Posting to "close the loop". I pulled the CPU board. All clean on there. Removed the battery holder and installed a coin cell holder, replaced the ROM with 9.4CH. Noticed I had the blue Phillips cap at C31, so I replaced that while I had the board out. Didn't have an axial cap on hand, so instead I used a 100uf 100v radial cap I had from GPE. Reinstalled the CPU. No resulting change in the 5v readings at pin 32 on the game ROM vs. TP2 on the power driver board.

Pulled the driver board and examined it. No cracked solder joints at the headers or at F113. Solder on the LM323K looked good. BR2 and C5 already tested good a few days ago per PinWiki WPC section 6.16.12. Header pins and connectors look good, as expected given the low "on hours" for this game. So, I decided to remove the LM323K and install a PSU5. A simple job, although the PSU5 units I just received in the mail recently differ slightly in appearance from those pictures I have seen posted on Pinside. Notice there are tiny labels screened on the PSU5 for the 2 pins, one says "in" and one says "out". Orient the PSU5 so the "in" pin connects to the back of the driver board trace that goes to BR2 / C5. And as others have suggested, install the PSU5 to the board with the mounting screws first (discard the old nuts and instead use replacement #6 nuts with split washers to avoid a short circuit, and in my case solder had been worked into the head of the screws making it impossible to use a screwdriver on them, so those screws were replaced with new), then go ahead and solder the PSU5 to the board. I now have 5.07v on pin 32 of the game ROM, so all is good! Trimmer pot on the PSU5 can be used to carefully adjust the 5v to where you want it, best done with J114 disconnected for safety reasons.

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Good job man!!!!!

I always use a 1000uF cap at C31, brings more stability ....

Next up is the long delayed installation of a Borygard Special Edition clock board!

I'm finally ready to install one of Ingo's "Borygard special edition" clock boards. Bought years ago, but it is a 1.9 Final version. I downloaded the install instructions from Ingo's website here: https://www.german-pinball-modular.de/tz-clock-instruction-english.html. I have run into something interesting, and maybe this helps explain why my clock has never worked correctly since the day I bought the machine over 17 years ago. I'm at installation step 1, lining up the clock. I can get either the hour hand to the 12 position, or the minute hand to the 12 position, but not both. When the hour hand is at the 12 position, the minute hand is not even close. See these pics.

Suggestions for how to proceed with step #1 of the installation instructions, aligning the clock hands for disassembly? Do I go with the minute hand at the 12 position and the hour hand at the 11+ position? Or do I go with the hour hand at the 12 position and the minute hand at the 4 position? I don't want to damage anything during disassembly.
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Your clock gears are misaligned.

The instructions say to align the hands before disassembly because it makes refitting them to the same (correct) place easier, but that assumes your hands are correct in the first place.

If you want to fix your hands you need to take the clock apart completely, more than you would ordinarily need to in order to fit the board, and realign the gears.

It might be the case that you only need to realign the black gear to fix the hour hand? I would try taking it apart when the minute hand is at 12.

The good news is that you can give it a clean when you do it and make it nice and quiet.

Well, this is going to be more work than I had hoped. Spent some time searching. Saw the recommendation to use Superlube on the gears. I also saw a recommendation for Shimano premium grease which I think I still have from my bicycling days. Saw the recommendation to not use any grease at all. Ok, I can sort that out.

The big issue is aligning the gears. No idea if my game was wrong from the factory, or if prior owner serviced the clock and messed it up, but I'm a bit nervous about taking the gearing apart. So I see the 2 pages in the TZ manual that discuss aligning the clock gears. Yikes!! In my situation, can I make things any better if I align the clock somehow before I start? For example, in clock test I could stop the clock when the test thinks 12 has been reached, or something....

All tips accepted before I dive in! Bonus points if someone has a nice picture of what the properly assembled gearing looks like before the Output gear is installed.
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Picture won't help. Sincere markings that you have to line up and follow are small and get hidden when it's assembled properly.

Just follow the directions there.

Found the switch kit In stock
https://www.pinball.center/en/shop/pinball-parts/playfield-parts/special-parts/9990/mini-playfield-switch-mod-for-twilight-zone

I strongly believe that insincere markings will work just as well.

I dunno.. This game just KNOWS when you really want it to work or not.

Thanks, autocorrect.

They don't ship to the US.

