I would try and find a new connector. I would not hack the board by soldering them to it.

Yes . post a pic of the board.Is it melted like the connector?

Make sure you have a decent solder iron so you can adjust the temp to avoid over heating the board.

T_D_A is right. A good quality variable temp. soldering iron and some kind of solder sucking device is a must to replace board pins. Pretty straightforward with the right tools.

Wow that connector is toast, not sure how that wasn't visible.

The J115 repair is a fairly difficult repair to do right . This link is what I started with .

https://picasaweb.google.com/honda350r/TerminatorTeardown?authkey=Gv1sRgCMac_M__3u3MHg#5666905363351091666

This is what it looks like after the repair. It took skill and effort to achieve this . Take your time and do it right .

Jim

IMG_1574.JPG

I just replaced the female side and cleaned the male side on f-14. Good as new.

Sheesh, Jim! Do you have ANYTHING that doesn't look brand new??

Oh yes, lots . I just choose not to show you guys .

Jim

Honda is right, do the job right the first time. You can do just the plug and clean the pins, but they have already been over heated, they are damaged even tho they look good and work, so they will have more resistance then they should, and thus, fail. When they do they just might take out the new plug again.

Follow the instructions for removing the old pins with the proper equipment and take your time. The results will be a repaired connector that probably wont ever fail in a home use environment. Have fun with it!

Do you think using crimp pins instead of punch down pins would make a better electrical connection?

Yes, I always use Molex connectors vs. IDC connectors unless I have no choice or if it is not a G.I. connector that does not get warm.

No question. Molex with Trifurcon connectors will outlast IDC connectors in the long run. Especially on GI circuits. Those plugs get very hot.

LOL, don't sweat it nerd, I miss obvious stuff all the time. When something goes wrong I usually assume the problem is the worst possible scenario......then I find the blown fuse

I don't worry about IDC in a home application ! These home games get 1% of the use that routed pins saw back in the day .

I do not fault anyone for using the crimp style and do not believe either one will ever give a home use game any problems .

I happen to like the factory look of the IDC.

Jim

I agree Jim, it won't see the rigors of arcade or bar life where it's left on all day long. And it's nice to have all the connectors on a board matching. Yours looks great. Plus it is a bit of a hassel to convert to Molex because you have to get good at crimping two wires into one, and that's no easy task. I guess I'm just a bit of a Clay H. student, and I despise the thought of doing things twice, even though in the home environment I prolly wouldn't have to eh?

I do agree IDC do look better and should not fail in a home environment. I use Molex on the G.I. just for more longevity and better conductivity. If you are doing a restore or want it to look correct then IDC are the way to go.

If you'd like the name and number of a good board repairman I can send it to you. He does excellent work and charges by the job, not the hour which makes his work a real labor of love. He's in NM which would be a quick ship back and forth for you. Get it done right.

It's the only way to fly. Gi or not, if I replace, it's trifurcon+molex.

It is one of two ways to fly .

Jim

It is one of two ways to fly .

Zing!
I love using my insertion tool!

mrt-156f.jpg

+1

Don't feel bad. I've been called out to make the same repair you're looking at as a service call for a friend I'd tried to troubleshoot the same problem with on and off over the course of a year. He kept looking, and kept saying it was fine. I unplugged it, and that told the story. It was also partially hidden beneath other connectors, and short of unplugging it, I doubt it would've been seen.

Don't cut corners and just 'clean' the male pins, unless you like doing the job twice. Once those pins get hot enough to melt that connector, the finish on the pins is gone and the resistance increases. Resistance = heat = burnt connectors. The replacement may work right now, it may work OK for a bit, but it will burn faster than a proper replacement, which would involve changing the male pins and the female side of the connector.

That harness has a bit of slack in it in ES, so you should be OK. Remember to cut any discolored/heat damaged wire back - you'll probably want to go 1/2 inch to 1 inch away from the wire where it enters the connector, make sure the wire is good and pliable / not stiff, and go to town.

+1 all the way!
IDC seems just fine to me.

IDC isn't up to the job, quite honestly. WMS should never have used them in the first place for voltage supplies, especially GI. I always go with Molex ones, Trifurcon crimp pins are the best if you can find them, but a lot of the heat in those connectors seems to come from the push-fit of the wire itself, rather than the pins - the normal single wiper type will work too.

Removing the other side of the connector is easy, but you will need a desoldering pump or proper desolder station regardless of method used - or braid if you really have all the time in the world to struggle with the stuff.

You can either desolder all the pins and remove the connector whole, which requires a desolder station to do safely (too easy to leave solder in place with other methods, resulting in pulling the pads and traces up), or remove it one pin at a time if you don't have one. Just heat each pin in turn from the back, and when the solder has fully melted, pull the pin from the front with pliers. When the pin is so hot the solder has melted, it'll slide through the plastic connector pretty easily. Once the connector is out use a solder pump to clean the holes.

When it comes to fitting the new one, remember to key it if appropriate for the connector - by either pulling the pin entirely, or clipping it at the base. If clipping it be aware that you're cutting pretty thick metal and the offcut will launch into your face if it's in the way, so be careful

Good info here on connectors:

http://www.pinrepair.com/connect/

The Topcast #3 This Old Pinball DVD shows how to do repairs like this on GI connectors and header pins. http://pinrepair.com/top/top3.htm

Also I would recommend looking for a local pinhead to possible show you how.

Hope this helps.

Good work Nerd!

Jim

Its really not that difficult - the hardest part is getting the old pins out but using a good desoldering iron really makes short work of that - or using a not really good desoldering iron still works well, Im not a fan of the pen suckers most of the time.

one of these works well on pins: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=desoldering+iron&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=13102775599900463777&sa=X&ei=JiD-TtvaN-P40gGj8si2CA&ved=0CIwBEPICMAE#ps-sellers

Put me down for the molex conversion. IDC is not the proper repair, even if it looks "factory". The molex connection is designed to take the current load through it.

Then again, I'm in the "why bother if you don't fix it right the first time" camp.

Me too! I can't tell you how many shitty repair jobs I have seen using crimp style connectors .

Most can't to a proper repair even though they can read the book on how to do it , they just don't have the skill set.

I have worked with electrical connectors every day for 27 years of my life and have seen some crazy stuff.

I already said that either way is not wrong( if you do it properly) but you still see people who have an axe to grind?

I let you guys know when my wrong repair fails

Jim

PS. You know how to tell if a game is a routed beater? It has crimp style connectors !

lol that's what always comes to mind when I see crimp connectors but I wasn't going to be the first to say it.

It certainly does take some practice to properly crimp two wires together into one Trifurcon connector. My first attempt years ago looked like ass. You need the proper Waldom crimper, and lots of patience to make em look good. It of course won't look factory, because factory is always IDC, but you can get nice results. I tend to leave my games on for hours at a time, but not all day. I have lots of games with original IDC's still in place and they may be a tad yellowish, but they haven't gotten any more burnt during my ownership of them. I just replace the seriously burnt or malfunctioning ones usually.

Both do the job. One is industrial strength

Horse sufficiently beaten.

There is a right way, and a wrong way. It's not based on aesthetics, but electronics.

The original connectors are not rated for the current surge on start up (or flashing sequence). The inrush current on a GI circuit exceeds the rating of the factory style connector. Especially on an incandescent. That's why they burn. Throw age in, and you compound the issue.

If one were to use IDC on a GI circuit with only LEDS, then I would be ok with it.