Star Tech Journal

Leland Team Qback
Wiring Problenis
Data East Pinball:
Dead Batteries
Evan Wessel
Mercury Amusement Co.
Havertown, Pennsylvania
James Beck
Greater Southern Distributing
Atlanta, Georgia
PROBLEM
SUBJECT
There is a problem that exists in Leland wiring
harnesses in Team Quarterback that you should
know about. If you are having problems with
springstick calibration or intermittent controls,
you probably have a break in a violet wire at a
connector.
Data East pinballs are draining memory back-
up batteries at a real fast clip! A "normal"
6264LP (8Kx8) draws about l0mA when in
operation and about 50uAin the standby mode.
Needless to say, for battery back-up, the RAM
should be placed in the standby mode to con-
serve power.
REASON
Leland used a batch of defective violet colored
wire that will break if flexed about IO times. This
is especially a problem at the crimp point on the
molex: connectors.
SOLUTION
Unfortunately, you should replace all of the
brittle violet wiring from the control panel to the
Pcbs. Toe control panel assembly must be
removed to properly complete this job. Not fun.
PROBLEM
Well, to do that you must pull pin 20 (/ CE) to the
battery voltage. On the Data East board it is
done with R9, a lK pull-up, to the RAM Vee.
Unfortunately, we received a board that would
eat batteries in a matter of days and got a few
phone calls from units in the field that were
doing the same thing. Toe board I looked at,
would draw over 15mA from the batteries!
NOTE
SOLUTION
For a quick fix in the field, a new wire can be
jumpered in, but next time this game hits the
shop, it should be rewired.
It turned out R9 had been left off of the board! If
you have one
of the newer Data East pins and it keeps going
back to factory settings, or it changes to some
wierd settings look right next to the battery
backed RAM and see if R9 is installed.
Looking For A Pin-
ball Inclinonieter?
Larry DeMar
Williams Electronics
Chicago, Illinois
SUBJECT
To all those that were wondering about where to
get an inclinometer to properly level your pinball
machines.
DETAILS
It may be ordered through your Williams Dis-
tributor as part # 20-9520.