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Episode 258 - My Troubleshooting Technique

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·33m 24s·analyzed·Nov 24, 2015
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

EM troubleshooting via schematic analysis: work backward from symptom to coil to isolate root cause.

Summary

Nick Baldridge presents a detailed troubleshooting methodology for EM pinball machines, emphasizing schematic-based diagnosis over blanket cleaning approaches. Using Bally Bizarre (1966) as an example, he demonstrates how to trace power flow, identify switch components by wire colors, and systematically work backward from a problem symptom to isolate the root cause, advocating for targeted adjustment over complete disassembly.

Key Claims

  • Cleaning every switch in an EM machine is rarely necessary and often detrimental; self-cleaning action of switches designed into the mechanism should be allowed to work.

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, opening segment of episode

  • Over-travel (deflection) in leaf switch adjustment enables self-cleaning by allowing faces/points to rub against each other during switch activation.

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, discussing switch adjustment principles

  • Bake light spacers in switch stacks shrink over time or with heat, requiring periodic re-tightening before any switch adjustment work.

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, switch maintenance prerequisite

  • Reading schematics is essential for efficient troubleshooting; reading the manual alone or adjusting every switch without diagnosis will not resolve issues quickly.

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, methodology introduction

  • Bally and Williams label coils directly in line on schematics, while Gottlieb uses a separate legend, making identification differ by manufacturer.

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, schematic symbol explanation

  • Fuse holder tabs in Bally machines commonly fail to provide adequate pressure on fuses, preventing proper electrical conductivity.

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, discussing Bally-specific common failure points

  • White and yellow wires in older EM machines (especially bar machines) fade and look similar over time due to tar exposure; scratching the cloth coating reveals true color.

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, practical troubleshooting technique for wire identification

  • In Bally's wire color code system, the first digit is wire color, the second is tracer color, and the third (often after a dash) is repeat count; the third digit is primarily useful for complete machine wiring from scratch.

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, explaining Bally wire color notation system

Notable Quotes

  • “my second machine which was a Bally Double Up I went through and cleaned and adjusted every switch in the game, and oddly enough, that's the only machine that really still gives me fits to this day.”

    Nick Baldridge @ Early in episode — Personal anecdote establishing why he abandoned blanket-cleaning approach; cautionary tale about unintended consequences.

  • “you are way more likely to introduce really difficult-to-troubleshoot problems when you do that, rather than allow the self-cleaning action of these switches, which are built in, to do their job.”

    Nick Baldridge @ Opening philosophy section — Core principle: minimal intervention philosophy based on understanding built-in design features.

  • “the only thing that's going to help you resolve your issue is to read the schematic and understand what it's telling you”

    Nick Baldridge @ Methodology transition — Central thesis: schematic-based troubleshooting is the efficient path to problem resolution.

  • “you always work off the assumption that the coil is okay until you've ruled out everything else”

    Nick Baldridge @ Troubleshooting walkthrough — Key diagnostic principle: work backward from coil, test switches in the circuit first.

  • “white wires tend to fade into yellow wires over time, especially with the tar and so forth from bars”

    Nick Baldridge @ Wire identification section — Practical observation about aging cloth-wrapped wire in bar/venue machines; explains wear pattern.

  • “you work from the coil backwards and you will find your problem that's all I do it's really simple”

    Nick Baldridge @ Conclusion of walkthrough — Summarizes entire methodology into one simple principle; positioning as efficient, learnable approach.

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonFor Amusement OnlyorganizationBallycompanyWilliamscompanyGottliebcompanyBally BizarregameBally Double UpgameUser Brand Silenceperson

Signals

  • ?

    operational_signal: Nick Baldridge advocates for targeted, schematic-based troubleshooting over blanket cleaning; emphasizes understanding self-cleaning mechanism of leaf switches and proper over-travel adjustment.

    high · Extended discussion of why not to clean every switch; explanation of self-cleaning action and over-travel; detailed switch adjustment prerequisites (tightening spacers first).

