Tech advice for a noob for fixing electrical issues

Hi. First off, sorry if this is a redundant post. And if anyone has any pointers to similar asks in the forum, please let me know.
I have been collecting pins for a number of years, but finally have enough time to work on them beyond basics. As I am starting my troubleshooting/tech work, I am certain that I am missing tools/techniques commonly used to get things done.

My current project is fixing some lighting issues in Williams’ Indiana Jones. In the process of installing LEDs, I identified a string of GI lights (upper playfield) that aren’t working. I traced the wiring back to a jumper on the driver board, and where one of the wires goes into the connector, there is some charring, and it seems like the electrical connection is now broken. Also, the fuse for this string of lights seems intact. I am assuming there is a short somewhere in the string, and I don’t want to clean and repunch the wire, because that may blow the fuse or do worse. So a couple thoughts come to mind... If I want to drive the lights with an external voltage source, are there variable power supplies that people use to drive lights (instead of using the machine itself)? Are there “tricks” to use to trace down where the likely short in the string of lights resides? Are there toolkits that come with connectors with breakout leads so I could use alligator clips/etc.?

Once again, I feel like I am asking questions that have documented answers, or that any pinball tech could answer. Pointers would be greatly appreciated. Also, I live in the Pasadena, CA area, so if someone knows of a good tech around here that might help as well.

Thanks in advance.
-Geoff

Thanks so much for your replies. It’s an 11-pin .156 IDC connector. I probably will need a new one, or at least to swap it with another one on the board that doesn’t use the same pin that’s fried.
But I don’t really want to do that until I am sure I don’t have a short with the light string. Also not sure why the fuse didn’t blow before the connector got singed.
That pinwiki link looks like a great resource.
Thanks again.

Thanks for the additional advice everyone.

Thanks brainmegaphone!

Hi. Back with another question on this issue. I had to take a break from this issue for a few weeks, but am now back to addressing it. I bought new headers, connectors, and trifurcons. (Thanks for the advice)
So now I am busy trying to remove the old GI header from the board. I have a decent soldering iron, and I have been watching videos on YouTube, but I am having a hard time getting the header loosened to the point where it will come out easily. I don’t want to apply a lot of force, and I don’t want to leave the iron on the connections for a long period of time.
Any advice for the best way to remove old headers? Higher temperature? Other tricks?

Also, the pins on the two GI headers are connected by the traces. Is there any reason I shouldn’t run all the GI wires to the one connector that still looks good?

Thanks.

Hi all. I have an update on the issue, and another question...

I was able to replace the header, and replace with a trifurcon-based connector. This addressed the GI issue nicely.

In the process of more work, it appears I have lost an entire column (#3) of the matrix switches. Using the strategy from the MPC wiki I was able to confirm (by trying all the column/row combinations on the headers) that the issue (or at least one of them) seems to be on the MPU board. Visual inspection of the board without removing it does not show any obvious issues issues with the chips, or any sign of battery leakage/corrosion. Also, they were working fine until I was messing around under the playfield.

I ordered a logic probe and will start trying to trace back the issue for column 3, but any advice would also be welcome.

Thanks again.
-Geoff