Arcade Collecting > Pinball

Troubleshooting - Lighting - Space Invaders Pin

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Toadie:
Ok, so if you've read any of my other thread you realize I just blew up my machine  :blah:

However, when I did have it running I noticed that I had a large number of lights in the back panel that didn't light up.  I'll post some pictures when I go back to the machine but I was wondering how you start trouble shooting this.... Hmm, guess I need some pictures  :banghead:



Ok, so as you can see by the pic I have some random ones that are out like the alien's eyes and then an entire top row.  Any tips on where to start and how to figure this out?

I have a couple more than I thought on the play field as well but I'm guessing I would follow the same processes?

Toadie:
Well I found out one of the reasons why some of the lights aren't working.  At least most of that upper strip.

Toadie:
Not sure if anyone is reading this but if you are here's what I've found.  As I continued down my path to the power supply:

If I read the diagram correctly:

There are three J boxes (J1 Playfield, J2 Cabinet, J3 Backbox)

Pin 1 on J3 wire color green looks like a master return since all returns from all J boxes tie back to it including the power line grid from J2 Pin 10.

Pin 1 and the green wire all looked to be in good condition from J3, I don't know about any of the other connection points.

Pin 10 on J3 is marked as General Illumination Bus and appears to just tie into Pin 11 on J3 and Pin 5 for J1 the play field.  Pin 10 is the Orange wire and also appeared fine.

Pin 2 on J3 the white wire is also a GI return and it just seems to connect back to Pin 1 but this wire on the connector was burned slightly.  Decent discoloration of the connector but seemed limited to just that one wire.

Pin 11 on J3 which is a GI Bus is connected to the following:

Pin 10 on J3 - another GI Bus
Pin 5 on J1 - another GI Bus
A 7.3 VAC connection to lights on the backboard I'm guessing (TP4) that also ties into P1 on J2 a GI bus and P8 in J1 also a bus.

This wire is red and also appears fine.  That's all of the GI J3 back box.

So I guess the question that needs to be answered is this...  Pin 2 on J3, the white wire.  What caused it to burn and would that have caused my GI lights to not come on?

Moving on to the other parts of the diagram...

ChadTower:

Without really reviewing the details because I'm pressed for time right now...

...that's a Bally game.  If those are bayonet sockets you are going to run into dead sockets.  I guarantee it.  You might run into a huge percentage of the sockets.  I have done games where more than half were dead and most of the rest were unreliable.

The best way to check for a dead socket is to jump in a good one and see if the light works.  Connect an alligator clip jumper to the ground wire... connect the other to the signal tab of the socket in question.  Don't let them touch.  Attach a good lamp socket to the clips in the same way.  If it works then you know the old socket is dead.  There are a couple of things people do to revive old sockets with a bit of soldering but I usually just swap in a new socket.  I've spent hours on the "fix the socket" technique and it just isn't worth the time unless you're trying to do it on the cheap.

Toadie:
Well I'm not sure if this is the correct way or not but I took out each wire and soldered it directly to the pin.  Took some time but they're clean, spaced right, and should have a good connection.

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