What's new
By:
Pinball info

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

WPC power box fuse missing and more hacks?

David_Vi

David_Vi

Site Supporter
5Years
Joined
Sep 3, 2019
Messages
3,991
Location
Sudbury
When doing up Claire's Dogball (Wcs) I noticed the power box had no fuse holder or the jumper molex thing.


20240101_132711.jpg
I bought a fuse holder from RS, but I could only find one for 20mm fuses. I installed it onto black wires you can see sticking out the bottom. Firstly I used an 8a fuse as I didn't realise it's supposed to be 5a SB for foreign games.

I got some 5a SB, but they blew quickly after powering the game on and made a mess of the fuse holder, they properly blew, glass shattering and black..
20240101_132823.jpg


As that fuse holder looked awful after multiple fuses blew in it I've replaced with an in line fuse holder as its all I had, popped the 8a back in, figured we can at least play the game and it survived without a fuse for years by the looks of it.

But I'd really like to put this right, I'm struggling to see how it should be, is the missing jumper plug an issue? It looks like the wires have been cut on the underside so I thought maybe it's been modified without the jumper plug.
I can't find a schematic for the wpc-s power box so I'm a little lost. Why would the correct fuse blow? Do I need the jumper molex?
I've got two other wpc-s games I could borrow it from but I don't want to plug it in and cause damage if it's been hacked inside.

Can anyone help and tell me what's going on here?

20231221_163509.jpg20231221_163502.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 20240101_130121.jpg
    20240101_130121.jpg
    79.9 KB · Views: 12
  • 20231221_161352.jpg
    20231221_161352.jpg
    72.6 KB · Views: 12
  • 20231221_163506.jpg
    20231221_163506.jpg
    82.9 KB · Views: 13
Last edited:
I had to rebuild the fuse box in my old getaway, here are the parts I used:
Schematic is in the wms schematics manual, here the one for HS2 but I suspect WCS is identical:

1704137583422.png

Pinwiki has a photo of what it should look like:
300px-WPCPowerBoxInside.jpg
 
Fubar said:
I had to rebuild the fuse box in my old getaway, here are the parts I used:
Schematic is in the wms schematics manual, here the one for HS2 but I suspect WCS is identical:

View attachment 240770

Pinwiki has a photo of what it should look like:
View attachment 240771
Click to expand...

That's the schematic I found but it's not for WPC-S. The line filter isn't in the box on those games, it's at the back of the cabinet.
At least it is on ones I've seen!

It's more the jumper wires I'm worried about, as they set it to the correct voltage?
I think I have to compare to one of my other wpc-s games.

I can't find the required 12pin molex connector on eBay, probably using the wrong terms. If anyone can find it I'll appreciate it!
I've found it on other sites but ones that require a lot of items to make the shipping worthwhile 🙄
 
I opened up Theatres box as it's also a WPC-S and I'm even more confused.

20240104_172551.jpg
Firstly this fell out, what is it?

Then, trying to compare the wires across TOM and WCS to see what has been done here is proving near impossible.

WCS
20240104_173054.jpg
Tom
20240104_173100.jpg

Should I just redo it copying TOMs box using new connectors and wires?

Does anyone know where I can get the correct colour coded wires, connectors and crimps?
 
Mystery device in tom
 

Attachments

  • 20240104_174934.jpg
    20240104_174934.jpg
    91.2 KB · Views: 46
My only idea would be possibly when the game was on site maybe in a commercial environment it required timed power up or power off, to save anyone having to do it manually.
 
Interesting. Surely it would still be active unless someone disabled it, then why not remove it?

@Juggler Spencer owned this for a few decades, did you know about this hidden device?
 
I would expect so, assuming it's configured and wired in correctly, personally I would remove the timed relay, as it I fail to see what benefit it could offer.
 
Was Theatre of Magic in the time when Williams were trying to prevent games being sold outside their intended territory? i.e. it shows the serial number on the display as it boots up?

I read of sellers who flouted this restriction adding something to disable the display while the machine booted up, so that the reveal of the serial number couldn't be seen. I never encountered such cases, but could that be its purpose, if the wires connected to it concern the display power rails?
 
David_Vi said:
Interesting. Surely it would still be active unless someone disabled it, then why not remove it?

@Juggler Spencer owned this for a few decades, did you know about this hidden device?
Click to expand...
No, I was just reading through this in utter amazement. I’m trying to get my head round where this timer was.
Are you saying that it was in ToM somewhere (inside the metal enclosure)?
 
I found multiple links for the timer…
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/133681203336&psig=AOvVaw3J4X_04i6tGVdt63LyU-wI&ust=1704681741301000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjhxqFwoTCKjJpcSgyoMDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

Unfortunatly no manual to work out exactly what can be used for. I can see that it can be used for s/m/h.

Maybe it was used as a delay because multiple machines were powered from a single circuit and the startup load needed to be staggered to stop too much current draw? Perhaps from a generator (travelling arcade) or an inadequate supply?

Without a spec sheet I have no idea what the unit is capable of.

EDIT: found spec sheet. Power supply will cause counter to start between 1 second and 100 hours. Not a cheap bit of kit!
 
