Turn Pinball Off?

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natty

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Jan 23, 2005
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Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Hi,
I was reading a post earlier about some kids playing pinball and then
turning the machine off.
-I have been leaving my machines running 24/7. Is this discouraged?
Should I only turn it on when playing?
-Also, how do you protect your pins against lightning storms? I unplug
mine, but sometimes I'm not at home at the time.
- When servicing the machine is it ok to leave the game on, or am I
risking shock?
-Should the red light that detects pinballs in front of Ted's Bulldozer
in "Road Show" be turned on, or off to get it to register correctly.
I'm having trouble getting mine to register either way.
-For each hit in Ted's mouth, or to Red's mouth during multiball in
"Road Show," should there be only one jackpot reward or do they go up
with each hit. For example, the second hit gave me two jackpots and
the third gave me three, although it wouldn't go above three. What is
correct?
-I need Bally Truck Stop rubbers. What can I find these?
-I've checked the fuses in "Road Show" and they all look good. So do
the bulbs. However, half of "The Wheel" doesn't light up. What is
causing this?

Thanks.
-Nate
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

don't leave the machines on 24/7. Your biggest enemy in electronics is
heat.

It's best to have the game off when servicing just to be sure. Unless
you're adjusting something that needs the voltage on, don't.

see marvin3m.com/fix under wpc games for the lamp problems - you
probably have a cracked header pin on the wheel that needs to be
addressed. (That's common) Go into lamp test and check columns, is
there one column in the wheel that's all off?
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

i usually turn mine off when not playing, i have mine protected by
surge protectors.

Ctsteps5

owner of
71 Bally Expressway, 72 Williams Superstar,
74 Williams Star Pool, 75 Gottlieb Fast Draw.

Moderator of EM Pinball Group
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/empinbalmachines/
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

>-I have been leaving my machines running 24/7. Is >this discouraged?

Yikes! Displays, bulbs, electronics all will fail much sooner if you
leave them on. Turn them off if you don't plan to play them in the next
hour or so.

Kirb
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Don't leave them on 24/7. First off they pull a lot of power even in
attract mode. Save money on your electric bill!

Also, as others have noted, they will heat up and may smoke while you
are not in the room. One of the main causes of heat damage is
expansion and contraction from heating and cooling breaking solder
joints etc. For this reason it is also not good to turn the machine on
and play two games then turn it off for thirty minutes and turn it back
on again and play two games. You get the idea - leave it running as
long as you might play another game then turn it off.

Use surge suppressors rated at 2000 or more joules.

Don't service a machine while it is turned on. You have a good chance
of shorting something out. Sometimes I replace bulbs with it on, but
never stick a metalic tool into a machine with it turned on.

John
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Leaving solidstate games on 24/7 is dumb at best.
Displays have a mean time between failure rate. A documented
number of hours of life. Unless you like replacing $125
dot matrix displays or alpha numberic display tubes, turn
the damn thing off when you're not playing it.

heck even light bulbs have an hour rating. Ok they are
only 10 cents each, but it puts lots of stress on the GI
connectors. I don't much like replacing connectors.

Not to mention the electricity cost. Do you like paying
your electric bill? If so, come on over and pay mine!

Natty wrote:
> Hi,
> I was reading a post earlier about some kids playing pinball and then
> turning the machine off.
> -I have been leaving my machines running 24/7. Is this discouraged?
> Should I only turn it on when playing?
> -Also, how do you protect your pins against lightning storms? I unplug
> mine, but sometimes I'm not at home at the time.
> - When servicing the machine is it ok to leave the game on, or am I
> risking shock?
> -Should the red light that detects pinballs in front of Ted's Bulldozer
> in "Road Show" be turned on, or off to get it to register correctly.
> I'm having trouble getting mine to register either way.
> -For each hit in Ted's mouth, or to Red's mouth during multiball in
> "Road Show," should there be only one jackpot reward or do they go up
> with each hit. For example, the second hit gave me two jackpots and
> the third gave me three, although it wouldn't go above three. What is
> correct?
> -I need Bally Truck Stop rubbers. What can I find these?
> -I've checked the fuses in "Road Show" and they all look good. So do
> the bulbs. However, half of "The Wheel" doesn't light up. What is
> causing this?
>
> Thanks.
> -Nate
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Natty (oldefortpub@hotmail.com) wrote:
: Hi,
: I was reading a post earlier about some kids playing pinball and then
: turning the machine off.
: -I have been leaving my machines running 24/7. Is this discouraged?
: Should I only turn it on when playing?

After what happened last weekend, I will never leave machines on when I
am not home.

