Picking up fuses in town?

[PatC]

Is there a good place in town to pick up Fuses?

I've got a "Check Fuses F114 and F115" warning on Road Show and wanted to run out and get some new ones to see if they're really bad (it doesn't visually look like it, but who knows). I don't have a DMM (yet) so I can't just test them.

I'm obviously just getting into fixing stuff; I can do the mechanical stuff pretty easy (I replaced my broken shooter rod -- go me), but when it gets into electrical I'm not nearly as up-to-speed. I've been reading through this: http://www.pinrepair.com/wpc/index1.htm#f114f115 but without an DMM, I'm not positive what's broken and what's not...

which gets me back to just replacing the fuses and seeing if that does the trick or not.

-p.

[caylegeorge]

Most likely the bridge rectifier(s) need replacing, as that error is a byproduct of them going out.

-cAyle

[Opto]

Oh Pat . . . welcome to pinball ownership! Cayle is right - could be your bridge rectifiers or your U20 chip. I had the same problem with getaway and replacing the U20 got the error to go away. Didn't fix my problem completely, but that's another story. You can buy most chips and BR's from http://www.greatplainselectronics (they also sell fuses). Lemme know if you're going to place an order with them - I've got a few chips I need too!

You can also buy most fuses at radio shack. You're welcome to borrow my meter for a day or two if you like

[PatC]

Noah and Cayle, thanks for the tips.

I was able to find some fuses out at Parkrose Hardware, but as I suspected, wasn't that.

What's interesting is that if I run a ball over the Ted bulldozer sensor, the fuse warning goes away and then I get a coin-interlock door open error -- when it's not actually open. I hear the "coin noise" a few times, so it leads me to believe it is something w/ the coin door interlock.

[Opto]

Sounds to me like something wacky is happening in your switch matrix, but I can't say for sure. Interesting that the bulldozer switch makes the f114 f1315 error go away. You might try search Rec games pinball for any posts with similar issues and see if someone posted a solution. As I understand it, your switch matrix runs on 5V, lamps are 12v and solenoids are 50. If the 12v or 50 gets into your switch matrix it can cause all sorts of problems. The best example I can think of is a bulb socket touching a switch or a switch wire w/ no insulation. Eric or Cayle would probably know a bit more about this (I still haven't fixed my getaway, so be weary of my advice!).

Noah

[eric]

The switch matrix operates on 12V. There are also many other voltages used in WPC besides the ones you listed. RTFM!

About a year ago I helped troubleshoot a ground short error on that machine (row 1, if I remember correctly). The error disappeared midway through troubleshooting and we could never get it to come back. Definitely follow the troubleshooting procedure on Clay's site. You may also want to pull the MPU and carefully check for battery corrosion. The components that drive the switch matrix are located immediately below the battery pack and are very susceptible to corrosion.

[eric]

The GPE link is broken. Here's a working one:

http://www.greatplainselectronics.com/

Ed's top notch - highly recommended.

[eric]

For anyone interested, 'twas a bad ULN2803 at U20.

[Mark]