The dishwasher vs Xenon
When I bought this I noticed prior to beginning the full restoration and new playfield swap the wring didn’t look right. There was a large purple wire that went from the large orange G.I. wire by the left side slingshot lights that went all the way down to the wire braid just past the last light on the left where the plastic tube exits. This purple wire also was connected to the tab on one light socket.
Problem was all the Mota lights and the xenon circle lights were all on constantly. Saw how they were supposed to work in a few videos. I spent a lot of time studying the conversation Quench and Tomdrum had about all his feature lights being struck on. I threw money at the problem with new lamp boards, this brightened the lights a little bit. Also finally took the time to get new Molex housing and eliminate the oem style 40 year old connectors.
So cut out the purple wire out and removed two bulbs thinking the G.I. and feature light circuits were possible crossed. This made the mota and xenon lights go very dim. The right hand side feature lights were still on.
When everything went into the dishwasher it was a tangled up mess coming out. Some of the braids were broken. I had drawn the paths on the old playfield but I expected to be in a world of hurt since I knew going in it was hacked with the purple wire someone had added and I never had played or seen a good working xenon. Did the best I could to piece it back together.
So thinking a bad solder joint between the left and right hand sides of the wire braid now... I grabbed one of the alligator clips jumper wires I bought earlier and picked two random points on the braid from right to left. Holy Shit! What a difference. All lights were brighter and the spinning rotation effects I had seen in videos was now working.
I had also tested there was no continuity on anything from the rectifier board j1 plug unplugged between G.I., switched, and returns.
I expect the using this jumper and simply moving it along he route I will find the bad break or weak solder joint in the braid.
But What i need to know is: Which lights on the left side are G.I. and which are switched?
I think it is a mix. Without looking I think there are 5 or six from the plastic tube exit to just below the side saucer.