  • ?

    design_philosophy: EM machines deliberately engineered switches with one pointed and one flat contact face to manage dirt accumulation and enable self-cleaning through over-travel deflection.

    high · Baldridge explains: 'one of the leaf switches is normally pointed and the other is normally flat...that's why if you look at an EM you'll notice that one of the leaf switches is normally pointed and the other is normally flat the contacts I mean on the leaves so that's the reason'

  • ?

    product_concern: Cloth-wrapped wires in older EM machines (especially bar machines) experience color fading and degradation from tar exposure, making white wires appear yellow, complicating troubleshooting.

    high · Baldridge: 'white wires tend to fade into yellow wires over time, especially with the tar and so forth from bars. So likely you're going to find two wires which look very similar coming into this.'

  • ?

    product_concern: Bally machines have a known and common failure pattern where fuse holder tabs lose adequate pressure, preventing proper electrical conductivity even when fuses test good.

    high · Baldridge: 'In a Bally, this is a really super common occurrence. So you need to ensure that the fuse holder tabs are actually providing adequate pressure on the fuse such that it's able to conduct.'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.100

0:00
What's that sound? It's For Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to For Amusement Only. This is Nick Baldridge.
0:16
User Brand Silence on Pinside recommended that I do a show on my troubleshooting technique when fixing up a new machine. New to me, I should say.
0:30
So, some people will recommend that you clean every switch in an EM. Only in rare instances is this actually necessary, though, and most times it's fairly detrimental.
0:49
Now, I say that, you know, for some people that works. And if it works for you, that's great. but I can tell you that my particular preference is not to do that and that's because first of all it takes much less time to get a game up and going and the second thing is that I have attempted that once in the past my second machine which was a Bally Double Up I went through and cleaned and adjusted every switch in the game, and oddly enough, that's the only machine that really still gives me fits to this day.
1:40
There are a few bad switches, and it's not an adjustment issue. The switches themselves are actually bad. now you might say well they were probably bad before you cleaned them and adjusted them but I have no proof of that so I highly suspect that I screwed it up and not the other way around so those are the reasons why I do the things that I do when I get a new game I try not to completely disassemble all the switch stacks, all the relays, everything, and clean them. And that's because you are way more likely to introduce really difficult-to-troubleshoot problems when you do that, rather than allow the self-cleaning action of these switches, which are built in, to do their job.
IPDB
organization

design_innovation: Different manufacturers (Bally, Williams, Gottlieb) used distinct schematic conventions: Bally/Williams label coils directly inline; Gottlieb uses separate legend; Bally uses numeric wire color codes.

high · Baldridge: 'The only exception is Gottlieb, and Gottlieb names them in a small legend in another part of the schematic. But this is a Bally, and Bally and Williams both label the coils very nicely, directly in line on the schematic.'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Schematic-based backward-tracing from problem symptom to coil is presented as significantly faster and more reliable than manual inspection or blanket adjustment approaches.

    high · Baldridge emphasizes: 'my technique...will just help you do it faster. And that's one of the things that I like to do is get a game running quickly so that I can identify the gameplay, see if it's something that I enjoy, and move it on if it's not.'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Original manufacturer labels on EM machines identifying coil locations are commonly destroyed by rodents, time, and environmental factors, requiring troubleshooters to rely on wire color tracing instead.

    high · Baldridge: 'a lot of the times, if you're working on a project game, Those labels have been eaten away by mice, rats, time. It all can conspire against you to destroy these labels. And so you're going to have to look for wire colors.'

  • ?

    product_concern: Bakelite spacers in EM switch stacks shrink over time or with heat exposure, causing switches to drift out of adjustment unless stacks are periodically re-tightened.

    high · Baldridge: 'the bake light spacers will shrink over time or with heat and if they do or if the screws just happen to loosen then all the adjustment in the world won't make a bit of difference because it's just going to get out of adjustment again immediately'

  • ?

    content_signal: For Amusement Only podcast produces detailed technical educational content on EM restoration and troubleshooting, with listener requests driving episode topics (e.g., this episode based on Pinside forum suggestion).

    high · Episode intro: 'User Brand Silence on Pinside recommended that I do a show on my troubleshooting technique when fixing up a new machine.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinside community (forum) is active in requesting and driving podcast content; listeners suggest specific educational topics for technical episodes.

    medium · Episode requested by 'User Brand Silence on Pinside'; implies active listener feedback loop between podcast and forum community.