Had some friends stay over and I was in the kitchen when one of the kids
came running in saying that there was smoke coming from my bowler (United
Caravelle) and that they had turned it off. I ran in there and there was
smoke and a very strong odor in the room. We felt around, and I am pretty
sure it was the ballast (for the fluorescent lamp that lights the pins)
that had overheated (it was very hot). This was a ballast that I got from
Lowe's when I got the machine about a year ago. I shudder to think what
would have happened had that happened when no one was home.

I do plan to put a new ballast in there, but will never leave that or
any other machine turned on when I am not home.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Yes, turn them off it your're not going to
play them for a few hours or more.

Yes, unplugging them is the best if you're
worried about storm damage.

Turn the game off when servicing it, but
leave it plugged in. (Of course this doesn't
apply if you are working on the power line
or the transformer!)

The adjustment procedure for the eddy sensor
boards shoud be in your game manual. (They should
be off until metal is sensed.)

Several suppliers can fix you up with a rubber kit.
Pinball Resource is one.

Your manual and schematics should be your start
on troubleshooting your lamp problem(s). Try to
trace backwards from each lamp that doesn't work,
and try to find a common connection between them.

Fred
TX
CARGPB#8
====================

Natty wrote:
> Hi,
> I was reading a post earlier about some kids playing pinball and then
> turning the machine off.
> -I have been leaving my machines running 24/7. Is this discouraged?
> Should I only turn it on when playing?
> -Also, how do you protect your pins against lightning storms? I unplug
> mine, but sometimes I'm not at home at the time.
> - When servicing the machine is it ok to leave the game on, or am I
> risking shock?
> -Should the red light that detects pinballs in front of Ted's Bulldozer
> in "Road Show" be turned on, or off to get it to register correctly.
> I'm having trouble getting mine to register either way.
> -For each hit in Ted's mouth, or to Red's mouth during multiball in
> "Road Show," should there be only one jackpot reward or do they go up
> with each hit. For example, the second hit gave me two jackpots and
> the third gave me three, although it wouldn't go above three. What is
> correct?
> -I need Bally Truck Stop rubbers. What can I find these?
> -I've checked the fuses in "Road Show" and they all look good. So do
> the bulbs. However, half of "The Wheel" doesn't light up. What is
> causing this?
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

> I was reading a post earlier about some kids playing pinball and then
> turning the machine off.
> -I have been leaving my machines running 24/7. Is this discouraged?
> Should I only turn it on when playing?
> -Also, how do you protect your pins against lightning storms? I unplug
> mine, but sometimes I'm not at home at the time.
> - When servicing the machine is it ok to leave the game on, or am I
> risking shock?
> -Should the red light that detects pinballs in front of Ted's Bulldozer
> in "Road Show" be turned on, or off to get it to register correctly.
> I'm having trouble getting mine to register either way.
> -For each hit in Ted's mouth, or to Red's mouth during multiball in
> "Road Show," should there be only one jackpot reward or do they go up
> with each hit. For example, the second hit gave me two jackpots and
> the third gave me three, although it wouldn't go above three. What is
> correct?
> -I need Bally Truck Stop rubbers. What can I find these?
> -I've checked the fuses in "Road Show" and they all look good. So do
> the bulbs. However, half of "The Wheel" doesn't light up. What is
> causing this?

That's alot of questions!!!!

Turn game on, play x number of games, turn game off. I've had coils go bad,
transistors lock on and things melt down. No reason to risk a fire and
death during the night from a faulty pinball machine. Do you leave your TV
on all night too?

Turn the game OFF when servicing. Dropping a screw or tool acropss a board
could kill or fry your power driver, CPU, fliptronics board. But, be
careful when adjusting an eddy sensor, use a plastic screwdriver in case you
drop it.

The eddy sensor board the light should be off, so adjust it until the light
just goes off.

Check the solder pads where the pins are on the board where the connector
plugs into. Unconnect the connector, pull the board out and resolder all
the pins an the base. These get cracks and separate from the pads and they
need to be re-flowed to remake contact.

--
Mike S.
Kalamazoo, MI

Gameroom: http://tinyurl.com/4hfev
W C S Owner's List: http://tinyurl.com/39cjo
M B Scoop Repair: http://tinyurl.com/9lfu
--------------------------------------------
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

> -I have been leaving my machines running 24/7. Is this discouraged?
> Should I only turn it on when playing?

Sometimes I'll leave one or two on a few days at a time, not that big of
deal, but if you dont plan on playing them anytime soon, I'd switch them
off.

