Terminator 2 repair

My Terminator 2 pinball had some power problems. I couldn't start a game, and if I remember correctly, none of the coils worked in test mode.

With good help from my friends, we found out that a bridge rectifier on the power driver board was most probably the culprit. I had delayed fixing it until now, but the aforementioned out-of-towners are coming next week, and they are eager T2 fans, so I had to take a look at it.

First of all, when removing the power driver board, I found that the J115 connector was completely burned. This is a usual problem, especially on T2, and in this case they had solved it by soldering the wires directly to the board.

Burnt J115 connector

Hacked back side

I got this game from a container deal. It came with tens of other pins from Poland a couple of years ago, but it died quite quickly, and it has just been sitting in our gameroom ever since.

As they had completely removed the molex plug, I had to mark each wire carefully. I intend to replace the original IDT connector with a crimp, which should make it less prone to overheating and errors.

Somewhat readable markings on painter's tape

Removing the old cables was easy enough, but they sure used a lot of solder back then! Some of the solder pads were in such a bad condition that they just fell off.

See those black marks? They aren't dirt..

Even after fitting the new molex socket, some of the pins didn't have any contact with the components. I had to solder some jumper cables on the back side of the board. They won't be visible, and it was the quickest way to resolve the problem.

Ugly but functional

I just did one small mistake.. One of the pins isn't supposed to be there, as it's used as a key, ensuring that you connect the molex plug correctly. I just cut it after taking this picture.

New and fresh!

Of course I also replaced the faulty bridge rectifier. I couldn't test the power driver board in the T2 afterwards, as it didn't have a molex plug for J115. I therefore swapped it with the one in my Bride of Pinbot, and it worked perfectly!

Next time I'll be fitting a new molex plug on Terminator 2, using this tool.

Even though I will be studying this article beforehand, I think I need my share of luck to succeed. Jamming two cables into one terminal sure doesn't look easy...