New to Pachi

[Owtlaw17]

Hello,
I am heading to San Francisco on a Trip, but a friend of mine who has a Couple of Star Wars Pachinko machines has asked me to stop by and look at them. They are brand new, and were given to him. He says they have never worked. They light up and show the display, but the game does not play. I will know more when i get there, but this site looks like the place where Pachinko problems go to die.
Regards,
Robert

[hanabi]

Welcome to PachiTalk Robert!!

Not sure if you are new to pachinko, but if so then you may want to familiarise yourself with the general gameplay before you take a look at the pachinkos

I am presuming they are the original Star Wars pachinkos in the Sankyo Lumina Frames (most commonly white but sometimes other colours like red)

Here's a link to the machine manual for that one, it will help you identify the main parts and how it should work Star Wars Sankyo 2005 manual

Do post and let us know what is happening or not happening with them and hopefully it can be resolved with a little trouble shooting or set up

[MrGneiss]

WELCOME!!!

If by 'doesn't play' he means 'won't shoot balls' then it could be that the machines just don't have dongles..Most modern machines need a dongle plugged into the back (looks like the plug end of an old printer cable) to make the machine think it is plugged into the Card Reader system like in the parlor..Without the dongle the machine will light up and everything, you just won't be able to shoot balls!!

[Owtlaw17]

Is it possible to make this dongle, or are you required to purchase it from Sankyo.

I don't know if he has the dongles, so i better prepare.

I appreciate the help.

Regards,
Robert

WELCOME!!!

If by 'doesn't play' he means 'won't shoot balls' then it could be that the machines just don't have dongles..Most modern machines need a dongle plugged into the back (looks like the plug end of an old printer cable) to make the machine think it is plugged into the Card Reader system like in the parlor..Without the dongle the machine will light up and everything, you just won't be able to shoot balls!!

[Moparformances]

Welcome to Pachitalk

the best dongles to get are Daverob's dongles.. the ones ya get from japan are jsut a bypass,, ther do nothing but allow the machine to at least work...

Daverob's dongle is the next best thing to sliced bread...

check out this vid.. its poosted on the home page of pachitalk as well

YouTube - Daverobs Wonderful Dongle Part 2

good luck on your search...

[daverob]

Is it possible to make this dongle

If you can solder 3 electronic components to a D-25 plug, you should be able to make your own CR bypass dongle, which should be all you need to get the shooter handle working.

If you look at this page on my website, under 'Card Reader Bypass Dongle.' it's got a diagram of the connector and the three components you need (a 47uF 50v electrolytic capacitor, a 1N4004 rectifier diode and a 330 ohm resistor) along with the D-25 plug.

Just so you know what you're looking for, the web page also has a (small) picture of the connector you need to plug the dongle into and another picture of a couple of example CR bypass dongles, under the 'Connection of card reader interface connector' heading.

[Owtlaw17]

Daverob,
Thank you very much. I have asked him to shoot me photo's of the machine. The photo's should allow me to see if they have the dongle. I am a Controls technician for Cirque du soleil, so the soldering should be a breeze. I assume I would be able to order the parts off Digikey, and build the Dongles before I head to San Francisco.

Thank you all! This group is very friendly and informative!!!

Pachitalk = Awesome sauce!

Regards,
Robert

If you can solder 3 electronic components to a D-25 plug, you should be able to make your own CR bypass dongle, which should be all you need to get the shooter handle working.

If you look at this page on my website, under 'Card Reader Bypass Dongle.' it's got a diagram of the connector and the three components you need (a 47uF 50v electrolytic capacitor, a 1N4004 rectifier diode and a 330 ohm resistor) along with the D-25 plug.

Just so you know what you're looking for, the web page also has a (small) picture of the connector you need to plug the dongle into and another picture of a couple of example CR bypass dongles, under the 'Connection of card reader interface connector' heading.

[Ash]

Cirque Du Soleil?! Sweet... I should rinse you for a contact next time there's a big UK event so I can get access for photos

[dattia]

Love the Cirque!

Welcome to PachiTalk!

[Owtlaw17]

It looks like he doesn't have the dongles, and possibly blew a fuse on the other. A few more days, and i will see the machines. Again thanks for the help.

Regards,
Robert

[takethecastle57]

It looks like he doesn't have the dongles, and possibly blew a fuse on the other. A few more days, and i will see the machines. Again thanks for the help.