> -Also, how do you protect your pins against lightning storms? I unplug
> mine, but sometimes I'm not at home at the time.

The power Strips I use have protection, but that doesnt always mean its
going to save your pins, I usually unplug them during largER storms.

> - When servicing the machine is it ok to leave the game on, or am I
> risking shock?

Yes its okay but not a good idea, you are risking shok from one thing to
another rather than yourself, meaning, you could short something. Adjusting
switches, bulbs and mechanical adjustment, I'll keep it on, taking anything
apart that has a voltage level, I'm tuning it off. In most cases, I've had
wire coil tabs bump into the side rails and short to the ground, thats the
pain reason I power them off.


> -I've checked the fuses in "Road Show" and they all look good. So do
> the bulbs. However, half of "The Wheel" doesn't light up. What is
> causing this?

Could be powered from more than one line, one of which could be bad, look at
those connections on the harnesses around the lamp PCB as well as your
driver board.

--Eric
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

You should pull the nicads from your games and replace with battery
holders and regular AA's with a blocking diode installed. Nicads emit
a gas when charging which helps to damage the boards (Even before they
"go bad")

If you replace the battery with a memory Cap, by all means they need to
be on a couple times for a while every 6 months or so
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

You should have any solid state running a few hours a week to keep the
batteries charged so they aren't as quick to drain and corrode the mpu
board.

Otherwise, i leave my pins unplugged.

http://www.pbresource.com for general parts.

As for the lighting issue, looked for a burnt connector, a result of leaving
a pin on 24/7.

Pingeek
http://www.pingeek.com pinball dvds for sale

"Natty" <oldefortpub@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1122487838.945154.111470@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
> I was reading a post earlier about some kids playing pinball and then
> turning the machine off.
> -I have been leaving my machines running 24/7. Is this discouraged?
> Should I only turn it on when playing?
> -Also, how do you protect your pins against lightning storms? I unplug
> mine, but sometimes I'm not at home at the time.
> - When servicing the machine is it ok to leave the game on, or am I
> risking shock?
> -Should the red light that detects pinballs in front of Ted's Bulldozer
> in "Road Show" be turned on, or off to get it to register correctly.
> I'm having trouble getting mine to register either way.
> -For each hit in Ted's mouth, or to Red's mouth during multiball in
> "Road Show," should there be only one jackpot reward or do they go up
> with each hit. For example, the second hit gave me two jackpots and
> the third gave me three, although it wouldn't go above three. What is
> correct?
> -I need Bally Truck Stop rubbers. What can I find these?
> -I've checked the fuses in "Road Show" and they all look good. So do
> the bulbs. However, half of "The Wheel" doesn't light up. What is
> causing this?
>
> Thanks.
> -Nate
>
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

I keep mine on and second it as a hot plate. I'm cheap...

David...



On 27 Jul 2005 11:10:38 -0700, "Natty" <oldefortpub@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>Hi,
>I was reading a post earlier about some kids playing pinball and then
>turning the machine off.
>-I have been leaving my machines running 24/7. Is this discouraged?
>Should I only turn it on when playing?
>-Also, how do you protect your pins against lightning storms? I unplug
>mine, but sometimes I'm not at home at the time.
>- When servicing the machine is it ok to leave the game on, or am I
>risking shock?
>-Should the red light that detects pinballs in front of Ted's Bulldozer
>in "Road Show" be turned on, or off to get it to register correctly.
>I'm having trouble getting mine to register either way.
>-For each hit in Ted's mouth, or to Red's mouth during multiball in
>"Road Show," should there be only one jackpot reward or do they go up
>with each hit. For example, the second hit gave me two jackpots and
>the third gave me three, although it wouldn't go above three. What is
>correct?
>-I need Bally Truck Stop rubbers. What can I find these?
>-I've checked the fuses in "Road Show" and they all look good. So do
>the bulbs. However, half of "The Wheel" doesn't light up. What is
>causing this?
>
>Thanks.
>-Nate
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

PT wrote:
> Don't leave them on 24/7. First off they pull a lot of power even in
> attract mode. Save money on your electric bill!

Um... well, they consume about 240 watts in attract mode, and at $0.08 per
kilowatt hour, that's about $14 a month. I wouldn't call that "a lot".

> Don't service a machine while it is turned on. You have a good chance
> of shorting something out. Sometimes I replace bulbs with it on, but
> never stick a metalic tool into a machine with it turned on.

Okay, I'll check coil voltages with my meter with the power off next time.
Thanks for the tip! ;-)

But I agree about not leaving it on. Heat stress is nasty on pinball machines.

-->Neil
 
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