Challenger Crane/ Claw Machine- ever heard of it or worked on one?

[coinopshop]

Broken wires on the head/claw assembly are a MAJOR problem with those. The wiring they used on those was super-thin and can't take the constant back-n-forth bending as the claw moves left to right. Particularly the yellow, green and gray ones were the ones I had to repair/replace constantly.
I have some used parts for those cranes, even have a working one in the shop right now.

Dave
COINOPSHOP

 

[bungelowbill]

AGE snack attack candy crane repair hints

AGE made two versions of these winner every time cranes. They were first introduced as a non-programmable version. They then came out with a programmable one. The programmable version used the NEC micro-controller. I think they used that device since it was somewhat obscure and then perhaps harder for someone to repair or copy. From what I understand these devices are no longer available. I think error code "4" is the claw up error. There is an opto-coupler for claw down and a Honeywell sub-miniature switch for claw up.
Years ago I made a replacement board for these cranes. I am thinking of doing it again. If there is some interest out there I will made a few. Let me know if there is serious interest or not.

 

[bungelowbill]

AGE candy crane trolley not moving

check the 5x20 fuses on the board. Unplug machine first since there is 120VAC on the board. (that is what causes the rope light to flash). The motor control ICs or FETs may be bad. There were two types of motor controls used by AGE. Ether motor control ICs or FETs. the first programmable boards used FETs. Later on they used the motor control ICs.

 

[bungelowbill]

AGE Challenger Crane not moving

I forgot to mention to check the motors. Turn of the machine first to be safe. Try turning the motors by hand. They should turn smoothly and not difficult to turn. If they are hard to turn they will cause fuses to blow and motor ICs to heat up and also blow. The brushes and commutators get gummed up too. It is a pain, but you can take apart, clean, and reassemble. I have done it and it works for a while. Eventually they need to get replaced. They are expensive though.

Years ago I made a replacement board for these cranes. I am thinking of doing it again, but before I do I would like to know if there are other members that need one. Let me know if you do so I know if it will be worth my effort.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

I fixed one of these during my stint in Omaha. There was a bad wire to crimp connection at the motherboard. I'd suggest looking there - the symptoms were similar, although I'll echo what the other poster said about the crane claw connections - they were around 22 gauge wire, and too small for the stress they saw.

 

[Dr. Spa]

Is anyone from this thread still around after 5 years? I'm having a somewhat similar problem;

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=3298454#post3298454

 

[Dr. Spa]

There's 7 wires (not including GREEN wires, that are Grounds).

Orange is 24V
Yellow is 12V
Red is 5V
the 2 Black are Negative (or common)

FIRST QUESTION....is this DC voltage? (I think it is, based on the old thread)

Then there remains two wires, White and White with a black tracer. These are currently spliced into larger gauge White and Black wires and I'm assuming this is the incoming 120v AC to power the power supply.



What confuses me is, currently if I plug in the machine (without the power supply), the dollar bill slot will take a my dollar, but then there's still no power at these wires, that I'm assuming should power the power supply.

Any idea if this would be normal without a power supply installed. It seems to me that once you put money in the machine it would have to then immediate send 120v to the power supply to activate everything else.

 

[LyonsArcade]

Alright, I just fixed one of these suckers. Basically the power supply has issues, I can confirm the wiring that the original poster asked about too.

Pin 1 is Orange, that is definitely the 24 volt, and it runs the motors AND the Claw, AND the sound amp! It jumpers over to it on the main board. if you trace everything out. I went through all kinds of crap to confirm this, and the sound amp will accept up to 32volts.
Pin 2 is Red, that is definitely the 5v.
Pin 3 is empty
Pin 4 is Black, that is definitely the ground
Pin 5 is empty
Pin 6 is Yellow, that is definitely the 12v and it runs the coin meter, and the coin door bulbs.
Pin 7 is empty
Pin 8 is empty, the pins are all numbered on the actual power supply.

I replaced this one by hacking in a more modern crane power supply, and put molex connectors on all the wires so it can plug in and unplug if necessary down the road.

If you look carefully at the bottom connector on the main board, there is a orange wire (24 v) that comes in at the right end of that bottom connector, then runs through a fuse, then follows a trace along the bottom to pin 11 (from the left) a brown wire, then there is an orange jumper wire heading over to pin 8 (from the left). Once I had the power supply back up and running, the jumper wire on pin 8 (from the left) had a bad connection to that pin on the pcb, and all of the 24v for the coils runs through that one connection. Replacing the pin on the wire got the coils up and running again.

Error 4 4 is the claw isn't up
Error 1 1 is the trolley never made it to the left
Error 5 5 is the coin switch is stuck
You have to wrap the drive belt (a 13.5" diameter O-ring, 1/8" thick ) around the post, but wrap the back of the ring around, not the front or it will move backwards.

 

[coinopshop]

I have a Challenger crane machine that I recently picked up. Don't know much about it.
When I plug it in, nothing happens. I noticed a keyed switch on the side. Since I didn't have a key, I just touched the two wires together to see what would happen. Well only the small power supply makes a constant clicking noise. It has 5, 12, and 24 volt outputs. Does that power supply control everything because the chase lights don't light up or neither does the credit display. Where can one get a replacement? I have ones that only have 5V and 12V. This one also needs 24V for something.

Schematics anywhere?

Thanks!

I had 9 of these cranes. Worked on almost all of them.

 

[coinopshop]

Alright, I just fixed one of these suckers. Basically the power supply has issues, I can confirm the wiring that the original poster asked about too.

Pin 1 is Orange, that is definitely the 24 volt, and it runs the motors AND the Claw, AND the sound amp! It jumpers over to it on the main board. if you trace everything out. I went through all kinds of crap to confirm this, and the sound amp will accept up to 32volts.
Pin 2 is Red, that is definitely the 5v.
Pin 3 is empty
Pin 4 is Black, that is definitely the ground
Pin 5 is empty
Pin 6 is Yellow, that is definitely the 12v and it runs the coin meter, and the coin door bulbs.
Pin 7 is empty
Pin 8 is empty, the pins are all numbered on the actual power supply.

I replaced this one by hacking in a more modern crane power supply, and put molex connectors on all the wires so it can plug in and unplug if necessary down the road.

If you look carefully at the bottom connector on the main board, there is a orange wire (24 v) that comes in at the right end of that bottom connector, then runs through a fuse, then follows a trace along the bottom to pin 11 (from the left) a brown wire, then there is an orange jumper wire heading over to pin 8 (from the left). Once I had the power supply back up and running, the jumper wire on pin 8 (from the left) had a bad connection to that pin on the pcb, and all of the 24v for the coils runs through that one connection. Replacing the pin on the wire got the coils up and running again.

Error 4 4 is the claw isn't up
Error 1 1 is the trolley never made it to the left
Error 5 5 is the coin switch is stuck
You have to wrap the drive belt (a 13.5" diameter O-ring, 1/8" thick ) around the post, but wrap the back of the ring around, not the front or it will move backwards.

I have "pinned out" the entire pcb connectors ( with the exception of the ribbon connector for the display ). Now I gotta just find it and I will post in a day or so....stay tuned.

 

[coinopshop]

I started a new thread with all the AGE Challanger Crane pcb pinouts and programming that I had done. Worth a read.

Enjoy !
Dave
coinopshop