Are you really, really sure the transformer is bad? Those hardly ever go bad. Verify the fuses and fuse holder is good as well as bottom cabinet on/off switch and wiring (use schematic to verify). Also make sure all Jones Plugs are correctly installed not only in the backbox but bottom panel from the playfield and the ones from the coin door and tilt assemblies.

Im with MrBally I have yet to see a transformer go bad.

Did you do the reading at the lugs?

Post a pic and maybe we can see something odd

This might sound obvious but is your volt meter working correctly? As others have already said and myself included, I have never seen a transformer go bad but there are some rare instances.

If indeed you think you need another one your best best is another used one from someone on this site or RGP which you could pick up cheap. They are fairly common and you do not need the exact one from that machine and year.

Ken

Hello,

First just to clear any doubts about a defective return path :
Check the continuity of your power cord ( hot ,neutral ,ground)
Power cords/plugs do go south.(bad)

Whats your result?

Based on known & reliable ground (AKA -a receptacle ground plug terminal should be sufficient assuming it is properly wired ,check w/meter 1st)carefully (no welding please)run a wire into the ground terminal in the receptacle attached to your meter lead (set on Volts)with your Funfest pinball plugged in then check with the other lead testing each terminal on the transformer.

Whats your result?

That doesnt sound right?

BE CAREFUL!!!

Did you do this first?>>> MOST IMPORTANT!!!

UNPLUGGED!!!

WHAT WAS THE RESULT?

NEXT TEST UNPLUGGED!!!

One meter lead should be going to the neutral on the cords plug & the other lead to the neutral at the transformer terminal.

Same for the Hot too.

Result?

If that checks out ok .(Continuity)

Next step.

BE CAREFUL!!!
Then to make sure you have a good receptacle neutral ,stick one lead into the small slot (HOT SLOT)(looking at it like a smiley face the one on the right )and the other into the neutral? (Larger slot is the one on the left ) 120 volts give or take

Result?

What you are doing is by making sure you have a return path (just making sure the receptacle is not defective.

If that checks out ok then:

I would say if your transformers primary connection check out OK (Clean and tight solder connections ) and the the secondaries are not stepping down the voltage i would say it is a boat anchor.

In a short answer electricity is on a path like a boomerang ( what goes out must come back)for a completed circuit path.

Confused? If so do not do anything till you are totally confident in it!!!

Lets us know?

I highly believe its a bad plug /cord.

More info>>>Transformer. >>> from>> http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index1.htm

A transformer is two (or more) coils of wire wrapped around a ferrous core. The 'primary' coil (wall voltage) creates a magnetic field, which is coupled into (usually two) secondary coils. This produces lower voltages to power the game's lamps and solenoids. That is, the game's transformer takes AC wall voltage and steps it down to the appropriate voltages needed for the game. This usually includes 6 volts AC for the lamps, and 24 to 30 volts AC for the solenoids. An exception was Bally during the 1970s (50 volts), and Williams. Williams used 50 volts AC for coil voltage until 1962 (Friendship7), when Williams changed to 24 volts AC. The reason? Fifty volts is potentially lethal, so Williams felt it was better to use a lower voltage. Some manufacturers (Williams in 1972, and Bally in 1975, and Gottlieb in 1978) then convert the AC voltage to DC using a bridge rectifier for some coils. Genco also used DC voltage in the 1950s, by using big selenium rectifier disc plates mounted on the transformer to output about 18 volts DC for the solenoids.
Does a transformer ever go bad? Short version - NO. But I hear this all the time from inexperienced EM (and solid state!) repair people - "the transformer is bad." In fact, this is rarely the case. In all the EM games I have fixed (I fix about 200-300 per year), never has the transformer been bad. I have seen one bad transformer though, and it was so obvious it was bad (it was a melted pile of goo, since transformers are potted in wax, as they heat up and the windings burn, the wax melts and burns.)

Luckily EM transformers are very easy to test. The primary wall voltage (input) comes in on two lugs, and the transformer outputs usually two voltages: 6 volts (for the lights), and 25 to 50 volts for the solenoids. So there are usually three output lugs, with one 'common'. Put a DMM meter on AC voltages and one lead on 'common'. Put the other lead on one of the other lugs and check for 6 volts AC and 25 to 50 volts AC. Note 'ground' is not a reference point here, the common lug is used instead. There is also usually a "high tap" transformer lug, and this will be 2 or 3 volts higher than the normal solenoid voltage.

Transformer to a 1972 Bally Fireball.

Most people that try and measure voltage from the transformer are usually doing it wrong. Common mistakes include using "ground" as the voltage reference (there's no ground for these AC voltages). Also sometimes they are using the wrong transformer lug as the reference or common lug. Another mistake is using DC instead of AC on the meter

blytrans1.jpg

i found power going into the Transformer, but nothing coming out.

xerofuzzion check it like this.

Plugged in (Careful)
Try it like this>>> One lead on the "C" the other one tests the 6v & 24v

Meter or Low voltage neon tester should give these readings.

IMG_1940.JPG IMG_1941.JPG IMG_1943.JPG IMG_1947.JPG

COOL

READ this >>> http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index1.htm#top

Loads of info.

Awesome!

So did I miss something here?

I understand that you were testing the Transformer wrong and originally said you had no power but was that because a wire was hooked up wrong to the Transformer and you moved it and now it is fixed?

Ken

YES its good to go.

Based on this:
Most people that try and measure voltage from the transformer are usually doing it wrong. Common mistakes include using "ground" as the voltage reference (there's no ground for these AC voltages). Also sometimes they are using the wrong transformer lug as the reference or common lug.

This is the correct way> Match next quote for answer (5 posts up)

Thanks for clearing that up Pin-it.

Always nice when once in a while you find a simple fix for a problem.

Ken

Bet that stopped from working