Fish Tales Multi Ball/Reel Issue

[Neoretro]

Hi All,

I turned on my Fish Tales for a quick blast today and was greeted with an issue.

When I fire a ball into the caster club, it fires it up to the reel, which shoots it straight back out, as well as firing the ball from the shooter into play.

Which means you end up with 2 balls in play. I ran the Reel Test and every so often it posts an error. Although it's not particularly clear what it is.

All of the solutions I've read refer to wiring being the issue (nothing has changed about it) or the Optos. But I have no idea what they are or what to do to access them.

Has anyone else had this issue before and fixed it?

Thanks

Dave

 

[CHRIS B PINBALLS]

More than likely reel opto problem if you go in to tests then you can run the reel test

 

[Neoretro]

More than likely reel opto problem if you go in to tests then you can run the reel test

Thanks Chris.
Run the reel test and it’s posting errors but couldn’t tell what they meant.

Then I noticed that at no point Opto one was saying closed.

tested it in switches by moving the wheel. And it appears that Opto one is never registering.

what’s the best way to localise the issue to either the Opto or the board? Thanks

 

[CHRIS B PINBALLS]

So you probably have a faulty opto 1 on the reel

 

[Neoretro]

So you probably have a faulty opto 1 on the reel

Yep confirmed.

Resoldered the connections from opto 2 which works to Opto 1 and vice versa and Opto 1 now works.

Any idea where the original replacements can be found?

They’re A-14316 and A-14315

 

[CHRIS B PINBALLS]

Pinball heaven sell them just replace them both transmitor and reciver for what they cost

 

[CHRIS B PINBALLS]

To say you have no idea what to do was that a bit of sandbagging lol great logical way of diagnosing that well done

 

[Neoretro]

To say you have no idea what to do was that a bit of sandbagging lol great logical way of diagnosing that well done

haha I have a collection of arcade machines.

Once I’d worked out what Opto’s were and managed to get them out, fortunately it was fairly logical. Shame the molex’s on the opto board are keyed otherwise the test would have been a lot easier.

Are these optos an ok substitute?

 

[CHRIS B PINBALLS]

Yes those are the ones you need

 

[Neoretro]

Great thanks for all your help. I was sincere regretting turning the thing on when it started doing that!

 

[MadNat]

I had a reel problem on my FT - with help from here managed to solve it.

Turned out mine was a bad IC (LM399 from memory?). I replaced the optos too. I got mine from Andy [mention]pinballmania [/mention] - so if struggling to find them check him out.

 

[Neoretro]

I had a reel problem on my FT - with help from here managed to solve it.

Turned out mine was a bad IC (LM399 from memory?). I replaced the optos too. I got mine from Andy [mention]pinballmania [/mention] - so if struggling to find them check him out.

Cheers. I’ve ordered new Opto for the front pair as they weren’t registering abs when I switched the cables with the back pair they still didn’t.

so that’s suggests an Opto issue rather than a board issue as if when I switched the cables they registered it would mean the optos were working

 

[MadNat]

I’m sure you’ve made the correct diagnosis. Just offering another source for the parts if you needed it. Looks like you’re away.

Look forward to that enjoyment/satisfaction of a quality repair on your FT!