Check the U-optos if they are working at switch test or clock test

yep...do as arakissun says. Mine does the same thing.
Clock works during testing.
Clock doesn't work during game play.
DMD says clock is Broken.

I am going home tonight and make sure each opto is registering. After reading on this I think I am going to do 3 things.

--if (one of the 8 ) opto's are not registering I will clean it.
--if still not registering, make sure the minute-hand is tripping the opto at each of its 8 postions. Try to adjust...and if that fails...

---get the ingo board with Rainbow sprinkles...I mean Rainbow LED's.

Also, check and reseat all the ribbon cables and IDC cables going to the main CPU board. It doesn't make any sense, but sometimes it just works.

When you're doing the clock running test, make sure you see each of the opto checkboxes flash when they should. Both hands have all four optos to get through.

On mine I got the same reading. When I looked closer the 3 o'clock opto had been hit buy the clock hand and bent out of place. I took it apart realigned it and all was good.

I have the same "clock is broken" message a lot too. Clean the optos with a q-tip, run the tests and check the hands to make sure they are hitting all the optos correctly.

Also, another thing I have to do with mine that works "most" of the time has something to do with gravity. I have the piano mod, and when I lift it up a little so it's not resting completely on the piano, it resolves the issue most times. As I play the pin, it will drop back down eventually and back to "clock is broken". Last weekend I put a piece of thick 1/4" felt with adhesive backing under it and it seems to be holding it in place so far. So you might want to play with lifting the clock and see if it helps yours.

just checked mine...removed the clock, ran through the tests...while the game was on I put a q-tip in each opto...the 12 oclock opto showed closed all the time. When I would insert the q-tip in the 9-6-3 positions it showed closed on each. Cleaned the 12 oclock opto and no luck, still showing closed. Removed and reseated the connectors on the underside of the clock, still no luck.

Looks like its a roasted opto. Also noticed that 2 lights are out as well. Wished the wires to the electric motor had a connector. It would be nice to take it out and work on it on a bench. Seems like I can't get those wires out without taking apart a lot of wire ties and connectors under the playfield.

Can I replace that board while the clock is in the machine?

Better must take it out from the machine.It will take you 5-10min.It's not so hard.

Before you dive into soldering an hour-opto, be sure the minute and hour hands are moving freely.

Through the axel, there is a little rod which fixate the hour hand on the axel.
If its bend it can disturb the registering of the optos intermitend.
Be sure the hands are straight and rotating freely.

I just ordered Ingo's board, and from what I've heard, it blows everything else away as far as reliability.
I'm basically having the same problem you are with opto not reading every once in a while, so I also get the "clock is broken" error message.
I'm tired of it, and I'm very optimistic this will be the last time I'll have to deal with it.

Could you post a link for Ingo, thanks.

Here you go:

http://www.german-pinball-modular.de/final-tz-clock-pcb-english.html

Here is the installation guide:

http://www.german-pinball-modular.de/tz-clock-instruction-english.html

It will be the last time!!!

- Ingo

120 USD

I just ordered mine...$120 for the board. $20 more for the rainbow led's...

Really looking forward to getting this. Going to fix this clock and LED the game in the next 2 weeks.

Thanks Ingo!

not to hijack but if i were to try and fix the opto's on the clock would anyone know what I would need to order? ie the u opto's for sure. anything else? (i fixed my clock by buying a new board (rottendog i think??) because 2 of the opto's were not working!) still had issues and 'really fixed it' by buying a new minute hand. solved the rest of the problems. trying to learn to solder and I figure why not try to put the new opto's in.

Normally replacing the optos will fix it.
Look at the components on the two boards, if the resistors are toast you can order those too.

The OPTOs used on the original board were specially manufactures for Williams and no longer produced and obsolete since a long time. You need the special type QVE11233.086, NOT the "normal" QVE11233 without the suffix 086. Even if you find one of these, they are horrible expensive (about 10 USD each), and you need eight of them, what makes a summary of about 80,00 USD alone for the OPTOS.

