Bally Solved Wizard! (Bally, 1975) will not flip back

[Watervillain]

Bally Wizard has 4 flips. They are activated by either a target or a rollover. All will activate and flip, but the number two flip will not flip back. The relay remains activated and will not release. I have adjusted the contacts, checked relays, followed wiring, checked continuity and cannot find the problem. I have the color schematic and broke it down into 4 11 x 17 pages to help follow the wiring.

The odd thing is that every once in a while upon startup it will flip back, but then stops working.

I figure it's got to be in a wire or connection somewhere between the 1st rollover that resets the flips and the contacts that activate (or de-energize) the relay that allows the flip to flip back.

Any thoughts? It's almost ready with another issue that the 100,000 light will not light up(the bulb and socket do work). But that's minor compared to the flip issue.

Thanks

 

[pinballdaveh]

the 4 flips get their reset pulse from 4 seperate score motor switches. that means that the reset wiring goes thru the mech panel/playfield jones plugs. on bally em's the female part of the jones plug is usually the problem. the females can be gently squeezed to return them to normal. i have heard that gun barrel cleaning brushes can be used to clean the female connections , but have never tried them. the male jones plug pins can usually be cleaned with a scotch brite pad. removal of the playfield may help in the inspection and working on these jones plugs. the 100,000 lights for each player are controlled by 4 latch/trip relays in the head of the machine on the top above the 1st and 2nd player score reels. check 99,999 to 100,000 carry over to see if relay operation is correct. file clean and adjust switches if needed.

 

[Watervillain]

I have cleaned off the Jones plugs, male and female using as you said, scotchbrite and then I have small brushes for the female ends and then I pinched them so they were tighter.

I'm beginning to think the problem is in the right lane RE. I noticed 3 of the 4 contacts will spark, and if I put a piece of paper between the other cantacts, the other flips do not flip.

So now I am trying to trace all the wires to make sure power can get through. Thanks for your response.

 

[pinballdaveh]

i dont have much exp. with these flip units. back in the day when i worked these machines on location, these flip units mostly always worked fine. the pinball database doesnt show this unit in detail. it seems like 1 solenoid can flip the flip in both directions. close up hi-res pics of the flip unit would be gr8, especially the inter-workings of it. WIZARD and FLIP-FLOP were the only 2 machines i know of had these flip units

 

[Watervillain]

Bally Wizard flip flag problem solved

Ok, here was the real problem: the #2 flip relay had a contact that was either so close it looked closed or it was touching, but not snug enough. I found it by checking so many contacts with a plastic tool to make sure there was indeed good contact. Every time I held it tight to the other contact, it flipped. Take pressure off and no flip. So I really put a bend in it and now it works fine. I must have checked that relay a hundred times, but until I put the pressure on, it stuck.

It really wasn't a waste of time desoldering, soldering, tracing wires and reading the schematic, as some of that is new to me and I learned a lot. I also appreciate the input of others.

Wizard isn't totally right, so you may be hearing back from me. But I am going to leave it alone for awhile.................: )

Thanks again