Re: TECH: Williams Blackout

On Dec 30, 6:07 am, mothrarz <mothr...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Dec 29, 12:57 pm, Steve <dinun...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:





Here is the problem:
WilliamsBlackoutpinball machine.  Everything works but the
controlled lights.  Game boots fine and plays fine but absolutely no
controlled lighting will come on.  Fuse in the backbox is good.  Any
other suggestions?

Here is what was found:
Game was working fine and my friend heard a hissing sound coming from
the backbox.  He opened it up and found one of the batteries was
corroded and making the hissing sound.  He pulled the batteries out
and replaced with new ones and since then this is the problem he has
been having.  I did not think the batteries would be anywhere close to
anything that controlled the playfield lights.

I walked him through a couple of things over the phone but he lives
kinda far and I am trying to save myself a trip out if it is something
simple or something I may be overlooking that he can fix himself.

More info for you tech guys.  I am the owner of this possessed game.
I bought this shopped from someone from this board who shall remain
nameless.  The game worked great, and it looks fantastic.  A few
months later it started locking up, acting funny, resetting, ect.  I
sent the boards to Clive for repair, but I didn't install them for
almost a year.  When I did, they still didn't work right.  Everything
worked except for the bumpers and the slingshots.  Enter Steve, who
was nice enough to come and look at it.  He got is working 100% after
reseating a few chips, ect.  Later that night my wife and I were
playing and we heard a hissing sound.  All 3 batteries corroded in the
backbox.  I replaced em and now that is where we stand.  No playfield
lights at all.  The game was on for 5 hours Saturday night with no
issues (outside of the lights on the playfield).  We changed the fuse
and I doubt that is the problem.  Could it be a loose wire under the
playfield???  This game is way too nice to not get working 100%.
Help!!!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Fairly simple to trace and resolve.

One of the square Bridge Recitifiers (BR1) in the backbox provides the
input power to the power board - that could be out. I think it's the
BR on the right hand side, check that all the wires are connected
tightly. And the gound wire (Black) goes somewhere and is connected
firmly. The Violet wire inputs Lamp power to the PSU, so you should
see around +18v (could be 20v unfiltered or so) there with respect to
the Black wire on the opposite side. If so move on...
There is a fuse on the power supply board (PSU) at F3, which you said
you have changed.
From there Lamp power exits the PSU board at pins 5-8. Pins 9-12 are
Lamp Ground.
Driver board connector 2J4 all pins except for 3 (key) and 6 are the
Lamps power. Measure with respect to Ground at 2J6 on the Driver
board. Sould be 16-18v DC.

The only "good news" is that the PSU board dowsn't do anything to the
Lamp power but pass it through to fuse it. So other than connectors
and fuse clips there aren't any components to change. If you get
voltage to the driver board and stil no feature lights, it's the lamps
PIA or another fault on the driver board.

I doubt it has much to do with the hissing batteries on the CPU
board. BTW - make sure the diode D17 on the CPU is good and the
batteries aren't charging when the power is on. Just measure the +
batteries voltage with the power OFF and ON. It shouldn't change.
You can also measure at the non-banded side of diode D17.

Best wishes.

-Richard
.

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