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Getting started with TAF

LordBucketHead

LordBucketHead

Registered
Joined
Aug 12, 2017
Messages
92
Location
Durham
Hi All, complete newbie, first machine which I acquired recently and has sat in the garage till I've found time to switch it on tonight. It's been in France (so I had to change the plug - 3 amp fuse ok ?) and it's displaying French language. However, when the seller was showing me it working (in England) he pointed out to me that when he sets the language to English, it just eventually reverts to French of it's own accord. I'd left it till 9pm to have a first bond with it tonight in the garage & was somewhat surprised that each tap on a coin door settings button created a noise that would have Ted Nugent reaching for his ear defenders. As the folks in the house next to ours have young children who sleep from 7pm to 7pm I thought better of continuing. Repeatedly pressing the volume minus button had no effect. Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
The minimum volume is 8 by default (which is bloody loud). You have to switch on the overide minimum volume in the settings.
 
If it’s reverting to French, check the batteries as it isn’t saving the game state. Batteries are in the back box left hand side, if it’s been sat you could do no worse than put new ones in. Batteries leaking is a common cause of cpu/board damage.

Getting in the back box. You need the key, it’s usually hanging on the reverse side of the coin box or inside the machine, when you unlock the translite it slides up and out allowing access to the boards/batteries. Reverse the procedure to pop the translite back in.
 
As above should not be resetting after switch on . hopefully it just batteries dislodge in the holder !
Have you played a game on it yet?
The CPU in the back box may have dip switches so can easily be but to default ,do you have a manual ?
 
Hi,

For your query re. the plug fuse, a 3A fuse isn't really enough, due to the initial load as the machine starts up (I got a service call once, to a Flintstones which wasn't powering up. Health & Safety had just visited the location, and changed the plug fuse to 3A. This had blown.). There's a (4A) fuse for the incoming mains inside the machine, so the plug fuse is only exclusively covering the mains lead.

As for the language settings, this is a fairly frequent situation. The 'WPC' board-set games have at least three languages for text, English, French and German. If the seller didn't actually show you how to obtain English text, then use that recall of subtitled French fillums (did you see 'Les Flics'?) to get into the Adjustment menu and select English instead;

  • Open the coin door and press the 'Enter' button
  • Use '+' or '-' to select 'Menu Reglage' ('R') and press Enter
  • Now select R.1 (standard adjustments) and press Enter
  • Scroll through to the language selection, R.1.21? which will be 'Francais'
  • Press Enter, the current value will flash, allowing a change
  • use +/- to select English (or Deutsch, if you prefer)
  • Press Enter to make the alteration
while you're in this menu, find 'Minimum Volume Over-ride' and change it to 'Yes'.

If the default text is German, then the above still applies, but select the 'E' (Einstellung) sub-menu rather than 'R'

If the game has reverted to French text, then it's probably lost any other alterations too, such as Free Play. If you'd like that feature, it's an item in Pricing Menu, '#.3'

The factor which selects French as a default is the pattern of connections made in an area of the Cpu board, next to the unused 'Display' connector, marked with the outline of a chip and some 'W##' identifiers. W was the sign of a simple wire linkage between circuit traces, and some of these (14 to 18, AIR) are used to select the territory that a game was set for at the factory. As Carl says, there may be an 8-way switch block fitted to the board allowing a simple correction, but if there are zero-Ohm links there (White with black band) one will be missing for French. Apparently having two or more missing sets a USA default.
 
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Yep ! Well said could not said it better myself :rolleyes:

Or if you can get a translation app on the phone and it translates it for you ,to get to the settings to change it to English ,it's a bit long winded but it does get there in the end ;)
 
Bloody language settings. One of my games reset to German once. Had to fiddle about for ages until I stumbled across the language option. Jay's post above is spot on. Hope you enjy your game.
 
carl lawrence said:
As above should not be resetting after switch on . hopefully it just batteries dislodge in the holder !
Have you played a game on it yet?
The CPU in the back box may have dip switches so can easily be but to default ,do you have a manual ?
Click to expand...
Jay Walker said:
Hi,

For your query re. the plug fuse, a 3A fuse isn't really enough, due to the initial load as the machine starts up (I got a service call once, to a Flintstones which wasn't powering up. Health & safety had just visited the location, and changed the plug fuse to 3A. This had blown.). There's a (4A) fuse for the incoming mains inside the machine, so the plug fuse is only exclusively covering the mains lead.

