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3. What makes up the 'Power Supply'

There are actually 6 different 'power supplies' that exist in the game:

1. +5vdc regulated logic power
2. +12vdc unregulated (for the reset circuit)
3. +18vdc Lamp power (for game controlled lamps)
4. +28vdc Solenoid and Flipper power
5. +100vdc and -100vdc display power
6. +6.3vac General Illumination lamp power

Also, please note that the Sound Board has its own power supply, so if your sound is out, don't start tinkering with the main power supply.

The photo below shows a typical power supply setup out of a System 6 game. All of the components are shown. You have the power supply board, the transformer, the two bridge rectifiers, the fuse block and the lamp filter capacitor.

3.1 Check the Fuses!

Please, before doing any further troubleshooting, check your fuses! System 6 games have 9 fuses, with earlier games having a few less.

Here is the fuse layout for a System 6 game:

On the Power Supply board:

F1 - Display Fuse, 1/4 amp slo-blo
F2 - Solenoid Fuse, 2 1/2 amp slo-blo. Probably the most common fuse to blow, you should keep a good stock of these.
F3 - Lamp Fuse, 8amp (not slo-blo!)
F4 - Flipper Fuse, either a 10amp or 15amp slo-blo. If your game has 2 flippers, then use a 10amp, 3 or more then use a 15amp.
F5 - Logic Supply Fuse, 4amp (also not slo-blo!)

On the Fuse Card (left to right):

6F1 - General Illumination Fuse, 20amp
6F2 and 6F3 - Logic Supply main fuses, 4amp slo-blo

In the cabinet:

AC Line fuse - 7.5 or 8 amp

3.1.1 Fuses and General Illumination on System 3 and 4 games

Williams did a neat thing, they left the design of the power supply the same from 1977 through late 1980, but wired things differently through the power supply.

System 3 and 4 games (all games through Flash) do not have the fuse for the Flipper power on the power supply (F4). The fuse is located under the playfield near the flippers.

Fuse holder F4 is present on the power supply on these games, but the circuit isn't used on games from World Cup through Flash.

The first two solid state games from Williams, Hot Tip and Lucky Seven, use F4 as the GI fuse! (conFUSED yet?). These games routed the GI power through Power Supply board and the .156' connectors. The photo below shows the GI connector from a Hot Tip and the associated burn marks on the connector. Williams smartly removed the GI from the Power Supply board by World Cup, but had a lapse of judgment and put it back onto the Power Supply board in System 7 games, albeit with a larger Molex connector, but the same burnt connector results.

System 3 games remind me of looking under the hood of a '67 Mustang, not much there but what makes it go. Here is an early System 3 power supply setup with no fuse card. Later System 3 games and all System 4 games had a single fuse card to hold the GI fuse. The logic power supply was not fused before the diodes and filter capacitor as in System 6 and later games.

3.2 Lets start at the beginning

.... with the line cord. It needs to have its ground intact! That means all 3 prongs still on the plug. Most games that I've come across have the ground prong cut off to accommodate cheap extension cords or antique electrical wiring. The game uses ground as the return path for just about everything, so if you feel a little buzz when you touch the side rails of your game, that means you're the quickest path to ground!

If your line cord has been doctored, or is showing its age in any way (i.e., electrical tape wound around it anywhere), replace it immediately. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a decent 10amp 15' extension cord and cut off one end and use it to replace your existing cord. Just make sure you wire the ground in properly. Its a good idea to replace the line cord on all older games anyway. The cord was subject to an excessive amount of stress where it comes through the backbox. Williams did not use any type of strain relief device here, and the cords will fail eventually.

3.2.1 The AC Circuit

In the cabinet is the AC circuit that consists of the AC fuse, a utility outlet, a Varistor, the off-on switch and a Line Filter. All of these components except the on-off switch are mounted on a white board on the left side of the cabinet.

The Varistor is a voltage spike protection device. Its what looks like a large red ceramic disk capacitor wired across the terminals of the Line Filter. Think of it as a one-time surge suppressor. I found this definition of a varistor through a Google search:

The varistor is a surge protection device that is connected directly across the AC input. When a power surge or voltage spike is sensed, the varistor's resistance rapidly decreases, creating an instant shunt path for the over-voltage, thereby saving the sensitive control panel components (hopefully). Because the shunt path creates a short circuit, the varistor and the line fuse are be damaged or weakened in the process

Should you use a surge protector strip like you would with a computer? If the varistor is intact, then there is no reason to use a surge protector. Most surge protectors (IMHO) that you buy at the home store aren't much protection to begin with, so make sure you replace the varistor if its blown.

The Line Filter (the silver box), is used to suppress radio frequencies from making into your game. Your line voltage is at 60hz, however your house wiring acts like a big antenna picking up just about every television signal, cell phone signal, radar, what have you, that is in your area. If these frequencies made it through to the MPU board they could disrupt the operation of the CPU chip. The same thing applies in reverse, the filter prevents the high frequencies from your game's CPU from flowing back into the AC circuit.