    • 2:47
    So, the switches which are most susceptible to issues are the ones that have a flat face touching a flat face. In other words, if there's not a point touching one of the flat faces, then it's possible for dirt to accumulate more quickly. that's why if you look at an EM you'll notice that one of the leaf switches is normally pointed and the other is normally flat the contacts I mean on the leaves so that's the reason now it's important to note that when you're adjusting switches or cleaning switches you want to first make sure that you tighten the switch stacks and that's because the bake light spacers will shrink over time or with heat and if they do or if the screws just happen to loosen then all the adjustment in the world won't make a bit of difference because it's just going to get out of adjustment again immediately So, it's best to do that first.
    4:12
    And then second, it's a good idea to adjust the switch so that there is a bit of over-travel. And over-travel, or deflection, is the property of an EM switch that allows for that self-cleaning to happen. Basically, the switch pushes against the other leaf a little bit, and the faces rub against each other, or the face and the point rub against each other. And this allows the switch to actually clean itself.
    4:46
    But again, you only want to do this if you've identified a problem. So, how do you identify the problem? Well, some people will tell you to just read the manual. and if you're having a problem with a feature just read through the manual and find the switch which controls that or they'll say just adjust every switch in your machine both of those will not help you resolve your issue very quickly the only thing that's going to help you resolve your issue is to read the schematic and understand what it's telling you so there are several concepts that you have to understand when you read any schematic and to further your understanding and maybe even mine it's probably best to look at a real world example so I'm going to pull a schematic from IPDB and I'd like for you to do the same and follow along and I'll show you exactly how you troubleshoot any given problem or how you handle any given situation using the technique that I use. And it's not to say that it's the only technique. Certainly, I've talked about two or three others here just in this show.
    6:13
    And whatever works for you, that's the important thing. But my technique, as I say, will just help you do it faster. And that's one of the things that I like to do is get a game running quickly so that I can identify the gameplay, see if it's something that I enjoy, and move it on if it's not. Or, you know, fix it up, if so, you know, cosmetically. So let's pick a schematic. and for this purpose I picked 1966's Bally Bizarre.
    6:56
    Now, this bizarre schematic, the first thing you should do is identify the legends on the schematic and read and understand the switch symbols which are presented. There's four of them. There's a normally open, a normally closed, a make and break, and a score motor operated switch. Now each of these symbols is different.
    7:27
    The normally open is two lines feeding into two perpendicular lines, which are parallel to each other, that have a gap between them. Now the same symbol with the slash through it means normally closed.
    7:47
    A make and break has the symbol for normally open and normally closed feeding into a single large parallel side.
    8:01
    And then a score motor operated switch is the symbol for normally open with a circle around it. anytime you see a switch with a circle around it in a schematic that means it's actuated by a motor so let start at the power cord in the schematic If you look at the section between D and E all the way to the left on the schematic you see a representation an illustration of the power plug If you look at that, there are two different wires in the power plug, and out of one side, there's a fuse. In this case, it's an 8-amp fuse, as it's labeled on the schematic.
    8:51
    And then you'll see the wire wrap around and then go in many different paths. On the other side, you'll see the wire go directly to lug number 9 on the transformer. That coily bit that's very large with many parallel lines in between is a transformer.
    9:17
    So the fused side of the power plug that branched in many different directions, all the switches that are identified here in this portion before the transformer run at 120 volts.
    9:40
    Now it's important to note that 120 volts is dangerous, and you need to pay attention to these switches. As I've mentioned before, they're normally plastic coated instead of cloth wrapped to help you identify them in your game.
    9:59
    This can be crucial to understand to avoid really dangerous shocks. You really want to make sure that your game is off, and if your game cannot be fully turned off, is unplugged before you start messing with switches, because it's a good way to get hurt. And I certainly don't want anybody to get hurt. So, back to the branching. If we look, we can see that the first junction, there is a normally closed switch labeled coin bounce. The second junction has first coin shoot relay. Third junction has second coin shoot relay. The fourth junction has third coin shoot relay. the fourth has replay relay, the fifth has hold relay, and the sixth has left flipper button.
