I joined the Haunted House club yesterday. A rainy weekend is on the way, so plenty of time to go thru it and see what is needed. I need to do coil sleeves and clean the solenoid plungers. Of course a good wax job.
I have not worked on a Haunted House since 1984, by the VUK to the upper playfield what should prevent the ball from passing between the wire guide and rubber? Twice yesterday the ball went there and fell into the belly. I have placed a small zip tie between the post and wire guide as a temp fix.
Thanks for any advise. Sputnik.

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Sounds like something is missing. Can you provide a photo of the problem area? I have lots of extra parts and might be able to help you out.

I've got a new coil on order from Steve, so hopefully that will fix it. The wrapping is all shrunk onto the coil so I'm hoping that solves it.
If it were the bridge rectifier, In theory, it would also be doing the same thing to the the other solenoids running on +38VDC though, no?

Another thing I'm curious about. In order to get my lower playfield raised up, I have to pull the main playfield up with one hand, flip the service bar past its slot and over toward the front of the game, pull the main playfield into its upright service position, THEN I can raise the lower playfield. Is that how the rest of yours is? Seems like it would be fixed easily if the prop bar was just 1/2" higher, but I'm always weary of drilling new holes.

This the gap that eats the ball.

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That sounds about right but I never raise the lower playfield. I just disconnect the 3 Molex plugs and fully remove it.

As for the bridge rectifier question I would have to check the schematics. I thought there was a dedicated one for the lower Playfield but maybe not.

You have the wrong rubber ring on those post. There should be a long one that bridges the gap as seen in this photo.

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Thank you.

Mad_Dog_Coin_Op coming through with the high res photo! I was having a hard time telling what I was looking at with the other photo.

Sorry if my wondering was confusing. The pop bumper in question is the pop bumper to the left of the main playfield flippers. That seems to share a DC source with the other main playfield pop bumper. So I doubt it's that.

I guess there's nothing I hate more than ordering a new part to only have it not end up not solving the issue.

I am not sure why I thought you were taking about the lower playfield. It might be because I'm usually multitasking when I'm on Pinside (or drinking). It is likely the coil if the pop bumper board checks out. It also might be a pitched wire. Gottlieb really did some interesting things on these system 80s. To be honest, if you can fix a System 80 all other pins are easy.

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Allow me to join you.

Picked this rugged stuff up when I was in the Czech Republic last year. They're big on absinth over there....

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Nice - I run around Europe a lot on vacation. The Czech Republic is where I first had the real stuff. To be honest thier high end stuff is some of the best absinthe around. I also got some killer bottles in Rome. I always pick up a bottle when I travel becuse the Absinthe you can get in the US is just not the same. By the way, the bottle on my machine sucks by comparison.

But at least your playfield is in stellar condition!

I studied in Prague for a semester in college and got really into the stuff. Also kind of where I was re-introduced to pinball. The Bar I lived above had a Shadow that I played almost every night. Great city with some good pinball (and lots of good beer and liquor). Have been wanting to go to Terra Technica the next time I'm there for work. Legendary collection there with quite a few Sys80 games (HH included)

Hi, I have a few issues with the Haunted House I am working on. I would appreciate help with:

1. One of the speakers is damaged. Does anyone know what I can use as a replacement? I know it is 4 ohm, what is the max wattage I can use?
2. downstairs 5 drop targets are working but. It shows all three lights like they already have been knock down three times. any suggestions?

Thanks

I put the ball gate on the upper playfield and the correct coil on the 4 bank drop targets. It had a 3 bank coil on it. Plays much better now.

Finally got my Haunted House put back together. epeabs was kind enough to help me with some cleaning and polishing and refinishing of some topside metal parts. When everything came back together, a few things happened.

1.) the displays are all wonky. Player 2 is consistently on, all segments, all the time. Players 3, 4, and the bonus display strobe gently with care and artistry
2.) The lower pop bumper works (was dead before) but now the lower main PF pop and the upper PF pop rapidfires when held down. Obviously this doesn’t affect gameplay as a ball doesn’t hold the pop down, but it shouldn’t be that way.
3.) The lightning effect does nothing.

My hyposthesis. Help me out and let me know if my thinking is correct.
1a.) Two suspects. A1J6 has been replaced and whoever did it did a shitty job. I’ve been waiting to find a NOS edge connector to replace it, but to no avail. When I would disconnect and reconnect that cable, it would make a difference (working to not working) but now it does nothing. From my understanding, that was just the switch matrix send/return, but maybe it has a larger effect?

