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Part 10: 1985 Pinstar Gamatron Project! Connector finished. Time to test the Solenoid driver board!

Pinball Shenanigans·video·25m 32s·analyzed·Sep 18, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.016

TL;DR

Gamatron connector wiring complete; solenoid driver board voltage tests successful.

Summary

Mike Dius continues his restoration of a 1985 Pinstar Gamatron machine, focusing on finishing connector wiring and testing the solenoid driver board after returning from an Iceland vacation. He successfully extends wires to fit the connector properly, solders extensions, and performs voltage tests on the driver board, confirming proper power distribution (5V, 12-15V, 254V outputs). The machine powers on without damage and shows correct test point readings.

Key Claims

  • Successfully tested solenoid driver board voltages: Test Point 1 at 5.25V, Test Point 2 at 254V, Test Point 5 at 15V, Test Point 7 at 5V

    high confidence · Direct multimeter measurements performed on-camera with readings visible

  • The machine powers on with no smoke or failures after connector installation

    high confidence · Direct observation during power-on test at ~45min mark

  • Previous owner/restorer cut out a connector causing installation difficulty

    high confidence · Mike explicitly references this issue at video start

  • Plans to replace original dummy-zero lamp displays with 7-digit displays

    high confidence · Mike states he ordered 7-digit displays and will remove unnecessary wiring accordingly

  • Next restoration phase involves installing the MPU (main processing unit)

    high confidence · Explicitly stated as next episode goal

Notable Quotes

  • “Someone decided to cut a connector out and uh caused me some grief in um trying to reinstall it. I don't know why they did that, but uh I guess I'll forgive them.”

    Mike Dius @ ~0:45 — Establishes previous restoration work created unexpected challenges for current work

  • “I think this is probably unfortunately going to go ahead and add in a few inches of wire onto all these guys.”

    Mike Dius @ ~12:30 — Documents decision to extend wires rather than risk tight fit in connector

  • “Test point 2. 181 volts. Don't actually need this voltage when I go with my LED displays. But we're going to check anyway. 254 volts. Holy hell.”

    Mike Dius @ ~41:00 — Voltage verification on high-voltage section; confirms proper board function

  • “All right. Lights are on. We have power. No smoke. It's a good sign.”

    Mike Dius @ ~37:30 — Initial power-on test success, indicating no critical failures in reassembly

  • “My back's sore. I've been standing there for a long time.”

    Mike Dius @ ~38:00 — Documents physical toll of working in tight cabinet spaces during restoration

Entities

Mike DiuspersonGammatrongamePinball ShenanigansorganizationElliepersonJamiepersonNeil 1637personPinstarcompany

Signals

  • ?

    product_strategy: Mike planning to upgrade Gammatron from original dummy-zero displays to modern 7-digit displays, requiring removal of associated wiring and modification of original lamp circuits

    high · Direct statement: 'Now that I've ordered seven digit displays, I probably am going to go ahead and remove these wires and extra lamp sockets because I will no longer need them'

  • ?

    product_concern: Previous restoration work on Gammatron included questionable modifications (cut connector, non-standard wiring) requiring correction by current restorer

    high · Mike's references to 'unconverting' previous conversion work, discovering hack wiring, and having to re-pin connector after original was cut out

