Random question. My DMD is starting to go. Takes time to warm up. The bottom row and top row are barely visible. While I like the color DMD's I'm also partial to originality or what I call the designers intent or capabilities within budget. I guess I could get a color DMD and set it to orange? They are cheaper than new/old DMD's. Thoughts?

The colours are programmed for the game in the ROM you download from ColorDMD. You can't set the colours as far as I know.

They are very much more than a standard DMD, new or used, by a factor of 2.

Used original DMDs in good condition are relatively inexpensive. Many people have pulled them from their games in order to replace them with color displays.

I forgot what the setting is called, but the factory choice is "East to West". Change it to "Random"

Awesome!
Thanks for the info.
Since I didn’t install it, our power went out recently and was having some issues, so reset to factory, and I didn’t know.
In menu A.2 27 is random cities
A.2 28 is how many cities until west coast released

The factory ROM that ships with the ColorDMD allows custom selection of any single color. For multicolor operation you need to download and install a game-specific color ROM from our site.

In fact, new plasma DMDs (if you can find one) are selling quite a bit higher than the cost of a ColorDMD.
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/DMD32

Been noticing incessant clicking noises when Red and Ted move their eyes. They seem to function as normal but this is a new sound. Any thoughts on what could be causing it?

Like multiple clicks per eye turn or just once per turn? You might hear a click when they turn from the metal rod being pulled into the solenoid and hitting the stop.

Try glass off and do eye test to narrow it down.

What’s the best way to loosen the one way gate on the shooter lane? Most of the time when the ball is plunged, the gate sticks in the up position until a pop bumper is activated. This is of course annoying as an attempt at a soft plunge skill shot instead of going to the flipper will just roll back to the shooter again.

Does it need to be cleaned? I would take it off and inspect it.

First time working on a idc connector. I've read suggestions elsewhere saying just yank out the wires with pliers and others saying use a designed hook. Oh, its the connector for the road detour circle of lights. And no luck finding the hook.

Hey folks, first time posting here. A couple questions if someone is willing to assist or point me in the right direction. I'm going through a RS that was part of a container buy from Italy a number of years ago (2016).

First, none of my flashers are working. To boot, a lot of the eye functions aren't working. In digging through the forum I've seen that flashers go through J107, and as I understand from the from the solenoid/flasher table, many of the eye functions are also going through J107 too? Is my assumption that these issues are connected correct? No obvious issues with the J107 connector on the power driver board. Suggestions on how to diagnose?

Second, can anyone tell me what the parts go to that are pictured below? They were just sitting in the bottom of the cabinet.

Last, the blade can go up and down in tests and will go up and down during game play, but when multiball starts it won't raise up. If I manually trip other switches in the game (side targets by radio) it will cue the blade to raise with no problem. When it goes back down it will often struggle to go back up, raising by millimeters. Any thoughts?

Thank you to anyone who's willing to offer a little help!

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I’m a half step above a beginner, but my suggestion is repin the J107 to eliminate that as an issue. It’s simple and quick. I just started repinning a few months ago and it cleaned up tons of electrical issues.

First, check out pinwiki.com. Great resource.

I'd start with a simple thing... verify TP 5 Led is on. If not, check fuse F111. This is the flasher circuit.
If all of this is good, verifying J107 looks good is another step.

Definitely check fuse F111. If its blown and a replacement fuse blows immediately you might have a bad bridge rectifier (BR4). You can check BR4 without removing the power board with a multimeter. Start with the fuse and let us know.

The switches are from the coin door, they register the quarter drops, not really needed for home use. The clear thing is a broken chunk of nothing.

Side advice... Based on your obvious lack of pinball repair expertise, i'd suggest bringing in an expert to help you get your major issues sorted.

Answer found. I am a

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I failed to state in my post that I had already checked F111. Fuse is totally fine, so I'm guessing not BR4. Thank you for the reply.

TP 5 LED is on and fuse is good. Might be J107. Thanks for pitching in. Pinwicki is indeed a great resource.

Really appreciate you offering up advice. I've repinned before and might be time to do it again if J107 turns out to be bad. Cheers.

I've never had to mess with any of the coin mechs/coin doors of my machines, so didn't recognize the parts. As for the chunk of plastic, I shrugged and thought it couldn't hurt to include it. Extra points for you.

