Skeeball model H (I think?) "HELP" message

[TheShanMan]

Skeeball model H (I think?) issues

Picked up a skeeball yesterday which was working at the arcade last I saw but when a ball goes through one of the holes, the score display says "HELP" and it makes an alarm sound. I noticed that if I drop a ball in the "10" hole it rings up 30 points for a split second before it displays HELP. Anyone know what that means?

Also it is SUPER loud but I can't find a volume pot (looked in the coin mech area and behind the marquee). Where to adjust?

Finally, can I get confirmation that it's a model H and if there is any way to guess as to the year of manufacture? I don't see any kind of tag on the back of the unit, but what I see behind the marquee is a "Mod. H" stamp, "Mod No LH-489" on one serial tag and "Model No 7-90" on another.

 

[Nephasth]

For the volume, you might have to remove the display to access the power supply to get to the volume pot.

As for the "HELP" display, I'll have to check my manual to see if I can help you out. Neither of mine have displayed that, but I remember reading about it somewhere. I think it might do that if the ticket dispenser is disconnected or out of tickets if it's enabled in the dipswitches.

Pick yourself up some TASKI-Profi, it will clean the cork carpet up extremely well. That black stain down the middle of the lane will pretty much disappear. It will also clean the rings up.

Congrats on the pick up! (I'm jealous of your ICB)

ETA: Maybe it was made in July 1990?

 

[Nephasth]

Checked the manual.

G. Help or call appears in the display

When the word help appears from balls played and score display, it means that the CPU board has turned on the ticket dispenser but has not seen the signal back from the tickets dispenser to indicate that a ticket has been dispensed. This will occur if there are no more tickets, if they have jammed, if two or more notches are missing on the ticket, or if the circuit board on the dispenser is faulty. First depress the reset switch to attempt to clear the problem. If that fails, then examine the ticket dispenser. If a ticket problem does exist, then repair and depress the knock off switch. The dispenser should now deliver the proper number of tickets owed. If help still appears, then replace and return the unit for repair.

If dispensing tickets isn't important to you, just disable the ticket dispenser. Also, with the 10 hole regestering 30 points, your switch is probably out of adjustment and boucning causing multiple triggers, or it's a bad switch. Each switch down the middle triggers 10 points when tripped.

 

[TheShanMan]

When they sold it to me, they removed the ticket dispenser (not part of the sale). I found the dip settings for a model H (assuming that is the model) - #8 enables/disables the ticket dispenser. That seems to have fixed the HELP problem.

I've read that sanding works great for the cork. Maybe the stuff you're suggesting is less abrasive and therefore generally a better first step to cleaning it up. But then again, the carpet isn't 100% smooth ("chips" or whatever you'd call it in the case of cork). I wonder if sanding would be a better option to lessen those imperfections. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to sand all the way until they are mostly gone though. I don't want it to be too thin. Any idea how thick the carpet is?

I was wondering if the switch might be the problem.Turns out it is. I'm trying to figure out if it's the switch itself or the adjustment of the wire. All the wires are all bent up and I'm not sure what the optimal wire position is. Replacements are $7+ each online from what I can see. If anyone has a cheap source for these, I'd like to know. Or even a source for the switches without the wires.

So the pot on the power supply is for volume, huh? I was afraid to try that, thinking it might be a +5v adjustment. But you're right. Now it's much better.

BTW, anyone know where I can find an online model H manual?

 

[Nephasth]

Just picked up a set of switches (8) from here: http://www.arcadeshop.de/Microswitches-Coin-Switch_442.html

Even with currency conversion and shipping to the states (ordered on a Friday and had them in hand the following Monday, crazy), it's the cheapest I have found them. They're Zippy brand. Haven't installed them yet, but they're damn near identical to the stock switches (the wire may be just a smidgen shorter though). Wish I would have ordered an additional set the first time.

I also picked up some of these with my order. The bottom corners of my score ring boards are chipped and I'll be installing these in hopes of making it look nicer and to protect the corners.

 

[TheShanMan]

Definitely some of the switches are bad. After no improvement from opening them and using contact cleaner, I robbed some coin mech switches from some of my arcade games (using the skeeball wire actuators) and now the scores ring up correctly consistently. I think I'll pick up a set of 8 switches from that place - thanks for the tip.

I still have some questions but given that this thread's title is about the HELP error, I figured it might be better to move my remaining questions to a new thread: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=209125

Thanks Nephasth for the help so far.