    11:01
    Now, how do you identify the actual switch that we're talking about? Let's look at the replay relay, which is most likely made up of multiple switches. Only one of the switches is identified here in this section of the schematic.
    11:22
    The way that you identify it is by wire colors that feed into the back of the switch, or the switch tabs, as they're called.
    11:32
    And Bally represents their wire colors with numbers. Now, they do this to avoid a situation where you misread a letter and suddenly you're messing with the wrong switch. now all wire colors and EMs are fairly simple to understand be they numerically represented or represented by characters and in Bally's case they used a code that was made up of two digits sometimes there's a dash after the two digits followed by another number the first digit or primary digit is the color of the wire itself the second digit is the color of the tracer the tracer is just a small stitch that's sewn in at intervals into the cloth wire that's a different color, and it helps you identify that particular wire. So there may be multiple wires that are black, for example, but only some of them have a red tracer. And probably in the relay that you're looking at, only one of them has a red tracer, for example. For example.
    12:58
    Now, the third digit in a Bally schematic is the number of times that it's been repeated so far. so that digit is really not incredibly helpful unless you had a situation where you were wiring up a machine from scratch, which you could do with the schematic. That's the power of the schematic. You can piece something together from complete junk if you have the schematic and, of course, all the properly colored cloth wire, but that's another story. So, looking at the wire, which comes off of the 8-amp fuse, it's labeled 80-3P. Now, as I mentioned, the 3P you can pretty much ignore, but the 80 is the important part. The zero indicates that there's no tracer, and so what you need to do is look at the wire color code down at the bottom of the schematic and you'll see that 8 is black and so 8 0 is black with no tracer and then below that on the other side of that replay relay switch you have 70p now 70 is orange with no tracer so on one side it's black and the other side it's orange. Now, that's all well and good, and you can see if you follow that 70P wire that it junctions up to the transformer. That's great. You know, you can see in basic how that's connected. But what I wanted to do was show you how to troubleshoot a particular problem.
    14:58
    So, let's find a problem here. So, this game has zipper flippers, and let's take the example of a problem where the zipper flippers are never closing. They're never jumping together. Well, in this case, what you need to do is identify the coil, which may be the problem.
    15:25
    And how do you do that? Well, all of the coils are named fairly explicitly on any given schematic. The only exception is Gottlieb, and Gottlieb names them in a small legend in another part of the schematic. But this is a Bally, and Bally and Williams both label the coils very nicely, directly in line on the schematic. now a coil symbol is very similar to the transformer symbol that we looked at earlier where there's just a looping line but it's very small compared to the transformer and there's no parallel lines that run in between two coils there's just a single loopy line so in this case you just follow along there's a large black line on the schematic and it notes that there's orange as the wire color for this large black line so you follow that along and you see different coils spelled out starting with special relay free ball gate relay zero to nine match unit step solenoid and so forth You carry along, and you'll see L mushroom bumper relay, U mushroom bumper relay, and then close flipper relay.
    16:59
    Well, that sounds like it might be something you want to investigate. And so this relay, you can assume just by its name, probably gives the signal to the flippers to actually close. So if they're not moving at all, you probably want to start with this relay.
    17:21
    If they are moving and they're not staying closed, then this is not the relay for you. but again, we're going to go with the idea that the flippers aren't closing at all.
    17:37
    So you always work off the assumption that the coil is okay until you've ruled out everything else, or at least that's how I do it. So you go from the black line, and you see close flipper relay, and so you say, okay, this is a relay. It's not a stepper unit. It doesn't say step up or reset or trip or latch.
    18:05
    It's a relay, so it's pulling on an armature and closing or changing the state of several switches at the same time.
    18:16
    So that's good to know, all right? But we don't care about the coil at all. Like I said, you ignore it. The other important thing to note is that the power is going to flow from the bottom up through the coil.
    18:36