See the comment of Ed Krzycki from GPE in the following post. Ed is one of the most recognized experts for pinball-machines in the world to my opinion.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.pinball/FY0bSS7UqaA

Ed writes the following:
" ...The German board is the only one that fixes the direct driving of the switch matrix problem. You can use everyday slotted opto switches on these boards due to using external driver circuitry for the switch matrix rather than the optical switch. A much, MUCH better design. The other clock boards must use high current drive optos with low voltage drop....custom ordered parts. If the opto dies (and it will) then there is only one source for these..."

AND ... you did not solve the heat problems then!!

Don´t let this happen to your clock

- Ingo

IMGP7964.jpg

Daaaauuuummmmnnnnn! Now thats a fire!

Well Ingo that picture ... in home enviroment ... not likely.

Love your board and been glancing on it a few times, but until now (knock on wood) my clock needs attention once every two years. With a simple opto or "hand" correction.

If the time comes it becomes annoying, i will be knocking on your door

I had tons of problems with my clock originally, replaced the board with a Rotten Dog . Removed the two cables, removed the hands, pulled the screws out of the clock and replaced the board without having to remove anything else. Also gave me a chance to clean the insides of the clock box and face when everything was apart. Took me about 30 mins to replace. 20 years of issues are hopefully gone.

Just a tidbit that some people may not realize: Every clock test should run until you stop it. If the clock stops on its own, that means it missed a tick. Here's a video comparison I did with my old clock board and Ingo's.

Finally got my clock working properly...it wasn;t working correctly to begin with so I had no idea what I was working with...
Replaced the board with Ingo's
Picked up a new Blue Bezel and clear front

Installed Ingos board and put everything back exactly (I thought) together.

Well for some reason with the new bezel, reinstalling the screws on the front and back were very tight. I reinstalled the clock and was getting an intermittent clock broken message, it work sometimes and sometimes it wouldn't. I had started to think it was in the wiring. So instead of ordering parts, I decided to remove the clock and go through it step by step. What it appears is when I reinstalled the screws on the bezel of the clock, they felt very tight going in, but actually left room for the number's face to float enough to mess up the opto that was picking up the hour. Once everything was tight she was working perfectly, except.....

When the clock would zero out at 12:00 on start up, the hour hand was in the 11:30 postion and the minute hand was in the 12:00 postion. What I think happened was at one point someone worked on this clock and put the minute hand in upside down. I flipped it over and now both are dead on at 12:00

Two thumbs up for Ingo's board, and I am extreamly releaved to have this issue resolved. I am proud to say she has no credit dot.

It's a great feeling, isn't it? It'll feel just as good after about 10 games, too!

(There's a "memory buffer" for certain things that if they don't work inside of the last 10 games or 30 balls played, they'll throw a credit dot).

Fantastic feeling Miguel!

I watched the film on the pinball arcade in Tuscon where he talks about the feeling you have when you fix something. I think I get as much pleasure out of fixing an error or making the machine "better" as I do when I play a great game.

The only downside is normally when I fix an error, I am the only one jumping up and down excited about it. I come up stairs like a proud peacock with my chest all out squaking about how I fixed something and I get the, "thats great honey" reply from the wife....

I'm about to swap out my blue clock housing for a red one. My clock works perfectly, but the gears are a little loud. I figure I might as well address the issue while I have the clock apart. I recall reading that there is some kind of lubricant that you can use on the gears. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I didn't read all the replies but when I had this error I took a cigarette lighter to the clock hands to warm them a bit (careful to not burn them). When they were softened I bent them a little so that the chunk that passes through the optos really blocks out the light. Worked perfectly after.

when changing my housing, the screws were so tight I was scared I was going to crack it. I think thats why things were floating around inside the clock and not allowing the hour hand to register. I was praying hard when I was bearing down on the screws with the final turns.

Havn't heard of lub on the gears...mine's loud too, but not sure if its a normal loud..

Look for a plastic compatible Teflon lube.

This one is plastic compatible and not expensive:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Super-Lube-3-oz-Tube-Synthetic-Grease-with-Syncolon-PTFE-21030/202932687#.UnvMlPnclN4

Your gears will run smooth as never before.

