(Topic ID: 83079)

power restart mid game

By blackheart

10 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 11 posts
  • 6 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 10 years ago by boogies
  • No one calls this topic a favorite

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#1 10 years ago

I just posted my "No Fear" for sale, so naturally it is acting up. In the middle of the game, it suddenly powers of and back on. Something loose somewhere?

#2 10 years ago
Quoted from blackheart:

I just posted my "No Fear" for sale, so naturally it is acting up. In the middle of the game, it suddenly powers of and back on. Something loose somewhere?

Probably. Most likely a connector. With the power on wiggle the connectors and cables a little to see if a physical action causes the power down. If nothing found, then you'll need a DMM to do some power supply testing.

#3 10 years ago

I had that exact issue whenever I used same circuit as refrigerator. When the fridge kicls in, it would draw approx 30amps. Too low for the pin in play, and bam - it would reset. Funny thing is, the fridge is fine with multiple computers, monitors, lights, etc... I also cant run blow drier or iron - fridge really needs a dedicated circuit.

Do you have anything that is hi current draw on same circuit? IE fridge, portable heater, iron, blowdrier, etc..

#4 10 years ago

I do have a couple more games on the same circuit. To be specific, a super shuffle and a video poker machine. Who knows what else may be on it. I will unplug them and wiggle some connectors and see what gives. Thanks guys!

#5 10 years ago

My taxi used to restart all the time, even after a rebuilt power supply. I moved to a new house and it hasn't happened since. Maybe a connector or something re-seated, But I really suspect the current in the old houses lines was just a touch low.

#6 10 years ago

You still need to be fairly certain of the power supply health in your game, as a healthy power supply is much less susceptible to brownouts or poor line conditions than a weak or failing one. Also consider how healthy your line filtering components might or might not be inside the game if you suspect that power problems outside your game are causing resets. If a correlation can be made to other things on the line, such as hair dryers, refrigerators, other electrical motors or devices starting up and causing a reset it would be much more obvious. Otherwise line quality is pretty low on the list of probable causes.

Remember the bridges and other components in the power chain really accept quite a wide level on the inputs to take your roughly 117VAC all the way down to 5VDC. It's not the stability of the 117VAC that is usually the problem, its the 5VDC that is most important. If your power supply isn't keeping that clean and regulated the game is going to reset.

#7 10 years ago

This is a super common problem on all WPC games. Lucky for you, there is a very well documented guide to help you find and fix the problem. The steps are ordered based on a balance of likelihood, ease of diagnostics, ease of fix, etc. Follow the steps in order!

http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_WPC#Game_resets

Start at section 4.8 and read. You'll learn a ton. You'll find "Step 1: measure line voltage" in section 4.8.3!

#8 10 years ago

You guys are amazing. I will follow the pinwiki bible and see what gives. Thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction. I am moving soon and the environment is about to change. That will be a perfect time to thoroughly go through the unit.

Not sure I really wanted to sell this game anyhow. Maybe the Pinball Gods are telling me to keep it!

#9 10 years ago
Quoted from blackheart:

Maybe the Pinball Gods are telling me to keep it!

When it's working well, that will benefit the sale or if you keep it.

#10 10 years ago
Quoted from boogies:

I had that exact issue whenever I used same circuit as refrigerator. When the fridge kicls in, it would draw approx 30amps. Too low for the pin in play, and bam - it would reset. Funny thing is, the fridge is fine with multiple computers, monitors, lights, etc... I also cant run blow drier or iron - fridge really needs a dedicated circuit.
Do you have anything that is hi current draw on same circuit? IE fridge, portable heater, iron, blowdrier, etc..

lol are you in a one room apartment dude? How does it come to be that you have attempted fridge, pinball, iron and hair dryer all on the same circuit lol?

Anyway, this almost always is a drop in the 5v from the driver board to the CPU. I always recommend testing this first, and if not the problem, then going through the long list of possibilities.

Measure at the driver, if this is around 5v exactly, you have just crossed off 90% of the other issues. Measure the voltage at the connector for the CPU. If it's like 4.85v, you have just crossed off 99% of the other issues.

#11 10 years ago
Quoted from Atomicboy:

lol are you in a one room apartment dude? How does it come to be that you have attempted fridge, pinball, iron and hair dryer all on the same circuit lol?

Its the garage - we added a second fridge out there. I dont think there would be any problems at all if the fridge was on its own circuit. Oh well.

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