    Now, this is a simplified way to think of this because these games are AC and not DC. But if you think of it this way, it'll help you in troubleshooting because you have to imagine that the power is flowing in one direction. So the black line that I had you look at to help identify this coil that's actually orange, that orange wire is providing power to everything. now it's just waiting for the electricity to hit it the electrons to flow and then it's going to really fire, it's going to do what it's supposed to do so you follow that down and you'll see that there's a junction and there are two different switches which activate it directly You have the closed flipper relay, normally open switch, and this is what I call a hold switch. Basically, it keeps that relay closed until something else happens, but we'll get into that. So the first thing you want to do is look at that closed flipper relay and see if there's a switch with the wire colors 23, which would be blue with a yellow tracer, and 48, which is green with a black tracer. So you look for that wire, those wire colors, coming into a switch on the closed flipper relay, and then you really carefully examine that switch, and you see if it's actually moving, if it has deflection, all the things that I told you to look at before.
    20:41
    Once you rule that out, then you move on to the U mushroom bumper relay normally closed. Now, this has the same wire colors as that closed flipper relay because it's a junction.
    20:59
    and so you take a look, and you find that normally closed switch with those wire colors, and you make sure that it's actually closed. Now, it can appear closed, but the way that you test is to observe for deflection, and it needs to open when the relay is actuated. So check for both of those things. If everything's good, then you move down to the next switch, And the next switch is the closed flipper solenoid end of stroke. Now, this is an important switch. It's normally open.
    21:38
    But when the flippers come together, it's going to close that switch, which will then provide power to the closed flipper relay switch, as well as to the U mushroom bumper relay. So power can flow through that closed flipper solenoid end of stroke through the U mushroom bumper relay to the closed flipper relay. And then the power will be held in by the closed flipper relay itself until the closed flipper solenoid end of stroke is opened again. Now, what does this tell you?
    22:18
    Well, that we're barking up the wrong tree. This is not the coil that we actually want. because the close flipper relay tells the game to maintain the state of the flippers being closed for the purpose of opening them later when you hit a specific target.
    22:39
    So we're in the wrong place altogether, because this assumes that the flippers are coming together properly.
    22:46
    So let's keep looking. If you follow the schematic over, you keep looking at coils. eventually you're going to see the closed flipper lock coil.
    23:02
    Now the closed flipper lock coil, if you follow it down, you'll see that it runs through the closed flipper solenoid end of stroke. Now this is a normally open switch. So what does this tell you?
    23:17
    That this can't be the right thing either because it relies on the flippers having moved and pushing that and a stroke switch closed before it actually activates this coil. So we're in the wrong spot again. So let's keep looking.
    23:35
    On Bally flipper schematics, they would have solenoids set in two different sections. In this particular game, they have the solenoids in three different sections. now in the second section it's things like points and startup and all those kinds of relays and steppers but what we're looking for is something marked close flipper and really what we want is the thing that actually moves the flippers so it's got to have a real catchy name something like closed flipper something. So we've already ruled out the only two closed flippers which are on the bottom, and there are none on the top, and so that leaves the 120 volt section right beside the power plug, right where we were in the beginning, if you'll recall.
    24:32
    So we're going to look and we'll see that there's a closed flipper solenoid. Well, Oh, that sounds quite likely, doesn't it? Let's follow the path up. In this case, the coil is at the bottom, so we have to move up the chain instead of down the chain.
    24:53
    So we move up and we see a half amp slow blow fuse. Now this fuse protects that coil It will prevent the coil from burning if it locks on Now let's see what could cause it to lock on.
    25:14
    Because it's not actually locking at all. so power is given to this by the close flipper relay normally closed switch so that relay has one switch which is normally closed when the relay is activated it opens so you need to examine that relay and ensure that the normally closed switch is in fact normally closed. And on one side it's marked 51,
    25:52
    and that is white with a red tracer. Those are usually pretty easy to find. And on the other side it's 31, and that's yellow with a red tracer. Well, that's kind of bad news, because white wires tend to fade into yellow wires over time, especially with the tar and so forth from bars. So likely you're going to find two wires which look very similar coming into this. In order to tell that you're looking at the right one, assuming that there are other switches nearby in that relay that have similar wire colors, you take your thumbnail and scratch a little bit at the cloth.
