Hokus Pokus 1000 point relay is sticking intermittently. I can't find a pattern causing the sticking. Have checked the 1000 point score reel switches including adjusting the EOS switch several times. Most of the time, it works fine. Then will stick, of course causing the chime to stick, the bonus to count down but not score, etc. Have run out of ideas about what could be causing this only intermittently.

Howard, thanks great idea. Will try and let you know. I have been looking at that relay circuit, trying to trace down a stuck or just slightly too close switch. So this should help. Re more info: it does the same thing on both 1st and 2nd player. And it might possibly be related to the right side ball return gate as it seems to always open when it should, but not always close when it should. Also, if I use a wood craft stick (so as to avoid shocking results) to open the eos switch on the 1000 point reel, it will "unstick" the 1000 point relay. Not sure if that is a "of course it does" situation, or unique to my problem.

One of the really challenging things is it might go 4 or 5 games before the relay sticks, or it might happen 4 balls in a row.

Will post back after the paper in the switch test

Howard,

Good point, will try that. Also when I pull the 1000 point reel, and just let it hang (carefully) by the wires, can't get it to stick. Also in overall paper test (running through games by hand with pf tilted up) the switch on the relay stack with the brown yellow wire would not let it stick, and when stuck opening that switch made it unstick. That wire runs to the F terminal on the top of the 1000 point reel. Coincidence?

Good idea, bad result. 1000 point relay still stuck with paper in eos switch.

Also just debunked my hanging 1000 point reel theory. Just got it to stick with reel hanging.

Progress, maybe. Last place that I tried the paper test, because it was a bit of a pain to get the paper between the switches. The 1000 point, open gate target in the middle top of the pf. Blocked both switch contacts behind the pf target, and through 2 simulated by hand games running the score well over 100K, and then manually clicking the 1000 point relay (which had caused it to stick earlier in the night) to well over 100K points. Then playing 3 actual 2 player games. No relay sticking.

So, assuming the game isn't just playing with my head. The problem is somewhere in the gate pf target circuit. Interestingly though, had put paper in the gate side out lane switch, and in between the switches in the gate relay, which is under the pf near the gate. And in that case, relay still stuck.

So could it be as easy as the gate pf target switches adjusted to closely? Will try to open the gaps and see what happens.

Last post of the night. The stinking game is haunted. Pulled the paper from the center target contacts, and first ball of new game, relay stuck. Thinking great, now I just have to trace what is in the gate switch circuit causing the problem. Traced the circuit on the schematic, noticed next down stream so to speak from the pf target switch, is the liberal / cons setting plug. So switched to conservative. Played game, relay stuck. So put paper between pf target switch contacts again, and between gate relay open / close switch contacts just to test. Relay stuck on first ball.

Done for the night. Thinking of threatening it with parting out. GRRRRRRRRR

Thanks, I know when a certain point of frustration is reached. It is either take a break, or get a big hammer. LOL Will tackle it again sometime Sunday.

And thank you, I really appreciate the help.

Update: Put paper between every 1000 point related switch I could find. And between the contacts on the 1000 point real eos. Then unplugged the chime box Jones plug. Even unplugged the annoying 100,000 point buzzer. (may leave that one unplugged) At this point the only thing scoring 1000 points was the bonus. Ran through 2 or 3 games, no stuck relay. Started pulling paper one at a time and running 1 or 2 games each time. After every paper pulled worked great. Finally the only thing left was the chime box. Plugged it in, first ball relay stuck.

Soooo, now the only question is why. Will work on that later tonight, any ideas? Ohh, earlier in this odyssey, thought maybe it was the 1000 point chime coil. Pulled chime box, coil seems fine, plunger works up and down smoothly.

Howard, you are right. stayed stuck. But unplugged it, and cycled through three more games, no sticking. Plugged it in, and within one game, stuck - unplugged it while stuck, stayed stuck again. Soooooooo......... Told you its haunted.

And who needs chimes anyway. thinking of plugging it back in, then desoldering the wires to the 1000 point coil lugs. Would that make sense to try? But going to eat dinner first.

Final post for tonight. Desoldered the orange white wire at the 1000 point chime coil. Ran multiple games, no 1000 point relay sticking on. Then, connected a jump wire from the 1000 point coil lug, to the orange white wire switch connection point at the 1000 point relay, leaving the orange white wire also connected, but wire nut capped at the chime coil end. Chime worked correctly, no relay sticking through 3 or 4 games. Then connected the jump wire from the orange white wire that had been desoldered from the coil chime, to the lug on the coil. Second ball, the 1000 point relay stuck on. Disconnected the jump wire, coil stayed stuck on until I manually pushed the relay off.

If the game isn't just playing with my head some more, it looks pretty certain there is an intermittent problem with the orange white wire between the chime coil in the front of the cabinet, and the 1000 point relay in the back box. Do I run a new wire between the two points and abandon the orange white wire, capping it at both ends. Or is there a way to find the problem with the orange white wire?

Want to thank HowardR for speaking on the phone with me tonight and finding the problems and guiding me to help solve the last two problems with the machine. Now have a working, playable Hokus Pokus.

Last few were: Randomly any 1000 score wouldn’t register on score reels. 500 pt rolled to 1000 fine, but direct 1000 score randomly wouldn’t. Special light roll overs didn’t work. Sometimes 500 pt would stick.

This was a literal barn find, so had many problems before narrowing down to these three.

Sorry if mis posted. Sticky relay was with power. In fact would be counting down bonus and stick at some random point, never the same spot. And sometimes just when the ball hit a 1000 point target.