(Topic ID: 150492)

Party Zone...no Big Bang!

By Sinistarrett

8 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 12 posts
  • 6 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 5 years ago by rkahr
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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#1 8 years ago

When I have the Big Bang active in PZ, after locking one ball and having Big Bang lit, when I shoot the 2nd ball up the ramp (which should award the Big Bang jackpot) it does not register the second ball. Nothing happens until the machine does a ball search and pops both balls out. It looks as though I'll have to remove the playfield to access the mechanism to see what's going on but beforehand I thought I'd see if any PZ owners had this problem and how you remedied it. I imagine there is another switch in there that is not being activated by the second ball but I can't find any diagrams. Hoping when I get back from work tonite one of you guys will have some info about the problem. Thanks!

#2 8 years ago

Can you run a switch test to see if the switch is registering? Could be as simple as a missing switch diode, dirty switch contact, or broken wire from the switch.

#3 8 years ago

Definitely just the switch in the back. The good news is it costs next to nothing...... The bad news is it's a total pain to get to as its on the back side of the backboard

#4 8 years ago

Good thinking on the switch test, don't know why I didn't even think about that. Just got home and going to check it out, looks like a total pain to access all right. Man was I bummed when I finally got the Big Bang last night and it didn't register.....

2 years later
#5 5 years ago
Quoted from Sinistarrett:

When I have the Big Bang active in PZ, after locking one ball and having Big Bang lit, when I shoot the 2nd ball up the ramp (which should award the Big Bang jackpot) it does not register the second ball. Nothing happens until the machine does a ball search and pops both balls out. It looks as though I'll have to remove the playfield to access the mechanism to see what's going on but beforehand I thought I'd see if any PZ owners had this problem and how you remedied it. I imagine there is another switch in there that is not being activated by the second ball but I can't find any diagrams. Hoping when I get back from work tonite one of you guys will have some info about the problem. Thanks!

Piggybacking on this old thread because I'm seeing the exact same behavior. Both the ramp switch and the kicker switch register reliably when a ball is rolled up the ramp. Anyone know if it is enough for the switch on the ramp to trigger and release or does the second ball need to hold that switch in for the software to award the Big Bang?

I'm hypothesizing the arm on my ramp switch needs to be longer so it remains engaged until the ball falls into the kicker. Right now the second ball triggers and then releases the second switch... and then we wait for ball search to kick one out. While in this state I lifted the playfield enough to get a pinky into the mechanism and was able to trigger the award by jiggling the two balls, but it's very awkward position so it's not 100% clear what I did to actually trigger it.

Thoughts/knowledge/suggestions welcomed.

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or for my replacement LED display boards for model H & model S Skee Ball

#6 5 years ago

Check both switches on the ramp, the one behind the back board needed to be replaced on me. You need to lock one ball in order to complete the big bang.

#7 5 years ago

Its a lot easier to pull the playfield out and lean it against the cabinet. The wiring harness is long enough to do that and then its way easier to access that switch. I replaced the switch and it worked like a champ after that.

#8 5 years ago
Quoted from Sinistarrett:

Its a lot easier to pull the playfield out and lean it against the cabinet. The wiring harness is long enough to do that and then its way easier to access that switch. I replaced the switch and it worked like a champ after that.

Yea, this is the right way to work on it, but with the playfield 90 degrees out of skew from the gameplay angle you can't see how the mechanism actually performs with balls while the playfield is out... gravity is pulling in the wrong direction. Every time I've pulled it out I worry about breaking one of the ramps so it's stressful too. I appreciate the responses as it confirms that I really just need to work on keeping that second switch engaged while a second ball is back there.

Thanks!

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or for my replacement LED display boards for model H & model S Skee Ball

#9 5 years ago

You can flip the head down and replace that switch threw the neck hole if you have good dexterity.

#10 5 years ago
Quoted from gmkalos:

You can flip the head down and replace that switch threw the neck hole if you have good dexterity.

That's how I did it. Still a pain in the ass.

#11 5 years ago
Quoted from gmkalos:

You can flip the head down and replace that switch threw the neck hole if you have good dexterity.

Awesome advise - Thanks gmkalos ! I bought a switch with a longer trigger arm up at Pintastic but I haven't been able to locate it in my luggage yet... hope it really made the trip home.

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or for my replacement LED display boards for model H & model S Skee Ball

2 weeks later
#12 5 years ago
Quoted from rkahr:

Awesome advise - Thanks gmkalos ! I bought a switch with a longer trigger arm up at Pintastic but I haven't been able to locate it in my luggage yet... hope it really made the trip home.

Just in case anyone was waiting in suspense I figured I should report out. It took about 4 days but I found the stupid switch I bought at Pintastic. I followed gmkalos advise to attack from the back with the head down. As crujones4life says, it is still a PITA, tight space to work. I found I did better standing on a stool behind the game so that just my wrists were entering the hole.

I went through a LOT of adjusting to get the switch where it would trigger - and stay triggered - when the second ball came up the ramp, but also would allow the ball to slide past the switch when the first ball was kicked out. In my machine the kickout of the first ball would push the second ball back up the rear ramp just slightly so that it would have nearly zero momentum. This made it easy for the ball to get trapped by the arm of the switch. Of course, every time you think you have it you have to flip the head back up and try it. I got tired of that quickly.

So another tip that really helped speed things along was alligator clipping my multimeter across the switch and putting it in signal continuity mode. This let me do a lot of testing of each adjustment without flipping the head back up. Tonight, after nearly three weeks of regularly futzing with it whenever I had a moment, I finally got it working reliably.

I've been working through all of my games to get them into the best playing shape I can because I'm expecting to host house league this fall. Glad to say all the deferred maintenance on my PZ is now corrected.

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or for my replacement LED display boards for model H & model S Skee Ball

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