sosh101
Inserted Coin
- Joined
- May 29, 2014
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 10
- Favorite Pinball Machine
- Jungle Lord
Hi, I'm new here (and to Pinball repair). I've recently acquired a Jungle Lord machine (Williams System 7) in quite poor condition (and currently not working).
I have just started giving it the once-over to see what condition various parts are. There's obviously a lot of work to do (general maintenance, some mechanical repairs, and no doubt electrical repairs), but nothing too disheartening - that is until I looked at the transformer (See pic).
It appears that someone has done some sort of 'repair' work on this. The winding tabs are mostly (all?) missing, and instead the power leads are soldered directly onto exposed windings (I'm assuming here that this is not normal for these machines). Note: The packaging tape you see on the wires has not been used for electrical insulation (there are not joins underneath them) - I assume they were added as markers or to help with holding the wires. I have no idea yet whether this is working, but the fact that the transformer is not bolted to the baseboard, and that the power cord is not attached makes me think that they may have abandoned the work.
I'm guessing that at some point the transformer had some kind of burn-out, which isn't really surprising considering that a number of fuses in the backbox have been replaced by soldered in wire (even one on the sound-board!). I'm a bit confused as to what might have left the tabs destroyed but not shorted out the windings though.
The transformer is the part I'm least comfortable with. (BTW, although I have no pinball repair experience, I'm reasonably competent with electronics/electrical stuff). So I have a few questions for anyone who can offer their experience here:...
- Could other System 7 users comment on how this transformer looks compared to theirs?
- Can anyone offer tips on how best to test the transformer? (I've found the schematics in the manual)
- Should I just write this transformer off?
Thank you!
I have just started giving it the once-over to see what condition various parts are. There's obviously a lot of work to do (general maintenance, some mechanical repairs, and no doubt electrical repairs), but nothing too disheartening - that is until I looked at the transformer (See pic).


It appears that someone has done some sort of 'repair' work on this. The winding tabs are mostly (all?) missing, and instead the power leads are soldered directly onto exposed windings (I'm assuming here that this is not normal for these machines). Note: The packaging tape you see on the wires has not been used for electrical insulation (there are not joins underneath them) - I assume they were added as markers or to help with holding the wires. I have no idea yet whether this is working, but the fact that the transformer is not bolted to the baseboard, and that the power cord is not attached makes me think that they may have abandoned the work.
I'm guessing that at some point the transformer had some kind of burn-out, which isn't really surprising considering that a number of fuses in the backbox have been replaced by soldered in wire (even one on the sound-board!). I'm a bit confused as to what might have left the tabs destroyed but not shorted out the windings though.
The transformer is the part I'm least comfortable with. (BTW, although I have no pinball repair experience, I'm reasonably competent with electronics/electrical stuff). So I have a few questions for anyone who can offer their experience here:...
- Could other System 7 users comment on how this transformer looks compared to theirs?
- Can anyone offer tips on how best to test the transformer? (I've found the schematics in the manual)
- Should I just write this transformer off?
Thank you!