I'm looking for some help with a single player Gottlieb Batter Up machine. I have searched the forums, watched YouTube videos until 2 am for weeks and read through the Pinrepair.com documents on EM repair until my eyes hurt. I have stared at my machine for hours and looked at the schematic until my head hurts and have yet to find my problem.

The issue is as follows;
The machine starts and resets properly and plays fine. The problem is twofold and I think related to each other. The 100 and 1000 score reels both move at the same time and when the hundreds reel gets to 9 all scoring stops. For example, if I manually trigger a 100 point score the reels register 1100. If I hit it 500 it registers 5500. Then when the 100's reel gets to 9 all scoring stops and there is a hum. The hum appears to be coming from both the 100 and 1000 score reel coils which both are showing 26v across the coils when the scoring stops.

I have cleaned and checked the alignment and spacing on all of the switches on the scoring relays and don't see an issue with any of them and I have cleaned and checked the switches on the scoring reels paying close attention to the 9th position switches on the 100 and 1000 reels.

What might I be missing? Am I correct in assuming that the problem is somewhere on the back board or could it be something under the play field?

Doug

Howard,
I have carefully looked at the 9th position switches on all 3 score reels that have one and at least when the game is powered off and I advance the reels manually they are not closed until the reels get to 9. Once the reel moves to 0 again it opens. Now it's possible that they only appear to be open and in fact are making contact somehow. That was my first thought but even though they are very close, they appear to be open to me.

Mark,
The 1000s score reel does not advance when I manually fire the 100pt relay.

Both the 100 and 1000pt relays are pulled in and showing 26v when the scoring stops and the humming starts. If I manually pull the 100pt relay down the humming stops and everything releases. If I pull the 1000pt relay down it just pulls back in when I release it and the humming continues.

Yes, the game used to work without the hum and score stopping. I can't say for certain that the scoring was correct in regards to both reels advancing though. I did not disassemble the score reels, I merely carefully slid a folded piece of 400 grit emory cloth between the contacts and worked it back and forth a few times and this problem existed long before I touched anything on it. I have a mechanical background and am very careful with things like this. I have examined the switches closely and they all appear to be intact and aligned as they should be. The zero and 9th position switches appear to be where they should be when they should be. I watched your video and my switches seem to be moving into the same positions yours are.

It's getting late here and I'm heading out of town early tomorrow. I'll have a look at it on Sunday when I get back and report back then. Thank you very much for your help so far.

Doug

Yes, both relays fire simultaneously. If I manually trigger a 3000pt target, both relays are firing at the same time.

And now this is odd. I was trying to figure out a way to use my phone to take some video of the switches on the 100's reel and had the reel slid out a bit and now it is not getting stuck on "9". It has also stopped scoring both the 100's and 1000's at the same time. Both relays are no longer firing at the same time. However, the 100's reel is now having trouble resetting to "0" which it has not done before. If I shake the score reel cage a bit it completes the reset.

Another thing I just noticed is that the 100's reel is not advancing the correct number of points when it gets up to around 7 and above.

Well after carefully disassembling , cleaning and reassembling the 100s score reel everything seems to be working correctly. The reel resets as it should, no more simultaneous scoring with the 1000s reel and no more stuck scoring and humming. I'm not sure exactly what fixed the original issues but I'll take the victory anyway I can get it. This machine hasn't worked properly for several years and now it has new life.

Thank You very much Mark. I really appreciate the help and I have learned more about this machine than I knew before thanks to you. Hopefully the original problem doesn't come back but at least now I know where to begin looking.

Doug