Thanks for your concern to either me or my machines well being. Yes, I'm relatively new to working on pins. I've gone through 3 of the 5 I own and rebuilt flippers and other lower playfield parts to success. Redone some connectors and pins. No significant board work, though. While I think it's important to be able to diagnose issues (still learning, obviously, and that's partially what this site is for), it may well be that I choose not to work on them. We'll see.

In case anyone has not installed a ColorDMD on Roadshow and would like to read about the process (with lots of pictures), I added a bunch to my site. I might be in the minority, but sometimes I'd just rather see the text and pictures rather than someone doing a video.

https://aaarpinball.com/RoadShow/RoadShow.htm

... Altan

Just ordered one of LED versions for my RS. Arrives on Thursday. Perfect timing!

Thank you!

Just got a Roadshow into my shop for repairs. Straight out of a crate from France. Yay.

I changed the power jumpers to USA style, swapped out the crusted battery board for a new one, looked over all the coils and fuses, and gave it a good shop vac. To my surprise, the machine boots. French. Haha. Changed the dip switches to USA and powered up again. Everything seems fine. Missing a mini post next to the Dozer, and Ted isnt registering dozer hits so I'll take a look at the eddy boards today.

Biggest annoyance Im having right now is the coin door buttons. The left black (escape) button isnt working. So I can get into tests but I can't back out without power cycling. Anyone have any tips to help get this button working again?

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Take a picture underneath those buttons of the wires. One is likely broken or in wrong place if only one button isn’t working

From what I can tell here everything is wired as it should be.

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Then you have probably a broken wire, bad contact on the coin door pcb or a bit of the battery corrosion dropped onto the CPU connectors of this particular switch.

The contacts within the switch can be corroded as well. Luckily these switches are easily serviceable yourself. Desolder the switch from the wires, and carefully pry it open. Watch out for the tiny springs and metal pads that will pop out! Then clean out the switch, give the small pads a quick scuff, and reassemble.

Pinball life sells switches with bracket and new decal. Or at least they used to. I replaced one a while back.

I will try shorting the wires together and see if this is actually the switch malfunctioning.

Lamp matrix problem
Pages 2-44,45 of the manual. my lamps 41-48 are out Yellow/black wire seems to be the problem.
I changed the idc connector.
Is there any trick i can do to test the header pin and idc? Problem with the board?
Any help for a noob apprieciated.

If you're sure the wire is not broken anywhere, and you've checked for continuity etc... you probably need to replace transistor Q95 on the P/D board.

Potentially a cracked header pin at the connector as well?

Shorting the switch lugs worked. So I decided to drip some rubbing alcohol down inside the switch where the spring is and actuate the button over and over. This method cleaned something down inside without having to tear it apart. It isnt perfect but its working about 9/10 presses now.

Or just buy a new switch and no more hassle...

I’m in need of a translite for this game - does anyone have one available? Used is fine

Xianek makes new ones: https://xianek.eu/?l=en

What is the quality like? Do you have one in a machine to compare at all? Repro translites can be more miss than hit from my experience

Well I can tell you do not buy anything from classic arcades on EBay. I got a translite from them, it looked liked shit. Just a blurry copy. The white was missing. Colors off. They only gave partial refund. I had to plead with eBay to get my money back. Bad experience!

I think ainek can not be any worse than classic arcades. I just ordered a translite from this person. Looks like reputation is good.

If you take a chance on it let us know the quality - I’ve been looking a while can’t find anything worth while

Red’s eyelids won’t open, seems like it’s trying. Can anyone kindly refer me to a link which can help detail opening the head and repairs?
Better Red than Ted!

Issue seems here…..
Advice please.

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The mini solenoid is going up and down with the face off, but not working with the face on.

Are you using screws that are too long? The face cover shouldn’t touch any moving parts

Thanks so much for the reply.
It’s been working great for six months, about 40 games a week. It seems like something is sticking. I moved the eyelids left to right and pushing to the right they move smoothly and to the left a bit sticky. Are these correctly positioned? The slight space on the left.

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That itty bitty white plastic on the left is broken.

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You really don’t need the white plastic. If it’s causing a hang up, remove the one

I was able to manipulate the eyelids and replace the face, and it’s working fine FOR NOW. But what’s the issue? That spring on top the solenoid (I doubt). Seems more like the plastics are getting hung up. Drops of mechanic oil? Not sure……