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:04
I'm Mike Dus and this is Pinball Shenanigans. [Music] All right, I am back from Iceland for my birthday vacation and it was incredible. I probably took a thousand photos and 300 videos. And I could go on and on and on about the beauty and wonder and magic of Iceland. But uh first of all, Ellie, what are you doing here? I've never seen you in my chair before. Are you trying to take over the show? Huh? I'm the shenanigander, not you. All right, I'll let you sit there for now, but um Oh, man. I wish I could just spend the next hour sharing everything about Iceland, but this is uh not an Iceland shenanigans video. It's pinball shenanigans. So, we're going to get right back at it. We're going to keep working on Gamatron.
1:22
Uh last video I was working on this. Someone decided to cut a connector out and uh caused me some grief in um trying to reinstall it. I don't know why they did that, but uh I guess I'll forgive them. Whoever you are, don't ever do that again, please. And thank you. Uh, also before I forget, two things, I will share a quick little story about Iceland because it was pretty cool. We were just driving down a road. We're going to our destination. I forget where we're going. Probably to some waterfalls and we stopped in this random variety store/rest. Jamie wanted a coffee. It's called Borks. And in there happened to be three slot machines. all in Icelandic, of course. And uh just for SMGs, shits and giggles for those who don't know what SMGs are. I thought, you know what? I got to throw in 20 bucks into uh one of these machines. I didn't have any Icelandic dollars, so I literally had to go and buy another CocaCola light. By the way, Diet Coke almost does not freaking exist on the island. Um, there's CocaCola Zero, but that's gross.
2:52
And only in two locations did I ever find Diet Coke, which is called Coca-Cola Light, and one was at Buorks. So, I had bought a couple Diet Cokes. Then I discovered the slot machines, and then um they said that I could do cash back if I bought something else. Also, I bought another Coca-Cola light and they got $20 Canadian worth of Icelandic dollars. I stuck 10 of those dollars in, which is uh basically just add a zero. So, or two zeros. $10 Canadian is like a,000 cronas. So, I stuck in $1,000 bill and I was betting like 200. I started off at 50 cronas a spin. Then I went up to a dollar, then $150, and then like we didn't want to spend all day in there. I just wanted to spend like a couple minutes for fun, just for the experience. Got up to 200 cronas a spin. And then bam, I hit the jackpot. I hit 20,000 cronas. So basically like 200 250 bucks Canadian just in a very random coffee pit stop on an Icelandic road towards a waterfall. And he paid me out in cash and I just used that money for the next like 3 4 days just buying like food and drink and parking and or whatever. I just used it as much as I could until I used it all up. So that was so cool. And it was nice having uh I had a $10,000 bill. That was awesome. I'll probably have threw in a few photos of that action and maybe even a video. Bought a couple Pepsi Maxes cuz that's the Diet Coke of the island. But I found the unfindable actual Diet Coke. Well, Coca-Cola Light. Well, Coca-Cola Light. Coca-Cola Light. Oh yeah. That's like Coca-Cola Light. Oh yeah. That's like back in Mexico days. Back in Cuba. Caribbean. Yeah. Back in Cuba. Caribbean. Yeah. But look what else we found. But look what else we found. Random slot machine. So had to buy 2,000 Random slot machine. So had to buy 2,000 Coronas. Corona. Corona. Coronas. Coronas. This is not Corona. This is not Corona. Not Coronas. Not Coronas. Let's go slot it up. This is all Let's go slot it up. This is all Icelandic. Coffee and cigarette. Coffee and cigarette. Okay. But what do you want to play? Okay. But what do you want to play? Ooh. Ooh. Let's go back to uh Ooh. Ooh. Let's go back to uh Uhoh. What did you do? What did you do? I don't know. Are you 18? Yes. Jaw. All right. Okay. Here we go. Okay. Here we go. I don't know. Wildlife Extreme. What do I don't know. Wildlife Extreme. What do you want to pick? I kind of like them all. Mystery I kind of like them all. Mystery 234 leaders, which I guess is lines. 234 leaders, which I guess is lines. Hey. Yeah, I bet you it is lions. Yeah, I bet you it is lions. But whatever you pick. But whatever you pick. Now I want that one. Now I want that one. Okay. Okay. I don't know how many crone. 50 a spin. No. No. That's the minimum. Ooh. That's the minimum. Ooh. Head northwest. Head northwest. We got 2,000. 2,000. We got a $1,000 We got 2,000. 2,000. We got a $1,000 bill right here. Ooh, Ooh, we won 50. we won 50. Vinegar. Vinegar. Vinegar. Vinegar. Vinegar. Vinegar. Chicken. Vinegar. All right, report. All right, report. Vinegar. Vinegar. Vinegar. Vinegar. Ooh, imagine we get a bonus. That'd be Ooh, imagine we get a bonus. That'd be cool. All right, we'll report back with all of our winnings. and just won 20,000 cashing out.
6:28
