Hello all. First time poster but TWENTY FIVE YEAR Raven owner! (Does that make me like president of this thread or anything?!)

I love the challenge, the 80’s-ness, and the relative simplicity without being boring of this machine. I got it when I was 12 or so and don’t really have any plans to get rid of it.

It has needed some boards and minor other work over the years, but lately it has been in great shape and performing awesome.

Right now, I have one question related to the only main thing I really notice is “wrong” with it. My snipers all pop up at the start of the game and then go down, as they are supposed to. However, the one in the back, up under the ramp, kills himself instantly after he is activated. While this is nice for getting points and progressing towards the extra ball, it isn’t exactly right.

I’ve looked under the playing field and the mechanics of the snipers looks fairly intimidating. Does this sound like a pretty clear cut issue, with my sniper not staying up until he’s actually hit? I wonder if it more of a physical adjustment kind of thing rather than an electrical problem. If I understand how they work correctly, it is a little plastic “lip” that rests on a catch, and when the ball hits the sniper, it pushes it back enough to release that lip off the ledge and it retracts back down.

Thanks

That’s funny. And what an absolute steal for a working (and improved) Raven!

Could be more of a system 80b post but since it’s my raven I’ll put it here. Had random and increasingly frequent resets and crazy sounds and display going blank. Unplugged the reset board and that seemed to cure it. I searched for a new reset board and couldn’t find one anywhere, so I ended up ordering all new capacitors. There were 5 of them of different sizes and shapes. Anyway, after that, the game failed and reset a couple of times after I fired it up, but then after that it has been perfect!

Was fun putting more time on the machine since the risk of reset is resolved, and even managed to post my highest two scores in the 28 years I’ve owned it! 2.15M which I think is decent.

Maybe my tilt angle is a bit different or something, but I very rarely get a drain on weak ramp shot that comes back down (unlike black knight’s center ramp lol). I love that ramp shot because a) it’s hard to achieve it (at least with the power my flippers have, which seems like plenty for the rest of the game so it might just be the way it is) and b) it’s crazy to have to bump the machine to get the Y of the ramp to send the ball to the bonus lit side

My high score games, I’ve hit the ramp 4-5 times and really gotten that bonus X up there (think I had it at 8 or something, between the ramp shots and completing the three rollovers a few times)

it’s true. Can’t wait to get my MPU back. Sent it out for repair a while ago so hopefully on it’s way back sometime soon. Miss playing it, and it’s nestled between AC⚡️DC and BKSOR.

Welcome back!

I’m excited to get Raven back as well...had my same machine for 30 years now but the MPU was causing resets so I sent it out for repairs a few months ago and it is fixed and on its way back! Will be like a whole new game again.

If anyone needs any other pics, I have mine open for the time being and can provide them easily.

This spring, my Ravens random resetting got to the point where it was almost unplayable. Progressively worse problem that has been on the machine since 2000. Had various techs reflow solder, “clean” connections, etc. I did the big ground mod in the base of the cabinet. In 2017 I had a new old stock used MPU put in. Still, the problem persisted.

Had the MPU fixed all up over the past couple of months by a real expert, Chris Hibler. Can’t say enough about the quality of the work that I noticed on the board. Amazing. He found that the “crystals” on the board were bad after sifting through lots of other potential issues. Replaced with NVRAM and bypassed the reset board and did some other nice touch ups that are technically way beyond me, while he was at it.

The game booted slowly and oddly a few times with the new board. Sometimes would take 20 seconds for the scoreboard to come on. Checked the voltage and it was at 5.3 (pot was maxed out), so I turned it down to 4.99. Seemed to boot better after that. Not sure if that original power board is reliable and stable, just yet.

Played about 10 games on it yesterday and remembered what fun Raven is. Unfortunately, the fun was short lived, and with 550,000 going on ball 1, it locked up (not reset) and that was that. The left plastic ramp hole light (the big bright bulb) went full solid bright, the knocker sound hit, and all scoring stopped. I could operate the flippers but nothing registered.

After that, when I turned it off and back on, the game boots fine and starts a game, but then repeats the first two notes of the (oh so catchy) music, and doesn’t launch the ball to the shooter lane.

Here’s where I am now:

- the fuse F9 blew (1a slow burn). This is likely the cause of the ball sitting in the drain trough and not getting kicked to the shooter lane, since that is the purpose of the F9 fuse. “Hopefully” it’s also the cause of the music stuttering, but I’m scared about that. The question begs, WHY did this fuse blow after umpteen years, just after getting it all cleaned up with a nice solid board, and is the music messing up related somehow?

- while I was under there looking for the fuse issue, I found two other “issues”

- found a broken/wire separated diode on the left sling. Saw the one side of the wire wasn’t going into the little black diode. Probably not great, but did that cause the F9 fuse blow all of the sudden? I highly doubt it just broke last night, and has probably been bad for years. Anyway, new diodes on order and I’ll fix that up.