The off-on switch is a standard SPST toggle switch. They can wear out after time, so if there is any 'give' in the switch when you turn your machine on, then it might be a good idea to replace the switch. They're readily available at Radio Shack.

3.2.2 The Transformer

The 120vac line current is brought up to the Transformer's primary windings via 2 white/red wires. While it is rare for your transformer to fail, its not unheard of. They tend to go 'all at once' in a nice puff of smoke and a wonderful smell, but I have talked with people who have had failures of some of the secondary windings. Its not the first place to check, but it shouldn't be overlooked.

3.2.2.2 Conversion from 220 Volt Wiring (System 6 and 7 games)

Starting with System 6 games, Williams wired the transformers so that the only backbox change required was a jumper change to switch the game from 120 to 220vac operation. Since Williams hard wired in the line cords, a new line cord would also have to be soldered in. The utility outlet in the cabinet was also specific for the country of operation.

Games of this era are still being imported back to the United States, so you could find yourself faced with a 220 volt wired Black Knight. To determine if your game is wired for 120 or 220 (independent of what type of line cord plug is on the game), look at the plug that connects the line voltage to the transformer. 220 volt games used a red connector from the factory (see the photo below) and 120 volt games used a blue connector.

(Early Black Knight wired for 220 volt operation - photo by Todd G.)

Look at the line voltage connector. If it has one jumper, from pins 2 to 5, then your game is wired for 220 volt operation. If it has two jumpers, from pins 2 to 6 and 4 to 5, then its wired for 120 volts (photo below).

(System 6 line connector jumpered for 120 volt operation (left) and connector jumpered for 220 volt operation (right))

To switch your machine over to 120 volt operation follow these steps:

1. Cut off whatever line cord is currently on the game. Replace it with a good quality 14 gauge 3-prong (grounded) line cord. You can use an extension cord and cut off the female receptacle if you can't find a long enough replacement cord.

2. Your game probably has a very foreign looking utility outlet in it. Rather than attempt to replace this, it should be cut out of the circuit.

3. Wire your new line cord as follows:

- Solder the hot lead (if you know which one it is, usually the copper colored wire if there are two colors), to one side of the fuse holder.
- Solder the other side to one lug of the line filter (the line filter is rated 120/220 so it does not need to be changed).
- Solder the ground wire (usually the green wire) to the ground lug on the line filter.

4. Solder a short wire (at least 16 gauge) between the fuse holder (the lug without the line cord) and the other lug of the line filter.

5. Replace the line fuse with either an 8 (2 flipper games) or 10 amp fuse (3 or more flipper games). The fuse in the game will only be a 4 amp fuse.

6. Locate the transformer. In System 6 games it is always in the head. In early Black Knight games it will also be in the head. Later Black Knight games and later system 7 games have the transformer in the cabinet.

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7. Remove the jumper between pins 2 and 5. If you have the proper tools, you can add the new jumpers between pins 2-6 and 4-5. If not, you can cut off the wires from the transformer side of the plug and solder and tape each pair together. This will make your game a '120 volt' only game, but I doubt you'll be selling it overseas any time shortly.

3.2.3 Blowing the Line Fuse

Your game's circuits are protected by a multitude of fuses and its rare that the main line fuse in the cabinet will blow. If it does however, then follow these steps to find the short:

1. Disconnect the transformer from the AC circuit. The connector is in the backbox near the transformer. On System 3 and 4 games this is a two plug Molex Connector with White/Red wires, on System 6 games it is typically a 4 plug Molex Connector with the 2 white/red wires and a small 'loop' of white/red wire on the other two connectors.

If the fuse still blows with the transformer out of the circuit, then your problem is in the cabinet wiring. If the fuse holds, reconnect the transformer and move to the next step.

2. Isolate transformer from the game by disconnecting all of the transformer's secondary outputs. There can be up to 6 connectors that need to be disconnected. There are two large Molex connectors in the lower center of Power Supply board, one connector that leads to the Sound Board and 3 GI connectors.

If the fuse holds, then start reconnecting these connectors one at a time until you locate your short.

If the fuse blows, then move on to the next step.

3. The two bridge rectifiers mounted in the backbox are 'hard wired' to the transformer. Sometimes the lug connectors can just be pulled off, but you may find that yours have been soldered. You need to remove one red lead from the left bridge and one blue lead from the right bridge. If your fuse blows with these connected, then you have isolated your problem to the transformer. First check all of the wiring carefully to make sure there are no shorts on the connectors, and if after this check the fuse still blows, you'll need to replace your transformer.

If the fuse holds, then one of your bridge rectifiers is blown. Reconnect the bridge rectifiers one at a time to see which one is bad and then replace that bridge.

3.3 The good stuff, the Power Supply Components

As I said in the introduction, a lot of people 'repair' the wrong part of the power supply based on a good deal of incorrect information and bad advice floating around the Internet.

Before we go over the different supplies, here is a photo of a Power Supply board with the major components labeled:

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