Hi! this is my first post, and my first pinball machine!

I bought it at an auction and was unable to look inside as they did not have a key -- I ended up paying $800 for it. I sort of lucked out as when I drilled the coin door lock there was $210 in quarters inside! (no silver unfortunately) The latest dated quarter was 1985, and the earliest was 1965.

Only one mouse nest, and other than a leaking battery it was in pretty good shape -- all the fuses tested good. someone had physically cut off the ground on the plug so I wired a new one in. Then I fixed the insulation that had been chewed off some wires by the mice. Then fired her up.

The feature lamps all work, as do the solenoids, and half of the 7 segment pinscore displays work so far. The audio also works. The machine is basically playable now.

Here is my problem, the general illumination (GI) does not work. I tested the rectifier test points and they all tested great except for TP4 which has zero AC voltage on it. The other DC test points are all within spec. Based on the info I can find the GI is powered by the 7.3VAC bus, and I'm at a loss what to do now to trace the issue any further. Does this mean my transformer is bad? I would think not since its clearly providing the proper AC voltages to the BRs for the other buses.

I have already pulled the J1 and J3 plugs and the TP4 remains at zero voltage, so I think that means there isn't a short (but could be mistaken). What should my next steps be?

Thanks!
IMG_20190923_184107 (resized).jpgauction-listing (resized).jpgcoinsinside (resized).jpgcontrolboards (resized).jpginsdie-lower (resized).jpgmouse-wires-repaired (resized).jpgquarters (resized).jpg

I'm having trouble understanding based on the schematic here (https://www.ipdb.org/files/980/Stern_1980_Galaxy_Selected_Schematics_and_Wiring_Diagrams.pdf) what leads are what on the transformer?

If I could figure out which pairs to test for the base voltages, then I could narrow it down a bit (i.e. if I can find the proper voltage coming from the transformer then i can trace it to the rectifier). Would also make it easier to figure out what wires to test for continuity between the rectifier and the transformer. Based on information here (http://techniek.flipperwinkel.nl/ballyss/rep/index1.htm) it appears the transformer should output the following AC voltages, which then get rectified into DC voltages:

7.8AC --> 5.4VDC
12 AC --> 11.9VDC
49 AC --> 43VDC
173 AC --> 230VDC
7.3 AC --> Stays the same at 7.3AC

Can anybody point to what points/wires/colors are what voltage pairs off the transformer?

Thanks!

transformer (resized).jpg

Thank you for all the help guys! I was able to test the correct points off the transformer and the proper 7.3VAC voltage is there! Now I just need to trace the wires to the rectifier board and look for a bad connection somewhere I think.

Since all the other AC voltages must be there due to the proper DC outputs existing at the test points, my assumption is this is probably just a connection problem somewhere on the back of the rectifier board, since nothing fancy is done to this voltage as it passes through the board.

trasnformer-7VAC-output (resized).jpg

Thanks. I'll check that too. I hear the relay clicking when the machine is doing its 'dim the lights' thing but of course theres no effect since there is no power to the GI bus. I'm not sure if that means its good or bad. If I had to replace it, do you happen to know what relay I would use? I saw this one mentioned a few places,but i'm not sure its correct. Does the DC in this relay mean the solenoid driver sends its 40V DC signal to the relay to interrupt the 7VAC circuit? https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=LB2-48DS&cat=143

Found it! Thank you guys! I traced the leads from the transformer into the relay, bridged past it, and now I've got GI! I don't think this poses any risk since the current is just going to the rectifier board where it passes through the F5 20A Fuse. It was stupid of me to consider the relay 'good' just cuz I could hear it clicking when called upon, as clearly it was cutting off the AC current entirely.

Unless there are any other suggestions, I'm going to order the relay I listed above to replace it.

IMG_20190926_183030 (resized).jpg

IMG_20190926_183034 (resized).jpg

I went ahead and tied the two wires together and dropped a bit of solder on them for now. And I ordered a couple new relays from Great Plains to replace the one that blew.

