I was gonna ask that as well but got distracted. It’s so odd that they fade to that pinkish color.

In the pics, it doesn't seem to really detract as long as they cleaned up nice.

They are not pink, it's a light effect. Are most like Amber color.
I really doubt that blue can fade to this color......maybe a clear one with time

So you replaced the posts with amber posts? Didn't keep the originals?

The blue ones fade pink. It’s one of the natural wonders of the world.

I didn't replaced the posts

It's hard to think that all the posts faded to same color\shade
tone, even the ones under the plastics.
I think machine was released with different sets of posts

It's possible, but yes, the blue posts faded to a pinkish/clear hue. If you are happy with them so be it. It's your machine. Mine were all over the spectrum of amount of fade so I replaced them all.

Like I said said they all are the same color, don't look like faded at all. All got cleaned and polished, they are really look nice with the machine environment.
I know at the end of the day are personal preference.

Having recently replaced the original "pink" posts in my Xenon, and having discovered the remains of the blue dye in some of them hidden behind the rubbers, I can dispel that doubt for you.

Thank for the clarification, but like I said I like the result I got with my Xenon. Don't really matter to me what color they were or they are. I am okay with what I got

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My playfield does not have this post installed. This is a recent CPR gold Xenon. Can somebody please give me specs on the post, and a part # for a supplier that has it in stock? The manual listed it as AS-2836-1.

Also, should I leave it out? Thoughts? How many of you have this post installed?

I don't think it was in my old playfield. Thanks, mk

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It's the same minipost that's used right above the two inlane/outlane guides, and the two to the right of the spinner and left of the ramp opening. You're very unlike to find a new one though, when I was buying parts for mine last year I couldn't find one anywhere. The original was an 8-32 threaded post, which was fine for use between the flippers and the in/outlanes, but the two next to the spinner and ramp took a real beating, and these days are usually replaced with a similar minipost with a thicker 10-32 thread, which you can find just about anywhere. My suggestion, if you still have the 8-32 posts next to the spinner and ramp in yours, replace them with 10-32's (you may need to drill a slightly bigger hole) and relocate one of the 8-32's to the flipper area.

Bally: S2145
It will save the ball sometimes, it's important to be there

Fifth from the top here:
http://www.pbresource.com/postscrew.html

Thanks much for the help to A1k71 and jibmums! I Installed a 8-32 from a old parts playfield. I'm guessing the 8/32 will be OK in the drain area, but I'm taking jibmums advice and replacing the 8-32 next to the spinner and ramp with 10-32 .

I already had 2 post saves in 5 games. I can see that this post is really important and adds a bunch to the game.

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I forget that post is there all the time and it’s the best surprise when you get a weak ramp shot and it rolls right between the flippers and unexpectedly bounces back into play. Like “Oh crap!!!! Get it!”

By any chance do you guys know if there is an apron decal available for sale somewhere in the web??

Just thought I’d mention I have an original Xenon poster in a frame for anyone interested. I plan on going to pinball expo and could bring this there. Would like to get $125, this is an original poster and I’d say these are quite rare, I’ve not seen another. Let me know, thanks!

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Quench updated the code a while back to brighten the left side of the playfield by making the controlled lamps near the exit chamber to act as GI (always on) unless a tube shot is made, in which case they flash.

This is a good way to brighten up the exit chamber and left side of the PF without hardwiring controlled lamps as GI. Please PM Quench or I if you are interested in trying this modified code for your Xenon.

I have a GQ-4x programmer and was using TI TMS 2732JL-45 's. I had to burn 3 times with double write selected and set speed to -2. Thanks to Quench for his guidance on this and for writing the new code.

If you are using the GQ-4X to write roms, be sure you have an external power supply. I used a 9v dc 1.2 amp. If you are using the GQ-4X to do anything less than a 27256, you should be setting the speed to -2 and make sure double write is selected, and do several burns to make sure you get a good bootable image on your rom.

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Thanks for giving the lamp code update a try and letting me know that it works!

