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vector not releasing multiball

stevebm1

stevebm1

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May 26, 2014
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uk
My vector is acting up,to be honest it could have been like it for a while,as I don't always get all 3 balls locked,it say's "offence released",but resets the X,Y,Z targets instead of releasing balls,after investigating a bit,I temporarily removed the X,Y,Z drop target solonoid wire from the driver board header and tested and it released the balls as it should,but obviously you cannot play it properly with the drop target reset coil disconnected,I have looked at all the header connectors and pins,and they seem fine,anyone have any idea what's going on

Thanks in advance
 
Not really a clue on this , but I would be checking the trough switches as they are problematic and probably the diodes on the sol board or if could be the rom gone bad if you have a original mpu , may still have some roms for this some where you can have if you want
 
It's got me scratching my head as well,trough switches/diodes are fine,I have it running an original mpu with Daves multiboard for vector 10 ,I disconnected the multiboard and ran original roms and v5 roms,but it made no difference.I even tried swapping in the alltek mpu out of my space invaders and it still does the same.Thanks for the offer of the roms,but im ok for spares
 
Well that certainly rules out the brains of it , next would be switches but you have checked them already . Have you done a switch test with the playfield up? My Thinking is is there a broken wire somewhere 🤔 o and be careful when doing this its not the best idea but it has helped me finding some broken connections a few times
 
Yes tried swapping the SDB,still has the same problem
 
thanks mate,one other thing I have noticed is top playfield gi is out,but flashes on and off in lamp test mode(surely gi should not do that??)
 
stevebm1 said:
thanks mate,one other thing I have noticed is top playfield gi is out,but flashes on and off in lamp test mode(surely gi should not do that??)
Click to expand...
Ballys of that age used a triac to flash the GI (you should a little cylinder thing attached near the transformer in the base of the cab) and that‘s triggered by one of the lamp drivers.
 
strange that I have no top playfield GI unless I enter test mode though
 
Have you run a solenoid test to make sure all solenoids are working properly ?

Is the fault associated with your solenoid expansion board ? I am a bit rusty, but from memory ......

  • The solenoid expander board has a regular light bulb on it ? if this fails, the board fails to operate
  • This board has a relay operated by the light board that effectively doubles up 3x power transistors on the solenoid board so they operate 6x solenoids on the game
  • What happens is that the light board energises the relay and then a fraction of a second later the solenoid board fires the relevant solenoid
  • So if the solenoid expansion board fails the game might "think" that it is operating solenoid yyy but it is actually operating solenoid zzz
 
thanks for the reply,yes solenoid test is fine,the solenoid expander board and bulb is fine,I even swapped the one over from elektra just to be sure,but sadly the fault still exists
 
This is bizarre.

Have you tried the switch test to check that the ball capture saucers are all working correctly? Test with balls in the saucers as well to see if there is a problem in the switch matrix where triggering one switch gives phantom switches elsewhere

Voltage TPs all OK ? My vector did strange things when a bridge rectifier failed.

If voltages, switches and solenoids all test out OK, could you swap in fresh lamp, mpu, solenoid and solenoid expander boards simultaneously.

If fault still persists, then it sounds like a wiring loom short/ solder splat somewhere
 
All switches report fine,even with the balls in the capture saucers,voltages are fine,I swapped every single board,including the sol expander/aux driver boards for known good ones and the fault is still there
 
When you lock the third ball the x,y,z targets should reset as well as the machine starting 3 ball multiball.

Does the machine start 2 ball or 3 ball multiball when you shoot the hype targets in order?

This video might help diagnose funny behaviour. See 13.35

 
yes if you capture 1 or 2 balls and hit the hype targets in order it releases the balls ok,the fault only happens when you lock 3 balls,good to know the X,Y,Z targets are supposed to reset when balls are captured as in tnt's video,but im buggered if I know whats causing my issue
 
Sounds like the switch in the top saucer

Does the vector scan timer work ?
 
Grab a magnifying glass and check the pcb connector pins that hook up to the altek mpu. I'd do that first before anything else, broken pins can cause all sorts of problems.
 
game has been repinned in the past(not by me),and all is good on that front,fault is still there
 
Last edited:
just to close this thread,I ended up swapping out the whole switch assembly for the top capture saucer and it now works as it should,weird though that the old assembly tested fine in switch test and the diode read ok
 
no solder splash,and diode was ok according to my multimeter,but I found a spare saucer switch in my spares,so swapped it out and it's working as it should again
 
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