This seems good to, but never tested it by mysyelf:

ebay.com link: DOW MOLYKOTE EM 30L Synthetic PAO Grease for Plastics

- Ingo

For those that don't like to wait for items to ship, I went to the fishing section of my local sporting goods store and bought some reel oil for plastic-gear fishing poles. Worked like a charm and I didn't have to pay shipping.

Don did it again !! Congrats man

Thanks Jelle...really boneheaded in the first place. Maybe i was just being a little over cautious...but now comes the fun. Going to tear down the playfield and hit her with the Treasure Cove treatment, then onto plastic protectors, cliffy, etc etc...

Don't forget to shoot some "ball-view" shots, like you did with CFTBL. Really love those pics when buffed up

I am looking for replacement hands for the clock. Any ideas of where I can find new ones? Also, which is the best replacement opto clock board? And I may need a dot matrix replacement board. Any help would be gteatly appreciated. Thanks!

Minute hand: $2.95 USD http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-8837

Hour hand: $2.80 USD http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-8838

Hey burningman. Might want to flip that minute hand again. I think you had proper function before. Hour should change when the minute hand is on the 1/2 hour. See excerpt below.

image.jpg

Also, had all the described problems, and own a box of old OEM clock boards. After several years of dealing with those boards I bought the Ingo board. Can't say enough about how reliable it is. Pleasure to play the game without holding your breath every time the clock turns on!

In Clock Test, the 15 min opto is flickering (the X on the display is going on and off rapidly) only when the clock is moving. I actually just disassembled the whole thing and resoldered the opto, but the issue persists. Does this necessarily indicate a bad opto?

More likely a vibration causing a lose connector. Check the molex connectors for a good fit - even under the PF.

Since the opto is tied directly to the leads to soldered (there's no other control electronics in the opto housing) that's okay. But in theory the housing could be lose and vibrating and breaking the light path too..

Cool thanks. I just pressed around on the connectors while it was running and that didn't help. So I'll have to investigate further.

The opto does register correctly when you manually block it - but it doesn't make the beeping noise.

I also forgot to mention that initially, it was flickering when the clock was at rest, but I cleaned it as best I could with a Q-tip, and then it would only flicker while moving. Any suggestions for a more thorough way to clean the opto?

Is it possible that the minute hand is not completely and reliably interrupting the sensor? Seems likely since it functions when you manually block it. In my experience it takes very little twisting or warping of the clock hands to affect the performance. I have replaced both hands before with improvement. You could try reshaping the minute hand a little and see if that helps.

The 15 minute opto flickers during any movement, even when the minute hand is far away on the other side of the clock face.

Huh. Okay, that IS a puzzler.

First - about the beeping - in clock test mode, some times the activating won't cause it to beep if the game isn't expecting that opto to be triggered. If you put it into switch mode and use a jumper to activate the motor, the game should beep every time the opto triggers. (However, it's easier to not do that, and just watch the screen in Clock Test, not relying on the sound.

Okay, beyond that.. If you're sure that all the electrical connections are good (you checked and reflowed the opto, did you do the same for the molex header? Or the resistor (R1, I believe)?

If you did, then I would have to guess that the opto - either the sender of the receiver - is dying and may need to be replaced. Or, the housing to the opto is loose and breaking the beam.

Honestly, I'd just get ingos board, it's such an improvement. I'm all for troubleshooting and fixing things, but on this one it's not worth it if it's not simple like a loose connection.

I agree, personally. I just got mine - even though my OEM board was working fine. However, some folks may like everything original, and besides, learning about this would help in the future.

Totally agree, I can take the clock out in like 2 minutes, it's not very difficult and the way it works isn't that complex. The optos just die and they aren't worth messing with. Plus, the old boards put out a lot of heat, another good reason to LED and Ingo.

Thanks I'll look into this.

I did the LED upgrade kit which also has new resistors and header pins and connector for the spot where the two boards connect.

I'm only resisting the Ingo board because I've spent so much time and I'm so close - I'd hate to give up now.

But then I fear it will probably crap out in a few weeks and I'll need to do it anyway.