Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

[Pindecked]

with these old 82-8 radaray crap. I must say that I have a few units that work perfectly,but,the others are pi$$in' me off.Either they won't trip-or ,they stay on after they're tripped.

Is Zot conversions the way to go here? [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/confused.gif[/img]

suggestions ???

[AmfPro]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

I'd talk your owner into trashin the old 82-8's. Hadn't seen any in 15 years or so now. Get some zot infrared conversion or something similar thats solid state.

[Toomany10pins]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

I hated the old AMF radaray foul lights.
I worked at a center that had Brunswick A pinsetters but all (old) AMF frontend stuff.
Those foullights were the worst. Got em all working one weekend (after 6 months of no use)but after one days shifts of leagues half of them either didnt work or popped out of adjustment. The owner was very cheap so he ran all leagues without foullights for the next 3 years until the center closed (temporarily, he went bankrupt.) Tried to get him to spend on new foullights for years to no avail. Someone else bought the center sank some cash into it (new foullights, ballreturns, scoring, masking units), which improved it greatly but then sold it to some other numbskulls. [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif[/img]

[DetroitSignal]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

ZOT is awesome!!!

[8270king]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

82-08 are great units.

1. Support your photo cells with cardboard under them so they cannot vibrate out.
2. Make sure the lens retainers are tight.
3. Take apart units and clean lenses with windex and reinstall.
4. Adjust the lightsource when the center is dark. Sometimes the bulb needs to go up or down to provide a better adjustment.

Jerry

[TheGMan143]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

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[8270king]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

82-08 control box

[felix]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

I have the zot alingment tool, that i use on my 82-120 foul lights and its easy to use. But before that--Focusing the foul unit light source:1-remove power from unit. 2-remove PC board from unit. 3-power up unit. 4-hook up ohmmeter on Rx1000 scale. 5-connect meter to terminals 1 &amp; 13 of PC card terminal strip. 6-adjust light source to give approximately 2000 ohms resistance. 7-remove ohmmeter terminals 1 &amp; 13 &amp; install on 3 &amp; 5 &amp; adjust for 2000 ohms.

[amfpinboy]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

I installed the new AMF foul lights two years ago and we still get complaints that the foul lights are not on ! They're looking for the red lights! They don't see the red beam, SO, the foul lights aren't on!
The desk people kept calling the backends telling the chasers to turn the foul lights on! The chasers called the desk and told them the lights ARE on, but the desk didn't figure it out. They left a note to check the lights!
I'll find out in the AM if they finally understand.

[TheGMan143]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

Yea... infrared foul lights are wonderful, but the bowlers say they're not on, because they can't see 'em.

On suggestion would be that if you have enough room under the housing, drill 2 small holes in it, and install a red neon indictor light (radio shack, 1.79 for 2 of them) connected to the incoming power for the unit, so when you turn the foul lights on, the indicators will light.


Gotta love them big jelly jars. [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif[/img]

[amfpinboy]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

G That's not a bad idea. How about a green light in the center of the unit. I wonder if anyone could confuse the ON light with either of the red foul lights?

[vinson]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

What I used to do is solder wires to the light bulbs them selves that way they would never work loose causing inconsistant light source, then wire nut them .

[off spot]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

Is Zot conversions the way to go here?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Zots are definitely the way.. You set them, bolt them down tight, and they practically take care of themselves! Hated Radaray.

[TheGMan143]

Re: Fowl lights ! I've just about had it...

Originally posted by amfpinboy:
G That's not a bad idea. How about a green light in the center of the unit. I wonder if anyone could confuse the ON light with either of the red foul lights?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's where 'customer education' comes into play... once people know that when the light on the cap is lit, the foul lights are on.

In terms of the AMF 82-08 and 82-120 foul lights, we found that with the older circuitry, the tolerances in the capacitors and such change due to aging plates and electrolyte drying up, and the lights also get dimmer with age... this causes certain units to trip accidentally because the photocells are saying that the light beam was broken, when it wasn't.

Some years back, while doing PM on the foul lights, I came up with an idea, tried it on two problem pairs that just WOULD NOT work right after adjusting, changing bulbs, photocells, etc... and when it worked, we did it to all of them:

Take the photocell lens assembly off, get a pin-drill bit that's about twice the size of the current hole in the lens cone (roughly the size of #14 or #16 wire), and carefully drill it out. Using a "pin vise" (a straight handle with a small chuck on it) or a small tap handle with the drill bit is the best way to go to prevent scratching the inner side of the lens, and to minimize the amount of filings getting trapped in the lens cone.

Since we modified the foul lights that way, they have worked 100% better... foul misreads have almost completely gone away, and they are less picky about minor misadjustment and bulb brightness.

We also found a way to keep the relays from popping out of the board from vibration (without replacing all of those stupid little wire clips, or using silicone glue around the sockets). We picked up some long, 1.5" wide Velcro straps, like the kind used for bundling computer wires and such... they're long enough to reach around the board and relays. We pulled the boards, wrapped the velcro around the bottom of the board and over the tops of the relays, snugged it, and plugged the board back in. Since doing that, loose relay problems have dropped to zero, too.