Early Bally SS question

jdubb350

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I just recently picked up my first Bally, a Strikes and Spares, and I got it for a good deal, so I picked it up without ever powering it on first. I got it home and powered it up and just a few gi bulbs and a few backbox bulbs turned on and that was it. It was a grail for me, so I am not too worried about cost or what it will take to get it running, just haven't had much time to mess with it.

Fast forward to last night, I went to pick up a project arcade game from a guy, and he had a Bally Embryon, powered it up and it did the same thing. It's a good price as well, and the boards actually look better than my Strikes and Spares, so I am thinking about picking it up.

Really mostly curious as to what causes this problem the most? Is it usually the connectors need to be repinned? I heard that early Bally's are pretty notorious for this. Just curious if there is anything else obvious I should look for once I go back to get it? Just never done anything with a Bally before, and don't want to get in over my head with 2 basket cases if they are going to be a big pain in the ass.
 
Bally Pins

I agree - look with a strong white light for any discoloration on the connectors. If you have any, you'll need to replace the connector and housing for the connectors, and in extreme cases, the pins on the board.

If the connector is really burned, you should plan to pull the board and re-flow the pins. The connector may disintegrate on removal - take a picture with a measuring tape next to the connector first, so you know how big it is (helps to find the right replacement).

Replacement pin and connector kits are available from a bunch of places. I buy from Marco Specialty, but there are others.

Look for any "bubbles" on the MPU board (typically upper left in the head) at the bottom center (where the batteries were located). This indicates you have acid damage - you can try to clean and repair it (there are instructions on the web), but if that doesn't hurt, you'll probably be buying an Ultimate MPU. I've bought a few for customers, and they work really well.

Boards to check: MPU (upper left)
Solenoid Driver / Lamp Driver (upper right generally)
 
Cool, sounds like about what I expected. Thanks for the help guys!

On my S&S I definitely need to repin the connectors and my MPU has some acid damage. But on the Embryon, I didn't see any acid damage, but I wasn't able to look at the power rectifier board under the playfield. Sounds like I may go get it and try to get both of them up and running at the same time.
 
Your Strikes and Spares will probably have three connectors on the rectifier board that will need to be replaced: an 8 pin, a 10 pin, and a 20 pin.

If the LED is "locked on" steady on the MPU board, probably battery leakage damage has affected the reset circuit. Depending on the extent of the damage and whether you feel you can feel you can repair it yourself, you would probably be better off buying an Alltek Systems "Ultimate MPU" replacement board. It is an excellent board plus it has free play option built-in.
 
Your Strikes and Spares will probably have three connectors on the rectifier board that will need to be replaced: an 8 pin, a 10 pin, and a 20 pin.

If the LED is "locked on" steady on the MPU board, probably battery leakage damage has affected the reset circuit. Depending on the extent of the damage and whether you feel you can feel you can repair it yourself, you would probably be better off buying an Alltek Systems "Ultimate MPU" replacement board. It is an excellent board plus it has free play option built-in.

Thanks Ken! I think those are exactly the 3 connectors that need to be replaced on the S&S. Unfortunately the MPU wasn't getting any power as I don't remember the LED turning on at all when I had it turned on a few weeks ago.

Upon looking at pics on IPDB the Embryon looks like the power board is setup very different, and I noticed Marco doesn't sell a repinning kit for that one. Is it usually the same kind of problem on the next generation Bally SS's? I may just have to bring it home and start looking it over and see what's going on with it.
 
Well at least that gives me a place to start if I can talk the wife into letting me pick up another project! Thanks for the links as well. I like that great plains website and I can never seem to remember it, but I have it forever now!
 
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