I'm new to the pinball repair game and have recently picked up my first machine, a Gottlieb Solar Ride. It's in decent shape cosmetically by my assessment although it's not in working order.

I've been using pinrepair.com to pretty good success in terms of understanding exactly what it is I'm looking at but I'm still a total newbie when it come to diagnosis.

When I turn on the machine, some playfield lights come on but that's about it. I'm not getting any voltage to the power supply and have found that the 1a fuse behind the smaller transformer is blowing which I assume is the cause.

I've recently purchased some new bridge rectifiers (400v 35a according to pinrepair) which I plan to install today as one was out of tolerance although I'm not sure that's the problem and don't want to blindly begin replacing things past that!

Any help would be great appreciated.

Thanks,

John

Great, thank you so much for the reply. Replacing the bridges tonight and will post my results.

Well, I replaced one bridge and it wasn't until afterward I realized it's only blowing the fuse with the power supply connected. Could I just need to do the ground mod? Any tips on where to begin diagnosing why it surges? I've read they have a fail-safe built in that can cause this to happen, I'm just not sure on how to find the culprit.

Thanks again,

John

Thank you, coz. I truly appreciate the push in the right direction here!

With the power supply disconnected, the fuse doesn't blow. If I connect the ps without anything connected to it, the fuse blows after about 2 seconds.

All voltages check out at the connector. I'll go ahead and order the rebuild kit and post back once that is complete. Thank you all for your help!

Wow, again, thank you all for the excellent replies.

I've updated my location. I've been ordering parts from mouser as I can't seem to find any place nearby to pick up electrical components. If you know of a place within 30 minutes of me that would be awesome!

It does look like perhaps the mica paper is missing but haven't fully verified that yet. I've gone ahead and ordered a rebuild kit from Big Daddy as it appears some work had already been done to the ps and I'd like to ensure everything is solid before proceeding.

On the schematics, where are those coming from? I have a blue book on Gottlieb systems that came with the machine as well as the original manual. I assume those will be invaluable but again, I'm very new to this, including working on electronics in general. The last thing I want to do is butcher this machine so definitely feel free to give me any pointers! I've been relying on pinrepair and pinwiki to keep my on the straight and narrow.