Maybe someone that can repair the board:
- Fixed 12v pin on bottom jamma connector
- Soldered another ground wire to fix random reboot issue
- Cleaned off the nasty soda spill inside the bill collector
- Adjusted voltages to be in a reliable range
Game Cost: $380
- Prizes: $132
- Wire: $5
- New Switches: $14
Total: $527
- Arduino conversion could be possible and fun (Here is some example claw code clawmachine_code_v3005 )
The main issue I had with this machine is the constant rebooting itself randomly. I could recreate the issue every time by unplugging the bill reader and plugging it back in. As soon as I did that it would reboot. This is due to the motor of the bill collector kicking on and creating a drop in voltage on the board and resetting the CPU. Here is what I did to resolve the issue. A huge thanks to Don for helping on this one. He broke out the oscilloscope and figured it out. This is broken out into the three chunks that improved the reliability however the 3rd one resolved it for good so far. More testing is needed to be done however the results are very obvious.
Update 3/29/20 – The issue still is happening. After the corona virus issue Don plans on coming over again to help figure out the issue. Standing by…
Update 11/17/20 – The issue seems to be fixed!!! The connector on my 5v cable was black causing a large voltage drop which caused the reboots. Over 24 hours plugged in and no reboot. That is a record!
Read through these steps and make sure your machine does not have the same problems.
Part 1:
- Check Test Point 1
- Check Test Point 2
First I checked this test point and my voltage is 5.31v. I know it says to be at 5.25v but I had to crank it up a tad for test point 2.
Look for location U9 on the motherboard (circled below). Test pins 10 and 20. When the machine is stable the voltage is between 5.35v and 5.4v however if you unplug the machine and plug it back in it does not boot properly for me (see video near the bottom of this page Please Help Me Scott). Scroll to part 4 to see what finally fixed the problem.
Part 2:
- Check for burnt 12v pad
The very last pin on the jamma connection at the bottom of the board was basically missing on the front side and very burnt on the back. I repaired this and it helped. After this the randomness was basically only related to when the bill collector was used.
Part 3:
- Create a better ground
This final part did the trick. Every time I unplugged the bill collector power and plugged it back in the machine rebooted. It was kind of nice in a way because it was so easy to recreate the issue. After this fix I unplugged it and plugged it in 10 times in a row with no reboot issue. Disconnected the new ground and tested again. First re-connection of the bill collector rebooted the machine.
On the top right corner of the board where the AC comes in the top two pins are ground. On the back I soldered a 18AWG wired from there to the ground on the power supply. NOT the AC ground. You can check out the video below to see the before and after affects (effects? meh you know what I mean) Hope it works for you. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Part 4
Turns out on the yellow wire it was black. I also soldered a cable for the 12v and the 5v wire directly to J1.
Burnt connector
Here is where I soldered the orange and yellow wire:
This connector will still plug in because the 110v is still needed (the black and white wires that are near each other)
You won’t need to connect the yellow and orange cables from this connector. I cut the ends off
Hope this helps someone. Email me if you have any questions!
Gantry Goes Down but Does not Come Back Up
I would like to shout out to a reader that gave me this information. Thank you!!
He traced the gantry to U11 on the board and downloaded the info on the chip (MC14050BCP) and noticed an output on one of the pins was stuck on for claw up (pin number unknown sorry you will have to test continuity).
Remove chip and gently bend pin out and replace in socket. He then could manually send a signal with a jumper wire to the trace on the board and it would bring the claw up.
Here is the location for reference:
C22 Capacitor Value
Normal Operation
Please Help Me Scott
Reboot Issue