As for the language settings, this is a fairly frequent situation. The 'WPC' board-set games have at least three languages for text, English, French and German. If the seller didn't actually show you how to obtain English text, then use that recall of subtitled French fillums (did you see 'Les Flics'?) to get into the Adjustment menu and select English instead;

  • Open the coin door and press the 'Enter' button
  • Use '+' or '-' to select 'Menu Reglage' ('R') and press Enter
  • Now select R.1 (standard adjustments) and press Enter
  • Scroll through to the language selection, R.1.21? which will be 'Francais'
  • Press Enter, the current value will flash, allowing a change
  • use +/- to select English (or Deutsch, if you prefer)
  • Press Enter to make the alteration
while you're in this menu, find 'Minimum Volume Over-ride' and change it to 'Yes'.

If the game has reverted to French text, then it's probably lost any other alterations too, such as Free Play. If you'd like that feature, it's an item in Pricing Menu, '#.3'

The factor which selects French as a default is the pattern of connections made in an area of the Cpu board, next to the unused 'Display' connector, marked with the outline of a chip and some 'W##' identifiers. W was the sign of a simple wire linkage between circuit traces, and some of these (14 to 18, AIR) are used to select the territory that a game was set for at the factory. As Carl says, there may be an 8-way switch block fitted to the board allowing a simple correction, but if there are zero-Ohm links there (White with black band) one will be missing for French. Apparently having two or more missing sets a USA default.
Click to expand...
Just wow ! Thanks for your reply. This morning, with google translate by my side (I didn't spend a lot of time watching the subtitles in those French films if you get my drift) I managed to work out how to change the lingo to English & turn the volume down. I apologise, I should have updated this thread straight after I'd achieved this. Factory reset puts it back to French again. I'll attempt have a crack at changing the default later on tonight. There was an english plug in the money box with a 3 amp fuse in it so I just stuck that on. The fuse sadly passed away this morning (unsurprisingly). It's got a 13amp fuse in it now. My next problem is that when I lose the first ball between the flippers, it won't give me the second ball. I did a quick switch test and I saw that some switches were shown as 'closed'. 'Ball shooter' for example. Is that right ? The only way I can persuade the machine to give me a ball is to switch it off and then back on again. Thanks for your help. Much appreciated.
 
carl lawrence said:
As above should not be resetting after switch on . hopefully it just batteries dislodge in the holder !
Have you played a game on it yet?
The CPU in the back box may have dip switches so can easily be but to default ,do you have a manual ?
Click to expand...
The seller is going to post the original manual to me next week when he returns from France. In the meantime I'm using the pdf's from Pinball Database. It seems to be behaving itself language wise. Even after it's been switched off and back on again. However, my next problem is per my reply to Jay. Thanks for your reply :)
 
carl lawrence said:
Yep ! Well said could not said it better myself :rolleyes:

Or if you can get a translation app on the phone and it translates it for you ,to get to the settings to change it to English ,it's a bit long winded but it does get there in the end ;)
Click to expand...
I used google translate to get me there. I quite enjoyed it & improved my current knowledge of the French language by 99.9%.
 
Spadge said:
If it’s reverting to French, check the batteries as it isn’t saving the game state. Batteries are in the back box left hand side, if it’s been sat you could do no worse than put new ones in. Batteries leaking is a common cause of cpu/board damage.

Getting in the back box. You need the key, it’s usually hanging on the reverse side of the coin box or inside the machine, when you unlock the translite it slides up and out allowing access to the boards/batteries. Reverse the procedure to pop the translite back in.
Click to expand...
Thanks Spadge.. The lingo problem seems to be sorted. I'm going to attempt to change the default later. I understand it's a good idea to relocate those batteries in case they leak onto the circuit board. I'm sure someone has done a video on Youtube showing how to do this. I'll try to get that done next week. Better get some soldering practicing in.
 
