Bridge rectifier?

Check seating of all ribbon cables including the short one that runs from the MPU to the power driver board.

Fuses typically don't blow without a reason. Grab the manual, find out what the fuse was protecting, could be a clue as to what's wrong.

I believe the Color DMD draws LESS power than a stock DMD.

FAR less

Have you tried to contact ColorDMD, they are usually very helpful and have most likely seen this if it was caused by the color DMD install.

Well they already showed up in this thread so...

You lost your regulated 12V. Could be bridge BR1, could be regulator Q2. Do you have 18V at TP8?

In earlier games (Shadow is newer than a lot of games I've seen this in, but maybe its time has come) C2 leaks and destroys traces at C2 and Q2.

Any other WPC driver (not WPC95) will work fine for testing. There's a chance you'll do the same to a different board depending on cause, but I'm betting you'll be OK.

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

Yeah, propbably what Borygard says. The colorDMD maybe draws less power than the plasma DMD, but the plasma has its very own PSU with high voltage, while the color dmd draws off the 12V regulated PSU. If the bridge rectifiers and capacitor of this 12V rail where already on the end of their lives, the color dmd can push these components over the edge. The fuse blowing was the first hint.

This causes all manner of things to stop working, mainly opto's, motors, and I believe flashers as well.

Nah, you mean un-regulated, that is LED7, F116 and Br.5

I was trying to help, thanks for your input...VERY informative

zaza got it.
Change the fuse and see if it blows out again.

Right you are, just looked at the print for mine in my sttng, id say your 12vdc is NG like everyone else!

The most likely problem at the moment is that F116 is blown again. Are you sure you tested it correctly? It needs to be removed from the game to test it with a DMM. Don't try to test it while in the circuit.

The ColorDMD will not normally blow F116 unless
(1) There are too many mods (ex. lighted toppers) connected to the unregulated 12V supply, or
(2) The ColorDMD power cable is inserted incorrectly (upside down or misaligned) such that 12V is shorted to ground

With the ColorDMD removed, try checking/replacing F116 again to see if it gets the game running. Then, if other mods are attached, try disconnecting them before connecting the ColorDMD.

We just had this exact same error message come up on our no fear. A connection was shorting out under the playfield. Trace the fuse that is actually blowing (not the ones in the error message) to its source on the playfield and unshort your short. You do not need board work, that error message is a standard one.

Obviously your LED 7 is not lit. Can you check the voltage on both sides of the fuse with power on?

Also try pushing on the wires going into the J112 to see if the LED 7 comes on. I had this issue on a WCS before that resulted in repining J112.

With your DMM, check the voltage at TP1. Red probe on TP1, black probe on ground strap, DMM set to DC Volts. If the fuse is good and TP1 is not over 13V, something failed on the unregulated 12V supply.

There are only three components that make up the supply. A bridge, a cap, a fuse, and the traces between them. Could be a failed component that needs to be replaced or a cold/broken solder joint.

Just bring the color dmd down here and I'll put it in my Shadow for a couple of years or so to test it.

I ran into the identical problem earlier this week when installing into my TZ. What I ended up doing was pulling the DMD Controller out of my WH20 and swapped it out. Unplugged all the ribbons and reseated. Color DMD ended up working, but still having some issues with my TZ (suddenly says my Clock is broken and when I boot up the game, all coils fire off, including ejecting a ball from the trough). Hoping one of my tech buddies will make it today to take a look. I'll report back here (and on my thread) to let you know the outcome. It might give you a better idea of what might be going on! (By the way.....really weird, because when I installed the board from TZ into my WH20, it worked fine as well).

This is where I initially posted the issues I was having. Starting at #108. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/colordmd-announces-twilight-zone/page/3#post-2979006

Then subsequently opened it's own thread as it was no longer ColorDMD related as I got it working. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/problem-with-colordmd-and-regular-dmd-on-tz

Lets not forget J112 itself, this is your AC source from the transformer, pull the connector off and take a good look at both connector and header pins to make sure they look okay.

12V power is not getting to the playfield. Check the connections for J116-J118. Make sure the playfield power connector is plugged into one of those headers or to the center connector of the ColorDMD power cable.

Very good point. I think Brian identified the same thing above but I missed the connection.

I see what you did there.

Dont under estimate the fuse holder itself, it could be loose solder on the board, ohm through the traces of the fuse holder too

This is going to come down to a connection somewhere either on the board or in the wiring. I just cant see any way that BR5 or C30 can fail without blowing F116, and we know you don't have 12VU since LED7 is out and your display is telling you the same thing.

EDIT: Actually, the fuse holder does look a little strange in the picture, it may be possible that BR5 or C30 failed initially which took out F116; then, while replacing the fuse, the fuse holder was damaged removing the source voltage from BR5, which is why the fuse no longer blows.

Yes, there could be a broken trace between C30 and BR5 or a bad connection on J112 wiring. Both of these issues I found before on different games and neither caused a blown F116 fuse.

And you still can move the CFTBL driver over to shadow today.

Bring it to me, I'm much closer!

Going back to a WCS I repaired where the F116 was blowing out, I tracked it down to the soccer ball gearbox that had a bad spot where it would be slightly hard to turn. Upon start up of the motor, it was loo much current needed for the driver board so it blew out the fuse.

So on the Shadow, what all items running on 12 volts could be causing the fuse to blow?
The battlefield plunger motor is one that comes to mind. I wonder if the power wires to this motor has bare wires shorting to that assembly.

Have you considered that Mike has anti tampering systems in place to safeguard against changes from the original? The Shadow dmd was meant to be orange to match the flash dome covers. As a friend, I'll take it off your hands to save you from this blasphemy.

It draws off the 12v unregulated not the 12v regulated.

congrats !

I'm very much thinking about buying a color DMD for the Shadow as well. Looks beautiful.

Yup. It's really nice. TS has great dots in general.