Rectifier issue

[Budddy]

Need some assistance in identifying what may be causing the rectifier to pop. Checked wiring to the motor, detector and EM clutch and the wiring seems to be fine and resistance does not seem to be a factor. I connnected a new EM clutch just to check and there was no change. This is the first time i have troubleshot the electrial system on the A2 so any advice will be appreciated. What I have done so far is unplug every connector from the box then plug them in one at a time to see where the issue may be...not sure if this is correct of if the rectifier needs to be changed before doing anything else. It seems that i can have everything plugged in except the masking unit connector and when I plug that in the rectifier sparks and blows the 1 amp fuse. I have not performed any tests on the wiring for the masking unit other than visually inspect them for damage. The issue first happend when the machine was on 180 degrees second ball if that helps any. Ideas?

[obdll]

check the wires going down the rake arms maybe one got cut and is grounding

[bowlamech]

if you have a managers switch (toggle) at front desk check to see if somethings off or touching another wire there.

[drhookmec]

Since your blowing the 1amp fuse I'd say you have a bad rectifier.

Start by changing out your rectifier.

The 1amp fuse protects the hi side of the box(everything running on 120V)
There are only 3 components running on 120V
1. Pin light
2. Motor contactor
3. Rectifier

So one of these things is pulling too many amps or is short.
And the rectifier is a good place to start since you mentioned it arched before the fuse blew.

Tim

[Steve Stafford (JBEES)]

If the rectifier is bad (sparking is a good sign that it is bad), you will continue to blow fuses until it is changed out.

Change the rectifier. Install a bridge rectifier instead of a selenium. Install a 1 amp breaker in place of the fuse.

[Budddy]

Thanks for the info!

Ordered a new bridge rectifier and resettable fuse. Tried to install the rectifier today but ran into an issue with the wiring. Evidently my machines are a bit older (61') and do not have the capacitor nor do they have the #40 wire. The wiring from the rectifier is different than the machines with the capacitor. Anyone know of instructions to hook this new rectifier up to the older machines? Thinking I need to run a new wire from the far right yellow lead to the #3 terminal on the contactor and then disconnect the black lead from the microswitch which runs back to the #5 terminal on the contactor and tie it in with the #24 wire that is supposed to run to the black lead on the microswitch and the clutch connector. If i do this will it cause any damage to the machine that I am not aware of?

[mr.badwrench]

The old rectifier should have paint spots, two yellow for the AC wires, one red for the positive, and one black for the negative. If you can't see those, make sure you attach the AC wires coming to the rectifier to the AC terminals and the DC wires going to the mag clutch to the DC terminals of the new rectifier. If the pinsetter is old enough that the switch is switching AC just wire the new one in the same as the old one and you should be okay. If you change the wiring so the switch is switching DC like the newer pinsetters, make sure to add a capacitor like the newer pinsetters have.

[Budddy]

The new rectifier has a capicitor built into it. Would I still be ok with the older style wiring? Thanks for the information.

[wepauls]

That would be YES

[Steve Stafford (JBEES)]

What rectifier did you order? There is no "rectifier" that comes with a capacitor built into it. There is a new power supply that is sold by Brunswick but it should come with complete instructions on how to install it. If it did not, here is a link to the instructions.

http://www.brunswickbowling.com/downloads/support/Installation-Instructions_SS_Mag_Clutch_12-902074-000.pdf

You stated that you can not find wire 40. It is there regardless if it is labeled. Since you are telling us that you have an older machine, I will work from the A manual. Wire 49 is a simple one as it will be the one going to the switch cable. Wire 40 should be going to TS1-B. This may not be true depending on who has been wiring this machine in the past. What you can do is look at the 4 wires that went to the old rectifier. Two of them should be single wires that run directly to the wire channel. These would be the wires going to the magnetic clutch receptacle. To check if they are...with them not hooked up to anything, read the resistance across the wires. Be sure the magnetic clutch is plugged in. It should read the same resistance as the magnetic clutch resistance. You can test that by measuring the clutch resistance if you have not done so. You stated that the resistance was not an issue in the original post but you never stated what that was. That might be helpful for us to know in order to point you in the right direction. But it should be the same across these two wires. If it is...the other two wires are your power supply to your new "rectifier".

If you do not find this...stop and get back with us.

Let us know what you find...