(Topic ID: 217113)

Hokus Pokus help

By DCRand

5 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 106 posts
  • 11 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by Nikrox2
  • Topic is favorited by 4 Pinsiders

You

Linked Games

Topic Gallery

View topic image gallery

0Hokus-Pokus-Work-05 (resized).jpg
image (resized).jpg
image (resized).jpg
0Hokus-Pokus-Work-04 (resized).jpg
2312A4E4-5334-4224-A369-CF1AB2669CC2 (resized).png
71B96D2D-337A-43EA-8664-D80F6669DDC6 (resized).jpeg
A7B166AC-3F9F-4FBB-B464-D9F17273F067 (resized).jpeg
image (resized).jpg
image (resized).jpg
image (resized).jpg
image (resized).jpg
image (resized).jpg
image (resized).jpg
0Hokus-Pokus-Work-03 (resized).jpg
CE45CB6C-EA49-41E0-B70C-A79077C4C16A (resized).jpeg
46AE5E18-4E2B-4442-A713-EE445038995E (resized).jpeg

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider Otaku.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

#4 5 years ago

The no lights on the playfield is probably something on your HOLD/TILT relay if not the obvious answer of the GI 6v line itself or the fuse to the playfield, or fuse holder.

As for 100 point switches, they are designed to directly pulse the score relays without even running the motor. A lot of times this signal will run through the switches on the motor (which is normal as they are normally-closed and the motor is still) to ensure you don't have another action in progress, but it by no means has any relation to running the motor, UNLESS the switch also performs a secondary action/reward like adding bonus or something of the sort. The fact that they are starting your score motor (like a 500 point switch would as it needs the multiples) is troubling.

To confirm this for your game, I looked into your machine's specific schematics. Since it is a Bally game and not a Gottlieb (damn trademarks) you can acquire a free digital copy here: https://ia800700.us.archive.org/10/items/hokuspocusmanual/Hokus_Pocus_Manual.pdf

Here are the following things that will make the score motor spin:

pasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).png

As shown in the image above, the 100 point relay ITSELF does not start the score motor turning - it just cannot do that. So something else is, unless you have a plug plugged in wrong which totally messes with where everything is supposed to go and then obviously the schematic would be largely incorrect to the current state of your machine and "anything goes."

An interesting little factoid is if the motor is endless looping due to some other fault (or rigging it up that way) and you activate an 100 point switch, sometimes I have seen that while the 100 point relay is live the pulsing will cause it to ring up 500 points or maybe even the effect of "infinite points" that you are seeing in a weird scenario where all the stars align. Naturally, the score motor is not supposed to be, nor is expected to be, turning at certain parts of the game. So when it does turn erroneously and other switches are activated that "think" the score motor should be stopped, weird things can happen and "anything goes" yet again. The switches acting weird when the score motor is locked on is not a problem in itself nor something you can fix, rather the focus is on fixing why the score motor is turning erroneously in the first place.

Like I said above, the 100 point relay itself or an 100 point switch that solely awards 100 points CANNOT activate or lock on the motor (unless the "reason" of the equation goes out the window: major wiring fault, plug plugged in wrong or upside down, yadda yadda), even if misadjusted or dirty. So the problem lies elsewhere than in those relays.

It could either be the vibration causing the score motor to activate and lock on through a switch that is gapped too close. But also, are you absolutely sure you are pressing the 100 point switches and not the 500 point switches, or a switch with a "double feature" that gives 100 points AND does some other kind of action? It would make a lot more sense if it was initiated by a switch that is supposed to turn it on, and THEN faulting, rather than magically coming on when not supposed to at all.

I don't know Hokus Pokus well enough to know the answer by heart, but according to the schematic and the image shown above there is nothing that I feel like you could mistake for this except for if the A-B-C-D rollovers give 100 and you are pushing those, which would explain the motor activating.

Lastly, two things. Adjust your score motor's "home position" switch which is what tells the score motor is has completed a revolution and to stop spinning unless there is something else telling it to keep going. This will make the fault a lot smaller and also let us know if the score motor is running itself into oblivion and something is just turning it on momentarily, or if something else is running it into oblivion. My final statement for this post is a question, when the reels do this problem and keep clacking away, are you hearing bells/chimes (assuming they function and the score relays are adjusted and cleaned well), or rather, are the point relays that control both the reels and bells/chimes firing or is it straight to the score reels?

The reason I ask this is because if the bells/chimes aren't firing (again, assuming they work normally), this means the point relays aren't the things firing the reels, which means the problem might lie more in the reset section (which pulses the reels in their own circuit directly rather than using the score relays as this would set off a horrendous bell palooza during every reset.)

#6 5 years ago

It should spin as long as things are "happening" and maybe one extra for things you can't see or hear. Four is not normal. Considering it was looping endlessly on start, then 4, makes me think you have a dirty and/or misadjusted score motor home position switch.

#8 5 years ago

Hey, no rush on my end.

#11 5 years ago
Quoted from DCRand:

Would be on mine but darn work / life keeps getting in the way. Lol btw you going to be at GSPF this weekend?

Nope, I'm East Coast.

#13 5 years ago
Quoted from DCRand:

Ok, wasn’t sure. Hey what’s a coast to coast plane ride for pins. Lol course I didn’t go to Allentown either.

Come to the york show. Best show.

#15 5 years ago

The crack addicts and crumbling buildings are very scenic. Two years ago we even got a fire. Nobody was inside playing pinball, everybody was outside watching the fire down the street.

#19 5 years ago
Quoted from HowardR:

Sorry but that was a mistake. This forum is full of posts from people who tried shotgun cleaning & adjustments, and caused more problems than they were originally trying to solve.
What to do instead: Slowly and carefully diagnose one problem at a time and then fix only that.

I agree. Maybe if you are an experienced collector that way works well for relays and units but even then those score motors are the worst to get everything perfect on. Especially the non-Gottlieb non-Chicago Coin horizontal looking cylinder ones.

#22 5 years ago

Glad I could help. Feels good even from afar just like troubleshooting our own games! You might want to just cut out that rats nest of wiring going to the counter as it is not needed. Be careful, that is near the service outlet and power switch (although 120V wires are throughout the entire game), and it looks like some of that might be 120V high voltage especially given the colors. UNPLUG (not switch off, etc.) the game before working on that or you could seriously hurt yourself.

Best of luck!

Promoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!
From: $ 5.95
Playfield - Protection
The Pinball Scientist
 
Great pinball charity
Pinball Edu

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider Otaku.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hokus-pokus-help?tu=Otaku and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.