Pachinko virgin - Fuse blowing on Star Wars

[vib_ribbon]

Hi Everyone.

I will be picking up my first pachinko machine in the next few days, but unfortunately I have been informed the machine is blowing fuses when plugged in.

The person who has it now picked it up untested, and when he inspected it, he said the 10amp fuse inside had blown. When he replaced it with a working one and plugged it into his 240 to 110v stepdown transformer, it blew the 2amp fuse in the transformer!

It will be handed to me in this condition. I am not sure where to start with the diagnostics. I guess I will recheck the fuses inside the machine, but has anyone else had this problem before? Or have any ideas how I can determine if there is a short circuit somewhere in the machine?

No doubt I will be taking lots of photos of it for this thread.
Your assistance would be much appreciated. Perhaps when I give this pachinko machine a try I will grow to love it and get more?!

Many thanks!

[Drunkenclam]

Errrrr, You had a 240-110 transformer?

do you also have a transformer from 110 to 24v

All these machines are designed to run on 24vac, check out one of the only manuals in english as Dave translated it for us all

http://www.pinballdave.com/pachinko/...ina_Manual.pdf

Oh and

Welcome Aboard

[vib_ribbon]

thanks for the warm welcome and seriously?? that's was the mistake? i guess since the machine's from japan we just assumed it'd be 110vac. i hope no major damage has been caused bar the fuses. once i get hold of it i will source a suitable power supply. many thanks! i will report back. d'oh!!!

[Drunkenclam]

Tomscottvicki or Ryantiger may have one, But TSV has more slo parts then pachinko.

There is also one on YJA at the moment, for 100 yen (less than £1) but you need a deputy to get it for you.

ルミナ電�基� - ヤフオク!

For the Star Wars Lumina frame you want a 5 or 6 Amp transformer,

Oh is it the older Star Wars with the R2D2 or the newer one with the light saber on the right hand side. I only know of 2 of the newer ones in the Uk. That link is for the older one,

This is the newer one

三共　クリステラæž*　電æº� - ヤフオク!

[luckydog]

we have had a few members fry machines some were fixable others not

check around before getting to carried away with new toys, look, before you leap

[daverob]

If you've plugged it into a 110v supply, then you will have blown the surge suppression diode as well as the 10A fuse. If you don't replace both, then the fuse will blow again even if it's plugged into the correct 24v transformer.

The good news is that the surge suppression diode is the first component in the power supply after the fuse and usually blows first. Which should stop anything else on the PSU board getting damaged, and so it should be a relatively simple repair.

[vib_ribbon]

finally got hold of the machine this evening.

i have no idea where this surge suppression diode is... i did look at this thread for clues:
http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/pach...8-machine.html

is there a way of checking the diodes with a multimeter or with a scope to see if they are still functional?

thanks for your advice!

here's a photo of my psu/ fuse board:
14899952382_c380c5006b_z.jpg

[daverob]

i have no idea where this surge suppression diode is...
is there a way of checking the diodes with a multimeter or with a scope to see if they are still functional?

Thanks for posting the photo. I don't have any of my Lumina games handy so it would have been a lot of effort to look at the PSU board on one of my machines.

The diode is marked VRD1 and is just under the power switch in your photo.

If you set your multimeter to the continuity/diode test range then it will measure short circuit if it has failed (make sure power is off and everything is disconnected from the board when testing!). If you're ok with a soldering iron, then remove the diode from the board and check it again to be sure (both the diode itself to make sure it's shorted, and the tracks on the PCB to make sure they're not shorted after the diode has been removed).

If you know your transformer voltage is good and you're not testing it in a thunderstorm, then you can just power up the machine with the diode removed, just to test if machine is working or if there's any other damage. The diode is just there to clamp any surges to a voltage that won't damage the other circuitry, so the game should work without it, but it is best to replace it as soon as possible so that the other parts of the game are still protected.

[vib_ribbon]

hey, thanks for that very detailed and informative (yet easy to understand) reply. very much appreciated.

i did do a continuity test on all the diodes on the board and indeed VRD1 seems to have no reading in circuit. i will do as you have instructed.

but now i must source a suitable 24v transformer... when i went to pick this machine up, i had a look at the transformer inside the guy's pachislo machine and it was pretty small. maybe the ampage for pachislo machines doesn't need to be as high as all the transformers i've seen online so far which are 6amps and over look rather large and weighty.

i'll post a few links of my findings here to confirm. thanks again for all the great advice.

[Drunkenclam]

All my pachinkos are running 8A or bigger transformers, but they are newer machines. The super sea story I have on eBay at the moment has a 10.4A transformer. One of my pachislos is a 100v model, the other is a 24v model. That's running a 6A transformer.