Should I be replacing the 7448 chips on the upper right or should I be looking at the driver board? I am lucky enough to have a Swemmer MPU so switching the chips would be easy. When I got the game the driver board was acting up. I replaced it with one I “thought” was working. Possibly not though.

2.) No clue on this. Switching pop bumper boards does nothing. Not really sure on this one.

3.) I’m wondering if, since the lightning board is giving me issues and the displays are wonky, it has to do with the quad of 7448 chips on the upper right corner since theyre all on the same wire stack running from the CPU to the Displays and the Lightning Board, but I’m a lost on where to start.

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Most of your problems sound like minor switch adjustments and worn out pins. The stobe issue might be your filter capacitor in the main cabinet. Do you still have the originals installed?

Swap the display- If the problem follows the display the problem is the display. If it stays in the location, problem is on the MPU.

I have seen a number of Sys 80 displays pulse, some greater and some lesser. Rebuilding the A2 power supply with fresh caps and diodes usually helps as does swapping out main caps in the lower cabinet.

Buy my haunted house or fix it. It has no sound. I'll pay you handsomely

Do you need your sound card repaired? I've fixed a few of them.

Send it to the Coin Op Cauldron. Sound cards can be kind of tricky. Clive knows what he is doing.

http://coinopcauldron.com/

I'm not sure. At this point I honestly love this machine but it been one thing after another, it is a system 80 so reliability is not its stong point. I'm looking to sell

System 80s are fine after you work though the 30 years of neglect. Is the sound card your only problem at the moment? I know you have already put in a lot of time on this game. Get it professionally fixed and you should be good to go. My System 80s are rock solid after being sorted out.

I wouldn't give up on it yet! It is a great machine once the bugs are worked out.

My Haunted House has all the required updates and has been reliable and totally solid. My sound card was bad but rebuilt it. Had to fix another Haunted house board and another with the Speech upgrade. Thought about adding an SC-01A to get the speech to mine and have the parts but prefer it just as it is. I did however update the main ROM on the MPU to make use of the unused sound for the trap door.

The driver board also plays a role in that some of the sound signals go through that to the sound card. Definitely check the connections between all the boards an ensure the ground mods are done.

I run them in my own Haunted House to test and verify them after any repairs.

Robert

Displays make no change. Must be the MPU. Bummer.
Replaced the 7448s and no change. Not sure if I can replace the 7404s with whatever other 7404 exists (74LS04 or SN74LS04N or whatever else exists). Game plays fine else-wise which I feel like is the lucky part.

The filter cap was changed when I got it but was one with an absurdly high value. Changed it to a 10,000uf 50V cap so that should be working well enough (advice given directly from Clay’s videos)

If you aren’t skilled enough in boardwork to socket all these chips yourself (like me), do yourself a favor a buy a Swemmer board. He does incredible work.

Edit: gdonovan is someone you can trust when it comes to boardwork advice. Not totally sure if this will solve all the problems I’m having, but half the test points on the PSU are half their suggested voltage.

Before you go down the rabbit hole - how are your edge connector pins? I would replace everything that looks iffy before looking anywhere else. PM me if you need the funky Bifurcated ones. I have a secret stash. Also rebuild that P/S. It is easy to do and very reliable after the fact.

All the edge connectors are good EXCEPT A1J6 which to my understanding is the switch matrix connector which shouldn’t directly affect the displays. It works, but some genius did a real hack job on replacing it at some point. If you have a NOS connector for J6 or a replacement, I’ll buy it.

For anybody who was waiting with bated breath about how my problem resolved itself:
Changed all of the ICs that were associated with the digits and strobes. Nada. Changed the U5 6532. Zilch. Sured up all the grounds for all over the boards. Nothing. I even bought a new PSU and Driver Board because some of the test points weren't reading correct (and also I had had a few drinks and thought why the hell not, I'll support a small business and some Pinsiders).

Guess what! Turns out I'm having a finicky A12J4/P4 at the base of the backbox. The +60vdc and the +42vdc were shaky on the PSU, but guess what, it was because the connectors weren't as tight as they should be. I know everybody says one million times "check all the connectors". Well let me make it one million and one. CHECK ALL OF YOUR INTERCONNECTS FIRST.

Has anybody had success with different connectors for the A12 interconnections to make them a little more stable? Will repining make a difference for those or should I spring for new connectors?

