Hello,

I am looking for someone to point me in the right direction with some sudden problems I have been having with my BoP.

First off, the machine has always had issues with lights flickering. Several lights would flicker on and off for several minutes when the machine was turned on, but then it would eventually stop and the lights would behave as normal.

Second, The ball release solenoid has intermittently not been firing. I figured the coil was the problem, so I replaced it and this seemed to resolve the problem.

Yesterday the problem with the ball release solenoid has returned, the coil in it is brand new. It released the first ball, which I played and got it into the brides eye lock. The second ball did not release.

Then at the same time multiple lights on the play-field have failed.
-The left inner extra ball light
-10m on the "big wheel"
-1b on the "big wheel"
-Extra ball, light extra ball, 50k, 100k, lite jackpot on the small wheel
-100k left loop
-500k right loop
-and the 75k Skill Shot light

Also, apparently, the left slingshot solenoid is also not firing, it did not fire when I did the test. The ball release solenoid also does not fire in the test.

All other lights and solenoids are working as they should.

Some troubleshooting that I have done
-A very short time ago I replaced the ball release coil
-I double checked the solder joints on the ball release coil.
-I checked for blown fuses, I didn't see any, I physically removed and tested with a meter the fuse that controls the ball release
-I tried to test the lamp matrix, but I am not really sure what to do with it. As far as I can tell, all those pins have voltage coming out, though I don't know what the voltage is supposed to be. I know how a matrix works, but I am not really sure how to troubleshoot one.
-I checked and re-seated all the wire harnesses. One or two were a little off, but not enough to make a difference. I re-seated them.

Can anyone give me some suggestions on what to try?

I believe all but one of those lights are on a PCB board, but it is 4 separate PCB boards. The wheel, the left loop, the right loop and the skill shot are all individual boards. The wires go into one of those wire harness plug things and then it plugs in to the boards. The inner left extra ball light might just be all by itself with a wire running to it, not a PCB. I don't think 4 boards and a stand alone light would all have solder joint failure simultaneously. So, could there be a bad joint on the driver board?

The ball release coil is the one that pushes the "next ball" ball into the shooter lane. There is voltage going to it. I would have to double check it, but I think the meter read 76v, which is the same as the other coils. I am not exactly sure how that works, I guess the voltage must go way up when the coil is triggered and that is what makes it fire. Also the left Slingshot didn't fire in the test.

Sorry, I am familiar with electronics, and I can do a bit of repair, but I am not an expert.

If I take the harnesses off of the driver board for the lamp matrix, put the machine in the test mode where it flashes all the lights, and then use a meter to test each pin on the matrix, do you know what voltage it should read? Should they all be the same? I guess it would be positive on the column, negative on the row.

I am figuring, if the matrix outputs the correct voltage on all rows and columns, then that rules out the driver board, at least for the lamps. Therefore the problem would have to be on the PCBs or a broken wire.

I am not 100% sure yet what to make of the non-firing coils, I didn't even know the slingshot wasn't working until I tested it and that was at the end of a long day yesterday, so I haven't even put that one on the meter yet.

Am I correct in that, they should be receiving 76v constantly, and then when they fire that voltage spikes to whatever it's supposed to be to move the mechanical parts?

thanks for the help.

I will try both of your suggestions.

The intermittent nature of the coil problem tends to suggest a problem with an intermittent connection, and perhaps it has just finally fallen apart. Broken solder joints could explain that

Here's a look at the backside of the power driver.

Some interesting anomalies

I am not sure why there are jumper wires all over the place, and that red\white one isn't connected on one side and I am not sure which pin it was connected to...

I am looking at some other back sides of these boards and I don't see most of those jumper wires... This looks like some kind of jury rig.

That nasty burnie mess on the bottom right is J120, someone has been there. And that spot where that orange wire was soldered to, some of those contact points look like they are touching.

Anyone have any idea what is going on here?

Huh... well...

Fantastic news... err...

I don't know what that candy-stripe wire is for or why it is jumpered across the board like that, but apparently it is the chewing gum that holds the entire thing together.

I soldered it back on to the pin that it was broken off of and now... everything works. Even the old light flicker problem looks to be gone.

I should consult the schematic, because I have no idea what just happened.