6 replies to this topic

[Shaky99]

Hi, on my second machine after a break, eventually managed to talk the kebab shop into selling me their Lord of the rings, fellowship of the ring machine. Its been switched off for months due to being faulty. Snapped it up for £25, and found £10 inside when i got it home. So heres the low down.

 

Its a  bell fruit running a scorpion 4 board, when i plugged it in, it powered up ok, loads of bulbs blown, but played ok, until after about 10 mins the machine powers down, and wont reboot unless completely unplugged for about 10 mins, then we go through the routine again.

 

I ordered new bulbs, and a battery which i will flywire.

 

Trying to change the bulbs is a nightmare, the holders are in so tight i fear i might break either the holder or the plastic it pushes into, any tips on how i could possible loosen things would be appreciated

 

Also, when i have replaced bulbs, quite a few light up when inserting the bulb, but then when pushed fully home, they go out, so i have to wiggle the bulb back out a bit, any ideas why this happens?

 

Any help and tips would be much appreciated.

 

regards Andy

[aaamusements]

Something is heating up - probably in the power supply - and causing a joint to open somewhere on a connector or a circuit board.

[andrew96]

power supply most likely is bad, your most likely find by replacing all the non working bulbs that the psu then won't even start up as bellfruits advise was to remove bulbs to put less load on the psu! they never actually bothered to find the problem and cure it with the psu as they wasn't made by them but outsourced! If you can find a working psu without 'bellfruit disease' it will most likely cure it

[Shaky99]

Thanks so much for the replies, 

 

ok tonight i disconected the machine from the psu , then plugged it in, the psu ran for ages ( i know cos it has a fan) ,it never shut down.  i then connected the machine and rebooted, it ran for its usual 10-15 mins then cut out, psu fan and all.

 

i then disconected the plugs  from the psu to mpu , and the psu still refused to fire up.

 

so i am convinced that the problem lies in the psu, rather than the mpu. 

 

its a work in progress, 

 

Has anyone any ideas how to loosen up the bulb holders, they are so tight i hurts my little fingers trying to pull them out!!

[stanmarsh14]

Two manu's make the PSU's for scorp4 machines, Sanken (Which is the better of the two), and Stadium (The one that likes to catch fire and often!).

You mention that you can hear a fan, so this will almost certanaly be the Stadium version, as the fan was added to stop them over heating.

My advice in this case, would be to source a replacement Stadium one (This advice comes from one of the members at MPU Mecca, who worked for BFM), although you do need to watch out for BFM Disease, as Andrew has pointed out.

It's also possible to use one for a scorp5 machine too (These are also more reliable), but a wiring modification is required.

As for changing bulbs..... no easy way to do this unfortunaly, although I have found that gripping said bulb with a chamoiss cloth, gives enough extra grip to make removing dud bulbs, just that bit easier.

[andrew96]

Yeah the stadium ones have about 13-15v across the fan and the 12v output (supposed to be 12v) but turn it down so its correct and the psu cuts out!! you cannot actually get these to go to 12v as they should!! that also means the lamp voltage is also way to high and that blows the lamps as it looks like you have found!! it also burns the fan so they need replacing too

 

they can be repaired and to specification too!! took me 3 days to find a cure! stadium would not help! I had to work out the circuit diagram for myself and then work out a cure for them shutting down when you get near setting the 12V output to 12V! I also discovered the parts needed to repair and postage both ways to repair them was not worth it as people would rather take there chances on buying one off ebay in a unknown state rather than the cost or repair AND get a good known reliable psu!.

 

The sanken are slightly better as they contain 2 switchmode psu's inside, BUT these also shutdown very intermittently and are a bugger to find the faulty components due to there design with the 2 standoff boards inside! If your lucky with these its just a smoothing cap on the rectified 240v line, but I myself have never seen this and the faults have always been deep inside the circuit which again there is no circuit diagrams for!

 

good luck whichever psu you go for!! if you put a later sanken one in insted of the fitted stadium one make sure the pins on the plug which carry 12v from the psu DO actually carry 12v!! there is one sanken one that has a different voltage on one pin and another that is not connected so there is no 12v supplied on one pin so the mpu then alarms because it cannot drive something!

 

bit of a minefield with belfruit psu on scorp 4!

Edited by andrew96, 07 November 2014 - 10:02 PM.

[Shaky99]

Ok Guys, time for an update, was busy for a good few days, but yesterdays decided to give the machine some tlc...

 

Fly wired the battery, old battery has signs of leakage, but no apparent damage to the board.

 

Removed , stripped and cleaned all switches, on or two were a bit sticky, the crap inside and under the surfaces was gross !!

 

Gave the cabinet a good scrub and polish, inside and out..

 

Now for the big one.. the PSU.

 

I removed and opened it up again, there is a huge cap, near where the power plug is, i did not like the look of, has a dent in the top, but not of uniform shape, but i had been informed this was usual. On looking at this, i noticed the screw that holds the circuit board to the chassis near this cap was missing and on looking underneath the board, i assume is also an earthing point. I replaced with a suitable screw ( i wondered if it could warp slightly when it gets warm). ....Oh, whilst i had the board out, i resoldered the dodgy looking cap, joints looked a little dry.

 

Anyway, i am pleased to say, apart from needing some more bulbs, its running perfectly, never cuts out, plays and pays as it should.

 

Thanks for the advice offered, i must remember to unplug it though !!

 

P.s. I mentioned the bulb holders being very tight, a hair dryers for a minute or two made them much easier to shift.