Picked up a TZ last night and the clock is not working. Seller said its a new board. Clock just keeps spinning, and mostly in reverse. I took the clock apart and cleaned all the optos, but still no luck. Connectors underneath the clock and playfield have all been reseated, no change. I have some local reinforcements coming to help me, but wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts to point me in the next direction. Motor spins freely. In test mode, it doesn't register for all of the time periods, only some, But I do see at least four optos registering at 00, 15, 30 and 45. I'm not sure exactly what the test is supposed to show.

Thx

These are the times it registers in test mode...seems to hit all the quarter times.

830,815,400,430,415,12,1230,1215,11,1130,1115,345,330, 3, 315.

What connection is it on the main boards in the back box? Is there a board under the PF too, other than the one that drives the clock motor?

In order, clock was going in reverse.

Thx. Cleaning didn't work. I have a friend with a spare older board I can try. I guess it wasn't a new board the seller said he installed. I'm at least glad it's not difficult to get the clock out.

Took a short video of what's going on, maybe someone has some thoughts. I took the board out and plugged back in to test all 8 optos, they all registered passing a thin stick across them. I'm starting to lean toward either a minute hand issue or a clock calibration issue.

Well, the story ends well. I have found and fixed the problem. The spindle that holds the hands on and runs back to the motor had too much play, keeping the minute hand too far from the optos. I turned the game on and pushed on the center of the spindle to take the play out and the clock went to midnight and shortly thereafter it went to the current time. I'll tighten up the spindle, maybe with a washer or a layer or two of electrical tape just on the other side of the e-clip.

So I reinstall the clock thinking I have the shaft tight. Goes to noon, then goes to current time. Come down in the morning and time has stopped....definitely in the twilight zone. Out comes the clock for about the 10th time. The spindle moved in and out too much. Because there is too much play between the beards. Hard to explain, but I had to build up the front of one of the gears with felt tape to take up the slack...seems to have worked. Hope this helps someone else down the road.

I think at this point I can take out the clock and take it apart with eyes closd and in less than 5 minutes.

Well, clock started acting erratic again, won't set itself to noon or keep time, sets to between 12 and 1 or 11 and 1, so would appear it's having trouble calibrating, which I think is an opto problem. In test mode, doesn't trip all the times, skips from 10 to 12. I'm going to swap in a friends known working board to rule out wiring issues, then I'll be buying Ingos board.

Thanks, not sure that's my issue, but could be. My minute hand and the spindle now have zero play and the spindle is back as far as it can go. In test mode, it hits the 15, 30, 45 and 00 optos, but not for all hours. I'll try to bend the minute hand in just a little to see if it helps.

Just want to update. I was able to figure out, with the help of a friend, that the 45 minute opto (far left in pic) was sitting a hair too low, causing the minute hand to just miss it. It registered when the hand would go slow, but at faster speeds it would miss. You can see in the pic, though it's hard to see, that it is sitting a bit lower compared to the others. Today, I received Ingos board with the rainbow LEDs, everything works perfectly.

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