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Bally Mata Hari SS no flipper activation and lighting issue

Waymon

Registered
Joined
Oct 27, 2021
Messages
12
Location
Memphis
Alias
Chase
Hello all,

I picked this machine up non working from an estate sale and have gotten most everything going but i have hit a snag. This is my first dive into bringing a machine back from not working. I currently own multiple machines but no major repairs under my belt.

A little context here, I was helped along with a Bally Night Rider "rebuild" and this means hand held through it. I was not there when the solenoid driver board and lamp driver board got components replaced and re-pining was done.

Now this Mata Hari when i picked it up they had it plugged in and turned on!! They thought this meant it was working. HA Half of the GI was on and half of the back box lights were on. I have gotten everything working except the flippers and the rest of the GI lights and the insert lighting. Below i will go through what i have done and i am looking to get ideas on where to go from here.

I replaced the MPU with a new Altek and this got the switches working but no coils would fire. I tracked this down to the fuse holder under the playfield and had to replace the entire unit. Now all of the coils fire during test mode. (Flippers are not activates during this test) I started a game and no flipper activation. i checked the switches and coils would fire (Slings, thumper bumpers, and kick outs) I did have 2 bumpers activating at the same time but gaping the leafs corrected this.

Flipper troubleshooting actions:
I tested with multi-meter again at all test points and everything checked out.
I am getting 39 volts at the lug on flipper coils
I grounded the flippers out and they fire
I then pulled the known good boards from my night rider for both SDB and LDB and this did absolutely nothing. So i installed the boards from Mata into Night rider and it played a game flawlessly and every light works. Not a board issue there
I took an alligator clip and clipped the end of stroke switches closed and still nothing happened
I have looked at pictures and diagrams and it appears they are wired correctly even though one looks like a crap show of a soldering job. (I will most likely still redo this)
I have been trying to track a possible grounding issue but nothing has made alight go off in my head.

What am I missing or over looking?

The lighting issue, I have yet to even try to figure out. During all of this testing for the flippers the inserts started working once but never again. Im sure this is just a connector most likely but the other half of the GI and bumpers not working is something entirely different it seems.

Any help or suggestions would be most appreciated.
 

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found a method to try by attaching a clip to the ground braid and traced a bad ground. Appears to be at the rectifier board. Although I can get continuity from the back side of the board at the pin location to the negative side of the button switch. 🤷‍♂️ This also made the other half of the GI come on by putting the connectors on only half way.

So I will be re-pinning those connectors and possibly changing the rectifier board.

Still no insert lights though. I think I will rectify this issue and see if that corrects its self as well. Pin intended ha.
 
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That’s the flipper circuit in a nutshell - it’s often the headers/connectors/pins going to and from the solenoid driver board. The final orange wire to ground from the flipper buttons can also be the issue.
 
Now all of the coils fire during test mode. (Flippers are not activates during this test)

The relay is pulsed in the solenoid test, though, so holding in the buttons should have the flippers just 'kick' briefly while the relay operates. It's hard-wired on the circuit board, to transistor Q 15, one of the 'continuous' drive circuits.
 
I found the issue to be in the rectifier board connection. I have ordered a crimp tool from amazon and am now trying to source trifuricon pins .156 and .100. Looks like i will have to buy from pinball website though.
 
It got hacked up pretty good. Even found one of the wires just soldered to the pin.

I already know I should have started here! All the test points checked good so I skipped it. Won’t happen again I can promise you that.


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the rear of rectifier board does have the wires soldered directly on - I was shocked when I first saw one, until I learnt that that's the way they did it from the factory.
 
the rear of rectifier board does have the wires soldered directly on - I was shocked when I first saw one, until I learnt that that's the way they did it from the factory.
Morning Alan, ah yes that’s right I do remember peeking behind it now when I first checking for faults
 
the rear of rectifier board does have the wires soldered directly on - I was shocked when I first saw one, until I learnt that that's the way they did it from the factory.
Those 12 wires all have their places to go. This one unfortunately has a couple extra wires and some jumpers that got put in so bad they burned a hole completely through the board.

I have a local guy that stocks everything I need and it’s easier for me to give him my entire setup (board and transformer) and just grab one of the ones he already has completed. Like a core swap. It’s awesome and worth the extra $$ as time saved on my end.
 
Really good progress. I am learning a lot. I see some inserts not lighting so now I can move to those areas since I know I have good power connections.

Thanks for the help so far!
 

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This machine is back in action. I have some light sockets to replace and probably a J4 re-pin in the future. Cleaned up real nice. Nasty little scratch on back glass but I’m not attempting to paint anything.

Thanks again for the tips.
 

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Nice one well done !
Once again I do remember this one as a kid the dagger always stuck in my mind 👍🏻
Kind of weird how at least one thing I can remember of hell of a lot of pins from back then
 
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