Replacing a driver board bridge rectifier without tearing traces

Steps

• Clip the old bridge off, leaving its four thick legs as long as possible.
• Heat each leg on its own and pull it out with needle-nose pliers.
• Fit the new bridge; on BR5 note the "+" lead is slightly offset, and mount it about 1/4" above the board for cooling.
• Watch the thin trace on the component side under a lower-left AC lead of BR2: it runs to the non-banded end of D3 (under J109) for the zero-cross circuit. If torn, resets continue.
• Check continuity from the lower-left BR2 AC pad to the right of D3, and from the upper-right BR2 AC lead over to the right of D38.
• Add jumper wires from BR2 to C5 because the BR2 plated-through holes are usually already damaged.

Systems

• WPC Alpha-Numeric
• WPC Dot Matrix
• WPC Fliptronics
• WPC DCS
• WPC-Security (WPC-S)

Related tips

• Bridge rectifiers to use on WPC-S and earlier driver boards
• WPC power driver bridge rectifiers and +5 V regulator
• Testing a bridge rectifier out of circuit
• Bridge positions on WPC-S and earlier driver boards
• Replacement bridge rectifier and diode ratings
• Shorted or open bridge rectifiers
• Driver board LED5 off (+20 V flashers)
• WPC-89/WPC-S driver board LEDs and test points

Source: Repairing Williams/Bally WPC Pinball Games from 1990 to 1999, Part Two, Clay Harrell (pinrepair.com)