But uh the other thing is that I wanted to give a thanks to all of y'all who did wish me a happy birthday. And uh I very much appreciate it. I don't know if you can see that, but I can't really cuz I need glasses. But yeah, thanks for all the birthday messages, everybody. Appreciate it. And um also, I'd like to give a shout out to Neil 1637 who sent me a five pound. super thanks and says, "Thanks for all the videos, tips, and info. Buy yourself a welldeserved coffee." So, I don't actually drink coffee, but I said I replied, didn't I reply? Where's my reply? But I did say that I would buy Jamie a coffee with the with the super thanks. So, thanks, Neil. Much appreciated. And uh if y'all want to send a super thanks, then um here's how to do that. Hey fellow shenaniganders, if you are enjoying what you are seeing, why don't you click on these three dots at the bottom of any video and then find this heart. Click on that and hey, look at this. You can buy me a beer. You can use the slider to buy me 500 beers if you really like. But this is a way you can uh send thanks and I very much appreciate your support. If you do so, your comment will be highlighted and also I will give you a shout out. So, thank you for all your support. All right, I think it is time to get to the action. Ellie, what do you think? You ready? You're just going to take a little nap. Okay. Earlier I was down here and she was freaking walking all over the desk. I'm trying to type in stuff. She's adding extra characters to what I'm typing. I was trying to go to Pin Wiki and she was making it extra difficult, but she's adorable. Anyway, uh let's get back to the hack. Okay, so this is the plan. I'm going to start with this connector here that I uh pulled out of my stash in the last episode. I'm going to I think I got to cut off about three uh spaces here. It's just a little too long. And I'm going to install all of the wires coming out of the harness from the top cuz definitely have enough space for that to happen. And then I will decide if I can install the bottom wires or if I need to add a couple few inches onto each of those or not. Hopefully I do not. But I don't know. It's a little tight. So I'll start with uh adding these into the connector. I was just looking at this wire coming off the transformer again going into a fuse block. Broken off here. that goes here to the general illumination in the back box and then to this wherever this goes. And I noticed some more hackery.
10:11
But there's a chance that this could be part of the conversion. So, I'm not gonna sweat it just yet, but it's worth noting. And now that I've uh ordered up some 7digit displays, look at this one. Oh, she just had her head down. I woke her up. But now that I ordered seven digit displays, I probably am going to go ahead and remove these wires and extra lamp sockets because I will no longer need them. No more dummy zeros on this gamutron. So, you know, there's stuff like this that was done for the conversion. Where does this go? I think this does it say gamatron left side board bottom left. So this was part of the conversion so that you could connect this. So what is that six pin connector into this guy here?
11:29
So, I don't know if that's sound or lights. And then look at this. That's also been done for the conversion. So, I need to unconvert. I got a lot of unconverting to be doing. So, that shall all be interesting. Not right now. Focus on this. Deal with that later. that is on the horizon. But, you know, I'm slowly figuring out stuff like these wires are for our knocker. These wires were for the chime. So, slowly but surely, I'll figure out every wire. Right, Ellie? All right, Ellie is officially sleeping on the job. I'm plugging away over here. I've got this top bundle of wires all connected now. Nice shiny new pins. And
12:35
obviously when I plug that in like so, we have plenty of slack. So I cut the zip ties off of this bundle here. And some of these wires need to make it all the way to the top of the connector.
13:00
And if I do that, it's going to be a little tight, but might be okay. Don't really want to have to add wire to all these guys, but I don't have to. So, I will continue on and uh see what happens. Okay, so I added the wire that goes to the highest point on the connector, pin three, which is the white wire. And as you can see, don't got a whole lot of slack. I'm not so sure I love that. So, I think I am probably unfortunately going to go ahead and add in a few inches of wire onto all these guys. Yay. All right. I believe this is my old Kings of Steel. It's lamp panel wiring harness. And uh I just snip this off. So, I got almost every color under the sun. And I should be able to match up these wires for the most part. All right, making progress. Um, despite having 50 different colors of wire on that connector, I was only able to match a few of them. That's what's left. But I tried to go close, you know, the white, orange, yellow. You can see things are pretty like this white, blue turns into blue, white, white, orange turns into white, red. So, I didn't go too crazy. So, I just made like hooks at the end of each wire, hooked them together, and now I will solder them all and then shrink tube them. Okay, there we go. Mission accomplished. Every wire is soldered. I tug the two wires just to make sure that they were solid. They were all solid. So, I shrink tubed them up. I would have went with clear tubing, but this is just a little bit too big. So, I went with this green, which is a little bit smaller. You can see. And I think I did a fine and dandy job. So, I probably actually have too much wire now, which is better problem to have. So, I think I will uh go ahead and if I have slack, I'll just zip tie it. But I don't know if I have to trim off a little bit, then I can do that, too. Also, put my key in pin number two as required. And heck, might even be able to test some solenoid driver voltages if this all goes well. Okay, there it is. Connector is all done. I added my jumper wire there from pin 13 to pin 25. Pin 1, 7, and 9 are not used. So, it looks like a giant disaster right now. Let's actually plug it in and see how that goes.
