Non CPU Playfield Lights Out - Recifier Board Nightmare...

[gajaman]

The non-CPU controlled lights on my Bally Space Invaders went out. All of the CPU controlled ones are fine and bright.

5I checked the fuses on the rectifier board and the F5 fuse was blown. I replaced this and now the lights are on but just barely, they are very dim.

Everything else seems ok, all game lights are on nice and bright.

I've found a lot of info on what to look for if the CPU controlled lights go out but have drawn a blank on the non-CPU lights.

I've never had this problem before with the lights always nice and bright. Could it be an earth or lask of power hence the dim glow?

[shardian]

Check the power coming off the transformer, make sure its putting out the correct voltage.

[RichSorr]

EDIT: jk, I said something stupid

[gajaman]

I've checked the voltages at the test points on the rectifier board.

Whilst doing so all was well with the machine in attract mode except for the non CPU lights being very dim.

TP1 was a little low at 5.2 when it should be between 5.8 and 7.2.
TP2 was fine at 226
TP3 was fine at 12
TP5 was fine at 41

TP4 was low at 3.8 when it should be between 6.3 and 8.3.

Also whilst I was testing the F5 fuse blew again putting the non CPU lights out.

Would the low TP4 cause the dim lights and any advice as to what I could do to rectify this?

[gajaman]

I've never looked closely at my rectifier board before. Turns out, I really should have;

This is the view from the top with everthing plugged in. Notice the lack of connectors?



This is the view from the bottom. Who needs connectors when you can just solder directly to the board?



I'm no expert but I am guessing this is not good. That said, until recently everything was working fine and even now the non CPU playfield lights are the only major problem that I am aware of.

But what do I do now? The board looks to be beyond repair as it appears pretty butchered, the soldering is not tidy at all.

I think you can get a replacement board but this would involve me rewiring all of the wires to the right connectors, is this likely to be very hard? Actually making the connectors etc should be easy but I'm worried about hooking a wire to the wrong terminal.   

What do you think?

[RichSorr]

your 7VAC does go through J1, i would rebuild that board if possible. If it seems unrepairable or you don't think its a task you could venture in, GPE has a replacement board for about 50 bucks. Not hard to install at all. Unfortunately, I don't think they have any available right now.

[gajaman]

I've decided to go with a replacement board from GPE. I've never dealt with them before but so far they seem very helpful.

As I undertstand it, when I get the board I solder the wires from the transformer to the "E" points on the board and then rewire all of the connectors with the new ones that come with the board and that's it.

On my board the E points are soldered with the wires on the back, I guess this is the right way of doing it?