Xenon - My New Project

[FrizzleFried]

Good news! At least one coil that was burned out is working now.

I tested all the transisters earlier for continuity... all were good.

I put the game in solenoid test mode. I saw a quick spike on my multimeter when the coil I was measuring fired.

I then tested one of the bad coils lines... sure enough I got the same spike. Tested the other.... same spike.

I felt confident enough to wire up the new coil. It was a pop bumper coil and I'd gotten another working assembly so it was an easy swap. I soldered her up and fired up test mode. POP! The bumper worked fine! Success!!

Unfortunately my joy was dampened when I got to the next coil. I realized I had no coil sleeve. I assume I can't operate this bad boy without one? Is there a standard size or how do I know what size to get? It's for the kickup hole in the center top of the playfield.

 

[tomdotcom]

There are different lengths of sleeves and different styles (some have a ridge farther down).

Take it out and measure how long it is.

Go to pinballlife.com and stock up on some spare parts

http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=57&pg=1

 

[FrizzleFried]

Also... I plan on ordering some playfield parts while I am at it. I want to replace my posts as they are all faded to purpleish... I found RED posts at Marco of the exact same type but I can only find the generic posts that are used on "late model" machines in blue. (same height). Can I use those posts or does anyone know where they sell blue "older" style posts?

 

[Dokert]

Also... I plan on ordering some playfield parts while I am at it. I want to replace my posts as they are all faded to purpleish... I found RED posts at Marco of the exact same type but I can only find the generic posts that are used on "late model" machines in blue. (same height). Can I use those posts or does anyone know where they sell blue "older" style posts?

Marco was talking about new non-fading Xenon posts at the NW Pinball and Game Room Show, check with them.

 

[FrizzleFried]

Marco was talking about new non-fading Xenon posts at the NW Pinball and Game Room Show, check with them.

Evidently I had some filter active when I looked yesterday as they only had 4 pages of plastic posts. There is 7 now and sure enough, the blue ones are there.

I am making a nice sized order there... unfortunately they don't have the plastic colored lamp "sleeves" like PinballResource has... but I figure I'd start by trying to use my current sleeves but add a colored "condom" to each or just use colored bulbs.... then if I didn't like the look go to PBR and make the order for the sleeves.

I'm up to about a hundred bucks at Marco already....

 

[FrizzleFried]

Wonderful.... I was playing a quick game of XENON (minus the one coil) when I noticed some "static" in the background. Over about a minute time that static built up in volume and now, when I turn on the machine i'm immediately greeted with a buzz/static. The normal sounds are still playing... the static/buzz is very similar to what you'd year while dialing in an analog radio station, right before you get to the correct frequency.

I drop in to service mode and when the lamps flash the buzz/static gets louder when the lamps are lit and softer (though still very much evident) when the lamps are turned off....

What happened? Which part should I look at. I was NOT doing anything other than playing the game when I noticed the sound. It literally started as a little fuzz... then built up.

EDIT: Source of problem located. The connector at the top right corner of the solenoid driver board is the culprit. I am guessing it's a cold solder joint... if I fudge with the connector it clears the buzz/static up.

 

[Lindsey]

Wonderful.... I was playing a quick game of XENON (minus the one coil) when I noticed some "static" in the background. Over about a minute time that static built up in volume and now, when I turn on the machine i'm immediately greeted with a buzz/static. The normal sounds are still playing... the static/buzz is very similar to what you'd year while dialing in an analog radio station, right before you get to the correct frequency.

I drop in to service mode and when the lamps flash the buzz/static gets louder when the lamps are lit and softer (though still very much evident) when the lamps are turned off....

What happened? Which part should I look at. I was NOT doing anything other than playing the game when I noticed the sound. It literally started as a little fuzz... then built up.

EDIT: Source of problem located. The connector at the top right corner of the solenoid driver board is the culprit. I am guessing it's a cold solder joint... if I fudge with the connector it clears the buzz/static up .

