Wrong bulbs in them ?

LTG : )

I have an Alvin G Soccer I picked up a few months ago and have been also looking for help. I started a thread here. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alvin-g-soccer-2

First I would check the options menu. There is an option to dim the flashers.

Next I would check the 12vdc voltage with a multimeter. Could you post a picture of the power PCA. It should be PCA-019A. There is a pot you can adjust the voltage if it is low. The best schematic I have found for the PCA-019A is on IPDB for Punchy the Clown.

I ended up cutting off the Insulation displacement connectors with molex crimp connections. That will also help get cleaner power.

If that does not do it, replace the capacitors on the PCA-019A board.

That looks similar to the PCA-019A but the bridge rectifiers for the 48v and 20v are missing. I think it is original though because I see the same power supply on the USA Football on IPDB. I would bet the pin outs are the same. Looks like the same wire harness colors.

The blue pot on the right controls the 12v. That part is the same on your PCA.

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Here is a post about the power supplies. The one you have is an early version. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alvin-g-soccer-1#post-3285619

Cool, glad to see that your flashers are going again.

That cable that you're talking about is for powering the game from above instead of below. It runs up to male prongs on the top of the marquee box. You would disconnect the other cord and plug this one in if needed. This was a great idea for locations that had the game away from a wall due to the head-to-head nature of the game.

As far as VR1 goes, 12V is what you want out of it. If you test VR2 on this board you will want 5V from it. Test the voltage on the fuse holder (to ground) on the circuits in question and see what it reads there.

Regarding your issue with the outhole, is it just the one end that isn't registering touchtowns (and kicking the ball out), or is it the other end as well?

That is really weird. I am not aware of anything built into the software that would allow a double flip to eject the balls. It almost makes me think that it’s just the vibration of all 6 flipper coils firing at once that is causing a switch to close. But what are the odds of so many switches being in that same flaky state?

At this point I would suggest going into switch test and manually testing all related switches, and also test them with a ball. See what the display tells you and we’ll go from there.

Also maybe flip the playfield up and check for loose switch connections that are getting a bit of a bump from vibration. I know they aren’t all on the same row or column, but maybe there’s multiple connection issues. The CPU board itself could be another possibility, I suppose.

Regarding the switches not registering I had the same issue until I got the 5v running constantly. Check that line. It can be adjusted with the other small pot on the board to 5.4v for some headroom. I read in another post if the capacitors are bad the 5v will drop with coil firing and make the controller board misbehave.

Here are the voltages from the AG Soccer schematics. I got that from IPDB. I ordered a manual from Marco but it did not include a schematic. Does the manual you ordered come with a schematic?

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petebest yes that is the 5v pot.

petebest could you check what voltage you are getting on the 48v line while you are at it with a multimeter. Thanks. I want to see if you are getting the same as I am.

petebest I still think it is a PSU problem. I had strange ball search and game restart issues until I bypassed the Alvin G 5v power supply line with a 5v Meanwell power supply and re-terminated the power connector into the main board with a molex crimp connection. I am still running my machine on the Meanwell switching power supply and have not had any issues.
I went down the path of swapping out the main board and the ICs as well.

petebest I will take some photos of my setup this weekend and how it is connected.

Here is the model I am using. Meanwell RS 50-5. It is 10A. I had it around for powering LED strips for custom games. I cant remember the fuse rating on the existing supply to derive what the current requirement is for the controller board, but it is far less than that.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005T6TLMI

Here is a drawing of what I did for the 5V bypass of the power supply. I have mine plugged into the service port ac but unfortunately that is before the power switch so it is always on when plugged in. So instead I have my pinball machine plugged into a power strip. If I keep this 5v power supply arrangement I will tap into the 120v lines that are going up to the marquee that power the fluorescent light.

I got a voltage regulator IC I am going to try in the original power supply board and see if that helps my issue with the 5V. I have already replaced all the caps. You may need to replace the caps as well if you want to use the existing power supply for all the power lines. There is no longer an audible interference in the audio after I replaced the caps. If you are not comfortable with doing that, contact Clive at https://www.coinopcauldron.com/brepairs.html. He is familiar with the Alvin G psu issues.

Have you had a chance to test that 48V line with a multimeter to see what DC voltage you get? Thanks.

5V PSU (resized).png

Have you checked the 20v line. When I first checked and was having the same issue I was only getting 17VDC. I changed the capacitors for it and the 5v at the same time so it is difficult to tell which solved the issue.

So was that C3 on the 20v line to control the mosfets?

Just to have historical data. Someone brought me a Pistol Poker that resets randomly. From reading it seems the caps on the PS board may be the main issue. I'm going to document and get a BOM for the version I have and post that.

WHo put the plug behind the heat sinks...uff that sucked. Board looks like it had some work prior but game functions. I shall plug it back in and test voltages etc.

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northvibe Yes I replaced all the caps on mine but I chose not to use the 5v from the original PSU for the main board. Instead I bought a modern switching power supply and it is much more stable. I will post a picture later.