Someone will take them

I've been offered some new mirror blades to suit a Bally Williams. Will these fit a Jokerz! ? I'm getting mixed reports on what is correct.

To fit what Bally Williams? There are a lot of different ones.

You want ones to fit a System 11B.

rd

Thanks for your help. I'm not sure which Bally Williams they would have fit. I may just pass up on this offer.

Have a new Populated upper playfield, does anyone know if there is a replacement tape for the back of it? I found a part number on the tape but came up empty on finding it.

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Take some Goo Gone to what you have there. It will clean up really nice. Then buy some double faced tape https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Y7CSAC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title and it will turn out a lot better than you'd expect.

I did one for a guy maybe 6 months ago and it was in worst shape then yours. Picture below is not the best but it’s all I have. Everything on the upper playfield is new except that "tape".
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I will give this a try, thanks!

If your yellow has noticeable color fade like mine did, try using thin gloss red and yellow tape. I've had these rolls in stock for years, so the source is unknown, but it was not as tough to do as I thought and looks fantastic.

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I have a new Jokerz! hardtop that I ended up not needing. Completely new, protective plastic still on. Retail shipped is $366 from Outside Edge.

Asking $300 shipped in US. PM if interested.

A little help please with some playfield wiring

Trying to get a project Jokerz going that has had hacks applied

I have an unplugged connector under playfield near the far right-rear kick out coil (draw poker behind the spinner) - I cannot see any mating connector anywhere

I would appreciate if someone could check your game and advise - wire colors to the 2-pin connector are are 2 red and 1 brown-red

Thanks

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Here are 3 photos from mine before rebuild.

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Another...

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Looks like someone removed your lamp relay … bottom right corner, you can see the white standoffs there with no board.

rd

Removed it after it burned up. The pf is pretty toasted where the connector would be.

Thanks guys - I would have never figured that out. I have corrected several hacks including soldering wires directly to the board instead of replacing connectors so still tracking down problems.

Thanks everyone

Bump and price drop. $285 shipped in US.

Joined the club today. Can't wait to play it. This thread has some good information, must read up on how to fix the buzz. It's rather loud.

Been trying to fix my horrible sound, got tired of testing everything I could think of so I have a new pinled power supply board arriving this week, hopefully it will help, could have changed the rectifier I guess but then I should change the capacitors as well... Don't have that time right now even thou it's relative easy and fast to do. If the new board helps I can fix it later and have an extra. If the sound is fixed I will finally being able to restore it properly, really not worth it as it's now.

Also I found this strange thing in the bottom of the cab when I bought the game. Is this for the game or something not belonging at all in a Jokerz?
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It’s the cap off the end of an electric motor.

Probably off the end of the ramp raising motor.

rd

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Thank you, will check it later today. It's heavy and metal, could it lower the interference perhaps? Well, doesn't matter, it will get where it belong. Again, thanks.

The cap is now where it belong on the ramp motor. Thanks.

For the sound I'm giving up. I will sell the game because I hate it with this sound buzz...

I changed to the pinled power supply board and it didn't help.
So I went all the way and recapped EVERYTHING... Didn't help.
I changed the two other bridge rectifiers, didn't help.
I tried the ferrite solution, did nothing.
The "hotfix" or what it's called is already done, I double checked it and it's done correctly.
I unplugged the card motor and ramp motor, didn't help. Still a terrible buzz that gets louder when flashers are active.
I unplugged the bottom speaker, not helping. I unplugged the other speaker and only kept the bottom speaker, same buzz happens in that speaker when alone.
I separated all the cables in the back box to see if I could see some change in interference, did nothing.
I changed to LEDs to see if it would help. Did nothing.

Only thing left to try is to use led flashers which I hate... I removed all flashers in back box and it helped a bit but I really don't want to remove all flashers.

I'm out of ideas other than throw it away to someone else. Shame, it's a great game.

Jokerz is famous for its sound buzz. Can’t say it worries me but hey - I just play the things.

Have you read this:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jokerz-hum-solved

(Read that thread right to the end - his fix was pretty simple in the end)

And there’s other stuff on the net if you search around.

rd

mine had a terrible buzz, couldn't figure it out.. did almost everything you did... then I replaced the p/s pcb with a new one... buzz was gone. Poof.

yours sound like this one?

It sounds like that when flashers are active. I already tried with a new Pinled Power supply board, didn't help. I have some resistors on order that I will try and use for the speakers.

Did you try the things in the thread I linked?

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jokerz-hum-solved#post-5780190

rd

Hello there.

I had my center ramp and the Top Right eject solenoid fail at the same time.

I found a thread here. A guy said he had the exact same problem. He tested a bunch of fuses and found the blown fuse and he replaced it which fixed it.

I sent him a message asking if he remembers which fuse it was, he couldn't remember.

How do I find out which fuse is the problem? I don't have a multimeter. I was hoping to track down which fuse by finding it in the manual but I'm having trouble. So, short of buying a multimeter and testing everything, is there a way to narrow down the possible fuse?
Thanks.

Sometimes you can look at them to see which one is bad. Manual should be able to point you right, I don't have it here so I can help. It's available online if you Google it.
Also invest in a multimeter, a 10$ one is good enough for most troubleshooting.

Yeah, the visual inspection doesn't tell you much. Sometimes a fuse can look new and still be bad.
I looked at the manual and am at a loss as to the fuse associated with the center ramp and TR eject.
You're right, I need a multimeter.
Thanks for the feedback.

I bought a Multimeter.
For the record, the Fuse in question was F1 on the Aux Power Driver Board.

