Opinions on Rottendog WDB089 Power Drive Board

[hamltnh]

Does anyone here have any experience with the Rottendog WDB089 Power Driver Board?  I was thinking about getting one as a replacement for my Indiana Jones machine.  I'm interested in their reliabiity/quality and whether they hold up over time--thanks.

[Q*Bert_OP]

Does anyone here have any experience with the Rottendog WDB089 Power Driver Board?  I was thinking about getting one as a replacement for my Indiana Jones machine.  I'm interested in their reliabiity/quality and whether they hold up over time--thanks.

Quality: poor

Reliability: Nonexistent

I've had a terrible experience with several of his products. Buyer beware! The WPC89 driver board r*tt*nd*g sells is not 100% compatible with all WPC games! Caveat emptor. I'm sure some will say "Jim will send you another one" ,but with a poor design, running components at their maximum operating threshold, lack of quality control, and failure to test the product before shipping, you'll just end up with another piece of "dog sh*t"!

Fix your old driver board, have someone fix it for you, or buy an original, working board. Do not buy r*tt*nd*g products!

I recommend Clive at the Coin-Op Cauldron for board repair, if you can't fix it yourself: http://webpages.charter.net/coinopcauldron/brepairs.html

[hamltnh]

Do you know what games the Rottendog driver board is not compatible with?


What I need to do is install a new 11 pin header onto the board for one the GI circuits--previous owner "repaired" the problem by removing 1 pin from the 11 pin header and soldering the wire directly onto the the PCB--it works, but it's the wrong way to fix the problem.  I also need to replace at least 2 of the 11 pin female IDC connectors for the GI circuits, but that's easy.  I have good soldering skills, but have never worked on a PCB--I also thought it might be a good chance to start with a "new" board since I intend to keep the game a while, but it sounds like maybe not.

[hamltnh]

So do you keep the GI circuits separated or combine them into one circuit?

I kind of took your approach on the other conncector and soldered a heavier piece of wire to a female molex pin and crmiped the pin a bit to make a tight fit onto the header pin--occurred to me that I could do that with all the wires on on that connector and do away with the IDC connector altogether.

[Jeff AMN]

I have a Rottendog is my Bride of Pinbot and it's been just fine. I have the original stashed away, but I've not noticed any issues at all with the Rottendog board.

[Pinball Wizard]

I have a Rottendog is my Bride of Pinbot and it's been just fine. I have the original stashed away, but I've not noticed any issues at all with the Rottendog board.

Curious, when did you buy your board? I'm wondering if maybe they got their act together and possibly might be decent quality now.

[Jeff AMN]

I got the board maybe a year ago.

[studmuff]

I have a Power Driver Board in my TAF from Rottendog and never had an issue.

I have the dual sys 3-6 williams cpu/driver roottendog board in my Alien Poker.  I had an issue where the switch matrix went crazy.  I talked to Jim and sent him my board.  He fixed it and sent it back and I never have had a problem since.  He didn't charge me, I just had to pay shipping to him which was about $7.

Tom.

[hamltnh]

I'm curious as to what machines this board is not 100% compatible with and what exactly are the incompatibilities.

[ChadTower]

Directly soldering the wires is the only permanent fix on those games, in my opinion.  I'll cut and solder the GI wires together and then solder a short, heavier wire on the PCB and join them with wire nuts.  Easily reversed if someone wants to get anal and put new connectors in there to burn up.

Buying a new PCB to avoid replacing a connector pin is really, really overkill.

+1

I would go a step further and put some quick disconnects instead of the wire nuts.  Otherwise, same thing.  Fix the board, don't replace it.

[Q*Bert_OP]

I'm curious as to what machines this board is not 100% compatible with and what exactly are the incompatibilities.

Look HERE

[hamltnh]

I'm curious as to what machines this board is not 100% compatible with and what exactly are the incompatibilities.

Look HERE

Thanks--I've been reading for a couple of hours--quite the mixed bag with some really strong opinions, pro and con.

What's the status of another source of replacement boards from Marco?

[RetroACTIVE]

I replaced a driver board in a Theatre of Magic with the WDB089 for a friend.  The board worked fantastic and is still working.  Prior to installation, I made certain to re-terminate all of the harnesses with new housings and trifurcon pins.  I can't say anything bad about that board as of yet... but I have limited experience.

I also have replaced my dot matrix driver board in my Fish Tales with a DMD089 and it works perfectly.

[RetroACTIVE]

  Prior to installation, I made certain to re-terminate all of the harnesses with new housings and trifurcon pins. 

That was probably the real issue.   

Bridges were blown and the caps were all puffed up and the GI headers were burnt to a crisp   It was a mess the machine needed a ton of work... my buddy bought it broken (for a really good price) and I wanted to get it going quick for him...  This driver board worked well and fit the bill.   It's still working very well.

[hamltnh]

Well, I went for the WDB809 and installed it and so far, so good.  Shipped the original Williams board to Clive at Coin-Op Cauldron for test and repair.  I think I'll keep the original Williams board aside in case I sell my IJ or get another game from that generation.  All-in-all, a good customer experience in dealing with the folks at Rottendog....