Seems like these are fairly unobtanium. The part listing at pinball life confuses me (https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-eddy-sensor-board-assembly.html) as the part number specificity doesn't match up with the TOM manual so I'm not sure if that is a replacement part for what is in my game and then it's only for the outlanes. At $38 bucks a pop I thought I'd check into any information on repairing. Seems like the pinbits auto board isn't usually in stock, although I emailed.

The left outlane board on my is flaky and hard to get adjusted and then isn't capable of sensing the ball through the playfield (but will sense it when pulled out of the playfield and held very close).

I found a few threads on repair, specifically on replacing the TDA0161DP chip which I'm capable of but unsure if any of the other components need to be replaced. I'd guess the pot probably needs to be replaced as well. Do I do this on working boards as well (assuming they will eventually need it)?

Any input or advice?

Thanks, I'll see if I can source all of those parts somewhere.

I am waiting to hear back from pinbits on the auto-eddy boards. I would definitely rather go that route.

Thanks Victor

I am going to attempt to repair. I'll pull one and grab the chip and pot and reflow the connectors as those sound like the common issues. I'll let you know if I don't get any success there.

Ah awesome, thanks! I found the chips on ebay (seemed like those were the hardest to come by) so I grabbed a few of those. I did not switch boards, I'll do that to confirm. I hate to rebuild the whole thing if most of the components are ok so I guess I'll start with the chip and go from there. Easy enough to test. Maybe I'll grab some pots (they have some on ebay) too.

Replaced the chip, LED still on 100%. Checked all solder points, nothing looks bad. Tested it on the other side of the game, same result. Waiting on the pot to be delivered so I can replace that next. I socketed the chip as well and tested a different one so pretty sure it isn't the chip.

Cool, thanks. I'll definitely hit Victor up if it ends up that I replace them.

I have the ones from Tangles in AUS in my cart (auto adjustment ones) as well, but was hoping I might be able to repair this one, even just for the fun of it. Plus I'd order 3 from Tangles if I needed just one so not so cheap and quick. It would have been much more fun but I guess I lost the smaller tip for my Hakko FR301 so it was a lot of desoldering braid to get it clean enough to solder in the socket. I probably pulled out a through hole as well but I don't think it was needed as the traces are single sided and this one was on the bottom, I think. Tip is on order along with some more drill bits as I broke the 1.3mm one, doh.

Well, not the chip and not the pot. Almost seems like at this point I should just replace all the capacitors and diodes. I was going to order 3 of the Tangles boards and call it a day but now they are out of stock.

Many thanks!! Still going to mess around with this bad one. I'm on a mission!