Hopefully short backstory:
Picked up a Gottlieb Playball a few weeks ago. Started another thread here because I wasn't sure about how the scoring was supposed to work, which made troubleshooting it's issues difficult. Someone sorted me out with that, and I was able to proceed with trying to get it up and running 100%. This is only my second EM, but things went well - the handful of issues were getting fixed rather quickly for me. The umpteenth "How to read a schematic" article finally made the light bulb go off a bit in my head. It's dim, but I'm happy to say that the dreaded mess of lines is making a lot more sense.
Blah blah blah, I've got the machine basically running. Resets just fine, all switches are scoring right, score and run reels increment as they should, and the base lights that I was initially having an issue with are operating correctly.
But the game just won't end.
What's happening:
If you play a game (It's a single player) things proceed as normal.
Launch the first ball, hit a 10 or 100 point switch and drain.
Ball count unit increments to ball 2.
Launch ball, hit a 10 or 100 point switch and drain.
Ball count unit increments to ball 3.
Launch ball, hit a 10 or 100 point switch and drain.
Regardless of which setting you have it set to - 3 or 5 ball game - the ball count unit increments to ball 4.
Launch ball, hit a 10 or 100 point switch and drain.
Ball count unit increments to ball 5.
Launch ball, hit a 10 or 100 point switch and drain.
Even when on 5 ball play, the ball count unit tries to increment, but it's already at the end of the stepper, so it still says ball 5.
Repeat as many times as you'd like.
What should be happening from the manual.
manual.jpg
I've been testing things in 3 ball play just to get to the expected end faster.
If I'm not mistaken, the Q and P relay portions should be happening regardless of ball just as a normal part of operation.
When the 3rd ball drains, the Q relay pulls in as expected, the P relay pulls in and the motor spins. But no game over. It just advances to the next ball. Or stays on 5 if you're already there.
Here's the schematic for the game over XB relay. (Sorry - it's uploading blurry. Not sure why.)
schematic.jpg
A couple notes / things I've tried.
I forgot to highlight the line in yellow, but this is a game where tilting ends the game and not just your current ball. And tilting does trigger the XB relay as expected. Since this is the case, I think I can rule out the normally closed switch within the XB relay itself.
If I'm reading things right - the remaining suspects are:
A single NO switch in the motor (1A switch stack) not closing while the motor runs.
A single NO switch in the motor (2C switch stack) not closing while the motor runs.
Either of two NO switches in the P relay no closing fully. (Or is that the same switch listed twice?)
Some issue with the ball count unit when it's in the 3 or 5 position.
Some issue with the jones plug when set a 3 ball game.
The jones plug for the 3/5 ball game selector is three pronged. The female socket for the brown/black wire prong isn't connected to anything on the five ball side. Since the issue still happens on a 5 ball game, I assume I can rule out the issue being there. (I guess there could be an entirely different issue there, but still.)
I have checked, double checked, cleaned, and triple checked the switches on the P relay and the two in the score motor.
Both of the score motor switches are easily visible and accessible without having to take anything apart.
The P relay has six NO switches. Also easy to access and clean. It's the add ball count unit relay. It they weren't adjusted right I would assume I'd have far more issues.
That leaves me thinking that It's something with the ball count unit itself. I've removed the moving disc, cleaned all the rivets and tips of the snowshoe connectors, spread a little super lube on the rivets and reassembled. The reset coil resets the stepper nice and quickly. The add ball coil steps it up nice and smooth. Along the top of the stepper are five rivets with a single snowshoe. I believe this just controls the ball in play light on the backglass. Lines up right for each step and the lights work as expected.
Along the bottom of the stepper are five more rivets and two snow shoe connectors that are connected by a wire. Four of the rivets appear to be in pairs - two for the ball five position and two for the ball three position. All seem to be making good contact.
Ball three position.
ball-three.jpg
Ball five position.
ball-five.jpg
I honestly have no idea what that fifth rivet it doing. One of the snowshoes makes contact with it when it's in the ball two position.
ball-two.jpg
From the backside, it really just looks like it's a placeholder to connect the blue-black wire.
backside.jpg
(I realize that that blue-black wire doesn't look that connected - but it is. I'll disconnect it and re-solder if needed, but it feels pretty snug to the touch.)
Absurd thing I just tried. Ran through a game with alligator clips connecting the pair of snowshoes - just in case the wire that's supposed to be connecting them is broken inside of the cloth sleeve. No luck. Also ran through with alligator clips on that solder point for the blue-black wire but that didn't do it either. (I'll probably re-solder it anyway cause I'm going mad here.)
So help me out here, please. I'm either missing something silly, or there's some other possibility that my lack of experience is hiding. I really wanted to get this thing up and running without starting this thread, but I want to actually play this thing even more.
Any ideas? Ways of testing / narrowing it down further? I've read of people diagnosing things with alligator clips, but other than the really basic method above - I'm not positive that I'd know where to start.