Here's the original post from a year ago:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/xenon-clubmembers-onlytry-xeeeenon/page/25#post-6482758

Hello, i would like to become a member of this forum, i do own 2 xenon pins, as well as eight others, although i haven't touched them in aout 10 years, they were both undergoing restorations, i have a new gold edition repop playfield for one of them, i just haven't gotten around to it, but now that i am a pinside member, i will probably get going on them again and i will probably be using this forum for tips, there seems to be a ton more information from when i got back into the hobby

Welcome back! There are great people here with tons knowledge.

Thanks for the warm welcome, i really appreciate it

welcome back to the club. Super friendly people here, if you have questions somebody knows how to help you, just in case you need it.

That locked ball should be kicked out as soon as switch #01 (the one directly above the lock hole) is triggered by the second ball. Have you tried that one in switch test mode to see if it's working correctly?

That switch also temporarily turns off the background sound, so if you start a game with the glass off, press that switch, if your background sound stays on, it's not working correctly.

Damn it!! Had a killer game going (1,4 million, on ball 2, lock lit, moto at 60k (2nd round) maxed superbounus 4x) and the *$%#'n slam tilt goes off and I was not shaking the machine.

I do get occasional random pop bumper firing, but I don't recall this happening before on my machine.

All my switch caps are new.

I was going to check & replace diodes on slam, right outlane, left thumper, and DT #1 switches. Any other suggestions?

Please help if you can, Thanks much, mk

switch matrix chart.JPG

I had this exact same issue happen! I changed the diodes on all of the drop target switches and the roll overs. I still cannot for the life of me follow the logic of tracking down switch matrix ghosts but that seems to have helped.

In my experience, phantom switch closures are not caused by switch diodes on the same return line. I would start by checking the coin door switches to make sure no diodes or wiring is touching the coin door. You could also record your games so we could see which switches are possible suspects if it happens again.

Thanks for your responses. So far, I changed the diodes on both slam tilts (under PF and on tilt panel) and it seems to have calmed the random pop bumper firing, and I have had no more random slam tilts.

I never had an issue with the machine adding credits from random switch closures. I will check the coin switch diodes and wires when I get a chance.

I just checked the coin door, coin switches look fine. I did change the diode on the coin door slam tilt.

I played about 8 games. I only counted (1) random pop bumper. One game was 1.5 million, lots of multiball, no problems.

To summarize, I have changed all (3) of the slam tilt diodes (tilt panel, under PF, and coin door) and this seems to have solved the problem so far.

What causes these random switch closures? I thought a diode either worked, or it didn't. I also didn't think they shorted out when they fail and would just open. I did see the post below from Vec-tor:

<<Bally software geek
Notes: The Bally pinball software has two programs that run at the same time.
------- Fast acting solenoids are programmed to activate when a condition of
------- [open-closed] The rest of the switch program is designed to read
------- [open-closed-closed].
------- Zero phase is from the +50 volts. So noise from the flipper causes the little
------- spikes to the [open-closed] part of the software. Thus, a random fast response
------- solenoid gets picked and fired... even though a switch associated with the assembly
------- is not activated.>>

Are the spikes getting through the "leaky" diodes? Thanks, mk

An error in the switch matrix caused by a shorted diode. It could be an actual faulty diode or a switch stack someones pulled apart and incorrectly put back together such that the leafs the diode is connected to are touching/shorted or someone incorrectly wiring a switch. It can also happen by a switch that's making contact with a lamp either directly or third party via an assembly.

soren made a nice video explaining how the switch matrix works and what happens when there's a shorted diode. The video is based on a WPC system but the same applies.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/100-challenge-help-me-fix-my-taf#post-5533732

The comments you quoted from vec-tor are related to phantom pop bumper activations that's an inherent 'feature' with old Ballys/Sterns. It's a totally separate issue to your random slam tilts.

What I find strange is that most of the games I had with phantom coil fires is that they didn't do it before swaps with the original parts, but after doing swaps and replacing all diodes, caps and switches, did the phantom hits start happening. My thought is that it could be cheaply made parts?

