Just got my first pin, (from a Pinsider!) a KISS, and I'm pretty danged excited..... But I am a complete novice to pin ownership, so I have a bunch of questions, as I get used to it and do some modifications.... Don't wanna cheese anyone off, so could someone direct me to the correct forum to ask my questions. (and boy oh boy do I have questions!!!!)

Thanks in advance!

Wow man I post that, turn my head and look at all the replies, you guys are awesome!!!!

First of all, sincerely thanks all, for making me feel welcome, I'm pretty excited about this new thing I have......

Paratrooper, nice call, the one thing I have done is replaced all the playfield lights with LEDS and WOW, it's so vibrant, like night and day!!!! More on this later...

Once again folks, if it sounds like I am a newbie..............It's because I am, but I take criticism well, so if you think something, please, lay it on me, I am learning new stuff all the time....... And I'm gonna make some mistakes.....

Ok, here goes.....

Firstly, I have an issue with static/feedback from my speaker, so bad I have to turn the machine off when not in use...... It ONLY happens seemingly when the high score flashes alternatingly..... So I get a low frequency sound for about a second and a half then a higher one for the same duration, one sound for high score, one for last game score...... Exactly same sounds for exactly the same duration constantly....... I doubt it's the speaker, and I grounded it using the braided ground wire, so I am not sure what it is. Someone told me to replace the speaker, and i will, but I doubt this is the fix I need.....

By the way, I am not too sure about a lot of the teminology, so please bear with me.....

As I said, I change the playfield to all LED (the ones UNDER the P/F only), but the cluster in the middle, all mounted on one board where KISS is spelled 4 times, my LEDs are pulsing..... Not all of them, but almost all of them. Only ONE other LED did this, the 2X green one just to the right of the area I am referring to. I removed and reseated the LED and it's steady now. Does NOT work with these other ones though.....

Plumb tilt does not work..... That's pretty much all I can say, if I roll the little plumb ball I can make it tilt, but it's so far from rolling to the spot to tilt it, it will never tilt. And the other tilt, the centred activator, that has to touch the outer ring to tilt, also works only when I do it manually, and even then it's not very sensitive...... The sensor that detects major movement and ends the game works just fine....

I was going to ask about making the right coin slot able to accept our (Canadian) dollar coin, and even bought a coin mechanism for dollars, only to realize that the dollar will not fall out of the chute, as it's too big. Am I right to assume our "loonie" is bigger than the old Susan B Anthony???? I am guessing there is nothing I can do about this..... I may try to exchange the dollar mechanism for another quarter one.....

OK, the A B C D on the right side, and I am sorry I have no idea what they are called, they are not drop targets, the springy ones..... They are not very responsive. Seems only hit and miss whether they will register a hit.... The K I S S in other places do this as well, but with much less frequency...... And if it matters, it actually seems like the harder hits register the least (I hope this makes sense)......

I have to change the light under the Ace Frehley pop bumper, and it looks like the whole thing has to come off to do this.....Anything I need to know to do this, AND would an LED work here (would it make it better/brighter?)

I also replaced most of the lights behind the backglass with LEDs (ran out 3/4 of the way through) and I do like the look, but I noticed that the KISS at the top has the older style lights, but they are a different kind, sorta frosted, and a lot brighter, what are these called? I probably could have used this type for the whole backglass, as they are better than the regular bulbs.......

On the topic of lights, the ones above the playfield could use replacing as well, but it looks like LEDs won't do here, what is the best option for these?

I know I will have many more questions, and I am indeed grateful in advance for any help you can provide, I am really digging this thing, it's a lotta fun, and I am looking forward to learning and getting more experience with this stuff.....

Finally, a general question..... If there is anything I can do to make this thing better/cooler/more awesome I'm all ears ...... Thanks again!

Hey inhome, thanks a lot, if things go well, I'll be the veteran helping out the next generation of newbies

Thanks again!

I hate to be repetitive, but you all are awesome, I appreciate the input.

Freeplay, where do I get the 2 boards I need to replace? I don't know Alltek Systems (or anything else hehehe )

Your playfield looks awesome, what kind of lighting are you using above P/F? I'd love to get mine to look like that......

Ball_Less, I'll be checking that in a minute or two, thanks for the heads up, wouldn't it be awesome if that solved my issue????

Spooky thanks again for the welcome, I am indeed enjoying it, which I am sure you gathered already

Freeplay........... SWEET, I am gonna try that right now!!!!

Thanks

Hey Steve, I can't find edit to change my title..........What am I missing?

Thanks for the reply!

Do NOT tell my wife that...........Do you know how hard it was to get this one??? I did things I am not proud of to get this permission...

You know, after a while, you know what's coming................And it's still funny!

Sounds like my not knowing what WOZ is may not necessarily be a bad thing?

Wait, are we talking about Steve Wozniak?

Sorry for the late reply, I have been busy but am going to take a crack at cleaning those contacts now. I will also check the caps and see if they have been replaced. Thanks again y'all, I'll be back with an update!

Ahhhhhhhhh, it's making sense now..... When I was a young punk (a long time ago) we actually would lift the machine and I remember that would tilt it. This explains the ball one, so not needed. The Slam also makes sense, I will bend that one back. The plumb one is still a mystery, but I will clean it and see if that improves the responsiveness. Thanks!

Well.............. That didn't take long......This is an S.O.S.........

So, I cleaned those contacts this AM...... And changed some switches for credits per coin, and tried to fix the tilt (didn't work, no idea what's going on there still)..... And here's what happened when I put it all back together to test it.....

1. The pop bumpers register score when hit, but do not "pop"

2. The left side targets do not pop back up after all 4 are hit. They also do not pop up when the machine starts.

3. The ball return......doesn't...... At start of game or after a ball is finished, the ball does not pop back out.

4. the "kick" bumpers (Is that what they're called?) do not kick.... I am pretty sure they make the sound and count the score, but they do not kick the ball.