Also, shoutout to MadDog CoinOp who shipped me some other handy connectors and has also helped out plenty of people in this thread if you follow the trails.

Thanks all,
Ty

Any Haunted House Fans wanna do a Matchplay Challenge?

Basically we give one another a call or facetime call, and pick a score to reach. Best of 3, 5 or 7 games.

Eh?

Any body need some spare plastics? These are just taking up space in my house (also haunted). The big right playfield plastic is busted, as is the upstairs VUK so I threw those out. The large lower playfield plastic has a corner out. Secret passage is as expected.

Before I put them away for good, figure I ask if anybody needs em.

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I need an organ plastic.

What is the best most reliable board set for a haunted house? I’m replacing the original mpu and not sure which I should go with. Also who makes the best repro backglasses?

Shay has Haunted House backglasses (or did at least).

Get Fred Swemmer’s Board if you need just the MPU. Avoid the Rottendog board unless you have multiple Sys80s. If you need the PSU and MPU get the Pascal.

Still on the look out for a Q relay if someone comes across a source. I've tried all the places I can find without any luck. (including PBR).

I feel like you could probably build your own with the right switch stacks/relay coil/bracket?

I have a project machine that's slowly coming back life.
After replacing the Orange Cap, fuses and main power board I have power and the games goes into attract. The displays are good as well.

No sound but I need to check the sound power board.

Two things I am learning into for help at the moment.

1. Lower PF GI does not lite (attract does work).

2. I put a 7.5 amp in the solenoid fuse, the relay clicks and main and upper PF flash for about 30 seconds then the solenoid fuse blows and GI also goes out.

Anyone had similar experiences. This is my first Gottlieb!

Seems to me like the first thing you should check is the back of 3 relays that are underneath the main playfield all the way to the back. Make sure you don’t have any stray wires or shorted contacts.

Looks to be U relay. I need to have a good look at it and also the lower PF to see if the GI has a short.

Update... cleaned U relay, checked the switches and now lower PF all OK in attract.

And so on to coils!

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Another vote to Pascal. Never had issues with his boards. Swemmer I have multiple dead boards stacked up that need testing. Rottendog is a mixed bag.

Back in the club .... super stoked

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When you power up your Haunted House do you normally just have silence or do you hear the sound board play a short sound? Just trying to confirm one way or the other.

No sound on the original boards.

Does that change if you're using an aftermarket board?

I'm getting a short sound on power up but as far as I can tell everything is working as it should. I didn't recall hearing that before and wanted to confirm what is normal when running original boards.

My game has been pretty solid for the last couple years but wasn't booting yesterday when I tried it. There was prior work on the MPU and they didn't clean up all the battery damage. Also had installed a couple incorrect resistors in that area. Stripped all that off, cleaned up the rest of the corrosion, and found one small trace was open near a via. Fixed that and installed all the correct parts. Also took the opportunity to remove the 5101 chip and put in a socket with an NVRAM module.

Before putting it back in I checked all the voltages and found that the 5V was low. Board had been recapped in the past a couple years ago but the trim pot wasn't replaced. Going to order one on my next batch of parts. Was able to re-adjust that and after adjusting that and installing the rebuilt MPU the game was up and running again. Stepped through all the settings and cleared out the first 15 since the NVRAM had junk in there to start.

If that startup sound isn't normal I'll go back and check the connectors at the sound board, driver, and MPU.

It's odd since it seems like everything else is playing like it should. Will need to get some more games on it this evening so see if anything else is off.

I don't know and I didn't know what he had. I powered mine up which has an original board and there was no sound until the attract music plays which isn't for awhile.

That is what I recall mine was doing before. However I've also posted the same question on one of the Facebook groups and a few others have that same startup sound (same sound has hitting standup target #3 on the main playfield) and some that had no sound until later when the attract sound starts.

So it is a bit confusing. Everything seems to play just fine and as far as I can tell all sounds are working. Why are some making that startup sound and some not?

Maybe differences in the reset circuit? Some boards resetting faster than others? Maybe some have had chips replaced with ones from a different family?

Eventually I'd like to pickup a spare original MPU and driver (working or not) and once those are rebuilt would have some others to test with.

Here's some info I can dole out that might help. I'm going to get over my head and hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me can come in and save the day when it comes to understanding how the S/S board gets triggered and CPU stuff and all sorts of gobbledygook.

