Howdy folks, got a bit of a weird one happening with my Harlem Globetrotters, hoping you genius' might be able to throw me a bone.

The playfield feature lights keep working, then not working.

To be accurate, they are NOT working 80% of the time, then magically start working. This will happen during game interaction, or without game interaction. I have been wiggling the appropriate connector on the MPU board - thinking it was most likely a dodgy pin or connector - but so far this has had zero effect either way. Everything else seems to be working as you want. Backglass appears normal, all displays appear normal - GI lights are working etc

I am kind of stumped to why this is happening as the issue is completely intermittent & the connector doesn't seem to make zero difference. I have lifted up the playfield and wiggled lamp wires - again, zero interaction occurs.

What am i missing here? (other than knowledge, experience and a f-ing clue)

I was pretty positive it would be connector related also, but i am sure i have the right connector (MPU board, Top left). When it was working - i removed the connector and it went off completely, re-inserted it and it was back on - i still had the same intermittent problem afterwards however. The possibility of a cold solder joint is there though - i have been pushing on the board and re-tightening the mounting screws, and, seemingly, got a bit more of a reaction. Might have been just a placebo effect - but thats all i got at the moment. I will pull the board off tomorrow and have a look at the back and add a small amount of solder to each joint. It about 1:30am here, so not getting into that today.

A bit more info that might help someone with knowledge...

* the "Ball in Play" light on the backglass goes on/off along with the playfield lights.

* I've noticed that the right flipper is now getting stuck up occassionly also. It is getting stuck up from a charge as if i manually try to push it down - it wont allow me and you can hear it charging. Only way i can get it down again is by doing another couple of quick flips. Could be coincidence but thought i would mention it as could be a sign of a switch matrix issue (im guessing there)

thanks everyone, for all the advice. It appears the main consensus is to

re-flow the solder on the lamp board pins. will remove the board today and do this and give you an update. I have not done a lot of soldering on boards before (ironically did my first attempt of this yesterday to fix a reset issue on my "Cyclone"). Any tips I should be careful of?

Will let you know how I got with an update later today.

Big thanks for all the advise and interest, much appreciated

Update: I have reflowed the solder on the Lamp Driver pins, re-installed the board. Started up working and worked for about 5 minutes, before disappearing again - so no improvement. I jiggled all the connectors on the lamp board as still get zero reaction to suggest the issue is there. The pins also look fine - no rust or corrision in sight

So, have now moved over to the rectifier board. All the solder on the back of the pins looks really good on these and again, no reaction to the connectors being wiggled etc. I did notice though that the E1 wire which solders directly to the board to the to the power transformer had pretty much came loose. I soldered that back on and turned it back on and instantly noticed that all the lights seemed to be brighter - SUCCESS!

Turned around and played a game of Cyclone to celebrate, by the time i had finished, the fucking lights were off again - argh!

I then shifted the and wiggled the rectifier board on the holding pivots and, finally, i seemed to have triggered something that made the lights come on. I am know believing that the issue is related to the E1-10 connections which solder from the transformer through to the back of the rectifier board. I will later today inspect this a bit further and re-solder some of these..... I am fairly hopeful that the issue will be resolved from there

I have removed the rectifier and resoldered all the "E" connections. powered it up and lights are there, but within a few minutes the interrmittern issue is still there with the lights going out. Dont think that was the issue afterall....... poo.

Anyone got any more ideas for me? Im running well short

The rectifier board is only 12 months old as i got it replaced so i am doubting the issue is there. i re-pinned J1 at the same time so thoe pins in that one are pretty fresh. The other 2 connectors i havent done yet however, but i get no response at all from wiggling, no matter how much i try.

There does seem to be a trend that if i turn it off, let it sit a few minutes and turn it back on, it almost always now will work, but then go off within a few minutes. It will return again after a while, but ultimately go off again within a few minutes. Not sure if that info provides a hint to anyone else

I just messed about with the connectors on the rectifier board with a metal prod, just to try and reposition the connectors etc. After i did that the game would not boot up - was real close, get 6 flashes, but cant get a game started now

I then removed the connectors and squished them around a bit

Whatever i did, it really didnt like it - now the fuse on F4 on the rectifier board blows everytime i turn it on and i get a loud hum from the machine. I am assuming this is now because i have stuffed on of these connectors. Anyone know what f4 blowing is in relation to? Just want to get some confirmation it uis likely because i stuffed up a connector, rather than an issue with the "E" connections to the power-supply i just re-installed

End of the matter is, will need to go pick up some connectors and re-do them as any next step. I am assuming, at least, this should stop the F4 fuse.