Last edited:
Juggler Spencer said:
Are you saying that it was in ToM somewhere (inside the metal enclosure)?
Click to expand...

Yup, the box on the bottom right which the power switch is attached to. It was loose in there.
I only looked in there for a reference of how it's supposed to be wired up and came out with more questions 😄

At least we appear to have found it's purpose, I wonder how many ex location games had these?
 
David_Vi said:
Yup, the box on the bottom right which the power switch is attached to. It was loose in there.
I only looked in there for a reference of how it's supposed to be wired up and came out with more questions 😄

At least we appear to have found it's purpose, I wonder how many ex location games had these?
Click to expand...
Well I’ll be buggered!
 
I'm having a hard time finding the correct sized and configuration molex connectors and housings.

Here's the jumper connector from TOM as a reference.
20240108_210434.jpg

I had some 0.093" connectors but they're a lot smaller than I thought 😄
 
Jay Walker said:
Was Theatre of Magic in the time when Williams were trying to prevent games being sold outside their intended territory? i.e. it shows the serial number on the display as it boots up?

I read of sellers who flouted this restriction adding something to disable the display while the machine booted up, so that the reveal of the serial number couldn't be seen. I never encountered such cases, but could that be its purpose, if the wires connected to it concern the display power rails?
Click to expand...
Have never seen any timer device to disable the display.

WPC-S has a PIC chip onboard and yes a serial number is displayed but that PCB will work worldwide.

Everyday is a school day !

Found this on PINWIKI.
The most significant difference was the introduction of the security PIC. This devices contains a serial number and a handshake mechanism. The serial number is displayed at startup, and allowed the manufacturer to identify the dealer who sold a machine into a particular region. This approach was necessary when substantial price differences were common across Europe, to prevent grey imports.

To prevent simple removal of the PIC, the device also controlled the switch matrix, and would not operate without a correct machine code from the WPC CPU. Therefore, there is one PIC for each machine. An incorrect or defective chip will result in a "G13 error" or "U22 error" at startup.

The TIMER you have in this machine you need to get rid of. It could of been fitted so it did not trip the MCB when the machines were turned on together.
 
So it's a .093" not a 0.093" ?
Sizes of these connectors in imperial confuses me as I have the 0.093" ones but they're much too small.

Eccentric-Nut said:
Is this the connector you are looking for?


If you need some let me know, as I've got a parts order to place with Digikey this week which already qualifies for free shipping.
Click to expand...

I think so! I also need the female panel mount equivalent of that and a 9pin female panel mount one.

Plus the male and female crimps for each.
I don't know how you guys find things like this, searching sites like mouser or digikey gives me so many results I'm more confused than when I started 🙈
 
Pick Holder said:
Have never seen any timer device to disable the display.

WPC-S has a PIC chip onboard and yes a serial number is displayed but that PCB will work worldwide.

Everyday is a school day !

Found this on PINWIKI.
The most significant difference was the introduction of the security PIC. This devices contains a serial number and a handshake mechanism. The serial number is displayed at startup, and allowed the manufacturer to identify the dealer who sold a machine into a particular region. This approach was necessary when substantial price differences were common across Europe, to prevent grey imports.

To prevent simple removal of the PIC, the device also controlled the switch matrix, and would not operate without a correct machine code from the WPC CPU. Therefore, there is one PIC for each machine. An incorrect or defective chip will result in a "G13 error" or "U22 error" at startup.

The TIMER you have in this machine you need to get rid of. It could of been fitted so it did not trip the MCB when the machines were turned on together.
Click to expand...

I put the power box back yesterday but left that timer device out of it.

When you turn the game on the led on the timer is off, eventually it comes on and you hear a click of the switch. But I can't see what it's controlling. Maybe it was the dmd as i wouldn't notice with the pin2dmd using a different power source?

Are the wire colours a clue? You have a thicker grey one, thin orange and white and thin green and grey.
There's another I believe, I think it's also grey or close to it.

I'm not yet sure how to remove it as some of the wires go into a sealed cube thing, I assume that's not original?

20240104_174934~2.jpg
What is it?
 
The molex connectors

Here's what I ordered with the male jumper from TOM. You can see they're much smaller.
20240109_112938.jpg20240109_113018.jpg20240109_113603.jpg
The invoice says 0.093"

On eBay I found these which list dimensions, which match the one from TOM. 🤨🤨
www.ebay.co.uk

2-12 Pin/Way Molex 3191 Connector Kit .093"/6.7mm Pitch Plug Socket & Terminals | eBay

1 x Male Connector Housing. 1 x Female Connector Housing.
www.ebay.co.uk

Does this mean I may have been sent the wrong ones ? Or is there different sized 0.093" housings?

I've not opened the packet incase they are wrong and I can send em back 😄
 
The aftermarket connectors housing do look smaller, however the pitch and row spacing should match as Molex specify it as 6.71mm and so does the eBay listing. So I guess you could replace the whole connector (male / female) providing it fits into the mounting.

Personally for the actual cost of the genuine Molex connectors, I would buy the originals as opposed to aftermarket connectors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom