Whitewater J120 and J121

[weedy]

Trying to chase down a GI problem with my WH20 whereby the GI doesn’t work during a game. It does work in test mode but not as it should. For example, in test mode when it is running the upper playfield GI, the GI under the slings is lit and when the lower playfield GI test is running, no GI is lit.

Looking at the manual, the GI runs in to J120 and J121 (backglass). The pins on the connectors in my backbox though aren’t what is specified in the manual so I’m thinking the person I bought it off has reworked it wrong at some stage.

Can someone with a WH20 please post a photo of their J120 and J121 backbox pinout so I can verify?

 

PS. I have noticed that several of the fuses are the wrong type (3A instead of 5A) so an easy fix there.

 

Thanks!

[peely]

Pre wpc95 those GI connectors werent hi temp and often burnt out. WPC95 had their own problems too..

There's about 3 strings of GI, often bridged too. You may have a burnt connector and/or cracked header pins. There maybe trace work on the back of that board.

[vett]

Here you go

[weedy]

Here you go

 

perfect! Thanks vett

[weedy]

Pre wpc95 those GI connectors werent hi temp and often burnt out. WPC95 had their own problems too..

There's about 3 strings of GI, often bridged too. You may have a burnt connector and/or cracked header pins. There maybe trace work on the back of that board.

 

ah, good point. I hadn't thought of that. I do have a burnt connector at pin 11 on what was in J120 but is in J121 in vett's machine with the placement of wires also different. Time to take the board out and check the traces for any repairs.

[ocyen]

The pinouts at J120 and J121 are identical so the connectors can be swapped between them. One supplies the backbox (2 strings) and another supplies the playfield (3 strings). Your main issue sounds like no power on one string. Make sure the connectors are in good condition and the fuses are all intact. You might have to inspect the header pins on the board also.

[weedy]

The pinouts at J120 and J121 are identical so the connectors can be swapped between them. One supplies the backbox (2 strings) and another supplies the playfield (3 strings). Your main issue sounds like no power on one string. Make sure the connectors are in good condition and the fuses are all intact. You might have to inspect the header pins on the board also.

 

Is there a way to test if each pin (for example J121) is getting power? I think the problem is the female connector because the connector that drives the backbox and playfield flashers works fine in both J120 and J121 but the same cannot be said for the GI strings.

[ocyen]

 

Is there a way to test if each pin (for example J121) is getting power? I think the problem is the female connector because the connector that drives the backbox and playfield flashers works fine in both J120 and J121 but the same cannot be said for the GI strings.

 

Yep. Set multimeter to VAC. Place one probe on the coloured wire and the other on the same coloured wire with white stripe. Should read about 6-8 VAC.

[Autosteve]

WPC GI Lighting Wows.

 

J 120 is a mirror of J121. Look how the tracks route between J120 and J121 on the board and you will see exactly what I mean. The idea was spend the GI load over the two pins, one on J120 and one on J121 for each of the 6 GI circuits. ( That was the WPC board designers idea anyway).

The harness was never made to use this two pin per circuit idea, probably to cut costs so as a result each pin, those that are used on either J120 or J121 are carrying twice the load it should have ever needed to. Result, burnt plugs and pins.

Keep running the machine for to long after the plugs are burnt and the triacs start to die.

 

On the first of the WPCs, all 6 GI circuits had software control of how bright each GI circuit could be after an operator set time expired after the last time the machine was played.

This idea was later cut back to just the 4 playfield circuits and no longer the 2 backbox lighting circuits could be "brightness controlled".

 

The early WPCs had this GI brightness software control, (factory set but operator adjustable), brightness level set at 2 on a 1-6 level. 1 being really dull and 6 being full brightness. This was a power saving idea. Problem is the lower the voltage gets feeding the GI light bulbs, the more current each light bulb pulls heating up the GI connections even more as it is the current that causes the burnt pins and plugs, not the voltage.

 

Wasn't long before new version game roms came out supplied by the factory that changed the factory set brightness from 2 up to 6 in an attempt to slow down the J120 and J121 burning so quickly especially on the earlier WPC games that had all 6 GI circuits controlled. It was still adjustable by the operator but the factory default was no longer 2, it was 6.

This was all explained on the A4 page that come with the factory supplied replacement upgrade roms. to suit what ever game you bought new that was effected.

