Hello,

I just did a swap of the original driver board with a new Rottendog driver board in my Judge Dredd. After that one change all 4 flippers are extremely weak. They move reluctantly, but not with enough power to actually move the ball. I didn't see any switches or adjustments on the board and the flippers were working fine before I did the swap. What would cause this and what is the solution?

For reference: WDB089 - Driver Board compatible with Williams WPC89 and WPC-S pinball games. The boards that this replaces are Bally / Williams part numbers A-12697-1, A-12697-3, and A-12697-4.

Thanks for your time!

I picked this JD up after being routed for a few years. Recently F116 (12v) started blowing some-what randomly. While I was told replacing the power driver board wouldn't necessarily fix this issue, when there was a site-wide sale on Black Friday I thought I would go ahead and replace the original power driver board since some of the other boards have already been replaced with Rottendog boards.

Switch test shows "L" and "UL" for Left flipper and "R" and "UR" for Right flipper. I am not that familiar with the tests, but I was not able to get any other tests to fire solenoids or flippers. Only the deadworld would slowly rotate no matter what test I chose - ? This is similar to an issue I had when I first brought it home and there was an unnecessary wire plugged into "J136". I have checked and double-checked the plugs and all seems to check out currently, at least with how the original board was plugged up.

Nothing else but another pin plugged into the circuit. Both were working fine until I changed the driver board and now JD is failing. Good idea - I will contact Rottendog tomorrow.

This powerboard had all new fuses so I didn't bother to check or replace them. When F116 blew in the past the ColorDMD went out and the solenoids went off, and that isn't happening - just weak flippers. How do I identify other high power fuses so I can see if they have been blown? Is it just F115?

Thank you all for your responses.

This JD has:
- ColorDMD (brightness turned down to minimum)
- OCDLED board - it is my understanding these boards do not draw any more power than the LED bulbs do - ?
- OCDGI board - it is my understanding these boards do not draw any more power than the LED bulbs do - ?
- Pinnovators Pinsub board - this adds a phono out plug (which I have connected to a powered sub). I assumed this would not draw power the way it is plugged up but I can try removing it.

Do any of these raise red flags?

Next steps I plan to swap out fuses on the new board and remove the Pinsub board to see what difference that makes. I will also check the voltage at TP1. I had checked this previously on the old board and it was at an acceptable reading but will check again.

Thank you all again for your comments and suggestions.

Please keep in mind that the flippers were fine before I changed out the power driver board. I swapped out most of the fuses last night (I only had a few 3A fuses) and removed the Pinsub board and it made no difference to the flippers or to the tests under the test menu. I have read nothing but good things about RD boards but I might have a bad one - ?

Ok, so I spoke with Jim at Rottendog. Both him and Jared were great to talk to, very patient, and very responsive. The voltage at TP1 as well as all other checkpoints on the power driver board all checked out. However, voltage on the Fliptronics board was 17.1V at all of the fuses and 10.4V at the main power connector J904. So not enough power coming in there. I raised the PF and opened\reconnected all 3 molex connectors out of the main power supply with no improvement. Anyone know if the inadequate voltage has to be due to my main power supply or could it be something else? Do the power supplies go out after 25+ years?

Thanks again for your input.

Sorry - I meant Transformer. The big metal brick in the bottom of the pin. I am looking at the JD schematic and it seems to indicate 12v and 5v to that connector from the power driver board connector J114, so I am waiting on a call back from Rottendog to confirm their initial findings. Will continue to update as I learn more.

Thanks!

Ok, I had some confusion about which connectors supply 50v and 12v power and where those connectors are being fed from. After tracing connections using the manual and properly understanding which connectors fed what power to what boards, it seems the actual issue was due to the J104\J105 connector\plug having some connectivity issues and therefore not enough power was coming from it to the fliptronics board. After cleaning that plug it was able to feed the necessary voltages to the fliptronics board and the flippers came back up to full power. A very weird issue to figure out.

I am leaving the machine on now to see if the J116 fuse blows again (before it would not go but a few hours before blowing).

I am still not able to test solenoids via the Test menu. No matter what solenoid test I choose, only the Deadworld motor activates and does a herky jerky spin. I saw this when I had a cable connected to J136 (I think) on the power driver board which wasn't supposed to be there but now I am at a loss as to the cause. Any ideas?

Just FYI - I bought this pin after being routed and who knows what other history it has. I have found 2 connectors (purely by chance) that were plugged up incorrectly and causing very random issues. I plan to go back through the manual schematics and verify plugs are where they should be.

Please let me know if you have any questions about anything. Thanks for your consideration.

No, all mods are connected, subwoofer has been turned up, and I even reconnected an LED strip that has been disconnected for months (well before I changed the power driver board yesterday but after the fuse starting popping, which continued to do so even after I unplugged it). I am leaving the pin on to see if F116 still blows or not.

Voltage at TP1 is 13.2v, however I can't play cause my kids are in bed. I don't doubt there are still some issues so I am open to suggestions on how to continue to dial it in.

Thanks!

Just to update this thread - I realized that I needed to close the safety switches inside the coin door to get the solenoids and such to test properly (<embarrassed>.

I didn't blow a fuse again until I added Pin Stadiums lights - which wasn't surprising. So Scott at Pin Stadium sent me an external power supply for the Pin Stadium lights and I haven't blown a fuse since. I love the ColorDMD and Pin Stadiums and can't imagine playing without them. Both also had excellent support and I highly recommend them.

Thank you all for your input along the way!