In other words, use it or lose it.
The Full House pin has been a bit of a stinker lately. Last month I had a problem with the score motor. It wouldn't complete a cycle, and so the game was stuck after the first ball drained. The ball wouldn't kick out. I was able to to find the switch that wasn't making with some help from the guys on the Pinside EM forum.
I'm going to write this so I can remember what I did and what I learned.
The score motor is basically a tube with notches in it that rotates and moves various switches to open or to close while it turns. You can see that there are seven stacks of switches.
The schematic identifies each switch stack, tells you what each switch does, and tells you if the switch should be open or closed when it is activated.
My problem was that the switch that tells the motor when to stop wasn't doing its job. It is called the "motor run" switch and it is on the "Index" switch stack (far right). Let's zoom in.
So, by looking at the diagram, you can see that there are four switches labeled A, B, C, and D. The "motor run" switch is "D", and it is at the top of the stack. Also, you can see that one of its wires is orange and green, and the other is solid yellow. When this switch is at rest in the notch in the score motor's wheel (bottom right)- the switches D and C are open. Switches B and A are closed.
That means when the score motor turns and raises the switch stack, the bottom two switches open, and the top two close.
My D switch wasn't closing all the way. Once that was corrected, the Full House was playing as it should. To be honest, I would have never known to look at the motor switch, the advice from Pinside pointed me there.
Okay, problem number two.
When you start a game the backglass shows a number 1 lit up. This means you are on ball one. After you lose that ball, the ball count unit moves and lights up the number 2. This continues until all five balls are played and the words "Game Over" glow.
Sometimes my ball count won’t advance, and I get stuck playing the same ball for a few times. It doesn't matter what ball I'm on. This has been an intermittent problem since I brought the Full House to a working condition. Last week the machine got stuck on ball three, and that was it.
I knew the ball count unit was clean. I've cleaned that several times. After learning to use the schematic for the problem with the motor run switch, I looked at the schematic to see what switch controls the ball count unit.
The switch that pulses (activates) the ball count unit to "step up" (S.U.) is in the number 1 stack in position B. Out of the four switch positions D, C, B, A, switch 1B is third from the top.
I'm going to write this so I can remember what I did and what I learned.
The score motor is basically a tube with notches in it that rotates and moves various switches to open or to close while it turns. You can see that there are seven stacks of switches.
The schematic identifies each switch stack, tells you what each switch does, and tells you if the switch should be open or closed when it is activated.
My problem was that the switch that tells the motor when to stop wasn't doing its job. It is called the "motor run" switch and it is on the "Index" switch stack (far right). Let's zoom in.
So, by looking at the diagram, you can see that there are four switches labeled A, B, C, and D. The "motor run" switch is "D", and it is at the top of the stack. Also, you can see that one of its wires is orange and green, and the other is solid yellow. When this switch is at rest in the notch in the score motor's wheel (bottom right)- the switches D and C are open. Switches B and A are closed.
That means when the score motor turns and raises the switch stack, the bottom two switches open, and the top two close.
My D switch wasn't closing all the way. Once that was corrected, the Full House was playing as it should. To be honest, I would have never known to look at the motor switch, the advice from Pinside pointed me there.
Okay, problem number two.
When you start a game the backglass shows a number 1 lit up. This means you are on ball one. After you lose that ball, the ball count unit moves and lights up the number 2. This continues until all five balls are played and the words "Game Over" glow.
Sometimes my ball count won’t advance, and I get stuck playing the same ball for a few times. It doesn't matter what ball I'm on. This has been an intermittent problem since I brought the Full House to a working condition. Last week the machine got stuck on ball three, and that was it.
I knew the ball count unit was clean. I've cleaned that several times. After learning to use the schematic for the problem with the motor run switch, I looked at the schematic to see what switch controls the ball count unit.
The switch that pulses (activates) the ball count unit to "step up" (S.U.) is in the number 1 stack in position B. Out of the four switch positions D, C, B, A, switch 1B is third from the top.
The problem is that my switch stack only has three switches. How is that possible? I took it apart to make sure.
Then for the first time I noticed that the index switch stack has five switches. Count the plastic lifts on the switch stack on the left. It has five. The stack next to it has the aforementioned three.
Now I know why those screws wouldn't tighten the stack down. The stack was too tall with an extra switch. How did this happen? No clue. All I know is that I didn't do it, and it must be corrected.
Now I know why those screws wouldn't tighten the stack down. The stack was too tall with an extra switch. How did this happen? No clue. All I know is that I didn't do it, and it must be corrected.
I want to move the 1B switch back into the right position, but which one is 1B? Well, use the color listed on the schematic. One wire is blue with a yellow stripe, and the other is green. Simple, right? Not if you are colorblind.
I don't think about being colorblind very often. How I see the world is how I have always seen it. I don't wake up in the morning, look out the window and say, "Dang it. I'm still colorblind." Actually, I feel like I am lying when I tell people. But then I look at a nest of wires like this and I think, "Dang it. I am colorblind."
With Daphne's help, we located the misplaced 1B switch. The switches are complete units, and you can move them around like building blocks. It only took 15 minutes to move and adjust the switch.
The index stack on the left now has four switches. The same goes for the 1 stack next door.
Did that fix my problem? Mostly. I played 15 games in a row, and out of those 75 balls, the Full House only gave me one "extra" ball. Not too bad. I'll call that a win, and take what I can get.
I don't think about being colorblind very often. How I see the world is how I have always seen it. I don't wake up in the morning, look out the window and say, "Dang it. I'm still colorblind." Actually, I feel like I am lying when I tell people. But then I look at a nest of wires like this and I think, "Dang it. I am colorblind."
With Daphne's help, we located the misplaced 1B switch. The switches are complete units, and you can move them around like building blocks. It only took 15 minutes to move and adjust the switch.
The index stack on the left now has four switches. The same goes for the 1 stack next door.
Did that fix my problem? Mostly. I played 15 games in a row, and out of those 75 balls, the Full House only gave me one "extra" ball. Not too bad. I'll call that a win, and take what I can get.
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