LordBucketHead said:
Just wow ! Thanks for your reply. This morning, with google translate by my side (I didn't spend a lot of time watching the subtitles in those French films if you get my drift) I managed to work out how to change the lingo to English & turn the volume down. I apologise, I should have updated this thread straight after I'd achieved this. Factory reset puts it back to French again. I'll attempt have a crack at changing the default later on tonight. There was an english plug in the money box with a 3 amp fuse in it so I just stuck that on. The fuse sadly passed away this morning (unsurprisingly). It's got a 13amp fuse in it now. My next problem is that when I lose the first ball between the flippers, it won't give me the second ball. I did a quick switch test and I saw that some switches were shown as 'closed'. 'Ball shooter' for example. Is that right ? The only way I can persuade the machine to give me a ball is to switch it off and then back on again. Thanks for your help. Much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Take all balls out and then go into switch test !
All switches should be open ,then roll a ball between the flippers ,the trough switches should all close and then open again apart from the one the ball is resting on !

Lost my keys for my tat at the mo ,so cannot tell you have many ball are in the trough :oops:

Andy @pinballmania has the fuses ,which should be a 7a but I think I still have 10a in mine ops !
 
3ball switch 18. 15 16 17 all open ,push ball over the switches with finger should then close and open :thumbs:

Just found keys !
 
carl lawrence said:
Take all balls out and then go into switch test !
All switches should be open ,then roll a ball between the flippers ,the trough switches should all close and then open again apart from the one the ball is resting on !

Lost my keys for my tat at the mo ,so cannot tell you have many ball are in the trough :oops:

Andy @pinballmania has the fuses ,which should be a 7a but I think I still have 10a in mine ops !
Click to expand...
Thanks Carl. "Switch closed that the ball is resting on" = doh ! This is fascinating stuff. 3 balls in the trough. Also;
Left trough closed, Centre trough closed, Right trough closed, T.3 24 Always Closed (flashing), right outland closed, Bookcase closed, Thing Up closed.
 
When switch is activated there is a sound plus the grid tell shows you too and where on the grid Matrix !!

By touching the switch to activate it !!
 
Sutol said:
Just push on a target and see it activate on the grid. If it activates two switches you have a problem, lol

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
carl lawrence said:
Take all balls out and then go into switch test !
All switches should be open ,then roll a ball between the flippers ,the trough switches should all close and then open again apart from the one the ball is resting on !

Lost my keys for my tat at the mo ,so cannot tell you have many ball are in the trough :oops:

Andy @pinballmania has the fuses ,which should be a 7a but I think I still have 10a in mine ops !
Click to expand...
I'd love to have a bunch of these fuses to hand. I'm guessing these can't be bought in B&Q. How can I buy a full set of fuses for a TAF please ? Do I just PM that gentleman ?
 
LordBucketHead said:
My next problem is that when I lose the first ball between the flippers, it won't give me the second ball. I did a quick switch test and I saw that some switches were shown as 'closed'. 'Ball shooter' for example. Is that right ? The only way I can persuade the machine to give me a ball is to switch it off and then back on again. Thanks for your help. Much appreciated.
Click to expand...

The 'Ball Shooter' switch being shown as closed could be the reason for not serving out a ball; the program would think there was one there already, even if it also saw the three 'Trough' switches closed.

