Hmm. Power Play machine locks up after a few minutes.

JahBarron

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Hmm. Power Play machine locks up after a few minutes.

Voltages on the rectifier test good although the board looks rough.

Rebuilt the HV section, tests fine. Adjusted TP2 to 170vdc, TP4 tested 229vdc. Haven't done any of the ground jumper work listed at pinrepair.com

Game locks up after a few minutes. Doesn't fully reset. Scores go to "0". Bumpers and all lock, but the flipper still work.

Had the MPU looked over and new ROMS installed after having this problem last month. Last time I kept getting it to boot up properly and would play until it froze. Eventually the LED wouldnt start to go through any of its flashes. This time I'm leaving it be until I look elsewhere. As posted previously, the solenoid driver board's diodes seem to test open, but I heard that a lot of DMM don't get enough to the diodes to properly test them.

Any ideas?
 
That MPU board came with the crappy IC sockets. Be sure they have been replaced and that there is no battery acid leakage damage.

Has the main filter capacitor been replaced on the solenoid driver board? Checked for cold solder joints? Connector pins checked?
 
One clue may be that the knocker knocks during game play.

MPU board has been cleaned up and tuned (reset circuit redone, battery off, ic sockets replaced). It tested great in another machine before being brought back to this one.

Solenoid driver has had the high voltage circuit redone. C23 is newer Sprague so I didn't bother with it. The C26, admittedly, was improperly installed reverse which let to F2 being blown instantly upon power on. Circuit seems fine, however. Adjusted HV trim to test at TP2 to 170vdc and get a reading of 229vdc at TP4. Most displays (player 1+2 and Credits/BIP) look great.

Could the toasted looking rectifier be the culprit? I replaced the 1N4004 diodes near F1 when F2 was blowing on power up before I realized the C26 was installed improperly.

Lights look good. Solenoids all fire. The one quirk is the the knocker knocks during gameplay. I assume this shouldn't happen and could be a clue? As I stated, the diodes tested weird but I've heard that this is common and that one needs to pull the diode out to truly test it.

I really don't wanna fire it up again to test the voltages upon freeze up, but I will if it will help diagnose the problem. I feel like doing this last time lead to bad ROMS, maybe? I dunno. I'm stuck.

P.S. The amount of joy I got out of getting the game to fire up post proper installation of the filter cap was fantastic. The let down of the machine freezing up is pretty much what I knew I would be getting into purchasing my first pin. Help me solve this! I want joy!
 
Oh, and pins 10 (dreaded orange) and 12 (red) on J3 on the rectifier look burnt. Only on the surface of the board, though. Not the actual pins or white plastic connector. There is a large glob of solder on the solder side at this point, however, so I assume this has been replaced at some point? Please keep in mind that I am not responsible for most of this soldering. The soldering I did do (the diodes) was a nightmare to begin with as all of the solder pads were fragile.

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SDB: TP1 tested 5.18 vdc, TP2 5.12 vdc

Recitfier (J3 plugged in):

TP1 5.67 vdc
TP2 243 vdc
TP3 14.31 vdc
TP4 6.3 vac
TP5 43.7 vdc
 
In order to have a reliable game in this vintage of SS Bally, you MUST rebuild those headers on the rectifier board at a minimum. You should also repin all of the connectors that attach to that board at a minimum as well. In reality all connectors and headers should be rebuilt for maximum stability. You may get in-spec voltages at the TP's but when you try to pass current through those burnt pins, you get resistance and less voltage.
 
The rectifier board is one of the easiest repairs in pinball to perform. Head on over to GPE and check if they have a replacement Bally/Stern rectifier board in stock. If not, email him and ask to be put on the waiting list. He builds them in batches...

In the meantime, you really need to address the bridge rectifiers - they are undersized for the job and probably lots their heat dissipating ability - hence the lockup after a period of time.

Then, after this, you may have to go to an Altek MPU board - plays over 90 different games including yours.

The problem should be a relatively simple fix. There is no reason in this day and age for any Bally or Stern SS to remain broken for anything serious. Now Williams games are whole 'nother kettle of fish and don't have the same aftermarket support in parts/boards.

Good luck.
 
I'll be sure to wait to tread Williams waters. This is my first pin so I just stick with Bally for now.

Anyhow, I've already emailed Ed and told him to let me know when he has a rectifier available. I just kinda feel like this one looks rough on my newbie eyes. Doesn't it? IN the meantime, I'll change out the connectors and pins to see if I can get it off the ground.

