Skateball Lamps

Grbgemen

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Figured i would start a new thread rather than add this to the display issue thread that i posted two weeks ago.

Got all the displays figured out and now I am on to the lamps. When we first powered this machine up, almost all of the G.I. lamps were dead. None of the CPU controlled lamps were working. I checked for power at the lamps and there was none. After i replaced the Bridge on the rectifier board, we had CPU lights.

Problem i am having is a lot of them are pulsing. They are on and get a little dim but never actually turn off. Some of the lights do turn on and off during attract as they should. For example, the S-K-A-T-E lamps should flash in sequence E-T-A-K-S. When it starts this sequence, it goes all the way through but the S is sort of flickering the whole time. I guess i dont know if this flicking/slight dimming is considered a locked on lamp. I also have a slight buzzing sound coming from some of the bulbs.

Also, during display test, a lot of the cpu lamps flash while the displays are counting from 0-9. That should not be happening right?
 
im not sure but some lamps have doides one might be bad.but if your having a dinning problem you may have low voltage on your power supply.this is my guess
 
Just checked all the test points according to the repair guide and all values are within range.

Im gonna start making a list of all the lamps that never turn off. Seems like its a lot though and i cannot imagine that many transistors being bad.
 
It is not that the lamps are not working. They work but they never shut off. However they are not stuck on solid. They sort of flicker while the rest of the lights that do flash turn on and off.

And yes, the connectors have been replaced.

EDIT: i just tried replacing one of the transistors of one of the stuck on lamps. Did not change anything.
 
Hmm not sure then...

I have one damn light that won't light on my skateball, it's the 4k bonus light that runs up the middle. I replaced the socket (twice just to make sure) It does get power but it still won't light. It must be one of the transistors or something. q57 or r57 on the board I think, or something else. I haven't managed to fix it yet..

If I had that many issues, I'd probably take the easy way out and replace the entire board hahaha
 
Im thinking about it as they are only $40 or so on ebay. If its not the board, i can always use it later on down the road.
 
Somebody else more knowledgeable may chime in. I'd post it on RGP if I were you, see what kind of answers you get. It could be one of the chips on the light driver board, U1 or U4 or whatever numbers they are. I'm pretty newb at repairs, but I have done quite a bit to my skateball to get it working...but I did cheat and get a rebuilt MPU/SDB and I wired in a new rectifier board as well. haha.
 
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