While I was replacing bulbs, I would work on some off then turn it back on again. I started to notice an intermittent dimming of the lights. I'm not sure what exactly that means. I was mostly working on the feature lights (the DC blinkers). I hope it doesn't mean I have another problem to deal with. I have a bad feeling it might mean I should probably replace the entire rectifier PSU to be on the safe side, which sounds like a bit of a project.

The GI lights are separate from the feature lights, so I would think it wouldn't affect it -- but perhaps it means my entire psu board is going bad.

Still, it seems like I made progress tonight, but naturally there had to be a set back as well.

Thanks. I'm going to go through the connectors tonight. I went ahead and cut the AC voltage I fixed earlier to try and 'get back to where I started' but the dimming issue is still there, and the machine is rebooting on its own sometimes (with an occasional solenoid firing randomly).

I did remove the corroded battery earlier, it was actually the first thing I did before I moved onto anything else. There wasn't any real visible damage thankfully.

I'm not really sure where to start here but I'll probably start by pulling the J1-J3 connectors and testing voltages with various areas isolated first. Then perhaps I can narrow down whats causing the dimming/rebooting.

I was only replacing feature bulbs last night, but perhaps I introduced a short somewhere in the process. I was extra careful, but anything is possible. The fact that the bulb wire has to be unscrewed from the back of the playfield to change them certainly increases the odds of something getting crossed along the way.

cleaned_up_battery (resized).jpg

Well, I've been playing pinball the last 2 days. Its been awesome! Figured out the problem was a power delivery issue coming from outside the cabinet, so no internal issues at all.

Installed fresh rubber, and replaced the lights that needed it. Have almost every single light working, the few that I don't have working I may just need to replace the sockets themselves.

I also 3d printed some replacement parts for some that were broken and I think they came out really great. They don't really take direct hits from the balls as the star posts with fresh rubber do instead so they should be strong enough. At this point the next big fixes on my plate (until something else breaks) is replacing the dimming relay, and trying to get all the old pinscore displays to work (I've got 3/5 working so far). I'm going to meticulously go through all the pins on them and see if they need to be re-soldered.

I can't thank you guys enough for all the help to get this far. Its been a great first week of pinball restoration here.

3dprinted-part-installed (resized).jpg

3dprintedpart (resized).jpg

IMG_20190927_233646 (resized).jpg

IMG_20190927_234704 (resized).jpg

MVIMG_20190927_211523 (resized).jpg

@jahkub no worries! did you win the harlem globetrotters, dolly parton, and mata hari pins? I think I know who won the Playboy one.

And some more pics of the entire thing together. It plays FANTASTIC and looks GREAT. Already ran through probably 250 credits worth of games the last week or so.

IMG_20191005_232514 (resized).jpg

MVIMG_20191005_195635 (resized).jpg

I bought a few brand new ones thanks! The old one had a rusty spot on it and I didn't trust it not to screw things up. So far I've poured about $200 into this machine to get it where it is today. Admittedly some of that money was wasted as I bought a bunch of LEDs only to realize I didn't really like how bright they were, and instead only used them in the pop bumpers.

But I'm figuring they'll come in handy with the next pin I get

I forgot to mention, the GI relay was the main source of problems, and once I replaced it with a fresh one the GI now does the dimming effect it was supposed to. Basically, its running 100% now with the exception of two screens I haven't gotten to work. I'm going to try and fix them but I'm hard pressed to want to spend hundreds more on replacements right now.

OH man those look GREAT!!! Were they in pretty decent shape when you got them home? Any boards need to be replaced? Or just normal cleaning and maintenance items?

Thanks. I don't think I'm going to replace them with new ones, I wasn't able to find any at the time, and honestly these look really good to me and are completely functional. I think they'll last too, as they don't take much direct abuse from the ball since they are only guides.