As far as the MPU goes, mine looks pretty nice actually. The battery didn't manage to get at it too much. I've had ti looked over by someone with much much more experience thatn me and also had it put in another machine and played for over an hour. No problems there.

Anybody have any leads on this knocker going off when it shouldn't (or at least when I think it shouldn't)?
 
I decided to scrap rebuilding the rectifier (for now... I'll just take my time on it). I ended up grabbing a GPE rectifier board. Anything I should be aware of while resoldering the transformer wires? Ed's directions mention using a "high voltage" soldering iron while connecting E8 (2 black wires). Anyone know why?

I'm using a Weller WTCPT soldering station. I feel like that's high voltage enough. I mean, I can get out my Weller gun (<--sarcasm).
 
In the meantime, you really need to address the bridge rectifiers - they are undersized for the job and probably lots their heat dissipating ability - hence the lockup after a period of time.

How does a bridge lock up? What happens when it does? How can you tell with a meter? If the bridges were such a problem then why did they last 20+ years? The only bridge that's really underrated for the job is the general illumination bridge and even then in a Power Play the original bridge is not going to give you much of a problem in home use. I don't disagree that the rectifier board could probably use some work but the bridges being a problem tends to be way overblown. Especially in the earliest SS games (like power play).

Then, after this, you may have to go to an Altek MPU board - plays over 90 different games including yours.

Sounds like he's already done a bunch of work on the MPU. I would try to stick with what's there personally after putting that much time into it. Especially replacing the sockets. That's a real pain.

Now Williams games are whole 'nother kettle of fish and don't have the same aftermarket support in parts/boards.

There are reproduction boards available for Williams system 3-7.

http://pinballpcb.com/
http://rottendog.us/
 
The bridges don't lock up, the game does. Having redone the MPU and the HV section, I've turned to it having something to do with the voltage falling low and therefore causing the MPU to go down. I've soldered all of the E points into the GPE board and after doing the connectors tonight, we'll see.
 
Sorry Lindsey, I mispoke on the rectifiers. My real point is that "something" (and not the BRs as you correctly point out) are failing after a short duration. BRs, from what I understand, simply fail, period so they would blow a fuse everytime.

I too did a bunch of work on an original Stern Seawitch board and at some point just gave up and spent the money on the board from Alltek.

As for the Williams games, yup, I just discovered this. Though I have to say, compared to the Alltek boards for Bally Stern, they are a "factor" more expensive. Ouch. But they are available. Thanks for pointing that out.

Cheers,
Mike
 
Sorry Lindsey, I mispoke on the rectifiers. My real point is that "something" (and not the BRs as you correctly point out) are failing after a short duration. BRs, from what I understand, simply fail, period so they would blow a fuse everytime.

Hey no worries :) I was only asking you to explain a little further. When giving repair advice it's always good to give the person a method to determine if what you're saying is really the problem, though that's not always going to be possible I guess.

I too did a bunch of work on an original Stern Seawitch board and at some point just gave up and spent the money on the board from Alltek.

Nothing wrong with that approach. Especially with something like a -17.

As for the Williams games, yup, I just discovered this. Though I have to say, compared to the Alltek boards for Bally Stern, they are a "factor" more expensive. Ouch. But they are available. Thanks for pointing that out.

Agreed. They are quite a bit more expensive and the Williams games don't tend to suffer as much from corrosion damage so I don't see any of the reproduction boards in my future.

EDIT: Ironically someone with a classic Stern machine emailed me today for help through my web site and I'm pretty sure they have a blown solenoid bridge on their rectifier board. haha!
 
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Did you rebuild the 5 volt regulator section of the solenoid driver board? Do you have an early or late solenoid driver board? Let's see a picture of it.
 
I rebuilt the high voltage circuit on the solenoid driver. It's the "newer" one with the fuse.

I'll snap a photo when I get home from work.
 
I rebuilt the high voltage circuit on the solenoid driver. It's the "newer" one with the fuse.

I'll snap a photo when I get home from work.

So then you did NOT rebuild the +5 volt regulator section. Sounds like all you rebuilt was the section for the score displays.
 
Ken - this is true. I'll get onto fixing the +5v regulator after I get this board in. I just figured I get a new rectifier board and take my time rebuilding the old one. There will probably be more Bally pins in my future...

Here's my SDB:

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