I think this is everything. Note that all of this happened at the same time. I did turn the machine off while doing all of the maintenance, so I am bewildered here.

Can anyone help? I am out for the rest of the day (at the in-laws alllllll day yayyyyy) but will be back late this evening, so I will get any responses on my phone and will respond, but can't try any fixes until I get home.....

This is hilarious, I was as careful as I could be and still managed to screw something up hehehehe.

Once again, thanks in advance for any help.....

OH MAN!!!!! your machine is awesome...... I you don't mind, I have some questions for you, I will message you later. Suffice to say, that's a beauty!!!!!!

There are a few, aren't there? I seem to remember seeing more than one..... I'll check when I am home. Any idea the value of these, I can buy some on my way.

Thanks Vid!

Lovely..........Just lovely.......

Got the fuse tested, it turns out the only fuse I wasn't able to find is the fuse I need, and tomorrow's a national holiday.....

Anyone else familiar with this 3/16amp fuse? No one I have talked to is familiar with it...... And I can't fint anything lower that a half amp.....

Suggestions anyone?

Thanks!

Rectifier board, 2nd fuse from the left edge, F2

Yup, that looks like the one. Bummer it looks like I won't get one before tomorrow's holiday, I wanted to do some more work on it. Got me the new Ultimate lamp board and I wanted to install and test that. Also in Canada, there's no telling how long it will take to get that fuse shipped here.

Thanks!

Just went to one here, .5amp is the lowest value they have here....... Walmart says they have some assorted packs, but I doubt they are gonna have a 200ma....... But I may try it anyway.....

I hope you're still with me here........ It's not the fuse I originally said it was, and it IS the one under the PF between the flippers...... Here's the thing...... I might be getting a bit overwhelmed with all this new stuff because the 3/16 I was asking you all about is not the one I had thought was blown...... That F2 is actually 3/4amp, which if I am not mistaken, (correct me please if I am) can be replaced temporarily with a fast blo 500ma? It really doesn't matter right now anyway, because it's not blown, I just tested it in the clip between the flippers under the PF, and all functions are now back. The good news is, the one under the PF that IS blown is actually a 1a slo-blo which I WAS able to get at the pin parts shop today, so it looks like actually I am back in business!!! WOO HOOO..... I'll report back slowly when I put the proper fuse in and test.

Thanks again as always, this is tricky stuff to get used to doing it for the first time.

Never thought of HD, heck we get EVERYTHING there....

Hey hey...........Me again........ Confused about something here....... In the manual (pages 25/26) on the solenoid board it refers to refers to items 59/60 which are a fuse clip and a fuse respectively..... This is the actual 3/16amp fuse that has proven so difficult to find...... The thing is....... There is no fuse on my board..... at all...... See attachments, one is a photo of my board and the other is the manual....... Is this common? Again, sorry to sound like a newbie it's just that.................I'm a newbie

Note: in the attached .pdf, the pages are 30 and 31, it's the actual manual where the pages are 25/26.

Thanks as always.

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manual won't attach so here's that link if needed!

http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/1386/Bally_1979_Kiss_Manual.pdf

OK, for those of you still with me through my ordeal learning this stuff, here's where we are.....

I got the fuse changed,worked perfectly, gameplay restored to how it should have been.

I then changed out the rest of the LEDs, no problems there either.

Vdojaq knew the sound issue, and gave me a fix, worked like a charm......

Then I changed out the new Ultimate LED/Lamp Driver Board I picked up today. Installation went easy, nothing to it. And immediately, the flicker/pulse went away............However...... You had to know there would be a however, didn't you?????......... Here goes..... Since I changed the display board, a lot of the under playfield LEDs are acting strange... ONLY in gameplay..... If I do a lamp test all lights flash on and off exactly like you'd expect.... In Gameplay hopwever, a lot of lights that should not be on are on right from the beginning, (2x) (extra ball) some of the K I S S coloured LEDs too. Gameplay isn't actually affected, for instance, you are not in 2x right from the start of the game, but it almost looks like all of the LEDs are on, just not as bright as the ones that are supposed to be on. None actually are ever completely off like they should be. When you look at it, and then run a lamp test, it's night and day,

So........At the risk of becoming a pain in the spleen............Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

Actually, that's a good idea, I will install the old board, and see if the lights go back to behaving properly.

Thanks.

Well............ Here we are at the end of our holiday weekend, and here's where I am...... LED issue, check, install LED board, check, sound issue, check, and now the LEDs on when they should be off is fixed too, just a minor wiring issue. So, everything I had hoped to accomplish this weekend got doone successfully! Hard to believe I have only had the ol' girl 9 days. It's been quite a ride.

Here's what I have left in the short term.....

Replace the remaining LEDs in the backbox and under the PF...

Replace the defective coin mech for the right side. (just bought it)

Forgot this one..... Still wasn't able to fix the tilt....

Down the road: Replace or repair the playfield;

Repaint the cabinet.. I know it's heresy to some KISS owners, but I am pretty sure I'll replace the original colour scheme with a custom one. Look a the one earlier in this thread! I have seen some cool designs, so I will price one out (I'm not a painter)

Thanks for all the help y'all, this has been fun! More questions soon enough.... And if anyone has anyy ideas about this tilt thingie......

Hehehehe this was "Pinball for dummies" The guy who sold it to me knew it was my first machine, so he put stickers on the board and connectors so I couldn't screw it up when I put it together. I'm pretty handy, and it was easy for me, but I imagine this would have made it a lot easier on someone else. It was idiot proof.... That said, I think it's safe to take them off now

Absolutely! A bargain all round!