The Pinball Diaries

Replaced the DMD and cleaned the plastic. Game is in much better shape than before.

A couple more things:

• Bottom jet bumper lamp is out
• Flippers need a rebuild
• Right slingshot needs new rubber
• Juggler & Acrobat grid bulbs out

• Spin switch needs adjustment

Ring Master head works great! I replaced the wiring for the coil and the flasher inside the Ring Master assembly and adjusted the up position switch. Need to clean the motor a little.

Test report is showing the bad outlane switches now (plus the others).

Let’s take a look at the Ring Master magnet. I don’t have the manual, so I’m using the solenoid test help:

SOL. 35
Yellow-Gray Red-Gray
J120-3 J119-8
F117 4 AMP S.B.
Q81-82-79

J120-3 reads .6V with the coin door open and .6V with the coin door closed. Should be reading 69V with coin door closed. Other pins read as expected. i.e. J120-13 reads 69V with the coin door closed.

U8 pin 12 registers a logic pulse when the solenoid is driven, so the computer is telling it to activate okay.

Checking out the other side of the circuit, fuse 117 is good. The fuse in there is the wrong rating however. Looks like a 6 amp fuse. Should be 4 amp 250V slow-blow. Replaced with correct fuse.

Meter at fuse 117 reads 68V. That’s good. For sanity, checked voltage at fuses 115 and 116, both read 68V.

So problem is most likely under the playfield. Probably continuity in the wiring running between J119-8 and J120-3^[1].

Under the playfield, disconnected the wiring to the Ring Master assembly. On the female side, with wiring running to the backbox, the red/gray wire reads 68V. That’s good. Yellow-gray reads 0V, which makes sense, and a continuity check shows continuity between that pin on the connector and pin J120-3. Also good.

So, looking at the male side, with wiring going into the Ring Master assembly, testing for continuity between the red-gray and yellow-gray fails. That’s a problem. That circuit should flow into the Ring Master assembly, through the magnet coil and back out.

Removed the Ring Master motor unit (need to check the up switch) and the Ring Master head and collar trough. A wicked pain w/o the manual.

Inside the Ring Master there is another connector for the magnet coil. The male side has two black wires going into the coil. These thest OK for continuity. The female side has the red-gray and yellow-gray wires which connect up with the male side of the previous connector I examined. Continuity check here fails for the red-gray wire. There’s out problem.

I wonder if the constant up/down motion of the assembly fatigues the wiring over time and breaks it.

^[1] Check out pages 3-11 and 3-12 in the Cirqus Voltaire manual – 1/4/2007

Not sure why the Boom Balloon doesn’t come down. I thought maybe a bad retract coil, but it fires. Maybe it’s weak? Does it need lubrication? Need to investigate.

Reseated the connector on the Ring Master magnet coil. No help.

I cleared out some more room in my basement, enough to get Cirqus Voltaire up so I can get it into shape before setting it up at my sister’s house so my nephews can use it.

The machine has been in storage in my basement for a year, so I figured I’d start with some fresh batteries.

Test Report:

CHECK SWITCH 25 INNER LOOP LEFT
CHECK SWITCH 46 TROUGH UPPER
CHECK SWITCH 42 RINGMASTER UP

Some issues:

• Boom Balloon rests a little too low. It’s sunken below the playfield enough to create a lip that makes the ball jump.
• Flippers are poorly aligned.
• The Boom Balloon won’t drop (most of the time).
• Backbox cannonball gets stuck in the pinwheel.

• The Ring Master doesn’t come up.

After playing a little the test report now says:

CHECK SWITCH 25 INNER LOOP LEFT
CHECK SWITCH 46 TROUGH UPPER
CHECK SWITCH 47 TROUGH MIDDLE

Found some more things:

• Ring Master magnet is busted.
• The dot matrix display is very whiny.
• Ball trough maybe has divots?
• Left outlane switch is bad
• Right outlane switch is bad
• Ring Master spiral “WOW” decal needs replacement
• Spin loop rail needs adjustment

• Sideshow lamp is out