Black Hole displays dead - tiny fuse on pascal dead

[David_Vi]

Today I turned on Black Hole and all the displays were off.

There's a tiny fuse on the pascal board which appears dead.


I've found some on eBay and ordered.

But why would the fuse go? Is one of our displays in trouble? Will the fuse go again? Could it be a fluke?
Is there anywhere to get replacement displays in under a week?

Trust games to have issues one week before our comp!

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

The First Law of Pinball Machines

You shall cease to function as intended if any of the following scenarios arise -
The owner has friends visiting
You are involved in a league meet
You are going to or already at a show
You have just been sold.


They are mechanical bastards and it happens so often it verges on the sinister.

 

[David_Vi]

The First Law of Pinball Machines

You shall cease to function as intended if any of the following scenarios arise -
The owner has friends visiting
You are involved in a league meet
You are going to or already at a show
You have just been sold.


They are mechanical bastards and it happens so often it verges on the sinister.

Centaur has had issues too, it's true!

 

[pinballmania]

It’s a very low rated fuse. It may just be fatigued by being turned off and on many times. You’ll soon find out when you fit a new fuse. It would be prudent to inspect your displays. Look into the glass and you will see a number of horizontal fine wires inside the glass envelope. If any of these are broken then you should not use this display and needs to be replaced.

 

[David_Vi]

It’s a very low rated fuse. It may just be fatigued by being turned off and on many times. You’ll soon find out when you fit a new fuse. It would be prudent to inspect your displays. Look into the glass and you will see a number of horizontal fine wires inside the glass envelope. If any of these are broken then you should not use this display and needs to be replaced.

I popped the original mpu and driver board in and the displays work, no fuse blown yet, although I can't see where the fuse is on the original boards.

The player 1 display is working but the segments seem brighter or flickering.

I'll inspect them closely tomorrow. Ordered a few fuses so hopefully I have enough to be sure the displays are ok and to find a troublesome one.

 

[pinballmania]

The original fuse is fuse 2 on the fuse panel. Its 250mA slow blow. Pascal has increased the protection by fitting a 100mA fuse.

 

[David_Vi]

The original fuse is fuse 2 on the fuse panel. Its 250mA slow blow. Pascal has increased the protection by fitting a 100mA fuse.

It must vary between Pascal's board versions as the one on mine was 125ma.
At least fuse 2 is a standard fuse I have spares of so if it does go before the new fuses I have spares to troubleshoot

 

[Moonraker]

They normally include a spare fuse with the pascal board.

The 1uF capacitor on the display needs changing. Best to do it on each display to help preserve the displays. The antics of the capacitor on display 1 which is causing the flickering, etc will have caused the fuse to blow.