A circuit is dead or cuts in and out even though its fuse tests good.
Dead or intermittent circuit from a cracked fuse clip
Cause: Data East holds fuses in pairs of cheap clips soldered to the board, which fatigue and crack.
Checks
- With the fuse out, look for cracked clips and squeeze the clip fingers; soft or loose ones are failing.
- Check continuity from each clip to its trace on both sides of the board.
- Remember the clips on the flipper board (Robocop and later).
Fix
- Replace every questionable clip with new ones. Do not solder the fuse to the clip.
Systems
Related tips
- PPB fuses on the nine-fuse board
- Power supply board fuses (late games)
- Solid state flipper board fuses
- After a bulb change, coils dead and a flasher fires the knocker: blown supply fuse
- Data East/Sega: PPB fuse and backbox fuse blowing: shorted Q3 and a plug one pin over
- Won't boot, only some lamps on: bad capacitor joints on the power supply board
- Solid state flipper does not work: fuses and fuse clips
- L/R relay burnt or intermittent
Source: Repairing DataEast 1987 (Laser War) to Sega 1995 (Batman Forever), Part One, Clay Harrell (pinrepair.com)