Omega-tek expander board

[Alastair]

Today we installed the omega-tek expander board so that we can get rid of all of the table wires, also to gain the 7 10 pick off function.
After installing the board and running the machine (82-70's solid state chassis with omega-tek boards) a few cycles I discovered that the table on spotting and re-spotting would travel up and down in a juddering mannor. The conntactor in the chassis for the table is switching on and off rapidly.
Changed contactor and still no luck. Could this have something to do with the extra relay on the expander board causing unnecessary power consuption in the machine?

[Dutch]

Re: Omega-tek expander board

No, the relay on the expander is just for sweep reverse. Have you tried a different expander? Did you disconnect the Aux. board? (Probably not related but you might as well get it out of there) Do you still get 7 – 10 – gutter & X short cycles?

The most likely causes for the contact chatter are:

a) A wire caught in the bottom of the table contact solenoid, not letting it engage completely.
b) Something caught between the heat sink assy. & the body of the chassis, grounding it out.
c) A bad power diode on the heat sink assy.

Check those out & let us know what happens.

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[Alastair]

Re: Omega-tek expander board

Thank you for your help in this matter we still did have the 7 10 gutter & X short cycles.
Ran through all your suggestions but contactor still chattered occassionally.
Changed table capacitors, table motor, even tried a different chassis but still nae luck.
After 14hrs of mystery I noticed that there was no ground wire from the table to the (TAC) terminal board on the front of the machine.
Once a ground was established the chattering dissapeared!!

Very curious to know how by the addition of the table ground wire this cured my problem?

We are the willing,
Led by the unknowing,
Doing the impossible,
For the ungreatful.

[Dutch]

Re: Omega-tek expander board

I wouldn't have guessed that one. It doesn't sound right but that's OK... As long as it's fixed.

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[BowlEquip]

Re: Omega-tek expander board

A call to OmegaTek may be in order to verify this, but we had a similar problem once. The solution was to make sure that the green wire from the sweep revers relay plug (5-wire harness that comes with the expander) is connected to the correct side of the contactor coil.
In another case, we had to connect that wire to the other contactor. If memory serves me correctly, that was in a chassis that had Bowltronics' solid state motor contactors.

[Dutch]

Re: Omega-tek expander board

Saturday night I had some contacts start to sputter occasionally. They didn't chatter, just sputter. It was enough to cause it to puke when it would spot pins but only once out of every 5 – 7 frames. Since it was on my list for C-1 & C-2-A rebuilding, I figured it was as good a time as any to get it done. I never did find a burnt or loose pin or socket but when I finished the problem had vanished.

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[Alastair]

Re: Omega-tek expander board

Oh, dear. C1 plug almost melted last night! Had to replace all male and female pins in plug. Table started to spluter again so have have taken BowlEquips advice and taken the green wire from the sweep reverse relay from the sweep contactor to the table contactor in the chassis (solid state). Have been left now with a problem! Can configure machine to do a 7 10 miss but on strike cycle, sweep comes down, X lights up on mask unit, sweep carries through deck back to 270 degrees but table comes down only to re-spot height and cups stay in horizontal position. On the top of the machine do I have to earth each pin? as have Bowltronics' Expander board and card in chassis
The solution was to make sure that the green wire from the sweep revers relay plug (5-wire harness that comes with the expander) is connected to the correct side of the contactor coil.
In another case, we had to connect that wire to the other contactor. If memory serves me correctly, that was in a chassis that had Bowltronics' solid state motor contactors.

[Alastair]

Re: Omega-tek expander board

Appologies for last message as cut/paste computer skills are lacking!!

Do I have to place a wire accoss each 1 to 10 pin connector, in the TAC Terminal board at the front of the machine where the normal table wires 1 to 10 etc would be?

[TheGMan143]

Re: Omega-tek expander board

If you are installing the MK70 and MK70EX board system in your chassis, you can just remove the table cable completely, and you will not need any jumpers (in fact, if you jumper the wires, your short strike cycle won't work)

The only exception is the two yellow GP switch wires... with the table cable removed, the table will not run on 1st ball, as [GP] to the chassis will be open, indicating that the grippers are closed. You can solve this two ways: modify your table cable to only use the two yellow GP wires and a ground wire (safer), or just put a jumper across the two connectors in the front channel that normally connect to GP (easier). I have been removing the table wiring completely, and just leaving the GP switch. I use a 3-pin automotive-type connector to connect between my modified table cable and the GP switch and ground (Got rid of the expensive-to-replace AMP connector/pins). I believe that keeping the GP switch saves quite a bit on cell repairs in the case of a table jam. (see the topic in this forum "GP Switch...Yea or Nay? for more info). The machine will operate OK if you just jumper out GP, but it will not detect if the cells are closed...possibly causing some bent cells if a pin jams in the table and keeps the cells closed during respot.

[BowlEquip]

Re: Omega-tek expander board

Consider this: if the expander is operating the machine as it should, then there will never be an occasion when the fingers will be closed before a first ball cycle, with the exception of a pin flying up and hitting one of the cells, closing them partially. Feeling for pins always follows a spot, wherein the table cam link opens the fingers.
No GP's on 90's or 70XL's.

[TheGMan143]

Re: Omega-tek expander board

Hell with the expander... I'm more concerned with a pinjam, misfeed, improperly spotted pin, or freak malfunction causing the fingers to close after a spotting cycle, (worst case) the bowler pressing the cycle button to rerack, and having closed fingers drop on top of all 10. Doesn't happen that often, but changing a couple (or 5) bent fingers (then rebuilding the busted ones) is a big enough pain in the arse to warrant the extra time it takes to drop a set of wires to the GP switch.

I would rather err on the side of caution... it's never done me wrong yet...