(Topic ID: 134545)

Haunted House displays pulsing and flickering

By pindoc1

8 years ago


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  • 65 posts
  • 15 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 7 years ago by pindoc1
  • Topic is favorited by 5 Pinsiders

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There are 65 posts in this topic. You are on page 2 of 2.
#51 8 years ago

Well, still no luck in solving this. I replaced the capacitor on one of the display boards with a brand new one from Great Plains Electronics and there was no change, even when I unplugged all of the other displays. Then I tried changing the lug that the input voltage is attached to on the smaller transformer in the cabinet. It was on 115. Tried 100 and the displays got a little brighter but still have the same constant slight flicker. Moved it to 130 and the displays became dimmer with the same flicker. I put it back to the 115 and back to baseline brightness with the same flicker.
Any other suggestions as to what might be causing this? Thanks.

#52 8 years ago

I'm no expert and you may want to ask someone more knowledgeable, but have you tried completely disconnecting the sol driver board? I dunno if you can do it on a GTB machine. but I'm wondering if you have something backfeeding from the solenoid board to the mpu causing the strobe effect.

#53 8 years ago

Thank you. I will see if that is possible.
This is my only Gottlieb game so I have nothing to compare the symptom to and have little experience with the system.

#54 8 years ago

In my opinion, it looks like a bad filter cap for the high voltage power supply but you stated it's a "new" power supply.

Is there any way you can test the board in another game?

#55 8 years ago

I don't have another Gottlieb game. I had the same problem with the original power supply board as with this new board from Rottendog.
I tried disconnecting the driver board and the sound boards but there was no change. I have ordered a new line filter for between the power cord and the transformer. Just a shot in the dark but for $14 I thought I would give it a try.

#56 8 years ago

I replaced the line filter in the bottom of the cabinet next to the transformers with no change in the display flicker. Guess I need to decide if I want to spend the $300 on a new set of displays.

#57 8 years ago
Quoted from pindoc1:

I replaced the line filter in the bottom of the cabinet next to the transformers with no change in the display flicker. Guess I need to decide if I want to spend the $300 on a new set of displays.

If the problem you are having is on all of the displays, and unplugging one doesn't effect the others, I highly doubt it is a display issue. So new displays may not help.

Before spending all that money, you might want to find a local pinsider that has a similar era machine to let you try your displays in their game.

#58 8 years ago

The new displays are low voltage LED and run off a plug into the service plug in the front of the game. I will scout around my area but pretty sparse around here.

1 month later
#59 7 years ago

One other thing I have noticed is that the slam switch does not work at all. I manually opened and close the switch which is normally closed, nothing happens even after I cleaned the switch. Even after disconnecting the wires and directly connecting the 2 wires that go to the switch, nothing indicates that the cpu notices anything. This happens with either the origanal cpu or the Rottendog replacement. I have noticed that the flickering effect is worse on the 2 Rottendog boards that I tried than the original. I have tried contacting the establishment I bought the game from but they have not provided any answers as to why the slam switch does not work.. Any suggestions?

#60 7 years ago

One of the mods always suggested to do is bypass the slam switch with CPU jumper mod. It would be done on the MPU in the corner. right of driver connection and lower the display connections. The chip right in that corner. Unsure about anything aftermarket.

#61 7 years ago

I believe the aftermarket boards are designed to ignore the slam switches and boot up regardless of whether the slam switches are open or closed.

#62 7 years ago
Quoted from KenLayton:

I believe the aftermarket boards are designed to ignore the slam switches and boot up regardless of whether the slam switches are open or closed.

Does this mean the slam switch is inoperative or just ignores lack of contact on boot up?

#63 7 years ago
Quoted from CNKay:

One of the mods always suggested to do is bypass the slam switch with CPU jumper mod. It would be done on the MPU in the corner. right of driver connection and lower the display connections. The chip right in that corner. Unsure about anything aftermarket.

I saw that mod for the original mpu but I don't want to mess with my new Rottendog board and void any kind of warranty or anything. I also checked to see if it had been done on my original board and it had not been done.

#64 7 years ago
Quoted from pindoc1:

Does this mean the slam switch is inoperative or just ignores lack of contact on boot up?

I think on some aftermarket boards, the slam switch is not even written into the game software.

#65 7 years ago

Ok. More information.
On the original board, someone at some point unknown had soldered a jumper across the cap and resistor on the mpu next to the z26 chip disabling the slam switch and all the problems it can cause so I don't think the slam switch is the problem. I did not know about this fix until I found it on PinWiki but it is why the slam switch does not work with the original board.

In comparing the display problem with both the original board and the Rottendog board, I have noticed a difference in the appearance of the displays when the original cpu is in the game and when the Rottendog board is in the game. When the original board is in, the displays show a slower pulsing brightness. Brighter-dimmer-brighter-dimmer. Looking carefully, the filaments in all of the displays seemed to be fluxing brighter and dimmer. The outermost digits in each of the displays seem to have this problem more prominently than the inner digits.

When I have the Rottendog board in the pulsing is quicker and more pronounced on the verge of a constant regular flicker. Again, the outer digits are more pronounced.

I will try to contact the guys at Rottendog tomorrow to see if they have any thoughts on why there is a difference. The problem with the displays is less apparent with the original than with the new board.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

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