PINSETTER CYCLES ON ITS OWN

[dynamite]

Hello, I have Gs-X machines. I have a machine that cycles on it's own in Scorer mode. And it also puts up a score on the overhead scoreboard, for example it gives a 0 for the first ball without a ball being thrown. It doesn't happen every frame, It happened about 4 different times within 2 Hours. Also it is on the same lane, Lane 11. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,Dynamite

[davey]

Check to see of the sweep comes down when the opposite lane throws a bowl the vibration of the sweep comin down on the pair might cause the ball detect to bounce and triggering it. If so check that the box is fasten tightly and lined up correctly hope this helps

[davegargamel]

Definitely sounds like a ball detect out of adjustment or loose. Is there a feint light constantly on on the ball detect? If so it's slightly out of adjustment.

[sbrooks]

Swap detects with working lane if you can't find anything wrong to rule out ball detect. I had problems with nexgen cpu that caused machine to cycle, but if you watched detect you could see the light fade on and off and every so often it would cause lane to cycle even with the detector adjusted properly.

[davegargamel]

Swap detects with working lane if you can't find anything wrong to rule out ball detect. I had problems with nexgen cpu that caused machine to cycle, but if you watched detect you could see the light fade on and off and every so often it would cause lane to cycle even with the detector adjusted properly.

The easiest way to test a ball detect is to simply swap the molex connectors with one another. For example, unplug lane 11's ball detect and plug it into lane 12's molex connector for the ball detect. If lane 12 begins to randomly cycle like 11 was, then you have a bad ball detect. This is of course assuming you DO NOT see the light. If you see the light at all without either pressing a reset button or throwing a ball then it's just out of adjustment.

[sbrooks]

I agree with Davegargemel about swapping connectors unless you are having to bowl on lane to troubleshoot a problem, then it is easier for me if I swap the ball detectors.

[davegargamel]

I agree with Davegargemel about swapping connectors unless you are having to bowl on lane to troubleshoot a problem, then it is easier for me if I swap the ball detectors.

In a situation such as the one you described you had encountered could you have ruled out ball detects being the issue if you had swapped both molex connectors? Would the other ball detect then have the faint flickering light the original problem lane showed?

I realize of course it's pretty easy just to swap a CPU with a neighboring lane pair so this is kind of moot. I'm just genuinely curious and can't seem to wrap my noodle around it.

[sbrooks]

Yes it should have. In my case though the light would come and go and was not a constant and was very dim, I only caught it after watching from the walkway for about 30 min. The lane could go for hours and not give any problems then act up for 3 or 4 frames in a row then act normal for a while before having the cycling problem again. I think there was a bad run somewhere in CPU board which I could never find so I sent in for repair.

If I swap connectors and bowl on right lane the left lane cycles and ball thrown on left lane cycles right lane so when I'm bowling with scoring on I just prefer to swap ball detectors. Just the way I prefer to do it when bowling on lane, most of the time I do swap connectors when checking detectors.

[davegargamel]

In my case though the light would come and go and was not a constant and was very dim, I only caught it after watching from the walkway for about 30 min.

Yup, I've seen when that light is baaaaarrrreeeely flickering time to time. I removed the deck light bulb to finally catch it. It wound up being unable to adjust correctly so it got boxed up.

[Ted]

GS centers should have the official molex crimper and extractor, male pins and female sockets to change them. These sockets aren't too hard to stretch open and make marginal connections. I've seen the detectors just have a bad connection, I suppose from how much they're wiggled when disconnecting them.

[jeff1952]

a bug will cross in front of the beem check for a spider

[langfordlanes]

tap the shell of the ball detect with the end of a screw driver
to see if the infrared beam goes out if it does, then any little vibration will set it off ,
change it out & send it back.


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