(Topic ID: 230427)

Williams System 11 score diplay issue (FIXED)

By pencilneck

5 years ago



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    #1 5 years ago

    It was working, packed pin up and took to an expo... set pin up, dead segments in display at the 10th and 16th positions. I've swapped out the ribbon cable with a known good one, no change. Visual inspection of circuit board, no issues found (cracked solder joints, burnt spots).

    Right now I suspect a single point of failure, but I don't know what drives any given position on the display and in looking at the factory wiring diagram, I can't really make out what I feel is a common location for both upper and lower rows that might cause this.

    Any suggestions?
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    Whirlwind in case it matters.
    EDIT... Earthshaker.. it is Earthshaker that has this issue.

    #2 5 years ago

    Whirlwind? Not Earthshaker like the panel shows??

    At any rate, the digits are pulsed in pairs which is why the top and bottom are out on the same columns. These particular columns based on your picture are strobe 9 and strobe 16. U44 generates the strobe from a 4 bit input this is a 74154 4-16 decoder.... according to its data sheet, the input pattern to get strobe 9 would be H-L-L-L and strobe 16 H-H-H-H - since there are a ton of other inputs/outputs that are working, I don't think it's this chip. You can stick a logic probe on the output pins to check this. From there it's just following the signal onto the display board - it's probably going to be a connector issue, a cracked header pin, or possibly one of the resistor/capacitor packs have failed. Odd timing though, some machines don't like to be moved, which usually does point to bad connector pins.

    They're probably IDC they can 'look' good but still not make good contact.

    #3 5 years ago

    Ugh... yeah, Earthshaker, I swapped out the ribbon cable from the Whirlwind, no change.
    There are no IDC connectors, I did crimp trifurcon terminals... however, I'll admit I did not replace the headers on the display, but did everywhere else. Wiggle testing and unplugging/plugging the display up hasn't helped.

    I can go ahead and reflow the headers on the score display, no harm in trying that out. I've not tried swapping out the display to the Whirlwind yet, can give that a go unless they are some how oddly different.

    #4 5 years ago

    FIXED!

    Desoldered headers and then resoldered. Plugged back up, all good now. I went over the header with a strong magnifying glass a few times, never saw any visual issues. And nothing had been unplugged during transport... pin do what pin do...

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    These are the original headers on here. If it gives me any more issues I will replace them at that time.

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