    26:34
    This will show you what's truly underneath. and in some instances you can use this technique to find the correct wire color that you're looking for.
    26:46
    So you find that switch, ensure that when it is normally closed, there's that bit of over-travel, and you activate the relay by hand manually.
    26:57
    Redundant there, yes, I know. And you ensure that it opens properly when power would be applied to that relay.
    27:10
    So when you rule that out, you look up further, and you see the U mushroom bumper relay normally open.
    27:20
    Well, you already know this is your first normally open in the chain. You already know that this is required in order to close the circuit and allow current to flow to the coil.
    27:39
    So if your closed flipper relay, normally closed, was fine, then you look at this and see if it can actually close. When the relay is activated, does it close with some deflection, or does it not move at all?
    27:56
    let's assume that that's the problem. Well, there you go. You've adjusted that one switch, and suddenly that feature will start working again.
    28:09
    Now let's say it's not the problem. Well, then you have to carry up the chain. And what do you see if you just carry it straight up? Well, it's one side of the transformer. That's usually like 99.99999% of the time not the problem. The transformer is usually good to go, but there's a junction, and you follow that over to the left, and you'll see it's that section that I was talking about with all the coin chute relays.
    28:38
    Well, you're not dropping in a coin, and you can assume that that's what it's doing with that first, second, and third coin chute relay. It's activating that relay when you drop a coin, and there's three different coin slots. So you rule that out in your head right now.
    28:55
    And then you get into the replay relay. Well, are you winning a replay? Are you playing a replay? Probably not. You know, the game is keeping track of if you are allowed to play that when you push the start button.
    29:15
    So that has no bearing. All the way to the right, you have left flipper button. well, you're not going to be holding that in through the whole game, so that can't be it either.
    29:28
    But, in between the replay relay and the left flipper button, you'll see a switch marked hold relay.
    29:35
    Now the hold relay could be called the lock relay on other games, the anti-cheat relay on the bingos. there's all kinds of different names for this, but essentially it is the relay that turns on and stays on when you start a new game.
    30:01
    So take a look at that switch and adjust if necessary. Other than that, the only thing that's in the path that you haven't checked are the two fuses.
    30:12
    Now, those two fuses, I'm just going to have assumed that you've already looked at them, ensured that they're the proper value, tested them, and so forth. But if you haven't, you know, you should do so. That should be actually the first thing that you do.
    30:30
    But if you've done all that, then what's left? Well, the fuse holders can be bad. And in a valley, this is a really super common occurrence. So you need to ensure that the fuse holder tabs are actually providing adequate pressure on the fuse such that it's able to conduct.
    30:56
    A fuse is just a wire that's made to burn. And so if there's not proper contact, then the wire can't conduct electricity. so there you have it you work from the coil backwards and you will find your problem that's all I do it's really simple it seems like it's more complicated than it needs to be because there are so many coils which are named a similar thing I also had a question on how do you know where the coil is physically located. That's a lot harder to answer.
    31:43
    Luckily, all the game manufacturers included labels with the game which identified the coil inside the game.
    31:54
    Now, a lot of the times, if you're working on a project game, Those labels have been eaten away by mice, rats, time.
    32:06
    It all can conspire against you to destroy these labels. And so you're going to have to look for wire colors. That's all you can do.
    32:18
    So I hope that helps. If anybody needs a better or more detailed description of anything, I'm more than happy to provide it. but if you follow that technique you'll get your games up and running very quickly indeed and you'll be well pleased with the result because you'll be playing sooner and that's what it's really all about, right?
    32:43
    Well, thank you very much for joining me my name again is Nick Baldrige you can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com or you can call me on the bingos line That's 724-BINGOS1. 724-246-4671. You can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, via RSS on Facebook, on Twitter at Bingo Podcast, on Instagram, also at Bingo Podcast, or you can listen to us on our website, which is foramusementonly.libsyn.com. Thank you very much for listening, and I'll talk to you next time.