[vib_ribbon]

drunkenclam, is there a go-to place in UK to source a suitable transformer for these machines?

i am looking at these:
CTFCS150-24U - PRO POWER - TRANSFORMER, 150VA, 2 X 24V | Farnell UK

when compared with this:
STEU160/48 - BLOCK - TRANSFORMER, 160VA, 230/400V, | Farnell UK

...i don't understand why the top one is:
Primary Voltages: 1 x 230V
Secondary Voltages: 2 x 24V
Current Rating: 3.13A
Power Rating: 150VA


...while the bottom one is:
Primary Voltages: 230V, 400V
Secondary Voltages: 2 x 24V
Current Rating: 6.7A
Power Rating: 160VA


...is it because of the way the 2x24v are connected on each one which makes the bottom one 6.7A compared with the top one which is 3.13A ?

any advice? much appreciated.

[Drunkenclam]

That confuses me too, transformers are normally rated at maximum values. Although from those 2, I'd pick the second one as wouldn't like exposed soldered contacts,
I got some of mine from Farrnell or RS components. I'm sure it's either a misprint or my brain hurting and not seeing something obvious

[vib_ribbon]

Because the latter one is so much more expensive, I've fired off an email to their tech support to see if I can get a response. Are all your transformers £50+ ?? Considering how much the pachinko machines actually cost, £50 is a lot of money...

Thanks again for your input. I'll start with the desoldering tonight and revert.

[daverob]

The reason for the confusion in current ratings is that the transformers have two 24v output windings, one is quoting the current per winding, the other is quoting the total current if both windings are used. It could also be that the more expensive transformer could actually output all the current on one winding, but the figures on the datasheet don't seem to back this up.

My preference would be a 2x12v transformer rather than a 2x24v one. Reason being if you have two 24v windings you have to connect them in parallel to get the full current output. If you connect them right you get 24v out, if you connect one of them the wrong way round, you create a short circuit at 48v and things go bad very quickly.

If you have a 2x12v transformer you connect the output windings in series. If you get it right, you get 24v out. If you connect it wrong, then the voltages cancel each other out, you get nothing on the output and no current flows. This way nothing gets damaged (apart from your ego!) and things should work when they're connected up correctly.

My preference from farnell would be one of these two...

VTX-146-160-112 - MULTICOMP - TRANSFORMER, 160VA, 2X 12V | Farnell UK

CTFCS150-12U - PRO POWER - TRANSFORMER, 150VA, 2 X 12V | Farnell UK

Though it seems they have a few end-of-line of a slightly cheaper alternative which should work.

STEU160/24 - BLOCK - TRANSFORMER, 160VA, 230/400V, | Farnell UK

[vib_ribbon]

thanks daverob.


i wasn't gonna update until later this evening but you are absolutely right, and farnell was nice enough to answer my question.


after i looked at the photos i took with my digital camera again, i noticed that the star wars pachinko actually requires 170VA.


so i have gone ahead and bought this transformer with the thought of hooking up the 2 x 24v feeds in parallel.


CTFCS200-24U - PRO POWER - TRANSFORMER, 200VA, 2 X 24V | Farnell UK

hopefully not too difficult to connect it up this way.

[Drunkenclam]

Thanks Dave.

I could never gets head around the 2x12v wiring. Yes it's in series like a battery but using Amps not va. Doesn't that mean that the copper windings are incorrect. Like putting two 3Amp fuses in series doesn't give you 6A of protection. The current draw is the same. So wouldn't it overload a 160va 1x12 transformer as each winding is only 80va and connecting them in series will increase the voltage but not the Ampage. Or maybe that doesn't matter for loads. But then again 80va at 12v is 6.66 amp.



Back to Vib Ribbon

Oh another word of warning. Assuming this is the R2D2 Star Wars and judging by the PSU it is. A lot of these suffer from cold start up. It happens with a few games in this frame but it's most noticeable with this one. When it's powered up for the first time in a while or it's in a cold place. They don't fire up straight away, the screen is blank and the R2 unit makes juddering movements. Also odd snippets of sound. Although not correct, a lot do do this. If yours does fire up, leave it on for 30 minutes, then turn it off for 30 seconds and then turn it back on again.


also make sure you have a dongle fitted in the 25 pin D socket located on the rear in the bottom RH corner.

[vib_ribbon]

alright, here comes some photos:

i guess we've all seen this star wars pachinko:
14721577890_fc7380e4ea_z.jpg

here's that power rating i was on about earlier:
14721640158_4fb4fa94b5_z.jpg

here's the diode i extracted earlier:
14885884086_d607d6aecf_z.jpg

14722225629_34cfa10324_z.jpg

14885889546_2a262981a0_z.jpg

it's labelled: 5 Z2 047 4BB

anyone know where i could source a replacement/ equivalent?

[vib_ribbon]

i am reading this old thread, and robert didn't come back...

http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/pach...new-pachi.html

[Drunkenclam]

That's common. But we prefer people to stick around. After all, we are all nuts

[Drunkenclam]

Possible from here, but please double check.
Z2047 Semitec | Mouser

Z2 = 1w
047 = breakdown voltage.

Check farnells website too.