Replacing what was missing/faulty caps on the pop bumpers might help exacerbate the problem since they now store energy picked up from flippers current transients.
You can try the 2.2uF 250V polyester capacitors across the EOS switch and also the 0.1uF 500V ceramic capacitor across the flipper button switch to help clamp the current transients. The capacitors will help extend the life of the switches since they reduce the arcing.

I was hoping someone would dub a second bridge for only the flippers to see whether
it isolates the frequency noise and stop random pops & kickers firing.

I don't think it will make a difference because you'll still have flipper electrical noise causing cross talk onto the switch matrix wiring. The problem occurs when you release/flip around the same moment the CPU scans the switch matrix. The arcing on the flippers switches is generating more noise which is why the capacitors help the situation but they can't resolve it 100%.
No other coil activations cause the issue because they're activated/deactivated gently on zero crossing resulting in no high current transients.

I added caps to the cabinet buttons and EOS switches and it reduced it tremendously.

I love it when you guys talk about this stuff, its fascinating to me. My left pop bumper fires randomly every game and it appears to be when I release the flipper, so Im interested in the EOS cap suggestion. Also anything else you guys suggest!

Williams 2.2uF flipper caps on my Seawitch, I'll try to dig around and remember what I put on the flipper buttons.

I'm 90% sure there are listed in the Centaur manual, cabinet wiring with notations that the German models came with them from the factory.

At a minimum, the flipper and EOS will last much longer due to arc reduction.

Aaaayep! My '80 Skateball and '78 Playboy have the random coil firings on one of the pop bumpers, but none of my three '81 Ballys do it. It doesn't happen all that often however, but it always happens as I release the flipper button. After reading a few other threads on this subject, I decided it's something that I can live with. If capacitors can help though, I might give that a try. I'm wondering though if it's maybe a design flaw that Bally rectified by 1981??

Nope. Just luck, some pins more prone than others due to dirty harness, wire placement, how clean the switch contacts are, etc.

Bally decided they could live with it too. From the Bally FO-601 "Theory of Operation"

"a noise pulse may cause a solenoid to pull (very-very infrequent). However, no points will be added to the players score."

The full paragraph:
"It is to be noted that multiple reading of a switch takes time, i.e., it must be done over several zero crossings before a valid closure can be verified and recorded. This procedure would spoil the response time to a hit on a thumper bumper or slingshot or any electromechanical device that must react quickly. To overcome this difficulty, a special, quick reaction subroutine exists in the program dealing with 'normal operation'. This routine takes place immediately after the memory record of valid switch closures is reviewed. It consists of a review of the previous and current history of just the solenoids that require a quick reaction. If an 'open', 'closed' record is found, the solenoid is energized. No scoring is involved in this routine. The net result is slingshots and thumper bumpers respond 'instantaneously'. They are not allowed to score until a valid closure is detected later. Because of this quick reaction subroutine, a noise pulse may cause a solenoid to pull (very-very infrequent). However, no points will be added to the players score. "

Looking at the matrix if you have a stuck coin chute, the #1 target is knocked down, and buttons 2, 3, or 4, has a shorted diode then the game would slam when you rolled over the button with the shorted diode. You could try unplugging the front door while playing and note if that stops the slamming.

I took the suggestion from a few of you and repainted the BG frame and polished the metal up. Looks much better.

Of course, as soon as I took it off I noticed there were chunks out of it. Time to break out the fiberglass patch and sand.

And what the hell…while you have it apart you might as well paint and clear some metal, right?

Sometimes the OCD we have in this hobby can be a bitch.

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Love that dual purpose clothing rack

Anyone mid resto?
Looks like a sweet repo:
ebay.com link: itm

Hey, for $22, it’s a great investment. Plenty of room, and you can spray all sides without having to flip what you’re painting over, etc. Bent some wire hanger “standoffs” for stability. Just contort them into existing screw holes. Works like a charm.

And it’s sturdy enough to hold some significant weight. I even hung every part from a large patio table I refurbed last summer, and sprayed it in one shot.
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