Pinball: Bally lamp driver board, on the right track?

ifkz

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Pinball: Bally lamp driver board, on the right track?

I am very inexperienced when it comes to pinball repair and I have started having annoying issues with my "shopped" Bally Paragon pinball machine. I started losing the 1up lower score display bar; instead of a zero it would look like an upside down U. Anyhow, I reseated some cables and this seems to have disappeared, good!

While I was in there, I noticed green corrosion on some of my lamp driver parts: mcr106-1. I pulled three and cleaned them, now I have six lamps that are out (prior I only had three bad ones). I should replace these three parts, right?
HPIM1551.jpg


I uncovered some junk work to it, burned off and missing pads mostly. I would bet they used a Ratshack non-temperature controlled iron. It all metered out correctly with a continuity check.

Visitors say the tones of my sounds are off. Is this not the correct sound board for Paragon? It looks a little earlier than the other three. The sustain knob only controls the length of the sample before it is cut off. The other knob is a volume pot. I noticed this has some newer parts, they were too cheap to use proper axial caps I see:
HPIM1550.jpg
 
First off, check your lamp matrix chart to see if the bulbs that are out are controlled by those transistors. And I can get you replacement lamp boards anytime you need them (although you may just grab them for parts).

And that looks like the right sound board. Usually a balance of the sustain and volume give you the proper sound balance...
 
Your Paragon manual will tell you how to test each lamp by grounding one leg of a transistor to turn it on. If you do not have the manual do not try this because you can do more damage to the lamp driver board if it is done incorrectly.

Just as modessitt said the bottom picture is a typical sound board.
 
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I looked over the manual, but I could not find a lamp driver matrix. It only listed the part number and description. The troubleshooting steps were simply "replace lamp driver board." Doh!

Thanks for the heads up about the sound board. The sticker matches the part number in the manual; I was afraid it was for the Playboy/Star Trek/Lost World era. From the work I've seen, maybe it was not properly rebuilt.

I guess the simplest fix is to just replace those three mcr106-1's and see what happens. So far the only vendor that I've found lists them for .90 before shipping, which seems high.
 
I have those transistors in stock but I couldnt tell you what the part number is. I know I subbed them and have used them on a few boards but its been so long now I cant remember. I believe the small transistors are SCR's and if I recall they are 2N5060. I know I have those in stock.
 
I have those transistors in stock but I couldnt tell you what the part number is. I know I subbed them and have used them on a few boards but its been so long now I cant remember. I believe the small transistors are SCR's and if I recall they are 2N5060. I know I have those in stock.

CR106

Just for you my Brother
 
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