Playing my Bride of Pinbot today I noticed a small shock when touching the lock bar. The game has a new, intact, grounded power cable going to a properly wired outlet.

When I connected my multimeter to the side rail and one of the play field ramps, it measured around 300-900mV.

Nothing looks out of place inside the box where the power cable is wired in.

I’m new at this, so at this point I’m not sure how I should be trying to isolate and troubleshoot this. Any pointers?

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Should I be using the meter in AC or DC?

Had it in DC earlier, guessing AC because that shows a much higher value. Here I’m grounded to the leg of an adjacent machine.

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Cable connected back to the power box on both spots. I have continuity from the lock bar to every other spot on the ground braid I tested from cabinet as well as backbox.

Ok, found an issue here. The ground pin on the cord is loose. It is only giving continuity when I wiggle/smush it into the connector.

Do I just need to replace that connector and I’m set or is there another issue to run down even after I fix the ground pin on the connector?

Hot to hot and neutral to neutral have continuity.

I’m still learning how to solder and the cord is in good shape other than the lose ground plug. I think I’m going to try replacing just the plug.

At this point I can reliably break continuity between the ground braid and the wall plug with just a little movement on the plug side.

Thank you all for your help. I’ll get new plug hardware tomorrow and post an update after I have a go at it.

Just read through the thread about replacing cords and plugs and saw this:

“You're getting current where it doesn't belong. A properly grounded game will dissipate that current safely but doesn't address the source of the problem.”

Once I repair the ground how do I figure out the source of the voltage?

New cable end, no voltage to the lock bar now. Pretty happy about this. Now I can spend the rest of the weekend toning down the LEDs on these games. Thank you all again.

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Understood, but I’m not sure how to find the fault. Because it’s AC, wouldn’t the issue have to be within the box before the current is delivered to the transformer?

Am I correct in thinking I can’t measure the magnitude or presence of the issue unless the ground to the wall outlet is severed again?

I appreciate all the perspective and I'm not sure what I'm going to do next on this, but at the least I'll try to understand the AC pathways in the game and inspect them. I suspect the current leaking was less than a fatal amount because as far as I can tell I'm still alive. It was also barely noticeable as I purchased this game recently and have been playing it unawares for three weeks.

I hate dropping a band aid on things and calling it good because that always seems to come back to bite you.

I hate not getting to the bottom of an issue, so a few updates.

Using a 3->2 wall adapter on the BOP that removes the ground, the 60V AC is present again (measuring across BOP lockbar to grounded leg of Pinbot) with BOP off. The current reading in that state is 0.57mA AC.

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I was inspired to the idea by seeing the plug sitting in my box of electrical things as I was coming up with far worse ideas.

Part is a Corcom 5VK1.

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While I’m here looking, the wire (orange) connecting from the fuse to the filter is not soldered well to the terminal. It’s braided wire and a few of the strands aren’t soldered in and are loose. Hard to see with a picture though.

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Indeed, I’ve learned a lot here and thanks to all of you. I think I’ve got the not fully jointed wire fixed as well, but it’s clear I’m awful at solder. Is soldering a “watch videos on YouTube and practice” sort of learning exercise?

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