Yeah... I would look at that connector if wiggling it solves your problem. Beyond that I would look at the grounding throughout the game. Specifically the S&T board and consider busting a cap in the S&T (cap kit ).

 

[FrizzleFried]

Welp, no going back now. I just spent $200 between Marco Specialties and Mad Amusements...

...not ALL is going to the pin, but much of it is... with some spares.

What I got:

35 blue plastic posts
100 #44 lamps
100 #47 lamps
10 Blue #44 lamps
10 Red #44 lamps
15 new sockets (just in case)
10 red "lamp condoms"
10 blue "lamp condoms"
Rubber Kit
Tube + LED kit
New drop target set (currently has MEDUSA targets)
4 coil sleeves
2 new pinballs
Some more Novus #2
...and few odds n' ends.

This is gunna be fun.

 

[Burt6666]

Sounds like it's coming along great,buddy...I still miss my Xenon.sigh....

 

[Lindsey]

Awesome. I'm really glad it's coming together for you.

 

[FrizzleFried]

When I commit to a game, I usually commit to it.

I "almost" went for the LED set at Marco... it looks bitchin on some of the vids I've seen, but $200 on lighting itself is a bit...well.. too much for my liking.

 

[Lindsey]

When I commit to a game, I usually commit to it.

I "almost" went for the LED set at Marco... it looks bitchin on some of the vids I've seen, but $200 on lighting itself is a bit...well.. too much for my liking.

I've never been a fan of the full kits. Especially in "older" games. I say use white or colored incandescent lamps in the GI and use LEDs where they look good under inserts. I've seen LEDs look good in the pop bumpers but you have to be sure to get a wide angle LED. Nothing worse than a pop bumper cap with a little circle of light on it from an LED. I'm not really sold on LEDs in pop bumpers in general but they are a lot better with the vibration that occurs in the pop bumper. Just try stuff and do what looks good. That's half the fun.

 

[tomdotcom]

I agree with Lindsey, most full kits I've seen are WAY overboard. The machine ends up being so bright and the lights flash so fast that's it's really distracting. Especially on the newer DMD pins. I have LED's in all my pins but I use them sparingly

 

[Deadly]

The machine ends up being so bright and the lights flash so fast that's it's really distracting. Especially on the newer DMD pins.

MASSSIVELY in agreement with that. But instead of a smiley face Frizz you get a ,.|.. ..|.,

On a serious note nice work Frizz. Hang in there dude you are almost to the finish line.

 

[FrizzleFried]

New problem has reared it's ugly head.

I am getting restarts... over and over. I've dinked around a bit and I 'THINK' I've isolated the issue to the top left connector on the MPU. If I hold that connector the problem seems to stop... I let it go, away it goes....

I pulled the MPU and found the 2nd pin down to be loose. I fixed that, but I am still experiencing the same problem. I am guessing it's time to replace the connector?

Anyone know what pin specifically for that connector would cause reset issues?

I also notice that sometimes the LED stays green and won't boot...again, if I fudge with the same connector the problem clears up (while I am fudging with it)...

EDIT: Bah... I re-flowed the header but I am still getting the behavior. If I bend the wires at the connector it seems to work for some time... it's obvious that I am going to need to replace this connector.

 

[FrizzleFried]

I've replaced all the lamps and I have about 10-12 that aren't working in total... not nearly as many as I'd expected. Of those dozen or so I can say at least 5 of them are confirmed socket issues (they lit then stopped or just won't maintain a connection).

I went with 47's for the GI... 44's for the CPU controlled lamps and backglass (the backglass is in AWESOME shape BTW)....

I am experimenting with red and blue lamps in place of the red and blue "sleeves". They work kickass for spots like the 2 red lamps at the top left and 2 on the right.

For the 4 places behind the drop targets they're OK...but not great. I still will be using the "used" tubes for now with the red lamps... the negative is the circle of light the sleeve create at the top to illuminate the 1-2-3-4 isn't as bright as if it was a nice red sleeve with a regular lamp inside. I will likely be buying the sleeves. They're only available at one place that i've found and while not too expensive, I hate paying $7 shipping for $7 in parts.