Great investment!

rd

Bought some replacement fuses. Plugged the proper voltage fuse into F1 and turned it on. It blew right away.
Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this?
The message on boot up says Check switch 15 ramp up and check switch 16 ramp down. Then "Ramp did not go up, Ramp did not go down"
I have checked these switches in Test Mode and they check out when manually pushing them. So the switches aren't the issue.

This all started when I began installing light strips and lighting the flipper buttons, tapping power from the coin door.
I had a GI fuse blow and replaced it which fixed the issue.
I put in one more lighting strip using Matrix lighting bulbs as a power source, now this Center ramp and TR eject solenoid failure issue.
I don't know how do proceed.

You have a short on the line that F1 fuses.

If you look at the schematic you see that F1 runs to coils 17,19,21,22.

So, something on that line is popping the fuse.

According to the manual: it’s the red/white wire that runs to the three pops and a flasher “centre ramp flasher”

So check all those things and see what’s up.

Check the tabs on the flasher, make sure they aren’t touching. Or shorting on something. Take the bulb out, they can short. Check the pop coils for brown paper or something on the coil tabs shorting.

rd

PS if you haven’t got a manual, download one, and the schematics:
https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1308
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Thanks for your help on this.

I don't want to assume anything here. I'm kind of a novice.
I touched the two test leads to the two 'terminals' of each Pop Bumper coil with the Tester set to the 200 Ohm setting.
Each one made the beeping sound. The Center Ramp Flasher has two flashers. I did the test on these with no beeping sound. However, These flashers work as they should during a game play test when I touch the Lift Ramp button switch. but the ramp doesn't lift.
So with No Fuse in the F1 slot, All the pop bumpers and flashers work. It's a mystery.
I have been pouring over the manual, it's just the pdf has that power wiring diagram so small and on its side, I didn't look closely.
Thank you again for finding that.

No worries. Throw me a thumbs up for thanks.

At this stage, maybe it’s best to get a local tech guy around. Watch what he does, you’ll pick up the tricks over time.

rd

I'm Selling a Jokerz if anyone is looking

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-jokerz-63

I just solved this exact same issue on my Jokerz!! Incredible timing... Wow. So F1 on the power driver board located on the right side of the back box. I would replace and it would blow again. I noticed however that when it blew there was also a puff of smoke on the left side of the back box. So I put another fuse in, stared at the left side, turned it on... and saw transistor Q22 on the CPU board let out a little smoke. I replaced Q22 with a TIP102 transistor. Put it all back together, changed the fuse again, and it blew once more but this time I saw smoke at Q9 which is right beside Q22. I pulled the board out again and replaced Q9 with a TIP102. Put it all back together again, and the ramp and top right ball popper started working again.

Hope this helps.

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Fellow JOKERZ - I have an issue right now where the "Millions" lights on the back board are staying on with one that flashes constantly. Would this be a transistor problem? Which transistor? If I were to guess I'd be looking in the row with Q80 but I've read where other people have tried replacing Q52. What say Ye?

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Which one flashes constantly - the top one? If so, this may be normal behavior. I don't have my Jokerz any more to check it, but if I recall, it did that in attract mode.

If it never changes, even when you add to the jackpot during a game, then I would be suspicious.

It never changes even during gameplay. The manual says that lamp matrix column is controlled by Q52. I've tested Q52 and it seems to display the same voltage as other known working transistors. I can replace it for good measure, but... is there somewhere else I should be looking?

The column may be controlled by Q52 but also look at the *rows* and each transistor for those involved with the jackpot display lamps. I will check the schematics this morning. Of course, you checked for burned-out bulbs, right?

Q80 through Q87.

See attached image from page 73 of the operations manual.

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Tested transistors and they are all measuring the same??? What controls the transistors? B/c one of the lights is blinking (the top one in the picture) the others are always on. Plus in attract mode the lights should dance in a sequence... something has to me stuck making the game think that it is displaying the correct jackpot value. Could it be a IC possibly U52? or something upstream? I don't have a logic tester (or the know-how to use one). Is there a way for me to test the wirewound sand resistors? What else could I test with my DMM?

Wait - how are you testing those transistors? You cannot test with the power on. You will use Diode mode on your DMM between the tab/legs of the transistors as detailed in the pin repair guides or in this thread:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-to-test-transistors

If those all test good then try to "earn" the jackpot in a game with the glass off, triggering the correct playfield switches to make that happen. You may find the switches are not working, making it impossible to increase the jackpot or cash it in.

Also: have you done any of the game's built-in diagnostic tests, such as the Single Lamp test? This will tell you if the row/column transistors are working if you can make the jackpot lamps light up as you advance through the test.

Ahhh good advice. I will try that today.

Update on my sound problem with buzz.
A 68 ohm resistor between speaker and soundboard helped tremendously. Still not perfect but now it's manageable. Thx for resistor suggestion, I think I had tried everything else already.

If you don't yet have the operations manual, download it from IPDB.org (https://www.ipdb.org/files/1308/Williams_1988_Jokerz_Schematics.pdf). Read up on how to run the machine tests (manual page 28) and then try them out.

The Switch Edges test (manual page 33) will allow you to see if the upper mini-playfield switches in particular are working - these advance the jackpot during game play.

All these tests require the buttons inside the coin door to be working. If they are gummed up from years of people spilling drinks into the game, you will need to replace them - but cross that bridge if you come to it.

So the ALL LAMP test proves that the lamp circuit is good b/c all of the Jackpot lights on the backboard were blinking along with every other light. But when I end the test it goes back to (1/2, 1, 2-1/2, 3 million) lights solid on and 3-1/2 million blinking. No change during gameplay.

Did you perform the switches test?

I still think your problem is not any sort of lamp driver or cpu/logic issue. Methodically go through all the tests the game has to offer and see if something becomes evident.