 

The AC input connector was also trimmed back. Less wires from the transformer to the AC GI input connector. Again, the artwork on the board shows twice as many wires should have been used but weren't probably more factory cost cutting. Williams did end up fixing this on later models by putting these wires in the harness when they realised this problem. Pity they never bothered addressing the J120/ J121 problem or supplied replacement transformer to GI input harnesses that would have at least cut back on the amount of time spent repairing earlier WPC GI circuits.

 

The idea of controlling the GI was not a new one. Stern brought out Ali first that had the GI flash and Williams quickly followed with Blackout. Bally had machines around Centaur that flashed the GI later but Stern and Williams approach was a relay and Ballys was a triac. The relay idea was operator servicable, the triac idea was replacement.

 

Now a bit of history regarding the WPC.

 

There was a Williams WPC conferience several weeks before the first model WPC machines started arriving in Australia that I and many operators and techs were invited to. A Williams techinal guy come from the states to explain all the cool things Williams pinballs using this new WPC could do from now on and basically why you should buy Williams pinballs. We all got a WPC Theroy Of Operation book for attending.

 

The conferience went through all the functions of the new WPC and how Williams had, "gone out of there way to address common all brand pinball problems".

One of the problems this new WPC was supposed to stop was GI connector burning. A problem just about every brand of multiple eras all suffered.

Not only that, this new WPC could dull the GI when the machine wasn't being played and as soon as someone touched the flipper buttons, the GI would return to full brightness. A power saving measure that would reduce your power bill. (That was exactly how the technical guy explained it).

 

Well didn't take long to work out this power saving idea was not as good as it was talked up to. One thing we noticed immediately was a drop in revenue especially on dark sites. Seems some people, "wouldn't play it because it looked like it had something wrong being dull". We quickly adjusted the brightness up manually, (disabling the GI brightness feature), to address this drop in renenue and just left it at that.

 

Some time later, the WPC game rom swaps started arriving. Several changes on most depending on the game but one thing they all had in common. Brightness level default was 6 and not 2. The factory found it had a problem.

 

Seems a real shame Williams didn't wire the GI to the driver board as the board designer had intended. It would have saved so much time having to repair these GI connections for techs and Williams beloved GI dimming power saving idea may have actually worked as intended.

 

A bit of Williams history I thought some of you guys may find interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[robm]

Great info Steve! Thanks for that

[KJS]

Great story thanks Steve

[Zzap]

You could write a book with all these great stories Steve!

[Autosteve]

Factory costcuts had a big impact on most things pinball I'm afraid but nothing stops you from wiring the GI as it was intended. Problem is you probably don't need as robust GI wiring these days with LEDs being used more and more on the older machines and you certainly aren't operating machines from NIB for 13-14 hours a day, 7 days a week like we were.

Our hours of operating were low compared to some. Many parlours at places like Kings Cross never turned the machines off unless they were broken or being serviced.

 

Our machines started showing signs of burning on the J120/121 connectors about 6 to 12 months after new with our hours of use and us turning off the dimming feature but there were many operators that simply assembled the machines on site, turned them on and come back to empty them a week later and techs I spoke to where having massive problems with these plugs and most had no idea about the factory dimming circuit being a major cause.

 

Turning off the dimming didn't stop the problem as you can see by our examples of operating times but it did make them last longer and when you have close to 100 WPCs in the fleet at any given time you can see how much time was lost repairing this inherient problem that Williams created themselves.

[Gemini2544]

When I was servicing, I was amazed at the machines that were hard wired/soldered to the pins, they really got hot.

[Autosteve]

When I was servicing, I was amazed at the machines that were hard wired/soldered to the pins, they really got hot.

 

Wasn't unusual. No many techs were brave enough to do a pin/ connector change on site with kids running around under your feet and it didn't take long to work out this was an area that was going to need repeated re-doing anyway. Solder once and providing the board didn't need to come out, you didn't need to go back.

Machines were traded at around $1000 working or $500 not working so why pay a tech to continue redoing the same old factory error over and over again.

I did do a couple of later WPCs as the board designer intended, pretty sure one was a TZ, and they didn't fail again in the couple of years we operated them. The Alpha numberical WPCs were rediculous though having the dimming on all 6 GI circuits. It did get marginally better when the feature was turned off by the factory but they were never good.