As a general guide to switches in a pinball;

  • Switches that are recognisably switches, i.e. mechanically closed contacts (whether open copper blades or micro-switches) are usually 'Open' in tests, unless a ball or a component/linkage is closing them
  • Switches which are 'Optos' use an infra-red light beam, and are active to the program and shown with an (A), Open, when the beam is broken. They show as 'Closed' in tests when the beam is clear
  • WPC games have the 'switch' Column 2, Row 4 (#2,4) permanently wired closed, to show that the 12v power for the switch network is okay
  • The Switch Edges test is handy for checking if an individual switch is working, e.g. if it's named in a 'Test Report'
  • Switch Levels is more useful for complex problems (such as false indications/ Phantoms), since it shows all the switches being read as closed during the test
  • Single Switch restricts itself to one selected switch only, and helps if one switch in a tightly-packed group requires adjustment
Getting back to your Addams, the ball shooter switch should only show closed with a ball served out and resting on the shooter, it should clear when the ball is fired off the shooter. Similarly for Right Outlane, the trip-wire sticking up through the playfield should operate the microswitch below only as a ball passes over, not continually. Bookcase closed is okay if the bookcase is closed, and I think that the Thing sensors are optos, so 'Up' would be okay if the hand isn't raised to pick up a ball.

Carefully adjust the trip-wires on those first two switches, so that they close under the weight of a ball. Also check that their attachment to the black plastic casing of the switches isn't damaged - the locating lugs on the casing can wear, leaving the trip wire adrift.

Re. checking the flippers/other units; AIR Addams has specific tests for the Bookcase and the Thing hand. I'm not sure about the Swamp locking/kickout area.
 
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Jay Walker said:
The 'Ball Shooter' switch being shown as closed could be the reason for not serving out a ball; the program would think there was one there already, even if it also saw the three 'Trough' switches closed.

As a general guide to switches in a pinball;

  • Switches that are recognisably switches, i.e. mechanically closed contacts (whether open copper blades or micro-switches) are usually 'Open' in tests, unless a ball or a component/linkage is closing them
  • Switches which are 'Optos' use an infra-red light beam, and are active to the program and shown with an (A), Open, when the beam is broken. They show as 'Closed' in tests when the beam is clear
  • WPC games have the 'switch' Column 2, Row 4 (#2,4) permanently wired closed, to show that the 12v power for the switch network is okay
  • The Switch Edges test is handy for checking if an individual switch is working, e.g. if it's named in a 'Test Report'
  • Switch Levels is more useful for complex problems (such as false indications/ Phantoms), since it shows all the switches being read as closed during the test
  • Single Switch restricts itself to one selected switch only, and helps if one switch in a tightly-packed group requires adjustment
Getting back to your Addams, the ball shooter switch should only show closed with a ball served out and resting on the shooter, it should clear when the ball is fired off the shooter. Similarly for Right Outlane, the trip-wire sticking up through the playfield should operate the microswitch below only as a ball passes over, not continually. Bookcase closed is okay if the bookcase is closed, and I think that the Thing sensors are optos, so 'Up' would be okay if the hand isn't raised to pick up a ball.

Carefully adjust the trip-wires on those first two switches, so that they close under the weight of a ball. Also check that their attachment to the black plastic casing of the switches isn't damaged - the locating lugs on the casing can wear, leaving the trip wire adrift.

Re. checking the flippers/other units; AIR Addams has specific tests for the Bookcase and the Thing hand. I'm not sure about the Swamp locking/kickout area.
Click to expand...
I'm printing off & saving your replies :) Thank you so much for your help. I'll be sure to give it closer scrutiny tomorrow morning. I'm sorry for replying so late but it's been a very hectic day. I've had an hour at the end of the day (before I studied your reply) and I had the following experiences;
Pressing the wire for Left flip lane 1 = no response in switch edges
With no balls in the m/c when I press the wire for 'ball shooter' it activates right slingshot solenoid ?
Bumper lane opto T.3 57 (A) open ?
Test report GND short row 7
Right trough T.3 17 row short
Ball shooter T.3 27 row short
Right slingshot T.3 37 row short
Centre swamp Mil T.3 47 row short
Bumper lane Opto T.3 57 row short
Upper right loop T.3 67 row short
Thing Kickout T.3 77 row short
Thing Eject hole T.3 87 row short

Could some kind person post a close up pic of their swamp ingress please, angled to show the three switch targets. Mine don't look right at all.

thanks everyone..

edit.. a new day.. I've just realised that all the row shorts are in the same row (7) on the matrix. (I guess this was obvious to everyone who saw the list ?)
 
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