I have a United Epsilon puck bowler that I just recently did a restore on. I picked it up cheap a few years ago, I have no idea if it ran properly at the time I picked it up. Everything works on it except a strike is scored on every throw on all players reguardless of how many pins are knocked down. Any ideas on why the machine would keep scoring strikes? I cant seem to find anything out of place.

Easy strike is turned off. So it will score a strike reguardless of how many pins are dropped. The pins all seem to react properly. It is even scoring properly, I end up with a perfect 300. I think what is happening is the score motor is turning a full turn and possibly pulsing the strike/spare relay twice? I read somewhere that the score motor should only make a partial turn until the second puck is thrown.

I have a strike/spare advance relay and a strike/spare reset relay. Neither are latching relays. Each player has a strike/spare unit that these relays manipulate. I am guessing the strike spare advance should only be pulsed once since manually triggering it once gives you a spare and triggering again will give you a strike. So the events are: A puck is thrown, pins retract according to rollovers hit, score motor runs, the bell gets pulsed twice, strike/spare gets pulsed twice (along with the usual end of turn sequences), a strike is registered and the game advances to the second frame (or next player if applicable).

I did also check each rollover to make sure they are triggering the correct pins.

I unplugged the playfield and still the same results. A strike registers when I pulse the rear rollover relay. The game seems to go through its entire sequence when the rear rollover is pulsed.

This is really the first time I am looking at EM schematics. Beleive it or not I have actually managed to repair EM’s and even bingo’s without schmatics. But I have yet to come across one that had been altered in a way that a schematic would be needed. I dont see any obvious signs of anything being moved. I’ve always been able to logically work my way through problems. This one just has me…

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From what I can tell it seems as though it thinks all pins are knocked down. The strike spare advance relay would pulse once for a spare and twice for a strike. I am getting a two pulse to the strike spare relay (regardless of how many pins are knocked down) and it does register correctly. A strike lights on the player, pins are reset and the frame is advanced. I do not understand how it knows all the pins have been knocked down. As far as I can tell its not like there is a relay that closes or opens once all the pins are knocked down to start the strike sequence. I think somehow the score motor is running to long....maybe.

I dont think it is running over on its own either, I agree it is probably accuratly doing what its told. Ive been over these switches so many times, I have to be missing something. One thing I noticed was 2A and 2B are listed as NC but they are NO. Judging by the wear marks on the switches it looks like they have been running like this for its lifetime. It could be a missprint. I think I did reverse them but I dont remember the outcome. I dont know how they compare to the actual schematic.

I haven't had a chance to get back to this but it is worth mentioning that I think the manual is a bit misleading. There is no latched 1-10 relay. The only way for the switches in the 1-10 relay (and there are three marked 1-10 none of which are latched or coil driven) to change state is for the entire bank to reset.

Alright I think I got it. Pondering while sitting on the toilet (where sometimes the best thinking happens), I was thinking about what you said Mopar about all pin relays needing to drop. Then I thought, I wonder if my 1-10 relay bar is on the wrong side of the pin relay latches and it is. That bar cant drop and change the state of any 1-10 switch unless all pins drop (I wondered why they arranged them the way the did, now I know). I haven't made the adjustment yet but I am certain that is the issue. Thank you both, I will report back.

That was it, thank you.