(Topic ID: 319311)

Judge Dredd trough repair

By Chense

1 year ago



Topic Stats

  • 10 posts
  • 5 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 1 year ago by Chense
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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#1 1 year ago

Hi everyone,

I am a new member and new to pinball repair and electronics. I am currently working on a Judge Dredd and have a question about a hack on the ball trough which I am replacing.

On the LED trough board the 12V and Ground are soldered directly to the board. The 5 pin connector is not being used. Additionally both wires have been paired to deliver Power and Ground to the Trough Transistor board. See pic.

Is this the way Power and Ground is delivered to the Trough Transistor board? I mean Daisy chaining off the LED trough board?
Is this a standard hack, why not use the existing 5 pin connector on the LED trough board?

There was a similar question 3 months ago on the forum (same hack) but it wasn't answered. Sorry if this is a basic question, new to electronics and fear of the unknown is holding me back.

Thanks
Chense

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#2 1 year ago

Welcome!

First rule - "if it ain't broke - don't fix it"!

Is the ball trough giving problems? No, then leave it and move on to better issues that I'm sure you will have.

Those small .100 connectors are rubbish which is why someone has bypassed them by soldering the wires on directly and yes, the emitter board is connected across to the receiver board on these machines just as you have it, albeit usually with a 5 pin connector. They have done this because, very likely, the ball trough was intermittent and causing all sorts of random game issues.

More importantly, those large 2 or 3 watt resistors get SUPER hot and even fall off the board. They cause all manner of issues and you could replace that board with a more modern one that doesn't have this 'hot resistors' issue for only $32 if you really want to improve the reliability of the machine.

https://www.pinballlife.com/7-opto-trough-emitter-board-for-williamsbally-widebody-pinball-machines.html
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#3 1 year ago

Thanks @pins4u, that is really helpful.

Yes I have been having issues with the opto's on the trough board and have a new replacement board.

Should I use the 5 pin connector or just solder the power and ground to the new board?

#4 1 year ago
Quoted from Chense:

Thanks pins4u, that is really helpful.
Yes I have been having issues with the opto's on the trough board and have a new replacement board.
Should I use the 5 pin connector or just solder the power and ground to the new board?

Do the easy way first. If that does not work do it then use the hard way. Make sure you don’t have magnet balls. I think dredd does not have magnet grabs. Probably not the problem. Most fixes are overkill. Most of the time.

#5 1 year ago

Thanks for the advice @Gunnut40, good logic, much appreciated

#6 1 year ago
Quoted from Gunnut40:

Do the easy way first. If that does not work do it then use the hard way. Make sure you don’t have magnet balls. I think dredd does not have magnet grabs. Probably not the problem. Most fixes are overkill. Most of the time.

Dredd does have a magnetic arm that picks the ball up from the spinning dead world.

What kind of issues are happening with the ball trough?

#7 1 year ago

I fought with mine for months and even after replacing the LED boards, I had to order one of these to completely solve all my problems:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-16809

Best $8 you will ever spend on Dredd.

#8 1 year ago
Quoted from thirdedition:

Dredd does have a magnetic arm that picks the ball up from the spinning dead world.
What kind of issues are happening with the ball trough?

thirdedition - I have a switch error on 85 & 86 (ball trough) and more recently the multi ball is being triggered by hitting the sniper target. I have gone through and cleaned and tested all the opto's and it fixes the game play for a little while, it will soon revert to the same switch error and game play (multi-ball \ sniper target)

#9 1 year ago
Quoted from snyper2099:

I fought with mine for months and even after replacing the LED boards, I had to order one of these to completely solve all my problems:
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-16809
Best $8 you will ever spend on Dredd.

snyper2099 - Thanks for posting that link - I have read the same that this solves some problems - no loss for $8.

2 weeks later
#10 1 year ago

Hi all,

Just to close this thread, new trough parts installed, this is has sorted out the switch errors associated with the ball trough. Still have a gremlin with the multi-ball which I will start a new thread to discuss. Thanks for the assistance so far.

Cheers Sean

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