- my rear sniper (under the ramp) has been wonky for years. He never descends when the game starts like the other 3 do. He also “kills himself” when he is the chosen sniper target. At that point, he DOES drop.

In case my fuse issue was something coil related, I figured it was time to really dig in on that sniper assembly. Measured the resistance on the coil and it seemed fine. Measured 9.2-9.4. (Oddly, all of the coils including this one bounce all around to huge numbers rapidly and sometimes finally settle at 9.2. I measure with the machine off. That makes zero sense to me).

I then noticed that when the game powers on, all the snipers pop up, but then the coils release the mechanisms below the table, and are “resting” down. Well, that rear coil didn’t fully drop the mechanism and I saw it was stuck 50% down. If I smacked the coil or the metal assembly, it quickly dropped down.

Opened up the coil and cleaned out the sleeve and put fresh graphite powder all in there. Now it works perfectly. Easy fix I should have checked out years ago!

Anyway, I sort of doubt that was a “coil issue” drawing current...I think the coil operated correctly but the piston was just getting stuck in the sleeve when the coil released, and didn’t let the sniper descend until the coil activated again (ie when he got “hit”, and it would jolt it enough to then drop down.)

So, I’m awaiting a box of 1a slow burn fuse and the 1N4004 diode and I’m curious what will happen then.

Scared of something ominous that blew this fuse, and the music glitching has me really worried.

Why do people wrap fuses in foil? Is it because current wasn’t flowing? Or to bypass them so they don’t blow?

My pack of 1a slo-burns arrived today so I’ll replace my freshly blown fuse F9.

As it is now, the ball sits in the drain and won’t kick to the shooter lane. Also the music just repeats the first two notes. I’m scared of the underlying cause. Never had a fuse blow or this music issue (hope the music is because the machine can’t “move on” and kick the ball out), after having spent a bunch to have the MPU fixed and bullet proofed.

I do have that one trashed diode on the left sling. Going to try and solder in a fresh one.

Third thing will be putting a fresh new power board (the kind locked in at 5v), more just to eliminate the potential for the old pot style to get wonky.

I’ll do all that then then fire it up and pray. Ugh. I just want it working again.

Well, the new power board has me booting nicely. Diode and fuse replaced and all is right with the world. One finicky sniper I can’t figure out (just put a post in General Tech)

ONE EASY QUESTION for you guys. What the heck is Special worth??! I finally got a manual and see that switch 22 changes Special between “special” and “extra ball”. Well, when I put the switch to extra ball, it gives me an extra ball. But when I put it to Special, all it does is do the fancy show but give 10k points just like any normal upper target hit. Does anyone get a better Special points reward somehow, or what is the point of it then? Frankly I think the extra ball is probably a more fun reward but just curious.

Thank you for both answers!

The manual is tricky...one dip switch setting implies you have a choice between “special” and “extra ball” (22) and another switch farther down implies the choice of “credit” or “extra ball”, if memory serves me. From your explanation, it seems like the only real choice for special is credit or extra ball. I kept looking for a points based special reward, like 100k at least, but I guess not! Makes sense to set it to extra ball then! And oh MAN is that rockin’ when it plays God Bless America!

Thank you for the info on the pancake coils. After some investigating, I also learned how they operate like you explained.

As it sits now, something isn’t right with the topmost guy. He pops up correctly now in Attract, but the pancake doesn’t fire to drop him when you start a game. I’ve taken it out and physically watched it, and it doesn’t fire.

What’s odd to me is that the coil tests that it has voltage across it at all times. I tested a working one and it does not. But that logically seems backwards to me. If it’s getting voltage, wouldn’t it be firing all the time and kick the sniper down non-stop!?

Anyway, I ordered a new pancake coil to see if that helps. Also ordered a pack of transistors since 3 of them on the driver board are what control the snipers. (Hopefully I can somehow figure out which one exactly goes to that top sniper!). If it isn’t the coil or the transistor, I’m out of ideas.

SO close to having my Raven 100% for the first time since I bought it 30 years ago!0

Thanks. This was my first thought. Mainly because I had the positioning problem going on, too, complicating a diagnosis. Mine was too far “back” so he wouldn’t catch all the time when going up. So the big coil would fire the sniper up but the bang and vibration would nudge it enough to move it off the 0.0001” that it caught the play field by, dropping him back down. Now that I fixed that, I have the problem where he won’t drop.

Why do I think it’s not an issue of me adjusting him TOO far toward?
1) with very little finger pressure or testing with a ball at low speeds, he drops
2) I’ve taken the pancake coil out of the housing and watched it at game startup. It doesn’t move.
3) that pancake coil is getting voltage across the two terminals all the time, whereas the working ones do not. This logically seems backwards to me, but maybe it is a sign the coil is bad.

