Williams Hot Tip (EM)

[Strangeways]

Sounds to me like a wire has fallen off the outhole coil, or it has gone "open circuit".

[delarge]

Thanks!

Will take the apron off tonight and check the coil. Let's hope it's one of those head slapping moments.

Cheers!
Adam.

[delarge]

It's the new year and I'm back onto Hot Tip after the Christmas holiday madness. Have been sweating it out over Hot Tip for the past week on and off. Re-soldered wires that had fallen off and was hoping this would fix my problems.

The outhole coil is still not firing. Pressing the ball trough switch manually does nothing at all. I have reset all the stepper units manually at their starting positions, started a game by pressing the start button and the ball still does not kick out. I have pressed the outhole relay manually by hand and the drop targets reset, but nothing else happens. I have also pressed the tilt switch under the playfield manually by hand and it does nothing. I've checked all the solder connections on the outhole coil, the ball trough switch and the tilt switch by hand and can't see anything out of the ordinary here. I'm a bit lost at the moment. The bonus unit also seems to be moving freely and resets to zero when the start button is pressed if I movie it to other positions by hand.

Thanks,
Adam.

[goodolddays]

I recently had a similar problem on my Gulfstream (Williams EM) .
Ended up being a dirty connection on the Jones plug where the playfield plugs into the playboard (the board on the bottom of the cab that has the score motor, transformer and relays

[delarge]

Just reseated the Jones plugs and gave them a quick scrub with a wire brush. Problem remains. Still no life in the outhole kicker. I also checked the wires to make sure they were all soldered on and nothing was hanging loose.....

[Zedman]

First zap after 5 years- you're doing well!

I still remember my first zap on Christmas lights when I was a boy. It almost brings a tear to my eyes!

Carefull cause zaps can kill! Get a 5w 120ohm resistor and put it on a test lead, attach to ground and then probe before touching. It's a bit crude and can give you a surprise but it's better than getting zapped.

Z

[millsy]

Recheck the score motor - Manually rotate the score motor (Power off of course)& check all switches are closing & opening as per cam position.
Also check all score reel switches are open when at 0

[dealers choice]

Im no expert but my skylab had the same outhole problem. after removing the apron i found the solenoid had jammed in the out position. flicked it back and now it works. i hope this might be of some use.

[delarge]

Just checked the score motor. Had the lights off and the first switch on the left has a major blue/green spark before it stops. There is also a spark on the switch second from the right. I used a business card to wipe through the switch contacts, but nothing changed when I started another game. Am still yet to check the score wheel switches are open when at 0.

I manually pushed the plunger in and out of the outhole solenoid with the game turned off and it moved freely. Gave the wires another tug and still on there tight.

I'm a bit apprehensive to do too much on my own (especially because it's not my machine) with the switches as I've read the horror stories from EM n00bs where it works worse than when they started. Dan (Riverina Pinball) has offered to come over and work on it with me one afternoon in the next few weeks.

This is starting to get frustrating. Why couldn't it be a 90s DMD??? haha

So far: reset all stepper units to zero. The credit unit now works when I press one of the coin switches and the credit wheel increments. I can press the start button and it goes to ball one. Ball does not kick out. There was a time when I could press the start button and I could play a game by kicking the ball out manually by hand, but at the moment, the flipper buttons work rarely and when I do hit the buttons, sometimes they drop out instantly. I think this could also be part of the problem.

Cheers!
Adam.

[oldpins]

Just looking at the schematics. May be worth checking all contacts on the 'GAME OVER' Relay. Not sure whether this has been mentioned.

[delarge]

Just had a quick check of the Game Over relay before heading to work. It pulls in, but the plastic piece at the back of the coil with the two solder points on it seems to have snapped in half and it's all wobbly. Might be time for a brand new coil and also clean the contacts?

[Retropin]

Just had a quick check of the Game Over relay before heading to work. It pulls in, but the plastic piece at the back of the coil with the two solder points on it seems to have snapped in half and it's all wobbly. Might be time for a brand new coil and also clean the contacts?

That's only the connection to the coil and so long as the wire is still soldered on to the 2 lugs, the coil will function OK... you need to check the contacts with your DMM and make sure that when they are open, they are open and closed when closed

[riverinapinball]

I would clean/file all sus or bad contacts. I dont know em s but all switches/contact would be considered high current and prone to pitting/corrusion/wear.
I am Not experienced in ems.
Just a thought.

[delarge]

I haven't cleaned anything extensively as I didn't want to make the machine worse than it was. Will wait for you to come over, Dan and get some tips from you first.

[delarge]

With everyone's advice in mind and the particular relays to pay attention to, I started to go through the Williams startup sequence and checking all the switches and wiring to see if I'd missed anything. I got to the "10c Relay" and tugged on the wires and one of the wires come loose. It seems like it had been poked through the metal hole in the leg of the switch instead of being soldered on. I turned the machine on and pressed start and machine seemed to operate the same even without the wire touching. Mightn't have time to solder it on tonight, but something else to cancel out.

Cheers!
Adam.