Gilligan's Island
Bally, 1991Well, I got a Gilligan's Island. That's the good news. The bad news is all the wiring harnesses from the cabinet to the backbox were cut. Basically, whoever moved it thought it would be easier to move if the backbox were completely detached from the cabinet. Fortunately they are color coded, but before I begin splicing them back together, I was wondering if anyone has any leads on replacement harnesses.
Thanks.
Mark
strip solder shrink
strip solder shrink
strip solder shrink
strip solder shrink
strip solder shrink
strip solder shrink
strip solder shrink
strip solder shrink
strip solder shrink
strip solder shrink
strip solder shrink
repeat as needed...
Repairing the existing one is going to be much easier than replacing the whole thing.
Strip everything first, pop on some heat shrinks, solder, then test before actually heating the heat shrink as you're likely gonna mix one up.
Quoted from dudah:test before actually heating the heat shrink
I'm getting a mental picture of a hundred wires and bare joints all pressed up against each other then the game being turned on.
Actually it was free. My neighbor had it in the basement and when they moved, the new homeowners had no interest. Someone then decided to throw it out. I guess the best way to lighten the load is to cut the backbox off and take the playfield out of the cabinet and take it all out to the curb.
It's no so much that I expect to find all the harnessed, but maybe a compatable secondary harness.
Reminds me of the Bally Eight Ball that I fixed last year . They cut all the wires because they could not unlock the backglass!
You should just get yourself a heat gun and a ton of solder sleeves. It would go WAY faster and be about 10 times easier.
Solder sleeves have a ring of solder in the middle of a clear heat shrink tube. Basically, you just intertwine the wires, slide the sleeve over them, heat 'em up, and move on to the next one!
https://www.amazon.com/Shrink-Solder-Sleeve-Crimpless-Connectors/dp/B00IEFOCRK
Might not be the cheapest, but you can get an idea of what they're like.
Quoted from Frax:I'm getting a mental picture of a hundred wires and bare joints all pressed up against each other then the game being turned on.
Trim your harness at an angle, so wire #1 is longer than wire forty. Trim the other end so wire forty is longer than wire #1. That way your ends are slightly offset.
Try splicing a 3600 pair telephone cable if you think the Gilligan's Island harness is a pain.
Yep been there. The previous owner of this EBD crimped all the wires together and he did it with just looking through a magnifying glass and tried to match up the ends of each wire by the way they were cut. I had to go back through it wire by wire with my meter because he had about 12 or so there were not correct...., luckily the game didn't catch on fire.
John P. Dayhuff
Battle Creek, MI.
269-979-3836
You can do this also very well with no solder using only stripper and heat shrink. Strip the wires, add heat shrink to one side, twist them together, slide the heat shrink over and heat it up. The tight heat shrink holds everything in place very well.
Quoted from markmon:You can do this also very well with no solder using only stripper and heat shrink. Strip the wires, add heat shrink to one side, twist them together, slide the heat shrink over and heat it up. The tight heat shrink holds everything in place very well.
This is a terrible idea.
Quoted from caylegeorge:This is a terrible idea.
Why is that? You haven't provided any data here. If you twist the wires together and use the proper heat shrink after, it's very difficult to pull apart with your hands and, in fact, will rip at the twist point just as if you soldered it. The heat shrink itself is much cleaner without a solder blob underneath it. Keep in mind that solder is not weld and is a very soft metal that is not intended for structural support at all. It really doesn't help at all for strength in this case.
I guarantee that my heat shrink / twist method is much stronger than any of the standard crimp connectors.
I would buy a good crimp tool and buy some multiconductor molex connectors and pins. No way I would solder all those pins, just asking for trouble.
Quoted from yfz450:I would buy a good crimp tool and buy some multiconductor molex connectors and pins. No way I would solder all those pins, just asking for trouble.
No need for a crip tool, just twist the wires onto the molex pins 
Quoted from Miguel351:You should just get yourself a heat gun and a ton of solder sleeves. It would go WAY faster and be about 10 times easier.
Solder sleeves have a ring of solder in the middle of a clear heat shrink tube. Basically, you just intertwine the wires, slide the sleeve over them, heat 'em up, and move on to the next one!
amazon.com link »
Might not be the cheapest, but you can get an idea of what they're like.
I wish i had known about these when i was repairing a cut lost world harness. they are pricey but the time savings would be worth it to me. thanks for the tip.
Solder them. Take the time and do it right. The solder is giving you an electrical connection that won't oxidize like the twisted wire method. We are stewards of these games. The problems with twisted wire may not surface until years down the road. And then they will start behaving like a flaky connector, and then someone will be clipping them all and soldering them. I'm just of the opinion that doing it right is better.
Quoted from Miguel351:You should just get yourself a heat gun and a ton of solder sleeves.
I wouldn't use solder sleeves because the risk of melting the insulation on adjacent wires is high when trying to do a whole harness.
You need heat shields over everything but the sleeve to use them with minimal risk.
Mark's twist & heat shrink works great. You can use shrink tube with glue if you're worried about corrosion.
Crimp connectors are fine, there is little vibration in this application. Strength isn't needed, just an electrical connection.
I ended up soldering mine with shrink tube added. I had several same color wires (switch, lamp, ground) that I had to beep out. Long time.
I cannot imagine starting the work on the 3600 count telephone wire!!
So here are the 3 parts: the cabinet, the playfield, and the underside of the backbox. I was thinking about crimping and using molex connectors but I didn't want all the bulk of the connectors. I decided that I would strip, twist, solder, and shrink tube. Repeat as necessary.
Initially I thought I could put the playfield back in the cabinet, raise it, then put the backbox on the cabinet so the wires would be close together to work on. No way. I decided to bite the bullet and pull the harnesses out and work on a separate bench.
So...step 1.) pull the harness out of the cabinet.
Good luck!! I had to do the same thing with a Captain Fantastic years ago.
I like the outlet in the base cabinet. 
Quoted from vid1900:Solder and shrink.
Get rid of that duplex outlet next to the transformer, too.
Cmon' Vid. That outlet is properly grounded.
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