Introducing... Central Park!

Helllllllllllloooooooooooooo beautiful Central Park!!!

Sinbad left the basement to be shared at the 5th annual Ottawa Pinball & Gameroom show.  After that it went to a friend's house for a while, freeing up space for an extra project!

oh wait, something's not right here.

 So this machine was delivered as NOT WORKING, a challenge I readily accepted.

I left the playfield out so I could take a look at the transformer and all of them guts.
First thing though:  checking all of the fuses,  IT'S JUST A FUSE might some day be true.  Not the case here, all fuses worked, thought 2 slots had 20s instead of 10s, so fixed that.  All others, fine for continuity.

Just for a lark, I plug the machine in.   I go to hit the on button to test, and.... there's no ON switch.  Nothing.  Not sure what year they started using ON SWITCHES, but 1966 wasn't that year, let me tell you.
The game is supposed to be on just when plugged in.  OK, that seems perilous.

Next up was tracing the line voltage from the cord through the machine.  We start at the live line and attach a DMM node there.

we start at the beginning, Sherlock!

these 2 switches provided continuity.  The one on the right is extra odd, and would only seem to break if the machine was basically upside down, but I'm guessing people were rowdier in those days.

After the security switches, the line voltage comes to... this panel at the front.  Then connects via plug to THE COIN DOOR.  OH GOD DON'T CONNECT LINE VOLTAGE TO THE COIN DOOR.

Let's say that again:  OH GOD DON'T CONNECT LINE VOLTAGE TO THE COIN DOOR.
Stupid security switch there...

I then traced the return wires over to here, and you can see the black wires runs parallel and continues on...

And here is where the black wire runs to!  This is the hold (R) relay.

 At this point I dug out all of the long-detached labels and noticed the title...

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN VOLTS, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Yes, this is a stupid relay that allows the 115 volts to continue.  that's a lot of voltage to pump through a relay.

Using a wooden chopstick, I closed that relay and it LOCKED ON immediately.  The game motor ran, the lights were on, and the score reels reset to zero.  PROGRESS!

But now, why wasn't the hold relay coming on normally?
To the schematic!

Ok OK, I don't have a Central Park schematic, but I do have one for a 1963 Slick Chick, and while not 100%, will basically do the job.

CLICK TO EMBIGGEN!

Take note of that circuit.  one key thing is the 6 volts on the top side of the transformer.  That powers the lights.  If you don't have GI lights on, you're either getting nothing on that side of the transformer, or every single light is out.  A quick test with the DMM confirm that the transformer isn't powered.
So how does the power make a circuit?  The bottom line of the schematic is the line of switches we tested, but the SB relay needs to be activated to complete the circuit.  SB is activated by the coin chute or by pressing the replay button on the front with credits in the unit.

At this point I took a look at the credits unit up in the head:

No, I don't think that coiled wire is stock...

So there were 2 things odd with the credits unit:  This wire was wrapped around one of the poles that moved with the cogged disc, preventing it from advancing.
Also, when it went clockwise all of the way it went too far and would short the two switch banks.
I took the wire off from around that pole, and added some credits.  One other odd note:  The wheel that displays the credits is entirely misaligned by 180 degrees, so whether at zero or 15 credits, nothing will be displayed on the front.
I think my end strategy for this will be to jumper the switches and not have the credit wheel move, and always have the game on free play.  I don't need this mess.
But I also think it was mucking up the game.

So I've traced the SB (start) relay, it is on the backside of the playfield.  I think I've solved the main issue, a funky credit unit needing lots of love.
With everything connected, I plug the game in again and boom, all of the lights are on immediately.

I go to press the start button, aka the "Replay Button" and BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I depress the button, but am rewarded with a big electric ZAP.
the game starts, the balls are released, but I don't mess around with line voltage.

There is still a short somewhere.
Time to bring in some assistance and hunt down the short.

In the meantime, I get to start cleaning this beautiful dirty game up.