Author Topic: Pinball tech required  (Read 466 times)

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Offline infinite1977

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Pinball tech required
« on: June 24, 2011, 04:58:12 PM »
Hey guys, need someone who is willing to come and look at my Zac EWF which is blowing one of the under playfield fusess. I am bases in Lower Templwstowe. If anyone can help PM me please

Offline weed of crime

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2011, 05:23:43 PM »
Do not call chris p aka pinball medic aka bumper head tech. Be warned.
Quit talking n start chalkin

Offline infinite1977

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2011, 05:30:24 PM »
Out of curiosity, why??
For the record, they did not want to come out and wanted me to take the machine in which is just possible.

Offline Strangeways

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2011, 09:00:51 PM »

I'd love to help George, but I'm useless at Zaccaria pins (long story) and you moved from "just around the corner".  #@#

Competent Techs that know the make / model / genre can usually fix games onsite.  "Return to base" often can be translated to "we have no idea how to fix your pin and we don't want you to see that". But I honestly don't know ANY Zac techs other than a handful of guys here.
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Offline infinite1977

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #4 on: June 24, 2011, 09:09:50 PM »
Your still more than welcome to pop round Nino. You would be able to fix it. You can fix anything. :)
Agreed about return to base comment. Plus if you only knew where the machines are. There is no way I can get them out. I had to get them up 14 steps and through a window to get them into the new man cave. No chance if going out unless I take it apart or extend the room( which is on the cards)

Offline beaky

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2011, 01:19:16 AM »
If you can't get anyone and you are willing to pay for the cheapest return air fare then I would be happy to come down  &&
On site pinball repairs in MELBOURNE NTH SUBURBS  : Circuit board repairs and refurbishing Australia wide (via Aust post)

Offline Retropin

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2011, 09:40:02 AM »
>>>>I did post this yesterday.. hit the POST button and my post was lost in the ether... kinda irritating, but ill post again.

Basically, we should be able to fix this via the forum if your willing to get your hands dirty a bit.

Im not familiar with gen 1 Zac games... ive only worked on Gen 2, but essentially, the games work very sinilar.

The under playfield fuses are there to seperate power to the coils from the boards.
Each fuse is in series with a row of playfield coils.... on Gen 2 this is AFTER the flippers.. so flippers will work but not solenoids.

On Gen 2 there are 2 fuses.. both should be 3A SLOW BLOW... make sure what you have is Slow Blow.. fast blow cannot handle the inrush current and will pop instantly.
If fuse is correct, then follow the power line through its daisy chain to each solenoid... chances are one of these is locked on, short, etc.
Disconnect the faulty coil by removing the wires... dont join them together.. this acts as a short also..... just tape them up as they sat on the coils ( so 2 seperate taped bundles).
The game would now be able to be played but wiothout this coil.

If the fuse is popping at start up when all solenoids fire, then chances are you have a fast blow installed or smaller current value fuse.



Basically, a blown PF fuse indicates a fault  away from the boards

Offline infinite1977

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2011, 01:26:06 PM »
Thanks Retro. The fuse is definitely 3a but might be a fast blow and not a slow blow. I guess first step is to get slow blow fuses and see what happens. As a result of fuse blowing displays or game does not turn on. Does this sound correct?

Offline Retropin

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2011, 02:31:53 PM »
Thanks Retro. The fuse is definitely 3a but might be a fast blow and not a slow blow. I guess first step is to get slow blow fuses and see what happens. As a result of fuse blowing displays or game does not turn on. Does this sound correct?

No - this isnt right. Unless they did something quirky with Gen 1 which i doubt, after all Mr zaccaria was a clever fellow... anyone working on these boards will tell you that Zaccaria is a clever system.

You should be able to take out both under playfield fuses and have the game still boot... all the fuses do is feed power to the coils away from the boards.. there is no power from the coils to the boards. It all comes from the power board.

Your displays use 170V and 5.6V which is fed through the CPU.

Disconnect your boards and start by testing all voltages on the power board... sounds like there are more than 1 fault on your game

Offline infinite1977

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #9 on: June 25, 2011, 02:37:24 PM »
This is what has thrown me. I just had another look and put in another fuse and nothing happened. Nothing turns on, just the lights. It looks like nothing is powering up, which is strange a everything was working perfectly.

Ok Please step me through this, as I need to learn this once and for all. Please bare with me as I have stated many times my electronics knowledge is next to zero. So I will need step by step instructions on what to do, and how to use multi meter etc.

1.) I will disconnect all boards from the power supply board
2.) How do I test the voltages on the board? I will then report the voltages back to you

Offline Retropin

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #10 on: June 25, 2011, 02:42:11 PM »
Am reading up on Gen 1 now.... will post back

Offline infinite1977

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #11 on: June 25, 2011, 02:45:35 PM »
Thats ok Retro. I checked all fuses on power supply board and it looks like one was not connecting properly. I have re-seated them and now system fires up, so you were bang on the money. Now the next step is to find what is shorting out the coils, or which one, as none of them are working. Flippers are working, so your logic is spot on.

How do I find a short in the coils, or how should I test them?

Offline infinite1977

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #12 on: June 25, 2011, 02:52:57 PM »
Also Retro I popped in a 5A slow blow fuse which I had and that is no blowing. I did discover two pops are not working, one is the one I disconnected as I thought that was the initial problem, the other is connected but not doing anything so I suspect that is the one with a blown coil.
Does this sound correct

Offline Retropin

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #13 on: June 25, 2011, 02:53:37 PM »
Go to the fuse that keeps blowing and follow the thick ( RED?) wires through its daisy chain to the coils. You may well be able to spot the faulty coil by burn marks or maybe one that is already pulled in.
If you cant find it, then keep the PF up... place another ( you may go through a few of these) fuse into the holder and turn game on from the bottom of the cabinet whilst keeping an eye on the coils that this fuse feeds... if one pulls in instantly and no others do, or if one starts humming, possibly smoking, then this is the faulty one.

You should be able to diagnose this visually if you have enough fuses ( BTW, if you run out of 3A Slow Blow... a 5A fast will suffice to do a quick fault find)

Offline Retropin

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Re: Pinball tech required
« Reply #14 on: June 25, 2011, 02:58:28 PM »
Also Retro I popped in a 5A slow blow fuse which I had and that is no blowing. I did discover two pops are not working, one is the one I disconnected as I thought that was the initial problem, the other is connected but not doing anything so I suspect that is the one with a blown coil.
Does this sound correct


Dont put a 5A slo in.. only use a 3A. Basically, if you have a short then 5A isnt going to last either so its not really an issue, just not good practice to replace with bigger values ( ill get shot down by the forum guys if i sanctioned this.. these things are done in private!  &&)

Other bumper may be connected, but when you disconnected the first one, did you twist the wires together that were ganged? The power feed daisy chains so the wires are joined.. if you pull them apart then you prevent any power going further down the line. DONT JOIN ALL THE WIRES TOGETHER... only those that were joined when on each side of the coil... dose this make sense?