Regards,
Robert

Welcome to the site and where on the west coast are you ? I'm on the Central Coast of California . A couple of the members here do Pachi Meets at least 2 a year
YouTube - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Karn Evil 9 with lyrics

[Drunkenclam]

there is a list of fuses in the frame manual on page 29

PachiTalk Research Center - Machine Manuals - Lumina Frame Manual - PachiTalk

[Owtlaw17]

I am in Las Vegas. I very rarely travel to Central California, Spend most of my travel time in So-Cal on the beach! But hit me up, depending when and where i may just visit.

Welcome to the site and where on the west coast are you ? I'm on the Central Coast of California . A couple of the members here do Pachi Meets at least 2 a year
YouTube - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Karn Evil 9 with lyrics

[Owtlaw17]

Dave,
Dongles worked great. I now understand what you mean on the site about it is just shooting the balls. I have given him your store link, he should be buying 2 emulators and card reader's.

Another question, he has another Star Wars Pachi, that has the R2 in it with motion (when working) this apparently was being photographed and it blew the fuse F11(looks like the master). It has been replaced and blew immediately. do you or anybody know why this might be happening? I have posted a pic of the power board. I believe they had a power surge but outside of the fuse, i don't know what else it would be.



Regards,
Robert

And again cheers on the Dongle.

If you can solder 3 electronic components to a D-25 plug, you should be able to make your own CR bypass dongle, which should be all you need to get the shooter handle working.

If you look at this page on my website, under 'Card Reader Bypass Dongle.' it's got a diagram of the connector and the three components you need (a 47uF 50v electrolytic capacitor, a 1N4004 rectifier diode and a 330 ohm resistor) along with the D-25 plug.

Just so you know what you're looking for, the web page also has a (small) picture of the connector you need to plug the dongle into and another picture of a couple of example CR bypass dongles, under the 'Connection of card reader interface connector' heading.

[daverob]

Another question, he has another Star Wars Pachi, [...] and it blew the fuse F11(looks like the master). It has been replaced and blew immediately. do you or anybody know why this might be happening?

There is a surge suppressor on the board, marked VRD1 (looks like a diode). This will blow and go short circuit if the pachi sees an input voltage that is too high. After this goes short circuit, the main fuse will blow instantly, hopefully protecting the rest of the circuit from any damage due to the higher voltage. Any replacement fuses will also blow until VRD1 is removed/replaced.

Unsolder one leg of VRD1 and measure it's resistance. If it measures short or very low resistance (ie under 20 ohms), then try replacing the fuse and powering up again.

This is the most common type of PSU failure on pachinkos, and is often caused by plugging them directly into a wall outlet, without using a 24v stepdown transformer.

You can continue using the pachinko with VRD1 removed, but it will have no surge protection. So I'd only recommend doing this if you have a good quality 24v stepdown transformer and always use the pachinko on a surge-strip type device.


If this doesn't cure it, then it's possible that one of the bridge rectifiers has failed. This can be checked by using a multimeter on diode test on the two bridge rectifiers on the heatsink (2 largest ones bolted to the heatsink), see if any pins measure dead short to another pin. A normal reading will either be in the range of 0.500 to 0.800 or read open circuit.

Reply back with the results from these tests and it it is needed I'll think of some more to try.

[Owtlaw17]

Dave,
Masterful work again. I had a dead short on VRD1 also he sent me the fuses and it looks like he had a 5 amp instead of a 10amp fuse in the board. I appreciate the help again. and once i ship this back, i will let you know how it worked out.

Regards,
Robert

There is a surge suppressor on the board, marked VRD1 (looks like a diode). This will blow and go short circuit if the pachi sees an input voltage that is too high. After this goes short circuit, the main fuse will blow instantly, hopefully protecting the rest of the circuit from any damage due to the higher voltage. Any replacement fuses will also blow until VRD1 is removed/replaced.

Unsolder one leg of VRD1 and measure it's resistance. If it measures short or very low resistance (ie under 20 ohms), then try replacing the fuse and powering up again.

This is the most common type of PSU failure on pachinkos, and is often caused by plugging them directly into a wall outlet, without using a 24v stepdown transformer.

You can continue using the pachinko with VRD1 removed, but it will have no surge protection. So I'd only recommend doing this if you have a good quality 24v stepdown transformer and always use the pachinko on a surge-strip type device.


If this doesn't cure it, then it's possible that one of the bridge rectifiers has failed. This can be checked by using a multimeter on diode test on the two bridge rectifiers on the heatsink (2 largest ones bolted to the heatsink), see if any pins measure dead short to another pin. A normal reading will either be in the range of 0.500 to 0.800 or read open circuit.

Reply back with the results from these tests and it it is needed I'll think of some more to try.