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The shadow multiple problems

Isaac

Isaac

Registered
Joined
May 2, 2015
Messages
154
Location
Derbyshire
Hi guys, not been on here in a while and was wondering if anybody near the Derbyshire area could come and look at my shadow pinball, there seems to be multiple error messages appearing and due to being a Newbie don't really know what's wrong with it and what needs doing to fix it,
Thanks Isaac
 
strobey said:
Hi Isaac.. I'm in the shire.. what are the messages you're getting?
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Hi there I'm getting switch 51 wall target down, switch 63 and 64 and 65. wall target bad check switch/ coil, drop bank bad check switch/ coil, switch 85. So seems to be a lot of problems
 
Reseat the ribbon cables in the backbox (with the power OFF).
 
Unplug all the ribbon cables (the grey flat cables running between boards and the dmd) and then plug them back in again. Maybe do it a couple of times. Make sure you align the pins properly as it's easy to bend them or put them back on the wrong row
 
Isaac, what is the back story here ? When did this happen ? Did they all die at once ?

The ribbon cables are in the vertical backbox. They are grey, cables stuck together in a line, about 1 inch wide, with a double row of connectors on the end
 
It started with the switch 51 by itself and then the other problems seemed to arrise afterwards, no particular incident, I believe it was played a couple of times with switch 51 problem and may have caused the others problems stated
 
Switch 51 detects if the wall target (the wall is where the balls are held with a magnet before getting whisked back to be locked) is down - it is probably a wire off under the playfield. You'll need to turn the power off, remove the balls from the game and pull the playfield forward (all the way) then lift up. Look for the drop target and see if you can see a loose wire off a switch or coil in that area.

The other switches it is complaining about is because the wall is not working so you are not locking any balls (switches 63, 64, 65). Once a switch has not been activated in x number of games it will complain so that you are aware that there may be a potential problem with the game. So yes directly related to switch 51 not working. I would not go in the backbox to try and resolve this problem. If there is no wire off under the playfield then that may be a different matter.
 
Moonraker said:
Switch 51 detects if the wall target (the wall is where the balls are held with a magnet before getting whisked back to be locked) is down - it is probably a wire off under the playfield. You'll need to turn the power off, remove the balls from the game and pull the playfield forward (all the way) then lift up. Look for the drop target and see if you can see a loose wire off a switch or coil in that area.

The other switches it is complaining about is because the wall is not working so you are not locking any balls (switches 63, 64, 65). Once a switch has not been activated in x number of games it will complain so that you are aware that there may be a potential problem with the game. So yes directly related to switch 51 not working. I would not go in the backbox to try and resolve this problem. If there is no wire off under the playfield then that may be a different matter.
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I checked for a loose wire under switch 51 previously and couldn't seem to find one, when doing a solenoid test the magnet pulses but the wall doesn't seem to go down
 
Isaac said:
I checked for a loose wire under switch 51 previously and couldn't seem to find one, when doing a solenoid test the magnet pulses but the wall doesn't seem to go down
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The wall not going down is your problem, thereby not activating switch 51. Check that the spring is attached to the drop target and that the wires are connected to the smaller coil at the top of the bracket. Also check that the smaller coil still has it's plunger in it. You can find the diagram of the mechanism on Page 2-23 of the manual (page 118 of 183 of the pdf from ipdb http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/2528/Manual_Bally_1994_The_Shadow.pdf)
 
Belper
Click to expand...

There's a few guys quite close to you who may be able to help but if you get really stuck after following the advice on here then PM me and I'll see if I can get up your way :thumbs:
 
Guys, I had a problem with my Shadow wall target. This is not the usual, tried and tested Williams drop target mech.

It is a known wear point as it is operated so frequently, it is quite an aggressive mech, so there might be something physically worn out here. My game had been bodged up by a previous custodian to overcome the worn metal parts. This held up for about 12 months. I then bought two new metal bits to fix it properly ...

See the manual page 2-23

http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/2528/Manual_Bally_1994_The_Shadow.pdf

These 2 may well be quite worn ....

http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-A-18777

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-18752
 
Most faults with the shadow are nearly always the wall. So don't worry to much prob be an easy fix. Does the wall actually drop atall? I had the switch fault but the wall would go down but not always hit the switch arm properly.
 
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