UPDATE: Sorted the F4 blowing, i stupidly, inserted the 20 pin connector on the rectifier board incorrectly and missed an entire pin! idiocy. Game will still not boot up however. All fuses test out, so assuming its just now the connector. It seems real close to connecting, get the initial first flash on the MPU, with a pause, followed by another 5

It is an Alltech

I am assuming to test the lamp i just switch the metre to V and place the red and black onto the lamp socket connections? Got a MM but not very experienced in using it - is basically a fancy "fuse tester" for me currentlt

Ok, so far i have reflowed all the pin solder on the lamp driver board and the rectifier board, reconstructed the E1-12 wires also on the back of the rectifier board to the transformer & re-pinned all the pins in the connectors going into the rectifier board.

The game appears to have a noticeably better power flow going through it as the lights all seem brighter and less sluggish to movements. After 5 minutes though, I am still losing the game feature lights. The same issue is there.

I am really low on ideas as i am doubting its a pin/connector issue based, certainly not on the rectifier side of things. The connectors on the lamp driver seem fine, however had not re-pinned them yet. I do doubt its a connector issue there as ive had zero improvement of response from wiggling connectors on the lamp board to initiate the issue. Anyone have a thought on what else i can try?

Thanks for this. I haven't done much with the DMM yet as, I have to be honest, I really don't know how to use it. I have one, but so far ive only ever used it to test fuses. Bit embarrassing & remarkable, considering I have 12 machines for 2 years and somehow have been able to keep them mostly running. I will need to get someone to teach me how to use it, for sure (if anyone knows of a good youtube video/channel that teaches it - please link)

A local mate suggested that I remove th blue power cords that connect to each of the earthing braid of each light row and see if I can isolate the issue.
I am giving this a crack at the moment - but agree, a multi meter will save me hours of "maybes".... just don't know how to use it enough, unfortuantely

The isolation test appears to have proven naught, or at least that the issue is not coming from under the playfield. There appears to be 2 connection points where the PF feature light braid piggy backs it power from. 1 @ the top middle of the PF, the other on the right side behind the PF arrow light. I removed both of them and on both occassions the lights worked (except fpor the appropriate row) , but then intermittently went off. Im guessing this issue is going to suggest the issue back to the rectifier board 0 or possibly the lamp driver board.

I am really out of ideas. If anyone thinks they can help me with how to work this MM to further try and diagnose the problem, that would be great.

The second image with the dial turned to V, with the setting set to AUTO DC - is this the setting you are saying i need to have it on? Or should i just turn it to the 20V?

Also, am i testing with power on or off?

Thank you for direction here, it is really appreciated

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Thank you very much for this. I wont have a chance to test tonight but will try to tomorrow and let you know how i go

Thanks for the help here folks, been bogged down with "work" work the last few days so haven't made any inroads on testing. I've also had a issue come up on my Cyclone which I will probably work on that for a bit first as its stopping game play entirely on it.

I am extremely aware of my lack of skill set with a DMM so want to take it slow & really appreciate people walking me through. What wiredoug said is spot on that, playing around with High V stuff when you are still at the novice stage can be very dangerous. A friend said he might try to come over later next week to assist. MY pinball repaire & troubleshooting skills have really developed over the last 12 months, but I think I will not progress any further until I get some knowledge and confidence with using a dMM

Ok will try this - to confirm,i do this with the machine on?

Hi Quench, I have tested these points.

When i put the DMM into "V" mode, with "DC" & "Auto" selected in the onscreen settings i got the below, from the lamp board

TP1 - 5.25
TP2 - 1.8

Awesome.

I re-did them as you mentioned and re-did the previous. Got a different reading on TP2. Below is all results on 2nd testing. Not sure if i just have a shitty DMM or if the machine is just spewing out unstable voltage

TP1
On - 5.18 (took a while to get a solid, steady reading)
Off 5.25

TP2 -
On - couldnt get a solid reading - flactuated between 50-80??
Off - -minus .5

Ball in play / working -left & right couldnt get a solid reading - ranged from .7 to 1

TP2-Black / TP1 - 5.25

I will try again later -could not get a solid run of the light working to get a a good reading. The TP2 inparticular really spewed out different results everytime. Guessing this is suggesting apretty unstable power flow

Good tip there. With the TP being tarnished - would u suggest me trying to give it a bit of a clean with autosol or iso?

D

hi everyone, just an update on this issue, which fortunately was resolved today. A very experienced of the local pinball community here came out to have a look at the issue and see if he could help. After a couple of hours of trying to locate where the issue is, he pinned it down to the rectifier board. basically the voltage was dropping to around 1V which was not enough to maintain the lights. He was able to diagnose the problem to be one of the bridge rectifiers and he fortunately had a compatible one in his car which he replaced for me.
The machine is now working perfectly and all lights are functioning without dropout - very very happy & thankful that this local wizard offered his time to help me out.
Thanks everyone here for the assistance, especially Quench who took a lot of interest and time in helping me do some test with the DMM - thanks mate, really appreciate it