside the cabinet? I have seen to spade lug fail a few times, I would look there too
I will post pictures today , It appears to be on the front
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Ohio, OH
not just the board but the connectors as well