Bally loses its memory

[alan49pear]

Hi and thanks for letting me join what seems a great forum, im 8/10ths way through restoring a well used 1984 Bally kings of steel, 4 player pinball, I had it serviced and re-rubbered, bulbed, etc and it played fine, all the features worked but the replay level had been set too low, I set it to the recommended levels and all was fine for a while, then I noticed I wasn't getting replays for the set levels, and I also don't get replays for hitting a lit special, or an extra ball when it was lit and hit, I have done the procedure for setting replays a few times and it just doesn't register in the memory, I don't think its a battery problem as I think this has been replaced with a capacitor, im a real novice, vintage one armed machines is my thing but I also love pinball, I would really appreciate any help and advice, cheers, Alan.

[smartbomb2084]

With the the game off... do you have at least +4VDC at pin 22 of U8 on the MPU board?

[alan49pear]

I will check and report back, work in 3 hours so it will be Saturday, thanks, Alan.

[pbj]

I haven't heard good things about memory caps, I guess they can discharge a lot quicker than advertised.  Who knows... I had a Comet that used to gobble AAs about every 3 months.  It was a slight nuisance but not worth tearing up an MPU attempting to fix.  You may be in a similar situation.



 

[alan49pear]

Im learning more with each reply,, I will send an email to the guy who serviced it for me and ask if it could be the memory cap, im still new to this stuff, Im more at home stripping a 60s-70s fruit machine and rebuilding it, thanks for your advice, Alan.

[alan49pear]

Hi everyone, I think ive sorted the problem, it seems that when messing with the self test button I had turned the replay and extra ball award off, (settings self test 17 & 18) I re-set them to the guide in the manual and apart from a few "random" extra balls, it seems to have worked, I have left the machine switched on for 7 or 8 hours to top up capacitor and I hope that's that, thanks, Alan. P.s. has anyone got or know where to get, a 7 digit numeric display or is it feasible to try get a "dead" one repaired ?

[smartbomb2084]

Did you try and re-solder the pins of the display?

Here's a new one....

http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=538

[pbj]

7 digits are unfortunately fairly expensive to replace, even if you go used.

If you're spending new money, put in an LED:

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/PS-2518-58

[alan49pear]

I took the advice from the guy who serviced it, Andy at Pinball Mania, he checked it out and advised a new unit, checked on ebay and theyre about £70 each inc p&p so I might take it out and check with my local electronics shop and see if theres anything he can do with it, thanks, note, I DO have a soldering iron and solder, im just not confident about having a go, 

[pbj]

If the nipple on the back of the glass is broken, or there's a crack in the glass, you're not going to be able to do anything besides replace that glass.

Move the dead display to the player 4 spot and get on with life.

 

[alan49pear]

Thanks for the links to get new units, ive saved them and will email them to see if they will post to the uk,,,,, yes, its already in player 4 position but I want to sell it in A1 condition to get a much loved "space invaders" pinball, missed out on one a few months ago but I will keep looking, Thanks all,

[spoot]

If the score display isn't working right....what are you risking if you mess up with the soldering iron?  Reflowing the solder on the bottom pins isn't too bad.

[alan49pear]

I will give it a go soon, having supper then a major room reshuffle, struggling to fit pinball and 3 vintage bandits in the spare room + tools etc its only 10ft by 8ft,

[pbj]

Ask fifty... er... pounds more than what you actually want for it, then offer to knock off 50 when the buyer gripes about the dead display.

 No sense in spending money on something that's on its way out the door.

[alan49pear]

 was tryin to work on the machine, girlfriend started playin it,,,,,,,,,,, topless  shes mad and addicted, lol

[pbj]

no pics, no girlfriend

[alan49pear]

I daren't put pic, I will ask her to put her top or bra on and take another,,,, she got 2 replays,, jammy ---smurfette---.