From my understanding of it, sounds are triggered by bits being switch-commanded first from the U6/6532 (I kind of understand how that works), then through the Z31/7408 (I barely know what this chip does), then to the driver board where the pulses are sent through Z13/SN7404N (this one I think I understand) representing sound bits 1-8 and Q10 MPS-A13 representing sound bit 16 (which from my understanding is a space saver to not have another SN7404N since S32 (bit 6 of the system) is unused in this game), THEN those signals go to the sound board and get decoded.

I have a Haunted House, it runs a Swemmer MPU, NiWumpf Driver, Gulf PSU, Stock S/S Board and S/S Power Supply. All boards have a ground wire running to the same spot (key lock which is then tied down into the cabinet). When I start my game, I get no clunk and no "target sound/spider web sound". The other day I was servicing (or rather attempting to resurrect) a dead HH at a location. That game was running stock boards with the exception of a Swemmer MPU. HIS game with the Swemmer MPU was making the sound on startup. It was also having the problem where the two VUK coils were locking on (which I didn't have time to diagnose and will be going back over soon but that all ties into the problem). When I did finally get it sort of working, it was still giving the "target sound/spider web sound".

So my guess that what's happening is that there are some stray voltages from an improper ground/drainage or a bad transistor that's storing some residual voltage somewhere on the driver board that is causing that specific sound to fire on startup? Maybe repining the edge connectors on A3J6? Maybe Repining A3J2, Pin 5 of A10J4/P4, Pin 14 of A12J4/P4, and A6P1? As an aside, I've traced quite a few problems on my Haunted House (stray voltages/bad connectors) down to A12J4/P4. For some reason, with that many round molex connectors, it just seems like it struggles to keep up tension between all of them. Since S16 travels through that, maybe that's a reason why so many people might be getting a stray sound?

@robotworkshop, can you tell me about what ground mods you have done to your game? Just the single jumper between the MPU and Driver? Each board tied down separately? Let me know. I'm curious to figure this one out.

That's the thing too..mine used to clunk and I swear it used to play a sound, which is why i had to double check. I did the ground mods a few years ago, but I have no idea if that changed anything.

My Haunted House had ground mods done (and updates to pop bumper boards) when I bought it a few years ago. The game had display issues and sound problems. I rebuilt the sound board (and used my as a test fixture to rebuild a few other Haunted House Sound boards) and fixed the displays. I later ran into an issue with the backbox lightning but after fixing that the game has been running trouble free for the last couple years.

Just recently I had to re-adjust the 5V power supply and go back and cleanup the prior work on the MPU and I installed NVRAM while I had the board out. After getting it all back together I started hearing that startup sound. I have all original Gottlieb boards.

I looked back and there is a ground wire from the power in the base going to the main power supply frame in the back box. There are also wires from both power boards (main and sound) to that frame as well as ground wires from the MPU and light chaser boards to that frame too. I did not notice a ground wire from the sound card or driver board directly to that power supply frame where all the other grounds go. As a quick test I tried to clip on a temporary ground jumper from each of those boards to the power supply. Unfortunately it didn't make a difference and I still hear the sound when powering up the game. 4 of the sound select lines travel through the driver board while the 5th sound select line goes direct from the MPU to sound board

I'll take a look at the schematics. Wonder if that would benefit from adding some weak pull-up or pull-down resistors on those data lines will help.

I’ve had issues with this AND the aux light board and they all stemmed down to the A12J/P4 connector. Not saying that that’s your issue, but try unplugging and replugging that one in and seeing if you think that makes any difference.

No, all 5 bits go to the driver board, although one of them goes to a repurposed lamp driver transistor and the other 4 go to Z13/SN7404N. The 6th actually has a line that connects the sound board but it dead ends in the middle of the cabinet.

What did the 5v adjustment involve? Just a turning of the trim pot? Wouldn’t be surprised if that might have sometime to do with it.... but again, I’m firing shots in the dark.

You're right about the 5th line going to the lamp. I was going off of memory and saw that it was just going to a different part of the the driver when I looked at the schematics. That does have a chip with an open collector but it already has a pull up resistor.

The 5V power was low. I just had to adjust it with the trim pot and I have a solid 5v now. That the trim pot is old and I can tell it needs to be replaced. I have a higher quality one on the way which should be here this week.

When I replace that I'm going to go over the driver board, add the ground mod to that, and also replace a socket from a prior repair. Looks like someone used a 16-pin socket for a 14-pin chip. I hate when people do that since it can make it easy for someone to plug in a chip 1 pin off. Will put in a correct 14-pin socket.