I sincerely believe that Coyote's advice is well intentioned!

I think I'll bring the clock to the bench to work on this. Question: while on the bench, is it possible to test after rebuilding without reinstalling the clock in the machine? I do have a portable DC power supply.

Please, sincere replies only!

I have an ingo board on the way... Hopefully shipping actually picks back up soon.... And I've been thinking about that too..... I think my plan is a big towel over the playfield to catch any runaway parts, and just swapping it out while it's on the game so I can try out both clock faces I got and see which I prefer before buttoning it back up. Might be easier if the clock is out of the game, but then you're putting it all back together with your fingers crossed that it works..

Yeah, that was my plan too when I was just installing the replacement clock board, but now that I know I need to also disassemble the gears and then reassemble them, I don't think I want to try doing that on the playfield of the machine.

The instructions make it sound a lot harder than it is. They are somewhat inscrutable.

There are basically 3 gears that need to be aligned, two of the white ones and the black one.

I did a mini guide of a sort when I took mine apart last time, which might help:

https://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/today-i-worked-on.39368/post-252882

As said above you might be able to get away with just realigning the black gear (the one that the hour hand aligns on), which would mean not having to take the whole thing out. All of the gears are held in place by C-clips so won’t fall out if you remove the black one

You can give the motor anywhere between 12 and 20 volts DC - one way or the other. Make sure everything moves. You'll have to have it connected to the game, though, to be able to see which hour optos are closed/open.

Hey, how much does this board know, anyways? ... Turnabout is fair play, f*cker.

I believe - having rebuilt my clock plenty of times, that there is one or two white gears that could be off to cause the hour-slightly-off-issue. The black gear being off a notch is a lot more noticeable. I believe. It's been 3+ years since I rebuilt mine the last time!

What he said. I seem to recall this exact scenario when I rebuilt my clock. I needed to move one of the white gears over a tooth or two to get it to line up correctly.

I know that the clock looks overwhelming when contemplating taking it apart, and everyone always has warnings about it, but it's really not that difficult once you get the hang of it.

This. Its not that hard actually. I dissasembled my clock a year ago, removed every gear and gave it all a thorough cleaning plus some synthetic? grease and got it back together within 1-2 hours with all arms aligned correctly. The manual is so-so but when you understand it its actually helpful. My clock got much more quiet after this.

Touché! LMAO!

Damn, I thought maybe the hour hand was controlled by the black gear. Never so simple.

It is worth taking the clock apart to be honest, you can Superlube the gears and put some sewing machine oil on the shafts, and it quietens it up nicely. It is also quite rewarding when you put it all back together again and see it zero on 12 o'clock.

It is, actually - BUT, there are step-down gears between the motor and the minute hand, and the minute and hour hand. If I recall, there are a couple white gears with markings on them, so that the teeth line up right.

And yes - it is freakin' amazing when your clock is reassembled, moves quickly, and is quiet as a mouse. In fact, this is making me wanna strip mine back down and clean it all out. Like I said, it's been a few years since I had it apart and re-greased it up.

As always, I'm amazed by the support provided here. You all give me the confidence to dive in and get this done rather than pushing it to the back of the line.

I notice that I have a bottle of Zoom oil, great stuff for spinners. Ok to use Zoom sparingly on the clock gears and shafts?

more . . .

ebay.com link: itm

At last ....

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Let me know if are within a couple hundred miles of chicago, and are interested in selling or trading your TZ.

Thank you.

They make a copy of my switch kit. And they also copy the production number of my pcb, because they didnt know what they do. Here in germany they are known for poor quality copies.
My switch kit is only sold by myself, if you want a good quality, contact me. If you like surprise, you can order at pinball center.

The same goes for Denmark. Everyone will tell you to avoid most of their products. Most of it is poorly made copies of others products. Especially their plastics looks terrible. The colors are all wrong, and the images is blurry and fuzzy.

I was extremely happy with my TZ switch kit from Twister. I swapped the upper playfield for a new CPR and did Twisters kit and it looks fantastic.

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...and the UK.

Generally Germany has a long-standing reputation for quality, but sadly PC doesn't live up to that expectation.

Received this Pendretti Invader topper today, looks amazing when powered up. Will fit soon.

