Eight Ball
Bally, 1977Hi I have a 1977 Bally Eight Ball and I'm looking to replace the rectifier board (AS-2518-18). I have done some searching and I like the Pinhead & GPE boards, But both boards are are OUT OF STOCK at Every place i have looked! If anyone could please point a noob in the right direction of a reliable place to pick one of these up it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Looks like big daddy has rottendog boards in stock:
http://www.bigdaddy-enterprises.com/ProductPages/RotDogBoards.html
Do you NEED to replace it? There's not much to these boards and it's almost as much work to replace it as it is to rebuild the existing board.
I rebuild the rectifier board in every Bally I get, it's not hard, I buy the kit from BigDaddy. I like to solder so these boards are kind of fun to do. Since there are some big solder pads and no ICs you can probably do the job with a pistol type soldering iron and a solder sucker.
Get to Fort Wayne any? If you do buy the kit and drop in and we'll rebuild it.
Better yet, sell me that EBD, I'd love to have one 
The ones from GPE are normally listed as sold out on the website. If you contact Ed he will add you to the list and you will normally have one within a week or two.
The game is working but when left on it will dim all the lights at random and the pop bumper seem to get slow. I can see some burning on the board on the left bridge rectifier. I was thinking of getting a rebuild kit, but kind of worried the board might then be the weak link. Will just the rebuild kit and connectors be a good long term fix? I will be keeping this machine and redoing it a little at a time. I will add some pics soon. thanks
Aw, that's a pretty tame one. A bit of rework and he's good to go.
The bridge rectifiers were probably good, I'm not sure I would replace but would definitely clean them with alcohol and apply new heat sink compound. I would guess the lamp dimming is due to the condition of the plugs - definitely replace them. Replace the F5 fuse clip, check the others for cracks.
That Pinhead board uses thicker than normal copper - required for high current. The GPE one does as well. There's a good reason these sell out often - they're reliable and well designed. GPE sold the last one earlier this week and will be out for about month -- ran out of bare boards.
If you want to see a board that is a good candidate for replacement - see this pix (thanks John).
Ed
Ok so after looking a little closer I found that the place in Kalamazoo Mi my sister had do work a few years ago did a crappy job. $500 Only changed the MPU NO connectors at all and this WTF!!! Instead of fixing the burnt head pins on the rectifier board they cut the wires at the connectors 1 & 2 on the J1 (gen, ill, ret, display) and the 1 &2 wire on the J3 (gen, ill, ret) and screw the wires to the back wall of the back box. Then took and cut the wires at 10 & 11 at the J3 (gen, ill, bus) and wire 8 at J3 and soldered them to the back side of the board and ran them to the 3 wire white plug in pic 3. Last pic shows the 10, 11 & 8 wires in the center bottom of the board. Looks like they did something to the left bridge rectifier too.This is a mess for a noob like me, but I'm stubborn lol. So obviously I need a connector rebuild kit, but what about the board is it worth trying to repair? Advice please? Thanks
Your board actually looks quite good and can be restored with a bit of TLC. *IF* you have to replace the bridge rectifiers, there is a method to this with your board but it isn't pretty. Clay used to have info on this along with pictures here:
http://www.pinrepair.com/ But that article got taken down. Hopefully somebody here can link you to some similar pictures.
A bit of good info can also be found at www.pinwiki.com
It does look like BR1 has been replaced at some time in the past on your board. If leaving them in place (I would) - make sure all three have their 'faces' at the same height so they can all make good, solid contact with the metal mounting plate.
Ed
If the hard part about replacing the rectifiers is getting them the to the same height for good contact would it be easier to put them on the front? If replacing them is a hassle then I would rather get a new board than have a half rebuild one. Also aren't the original ones 8 amp and to small? I see everyone talking about 35 amp is why I ask. A little lost in the pinwiki on this matter sorry I'm very new at this. Again thanks for helping
It takes some creative bending of the leads to fit all 3 on the front but it can be done. Here is an article I found that shows all 3 facing front.
http://techniek.flipperwinkel.nl/ballyss/rep/index1.htm#ps
I don't know if you have space behind the mounting plate but I mounted 2 rectifiers facing front and cut a hole in the mounting plate to mount the middle rectifier (with heatsink) facing rear.
I'm not afraid to attempt the rectfiers but with out a how to for dummys post I'm clueless. Would have just desoldered the old ones and soldered the new ones on the front leaving a gap between the board and the rectifier and added heat sinks.
I see much bigger rectifiers than the old ones. About one inch of room behind the mounting plate for that. Could I get a shorter heat sink or shave the center one down? Those look a little too long maby. Oh! What about longer board mounting pins?
Quoted from Arlie1180:I'm not afraid to attempt the rectfiers but with out a how to for dummys post I'm clueless. Would have just desoldered the old ones and soldered the new ones on the front leaving a gap between the board and the rectifier and added heat sinks.
You are correct, this is the way you do it. Just dog leg the new rectifiers on the front with a gap and add heatsinks. But as Ed said, you probably don't need to do that unless you know for sure the rectifiers are to blame. You MUST replace all of the molex male and female connectors. Then inspect the fuse clips.
I used 1/2 inch mounting pins on my Trident. GPE also has 1 inch screw-on mounting pins but I don't know the size of the mounting holes.
The heatsink is 1 1/4 inch. The rectifier is about 1/4 inch. I wasn't concerned about the space in the back but you could mount the rectifier closer to the board than I did.
That's a pretty easy board to repair. I would remove the transformer, board and mounting plate and work on it at the bench.
Bob
I agree with the rebuild suggestion. You board looks really good compared to the wrecks I have see. Just spend the 30 or so in parts from big daddy enterprises and replace the header pins, the connectors, and get a full rebuild kit. I would also suggest grabbing a fresh set of fuses so you have everything fresh and new. There is a good walk thru about half way thru the article here http://techniek.flipperwinkel.nl/ballyss/rep/index1.htm
Please make sure to read the whole thing before you start soldering. Pay close attention to the bulletproofing. A must on these old boards. Follow the rebuild and it will be better then new. Here is a rectifier board I rebuilt with the bridges moves to the front.
OK I have a rebuild kit for the board and a rebuild kit for connectors from http://www.bigdaddy-enterprises.com on the way. I will post some pics when I'm done with the rebuild and bulletproofing. Thanks for the pics.
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Battle Creek, MI