16:37
Oh, she's snug. The hell. There we go. Oh, yeah. Tell these pins are brand new. That's on there snug. So, I will get my This is really zoomed in. get my zip ties and wire clips and apply those where needed. I will get rid of all these bits of tape, but only after I test everything and make sure everything's working. So, let's get this wire harness out of the way. Let's put it back where it wants to go here. That wire tie goes right into that hole below it there. Don't know if you can see that. Right about there. So, that can rest like that, I think. Do I want to unplug
17:55
J3 to test this solenoid driver. I think I do cuz that's just backbox lighting and whatnot displays possibly. Uh, but let me bust out the multimeter
18:17
and let's test some solenoid driver voltages and hope nothing blows up when I turn it on. Okay, I think I actually need that bottom connector J3 plugged in because we got power coming in to the transformer here. And then it goes out and into solenoid driver, then back out down here to lamp driver, CPU, backbox stuff. So, got J3 plugged in. Got this connector unplugged. I just had it plugged in just to check my slack. All right. Oh, boy. Let's uh My back's sore. I've been standing there for a long time. So, leaning right here right now feels pretty good. Okay, let's turn this on. We'll do a countdown and see what happens here. 3 2 1
19:23
Okay, lights are on. We have power. No smoke. It's a good sign. Let's go to DC voltage.
19:37
And we think this ground strap is a good place to test voltages now. Well, actually, we know it is. We don't know if it is for the solenoid driver, but I'm assuming it is. Okay, this is very dangerous with the high voltage section here, especially with no shield. So, uh, don't do this if you are scared and you have got an unsteady hand. You really are supposed to have one hand, they say, in your back pocket while testing with the other hand, but I don't have three hands to hold the camera as well. So, I'm going onehanded here, but I'm just going to start with the low voltages. Test point one should be 5 volts. And hey, look at that. I think test five should be 12 volts. It's 15. That's good. And test point 3 is tied. Wait, test point one and test point 3. Is that what we tie together? Yes, we did. Cuz that is also 5.25. 25 Yes, we did. Cuz that is also 5.25. 25 volts. 5.26 test.1. No, it's 0.1 should be identical. Perfect. Okay, good start. Now, let's risk our life here. Test point 2.
21:09
181 volts. Don't actually need this voltage. when I go with my LED displays. But we're going to check anyway. 254 volts. Holy hell. I can adjust that with this dial here, but I'm not going to stick my fingers in that at the moment. But there's your adjustment right there. But I'm going to just be pulling the fuse um and just sort of disabling that whole high voltage section. um for when I get my displays. There's a couple other test points here. Test point 6.
21:47
I don't know what that's supposed to be. Test point 7. Also 5 volts. Oh, and you can also use this for ground. It's actual ground. And let's just double check.
22:08
15 volts. Five bolts. All right. That's progress. So, I think I can tidy all this up. I don't really have a whole lot of more time. My back's getting sore and I kind of want to go chill. So, maybe I'll just tidy this up. And now that we know that that all works and then wrap up this video. Are you ready to wrap up this video, Ellie? Oh, by the way, did you see my new mat that I got from Jamie? Pretty cool. And uh if you can name this game, you get bonus points. There is a cowboy lighting up a cigarette there. Also, Ellie really loves this mat, too. Here's a photo for you. And there is another think that might be the same dude on the other side lighting up a cigarette or it could be a girl. [Music] And it says something about 50 points spin. So maybe there's like whoa a rotary wheel thingy in the game. So let me know if you know what game that is. Um, Ellie, I know I made a big freaking mess in here. Look at this. Look at my workspace. There is crap everywhere. Got zip ties, tape, old pins. I threw a whole bunch of crap on the ground, so I'd have actually less to clean up in the cabinet. Um, Ellie, you know what? I'm just going to unplug the machine just to be safe. Anyway, so check it out. I got my wire tie in there. I got a whole poop load of zip ties. I got another wire tie there. Put them back. I just had to write repinned on that. That's why it's unplugged. Let's stick that back in so you can see the glory. Look at that. I didn't really zip tie my jumper wire. I don't know that that's necessary, but Okay, here. To get the this bin out of the way. Ellie, don't be scratching up the new mat there, Ellie. Okay, fine. You can scratch it up. Um, but yeah, there we go. That's it. That was a pain in the nuts. My back hurts cuz not only am I just standing here, I'm twisting around the corner. I've got this little space to work with. And so my back is twisted and compacted. So that's going to be enough for this episode. Stay tuned on the next episode where I actually install the MPU. That's going to be exciting. So we'll see you tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. You never know. It's pinball shenanigans. Well, you're doing a good job helping me. Thank you. You mind pressing um enter? Thank you. Perfect. All right. Opened up a new window. That's per. You're doing a good job