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So we took our Twilight Zone out of storage a few weeks ago, and there is a problem with the gi.
Some leds are dimmer then others, and some don't work at all. (See photos)
These leds were installed 10 years ago, could they already been broken?

I already reseated the gi connectors..

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I would replace your gi connectors and your header pins. I would check fuses f106-f110 and make sure they are valued correctly. I would try putting a working led into a gi light that is not working if that fixes it then your bulbs are burnt out. I believe what is out is marked in the manual as mini playfield and insert. I would check the voltage on drive transistor Q10.
Good luck

LEDs from 10 years ago were all pretty poor, brightness diminished quickly and almost certainly they will be directional. The one's that aren't working (not sure if they ever worked) but you can flip them 180 in the socket and see if that makes them work.

If you have other "newer" LEDs I would try them in the "dim" and not working areas to see if they work.

See if you have GI dimming turned on as well. After a few minutes of no activity, TZ will dim the GI. Push a flipper and it will come back full brightness. Some, especially older LEDs (if you do not have a GI OCD board) will not work properly when dimming.

Thankfully it was an easy fix. One wire came out of the connector slightly. I had checked the connector originally and did not see any issue but on closer inspection found one wire that had pulled out a bit. Problem solved. Thanks

Isn't it a great feeling when a fix is something simple and doesn't require removing half of the playfield or needing a board repaired? Glad it was an easy fix for you.

Help....

Have been getting an error code for my “Gumball Diverter”.

Made some adjustments to the gumball switches, particularly the lane. Now the continuous gumball test has run without failure for 5plus minutes. I shudder to say I’ve cleared the problem.

Do I HAVE to do a factory reset to Clear the error code?

Due to the error code my game is in virtual power ball mode and although the prox switches are working, its pretending I have no power ball. FYI...I’m on factory default for powerball so it’s not a case of my settings being on virtual powerball

Hate to lose my son’s high scores.

Thoughts?

If you go through gumball test and it worked, the error should clear itself. If not, a couple things you can try:
1. Go into switch test, and drop a ball down the gumball shoot. (Between main and power ramps. It'll roll.up rainfall into the subway.) Or,
2. Eject one ball.from the gumball and leave it in the outhole. Exit test mode, and let the game try to reload the ball.

Got a knocker question. My knocker sounds pretty lame. I dug into the mechanism and found it to be the wrong part number. The book says it should be a AE-23-800. If memory serves, this era game doesn't use a diode in the assembly. Is that correct?

Tech question, I'm sure all of the Proximity Swicth 26 issues have been discussed but here is mine. It works intermitently but at times I have to adjust, twist/move the wires to get it going but my most recent issue is that it is thinking most balls that pop out are the Powerball. Sometimes it notifies mid ball regardless of what type of ball it is. Any ideas on what is going on and does anyone work on these things or know where I can get a replacement?
Thanks

I had an intermittent issue on mine for a while. Underneath the play field there is an opto board with a connector on it that the wires loop through. I reseated those wires in the connector and the problem went away. Before the fix if I wiggled those wires near the harness it would trigger the intermittent issue in switch test.

The best thing you can do is solder the two proximity sensor wires to the pins on the prox board. Remove and eliminate those connectors. The failure rate is astronomical.

This, right here. Since these are induction sensors (same as those sensors that detect your car at a traffic light!), any change in the read induction will cause it to report on or off, and the game will react as how it sees. The IDC connections are lock-tight, and the vibrations can cause the readings to change. Removing these connections will help a LOT.

What he said. I did that on my sensor by the trough, and it solved the issue. Been almost two years now.

My wires are already soldered to the board. I did just try to redo the solder because it was not working so that could be part of the problem. I am terrible at soldering. It is so frustrating. I dont know why they dont make the repalcments anymore. There has to still be a market for them. Has anyone had the problem that it is always registering a Powerball?

So I just played a few games and the lane switch worked fine.

That seems to have cleared the error.

Sorry, I read a previous post that had me thinking I’d have to do a factory reset...thank goodness that’s not the case.

Thanks for your advice coyote!

IIRC the diode is on the PDB board thus not needed on the coil though does not harm if installed there as well...

https://www.tanglestech.com/search.asp?keyword=tz&search=

That's a link to an out of stock item

Thanks for the confirmation. I thought it wasn't needed but stuck it on there anyway (just in case my memory was failing me). My knocker is now nice and loud and the extra diode won't hurt anything.