 

[Lindsey]

The top left connector on the MPU is J1. It carries most of the logic that goes out to displays, lamp driver, etc...

The connector that I would expect to cause resets would be J4 (bottom left). If you're sure that J1 (top left) is causing the problem I would try booting the MPU with that connector disconnected and see if it boots and stays running reliably. If it does I would suspect a bad display or something causing your problem. If it doesn't I would look at replacing the connector pins at J4 and possibly the molex header.

The fact that it "works" when you hold the connector is kind of weird. Could be coincidence or it could actually be the connector pins causing the problem. It's not a bad idea to replace the connector pins but I would try booting with that connector disconnected and see if it boots and runs reliably.

New problem has reared it's ugly head.

I am getting restarts... over and over. I've dinked around a bit and I 'THINK' I've isolated the issue to the top left connector on the MPU. If I hold that connector the problem seems to stop... I let it go, away it goes....

I pulled the MPU and found the 2nd pin down to be loose. I fixed that, but I am still experiencing the same problem. I am guessing it's time to replace the connector?

Anyone know what pin specifically for that connector would cause reset issues?

I also notice that sometimes the LED stays green and won't boot...again, if I fudge with the same connector the problem clears up (while I am fudging with it)...

EDIT: Bah... I re-flowed the header but I am still getting the behavior. If I bend the wires at the connector it seems to work for some time... it's obvious that I am going to need to replace this connector.

 

[FrizzleFried]

The top left connector on the MPU is J1. It carries most of the logic that goes out to displays, lamp driver, etc...

The connector that I would expect to cause resets would be J4 (bottom left). If you're sure that J1 (top left) is causing the problem I would try booting the MPU with that connector disconnected and see if it boots and stays running reliably. If it does I would suspect a bad display or something causing your problem. If it doesn't I would look at replacing the connector pins at J4 and possibly the molex header.

The fact that it "works" when you hold the connector is kind of weird. Could be coincidence or it could actually be the connector pins causing the problem. It's not a bad idea to replace the connector pins but I would try booting with that connector disconnected and see if it boots and runs reliably.

Lindsey....

THE BAD: The machine started acting up again, so I remove the top left connector as you indicated... with it disconnected, I turn on the cab, the GI lights fire up...the green LEDs on the board (and sub-board) go solid and just sit there... no boot.

I plug the connector back in and it boots (albeit unreliably).

Next suggestion?



NOW THE GOOD: Well, I replaced all lamps and took a little time to fix/solder up some of the less reliable ones... doing some checks with an alligator clip lead I have I am down to 2 lamps in the playfield and 2 lamps in the back box that aren't lighting. The 2 lamps in the back box are just hard to get to so I've not done any tests on them but the 2 lamps in the playfield are NOT getting the CPU controlled signal they are supposed to.

If I run a lead from another lamp to it, it will fire, but even if I run a lead from it's own wire to the the lug I get nothing... so I am guessing I have a problem with these two lamps at the lamp driver board.

Is there a good way to determine which lamp circuit is driving the two lamps I am having issues with?

 

[Lindsey]

wow that's really weird. The MPU should boot with only J4 installed (bottom left). I would start with that. Isolate the MPU to that connector only and try to get it to boot. See what your +5 and +12 are at on the MPU. I would check for AC ripple on the +5 as well. Take a look at connector J3 on the regulator/driver board too. That's where the +5 is coming from.

 

[FrizzleFried]

wow that's really weird. The MPU should boot with only J4 installed (bottom left). I would start with that. Isolate the MPU to that connector only and try to get it to boot. See what your +5 and +12 are at on the MPU. I would check for AC ripple on the +5 as well. Take a look at connector J3 on the regulator/driver board too. That's where the +5 is coming from.

Pin 10 on J3 of the regulator/driver board was toasty black. So bad it snapped in half when I took a closer examination. I'm in the process of wiring up a new connector.