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Battery damage!!

M

Mike-R-

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Oct 12, 2017
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113
Location
Liverpool
Hi all, I was asked by a friend of a friend to have a look at their TAF to see if I could see what might be wrong with it and why it wasn't working. Originally it was restarting itself when he got well into a game, so he didn't play for a while. When he tried it again it wasn't working properly and dmd not working. I went to have a look and 1st to sort out is battery damage. I will put some pics on, does anybody think this may be salvageable or has it had it and needing a new board? Also, would this likely cause the random restarting issues and now a non working dmd. It did start up a couple of times when I was there but now restarts when the right flipper is used, and dmd still doesnt work at all. Many thanks in advance, Mike.

I have included a short video showing boards on initial startup. Cheers. Not sure the video clip has attached.
 

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That is very likely to be causing the issues. Might be salvageable but a lot of work. Likely more economical to get a new one unless you have free/cheap labour.

retroarcadespecialists.co.uk

ROCKETCPU WPC replacement CPU (Ready to play: No ill transfer my own chips, Game Type: Wpc-S)

Stockists of New and Workshopped Pinball Machines Pinball Repair and modifications Arcade games Pinball Parts Pinball Hire
retroarcadespecialists.co.uk retroarcadespecialists.co.uk

Be careful when transferring the chips over, the contacts are delicate, especially the ASIC.
 
Thanks for the advice, I will let him know and see what he wants to do. I havent ever swapped chips over, I it straight forward to do but with a lot of care?
 
The ROMs should all be in sockets, no soldering required. The ASIC is fiddly to get out, watch some videos on it and ideally get the special extraction tool: https://www.pinled.de/en/p/extraction-tool-for-wpc-asic-module

If you know how to solder, fixing the board might be a good learning project. There is plenty of material online on how to do it, just need patience and lots of time!
 
If you're a repair hobbyist, then it's fine, but for anyone else, it's beyond economic repair and you're better buying a new one. You can send the old board back to the supplier, and they will swap the chips for you, its one of the drop down options.

www.pinballdisplays.co.uk

WPC -MPU Board

Replacement circuit boards for Bally Williams, Data East, Gottlieb Stern Sega pinball machines
www.pinballdisplays.co.uk

Don't worry about it saying it off stock, they get frequent deliveries.
 
Mike-R- said:
Thanks for the advice, I will let him know and see what he wants to do. I havent ever swapped chips over, I it straight forward to do but with a lot of care?
Click to expand...
Don't need to with that, you can pay extra for an official brand new ROM and CPU. Plug and play board
 
Mike-R- said:
Are they soldered in or plugged in, I know how to do soldering.
Click to expand...
Make sure you buy direct from pinsound

www.pinsound.org

Welcome - PinSound

Experience somethingnew. Explore Start here! List all the compatible machines Stern Spike 1&2 All you need to enhanced your gaming experience Learn more Best audio experience Rediscover your pinball machine with a new sound track Learn more Speakers & headphones Crank up your volume machineor...
www.pinsound.org www.pinsound.org

The option then is there for the Roms and CPU pre fitted so plug and play
 
Mike-R- said:
Thank you very much for your help, much appreciated. Cheers
Click to expand...
Sorry this link

www.pinsound.org

RocketCPU WPC

RocketCPU, the most advanced and innovative drop-in CPU replacement board 100% compliant with original schematics & references Multipass Technology Integrated No More Reset Integrated onboard RAM Smart Status NVRAM ready: NoVaRAM Installation manual Select the option "Ready To Play" to receive...
www.pinsound.org www.pinsound.org

Select option ready to play
 
Personally I wouldn't be taking 30 year old chips from a battery damaged and reusing them unless I had to, either money constraints or availability
 
Mozie said:
Ouch! You must be minted Chris 😂 For 150 quid I'd be trying my own chips first for sure!!
Click to expand...
Well "lol" for £150 I'd prefer it to last another 30 years and if I tried it would last 5 minutes, Adam's is worth at least £6k so in the scheme of things, not bad 🤭
 
Ok. The ASIC, processor and EPROM will be just fine.
But removing them from the board does require some understanding and using the right tools for the ASIC.
If you were to cause a damage to one of these, replacements are available. So no need to bin them to start with unless you are in a rush to fix TAF.

Repairing these old boards is a delicate and fiddly job. I have three old acid damaged boards to play about with, and the time spent repairing them would cost about the same as buying a modern re-worked board.
There are a few alternatives on the market and £150 seems to be the rate.
 
Calimori said:
My mum always said, no one knows how to something until they learn how to do it.
Click to expand...
True, but this work requires the specific tools, boards to practice on and personally if you haven't done it before hands on help. It's an area I would love to learn, but there is an element risk without knowledge. And the machines now are pretty valuable, in the old days I would have had ago.
 
Phone @philpalmer - or phone up me.... You will get the same answer.

GET A NEW BOARD.

What is your time worth?

I see people 'bodging' boards and then 6 months later - it is broken again.

Also if you buy a new board - send your old board to Phil and ask him to swap over your chips - do not try removing the square chip without the proper tool.
 
I have a rocket CPU board in my creech for the very reason it came with battery damage.
It comes with the tools to lift both the ASIC one and the others.
It’s not a hard task but I guess if you ham fisted and find this stuff fiddly then have a capable mate do it for you.
Can I just add that the board is a fantastic piece of kit and well built nothing like the rotten dog one that has kinda gave replacements a bad name.
I’d have them in all my pins if I had a lineup of the 90s stuff to save any future damage and it takes the battery out of the equation altogether.
 
This is battery damage that i discovered this week, not even thinking of getting it repaired
I am trying the MPU from Coin-up pinball (an Australian guy) but I wont be able to get it installed anytime soon (so I cannot report if the board is good or not)
 

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Thanks everyone for all your help and advice, I will pass it all on and see what he wants to do.

Really appreciated, cheers.

Mike.
 
cmrl9 said:
True, but this work requires the specific tools, boards to practice on and personally if you haven't done it before hands on help. It's an area I would love to learn, but there is an element risk without knowledge. And the machines now are pretty valuable, in the old days I would have had ago.
Click to expand...
Chris, I have a batch of old bally -35 boards with varying degrees of acid damage if you want to practice ;)
 
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