My newly acquired Who Dunnit pinball machine has a strange problem. It plays fine for game after game, but after any extended period of inactivity, the machine will begin to behave strangely. "Autofire" (ball save) will fire over and over, but flippers won't work at all. When you finally switch off the game to reset, the machine always powers up with the following error message:

Check Fuses F115, F116, and Opto 12V Supply.

Fuse F116, a slow-blow 3 amp fuse is always blown. Replace it and the game functions normally again for awhile---then several games later, same problem again.

I've tried burn-in to induce the failure, but nothing happens.

Any clue where to begin troubleshooting this one?

Thanks in advance.

Abby & Les Rayburn
Maylene, AL

#2 5 years ago

DAV

wayout440

Pinside member

Berea, OH

11y 113K 11,267 3 12

Here is a case study from the repair docs that may help:
The flippers and dot matrix display died while playing a game.
Problem: The flippers on my Indy Jones died. The dot matrix display only has one vertical line which is always lit. The GI lamps are fine, as are the controlled lamps. I turned the game off and back on, the game continually launched balls from the ball trough.

Answer: the +12 volts has died, probably from a bad fuse at F116, or maybe a bad BR5 bridge. Some dot matrix power is derived from the +12 volts, and the +12 volts also powers the optos (hence the auto ball launching problem and no flippers). If the +12 volts is good, unplug the fliptronics and sound board ribbon cable, leaving just the dot matrix display plugged in to the ribbon cable. Now see if the display clears up and you can see the error report.

#3 5 years ago

PEB

PBatt

Pinside+ Addict

Austin, TX

5y 50,650 99 10 10

Quoted from wayout440:
Here is a case study from the repair docs that may help:
The flippers and dot matrix display died while playing a game.
Problem: The flippers on my Indy Jones died. The dot matrix display only has one vertical line which is always lit. The GI lamps are fine, as are the controlled lamps. I turned the game off and back on, the game continually launched balls from the ball trough.
Answer: the +12 volts has died, probably from a bad fuse at F116, or maybe a bad BR5 bridge. Some dot matrix power is derived from the +12 volts, and the +12 volts also powers the optos (hence the auto ball launching problem and no flippers). If the +12 volts is good, unplug the fliptronics and sound board ribbon cable, leaving just the dot matrix display plugged in to the ribbon cable. Now see if the display clears up and you can see the error report.

Could also be BR2. Have you checked the board voltages on the board? You should be able to determine if there is 5V and 12V using the test pins.

Promoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!

$ 35.00

Playfield - Plastics

Who dunnit 3 piece plastic set

Pinball Haus

4,899

Machine - For Sale

Who Dunnit

West Chicago, IL

GAP

$ 9.95

Eproms

ROM WHO DUNNIT -CPU

Pinballrom

3,970

Machine - For Sale

Who Dunnit, Nice Condition

Sussex, WI

OldSkoolFool

$ 399.95

Lighting - Led

Neo Pin Stadium

Pin Stadium Pinball Mods

$ 5.00

Playfield - Protection

Trough Anti-Magnetic Shim Acrylic - WMS

UpKick Pinball

$ 15.00

Playfield - Other

Who Dunnit Target Bug Fix

Arcade Upkeep

$ 35.00

Cabinet - Other

3D Coin Reject Buttons - Who Dunnit

Rocket City Pinball

From: $ 9.99

Eproms

Who Dunnit Pinball - Rom Upgrade

Matt's Basement Arcade

$ 95.00

Cabinet - Sound/Speakers

The Pop Eliminator v2 - Bally/Williams

Pinball Mod Co.

$ 54.95

Eproms

ROM WHO DUNNIT -SOUND

Pinballrom

Wanted

Machine - Wanted

Wanted: Who Dunnit

Yucaipa, CA

1980Galaxy

$ 37.50

Boards

A-20207 Flipper opto type II x 2 (pair)

Pinball Haus

$ 100.00

Cabinet - Shooter Rods

ROULETTE SHOOTER ROD

Super Skill Shot Shop

Great pinball charity

Bringing the Joy of Pinball to American Children’s Hospitals

Project Pinball

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!

This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tech-who-dunnit-problem-with-f116?hl=pbatt and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.