Help finding part please

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CftBL
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Help finding part please

Post by CftBL »

Hi everyone. My name is Mike and I live in Madison. My one and only machine is a Creature from the Black Lagoon that my wife bought me as a wedding present several years ago. I've been doing ok at maintaining it, but I just hit a stumbling block. My transformer is only putting out 4.2V or 1.3V (unloaded measurement & Volts varies by pin). So I need to replace or rebuild my transformer, part # 5610-12835-00
I've been looking online for about a week with no luck (which is actually how I stumbled across this forum).
I know I've never met any of you, but I would appreciate any help you could give in suggesting where I could buy one.
Cheers!
Mike
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Eric_S
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by Eric_S »

Mike,

Are you positive the transformer is the failed component? In my experience, transformers very rarely fail. I'd look at connectors, thermistor/emf filter, incoming power, etc.

Eric
CftBL
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by CftBL »

Thanks RustyLizard!

Eric,
I had a hard time believing it too. I've been chasing this ghost on and off for better than a month. The original problem resulted in having to replace the power driver board. After I put the new board in and replaced all the Molex connectors the pin would randomly reboot after a couple minutes of play. I figured out that I had a GI problem. The machine behaves perfectly normal if I disconnect the connector going to J115, which is connected entirely to the GI circuit off the transformer. I thought it was the board or one of the outbound connections from the board (J119,120, & 121) but those all checked out fine.
I finally thought to check the voltage coming out of the transformer. I checked the continuity of each circuit back to the 9 pin connector on the transformer. I made my measurements of the GI yellow white circuit by disconnecting the 9 pin connector coming right off the transformer. Three of the pins are only putting out 4.2 volts (those that connect to white/brown, white/orange, & white/yellow) while the other four pins are only putting out 1.3 volts (yellow, brown, green, & orange).
I believe it is supposed to be a parallel circuit (in the transformer) so they all should be putting the out same voltage. According to be schematic all the connections on J 115 are supposed to be a 6.8 V. I figure unloaded i should probably be seeing greater than 7V on the circuit, not the oddball voltages I measured. (I also checked it with my oscilloscope and the signal is clean and steady, just really low voltage.)

Any thoughts about something else I could be missing? I would appreciate any feedback!

Thank you in advance!
Mike
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Hilton
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by Hilton »

lots of smarter than me locals guys can probably chime in...

You will possibly get a response on this over on pinside.com. There are more people over there and sometimes that helps when troubleshooting a tech issue.

I prefer this forum for local discussion but a bigger base of pinheads is sometimes good for diagnosing.

Welcome to the forum. Come on out to some local events and play some pins to meet in person. We are a pretty nice group of guys.
CftBL
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by CftBL »

Good idea Hilton, I just posted on pinside too.

Now that I know about you guys I would like to make it some of the local events and meet other addicts.

Cheers!
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Hilton
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by Hilton »

Midwest Gaming Classic is the next big event in the state. www.midwestgamingclassic.com for details

MadRollinPinball is a local to Madison event in Sept for charity. www.madisonpinball.com for details

A few of us local guys are also putting 4 nicer quality machines out at Pooley's in Madison starting in Early April and will be holding a monthly gathering the 2nd Wednesday of each month. First one is April 9th.
Ken
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by Ken »

Welcome to the sight Mike. Just so you know, we already have a guy who says "Cheers". Right Hilton? :)
Hilton
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by Hilton »

Ken wrote:Welcome to the sight Mike. Just so you know, we already have a guy who says "Cheers". Right Hilton? :)
I like to drink, what can I say ;)
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ralphwiggum
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by ralphwiggum »

It is rare that transformers go bad, but it does happen. That being said, lets start with the simple stuff first... You are measuring the voltage on those particular plugs on AC right?
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tullster
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by tullster »

I looked over the circuit in my WPC manual and posted some advice on pinside. Something about your transformer measuring description makes me think you might be measuring it wrong.

Don't go buying a transformer until you're 100% sure that is your problem.

Welcome to the club and let us know how it goes!

Tully
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ralphwiggum
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by ralphwiggum »

Link to Pinside topic? I don't get on there much, and only use my phone, so i don't want to double up any efforts you may have going there. Locally, we should be able to get you through this pretty quickly too. There are a lot of tech nerds here- Sean S., Eric S., Mike S., Tully, Todd E., (I do okay sometimes)... :lol:
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tullster
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by tullster »

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ ... ransformer

Here ya go Tim,

It's too bad that folks have such a hard time with the WPC GI circuit, and that nobody seems to have the WPC manual to reference (even though one came with every game when new). It's a REALLY simple circuit!

Tully
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by tullster »

Oh, and I'm honored to be on your "Local Tech Nerd" List!! :lol:
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ralphwiggum
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Re: Help finding part please

Post by ralphwiggum »

tullster wrote:Oh, and I'm honored to be on your "Local Tech Nerd" List!! :lol:

Yeah, not sure if there is a nicer way to say it, LOL.... The logic/electronics portion of pinball is usually the trickier part of the hobby. It is actually the part I enjoy the most (by far), as I love to see the design and implementation of the various systems.


CFTBL,

Do you have pics of the connectors you repinned? Something sounds like it is askew here. Again, get back to us with the AC reading of those connectors and we can go from there.

Welcome to the Site!
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