I had a Solar City that did the same thing. I believe your machine is working fine.

How does it compare to say, this one:

(there are also other videos of game play on YT.)

Is your score motor slower at resetting the game as well?

I have a Spirit of 76 and Cleopatra sitting next to one another. The score motor on the So76 is noticeably faster than the Cleo.

I too had pulled the entire score motor assembly apart and cleaned it. The assemblies spin by hand with no noticeable difference between the two.

Is this a sign of a gearbox that needs to be rebuilt?

This thing should count down like a machine gun. I suspect your issue lies in score motor switches or the E relay. Right now, my money is on the NC switch on the E relay with the Gr-yel and blk-red wires. If this switch isn't shut, you will only get one countdown per motor cycle or 3/revolution. If it is working right, you will get all the countdowns in one revolution of the motor.

The other one is switch at motor 4a - this supplies the 15 pulses/rev that count bonus.

I wouldn't mess with the motor assy at this point.

Todd
Team EM

Isn't 'E' the Extra Ball relay? Might you have meant 'K'? (looks like it has those wire colors, and is in line to the Add Bonus Unit).

Maybe the 'G' relay switch stack needs tightening and those switches cleaned/gapped though, if it's not making good consistent contact.

Yep. K it is. I'm going off a crappy pdf scan and needed to zoom in a little more on that area. Thanks.

The above video seems about the same speed of bonus rate for a multi-player machine like my 2 player Card Whiz. That would seem a little slow for a single player bonus countdown. In the above video it seems like he is getting 2 bonus per score reel revolution and you are only getting 1.

Are both your games domestic versions? Your "So 76" may have a 50 hertz motor in it because it was produced for export. I've seen this several times on games that were subsequently reimported here. The 50 hz motor runs considerably faster when connected to 60 hz AC used here in the US. As far as resetting, it's usually not a problem,
but I've seen these games have trouble accurately totaling 5, 50, 500 or 5000 points because the motor is pulsing the switch faster than the score reel can increment. I usually try to grab a 60 hz motor from a parts machine to swap into these reimports when I encounter this.

When the ball drains, the 'G' relay should engage and lock on, and the score motor start running. The bonus unit should then be stepping in sync with the five pulses on each 1/3 revolution of the score motor (the tat-tat-tat-tat-tat, tat-tat-tat-tat-tat we know so well). At each position of the bonus unit, it's 'harvesting' the available bonus points available with a drop target being down (if the corresponding drop target switch is closed when the bonus unit is at that position, the 1000 point relay then fires).

So it should be able to grab all the bonus points in one full turn of the score motor (up to the max of 15 targets) (just as Todd noted above).

It might be worth observing if the ball count unit is sluggish when it steps, or if G is not locking on, if the stuff Todd mentioned doesn't work.

These youtube videos all have a timer in them in the lower left corner. The video you linked takes about 4 seconds to count down. This isn't even in the same area code as 15-20 seconds. If it REALLY is 15-20 seconds, then check the switches. If it is more like 5 seconds, then that puts you in sluggish motor territory. Other videos show about 3 seconds, so the one on your video is in the hunt.

Does the score motor make just one complete revolution?

Is the bonus scored correctly for each drop target that is down? (or are some missed?)

Is the bonus unit stepping for each score motor 'tat'? (There are three groups of five in a complete revolution, and the pause is because the cam doesn't have a cog in between them on the 'A' level.)

Is the 'G' relay locking on for the duration of the revolution?

That doesn't surprise me. I work in automatic transmissions and a lot of people will tell you a shift takes about 5 seconds. I reality, it takes about 0.4 seconds to complete.

Anyway, I suspect your machine is close. I'm working on one now and will let you know when I get it completed.

Check your G relay lock-in switch. Note that if this is open, the current will continue to follow the dotted red path. This is consistent with your behavior.

TargetAlphaSuspect.jpg

High-five! Or is it a fist-bump? Oh well, congrats!

I love it when a plan comes together.

Thanks for the follow up!!

Nice call Todd

Happiness is a game that works correctly.

Ken

My g relay locks on and off hence bonus count is sluggish, what switch locks on g relay, it must get power from some where. Thanks peter

It gets power from Lots of paths for G to be energized. But, before bothering to go through them all, check to see if it is getting stuck electrically, or mechanically. Once energized, watch it as you turn off power to the game. If it drops out immediately, it is electrical. If it holds in with power off, it is getting stuck mechanically.

G: Bonus Score Control RelayTargetAlpha-173.jpg

My g relay fires the same as mentioned by tuffano above, when the pauses occur during its cycle the g relay unlocks then locks again and continues to count,the red arrow above points to a switch which needs to be checked what is that suspect switch as i cant read the diagram,the g relay switches are good and it unlocks once power is turned off, if i manually hold g relay down it goes off the way it should like a machine gun. Thanks

The switch pointed to with the Red arrow is a normally open switch on the G relay itself. This is the "hold" switch for the G relay so that if the relay has been energized, it is supposed to hold in until something else drops it out. In the original poster's case, it was this switch that apparently caused the problem. If you have cleaned the hold switch on the G relay, then I would instead suspect the 15th position switch on the bonus unit itself. Due to the vibration, it is fairly common for it to drop out as the bonus unit steps around. Make sure it is clean and has good "over-travel" to insure it is closed and remains closed all the way around until it hits the valley in the cam.

When the bonus cycle resets to position one the two outside contacts close, r u saying make sure they remain closed and dont vibrate apart during the bonus countdown. Thanks

Well, I don't have one to look at. Based on the schematic, it shows them as normally closed (one is a make break switch and therefore has a normally open contact too). So, normally, the schematic is drawn in reset condition (player 1 Ball 1) and some brands with power turned off. The schematic says 15th position switch so I would expect that home position is position 0. So, yes, the contacts should remain closed in every step position until the switch stack reaches the valley. From what I can remember, at that point, it would step past the valley and land back on the high portion of the cam.

So, basically, positions 0 through 14 should maintain a closed condition on that switch stack.

You may want to grab the bakelite wiper disc and try to wiggle it. It should be pretty solid and only rotate. If it is really sloppy ( worn shaft or bearing or loose set screws) it is very difficult to keep the switch in adjustment. I had a Hot Shot which also used the stepper bonus scan system and due to the number of plays, the bonus unit was very sloppy due to wear.

In the reset position my outside snow shoe starts on the second rivet with the yellow wire on completion of the bonus cycle the outside snow shoe finishes one step past the final rivet on the brown board, is this correct. Thanks

Thread moved to EM Tech

I asked the above question on the solar city thread and did not get a reply,in his first photo there is a drag mark past the final outside rivet, so i assume thats its resting place but i dont know for sure,i have just purchased my solar city and the outside snow shoe was alined to start on the first outside rivet not the second as pointed out,this was causing problems as starting on the first rivet looked normal without a diagram.

Correct, the schematic shows the start or sitting position as "0" with the Yellow wire going to it.