Should be quick enough to solder on the new $12 one that’s on its way, and see!

Yeah, I have them on order too. Visually the transistor looks fine. I can’t figure out how to reliably test it with my DMM either. Weird readings on all the little transistors. Not looking forward to soldering those little legs on the board. I’ll give the coil a shot first!

Can I ask for a picture from a fellow Raven owner?

Could I get a picture of the large coil on the top left sniper?

My question is, all 3 other large coils for snipers have TWO wires coming off one lead and one odd the other lead. This top left sniper only has ONE wire on each lead.

The extra wire is coming off the smaller pancake coil (the pancake has two wires off of one of its leads and one off the other....this is also opposite of the other 3 snipers).

I’m thinking it doesn’t matter, but since is my sniper that’s acting up, I’d like to confirm. According to the manual schematics, they are all 4 wired the same way.

Here is mine.

CFE4F9E0-6BD2-49BB-B3D8-071F96E268B8 (resized).jpeg

Thanks so much! Crazy how they get dirty like that on their own. My fingers were black just messing around with the wires to get some pictures!

So, for electrical reasons beyond me, it seems our Ravens are wired the same. One wire on each post of the large coil, and then looks like in your pancake coil, you have the two identical colored wires coming out near each other and the other color wire coming separately from that. Strange how on the other 3 snipers it's the opposite where three wires are on the big coil and only two on the pancakes.

The pancake coil arrives today so I may have some news tonight.

Unfortunately, I was too amateur at reading the schematics in the manual and misread a post here on Pinside, and ordered the tiny MPSA13 NPN transistors (i.e. for Q5-Q12 on the driver board). After further studying, I'm changing my mind and I think the transistor for this top left sniper (L12 is the light acting as trip coil driver) is actually Q13, which is a larger (and 15x more $!) MPSU45 type transistor.

Would you guys agree that I need to target transistor Q13 if the new coil doesn't do the trick?

I have pics of the schematic I'm referring to if anyone wants to see. I wasn't sure of the rules on here of posting something like that, and if it's frowned upon because it's part of the manual

FIXED! It was the pancake coil that was shot. I guess that also explained the voltage registering through it with the game on. Now with the new coil no voltage gets through post to post.

THRILLED to have this game all 100% working for the first time in 30 years. Of course I probably just jinxed it.

I am only confused about one thing now, regarding getting a Special award. Looking at the manual, there are two dip switch settings that interact somehow and don’t seem to make logical sense to me.

Switch 22 says it controls Playfield Special, however, whether I switch it to On (extra ball), or Off (special), or awards me an extra ball IF switch 29 is set to On (Extra Ball). Also, the song that plays whether 22 is set to On or Off is the same Extra Ball song.

So, what is the point of switch 22?

When changing switch 29 to Off (Replay), then when I get a Special it not only rewards me a credit instead of an extra ball, but it rocks out to God Bless America instead.

Basically, I can’t see what 22 does and 29 seems to control what 22 says it does.

I wish I could have the combo of God Bless America and the Extra ball! Lol

Maybe see if PBR can help?

Decided to fire up the old girl before bed and had a WILD game. Hit no less than 14+ snipers, 1 special, 6 ramp shots. One of those games where two balls even flew down the middle and popped back up because they weren’t done lol.

Anyway, doubled my all time previous personal high, and my new high in 32 years of having the game. Looks like my score is #2 on Pinside, and #1 is a bit...interesting, anyway.

It’s a shame you can’t stack extra balls or I would have had about 5 lined up. But, it can only “hold” one at a time.

Got 8x for my bonus multiplier.
C2E667B0-CCD8-4B5D-8FC5-AA4644D951BF (resized).jpeg

Very cool. Friend and I were going to ask you about this at Pinfest but you were tied up talking to others. Thanks for making a Raven ramp. My OEM one is holding up great, but glad to know there is an option.

Yep, cloudy and also I’ll say that with well built flippers and some Titan rubber on them, the ball will fly fast off of the triple target banks and crack back up at (and up onto) the ramp. Always makes me nervous.

How about a green, tan and brown transparent cammo ramp!?

Sucked it up and did the not so fun job of redoing all my target faces to the proper original ones. Over the years (before I bought it in 1993) it had numerous replacements and a hodgepodge of target faces.

I had two original reds up in the top 4 with one still in great shape, and one yellow on the lower 6 that wasn’t worth keeping.

Got them dialed in and backing foam added.

Here we go:
D2924A70-88D1-4EA9-94FB-A7736F2E3B6C (resized).jpeg

That’s not correct in how it worked on yours.

It’s super tough from cradle. Really needs the momentum coming down the inlane