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Unfortunately both of these are later machines. It was around 1992/1993 i was playing it. I also confirmed the name of it with a friend (He said it before i did) so it definitely exists and was definitely ghouls and ghosts based. The hunt continues!

Ha ha I only had the one machine and paul gee had the other .

Looks Nice Nick, I'm sure Ron will crack it, if he can't no one can, is that 2 of them I can see?

Hi ronnie ,no I think mine might be slightly later .its 5p play .it was in a poor way but has ron scratching his head as its not playing ball .its also 240v operation throughout the machine which can make testing hazardous .

Ah that's not so good Nick, is yours anything like this one? I'm sure you posted it somewhere maybe?

I doubt ron will have any diagrams ronnie .he has my carfield machine which has so far stumped him and we desperately needed the schematic s for it which it seems are sadly lacking for most carfield/dranfield machines .

Thanks, no don't have the schematics and no diagrams on the back door, maybe Ron will have something

Certainly an interesting looking machine. Do you have a schematic for it?

Thanks Nick, yes it's nice, first nudge machine I believe? Having a thin down so this will be going!

Looks good ronnie

nope not found one as yet, there are custom transformer winders about as I have used them in the past, but its so far not been worth the bother when displays can be picked up cheap on ebay which are less than the cost of the parts to repair one.

Just dug this out after some time it sitting neglected! on the whole it's working but... The motor I think need re greased as it's whaling a bit on reel spin? when you achieve a 3 symbol win it gets stuck in a continual never ending hold after win loop? I see a stepper motor in the middle of one of the boards (gold colour) with 2 discs I have not seen that rotate? Reel 1 is out of line, I had the deck out but could need see a way of adjusting the stopper arm! Other than moving the reel band I can't see a way of sorting it. On the most part it pays out but I got 3 oranges it failed to pay and 3 cherries it only paid 4p instead of 6p, it seems to have some sort of light sensor and some micro switches on the reels for wins? pics to come Thanks Ronnie

It's a pity those transformers can't be bought as a spare part unless anyone knows of a source?

Also when you fit a new display I would be slightly suspect of the exsisting lamp board. It shouldn't damage the new alpha display but if the new one doesn't work swap out the lamp board next.

Hi All, looking for assistance with a few of my older chipped Barcrest machines.

yes once the displays go dead it is too late to change the caps, the transformers on the epoch displays seem to fail the most. my advice is to get hold of a working one then right away change all the surface mount capacitors on it while it still works!

I have had 3 of these fail for a simpsons epoch, I tried changing the caps on 2 of them but no go! Ended up buying another one, I have a box full of displays but none were the samsung one's

Bad news, I started to unwrap the transformer, and as I got deeper, the copper wire was completely black and discolored. The insulation lacquer melted, so the transformer is definitely dead.

yeah fuses are there for a reason, I seen it all the time people think they know better and short fuses out with wire, it never ends well! you cannot check the transformer for shorted turns with a ohms meter

Thanks for the help! That makes perfect sense. It’s a shame someone bridged the fuse instead of just replacing the dried-out capacitors. Since there are no burn marks on the board, I will check the transformer with a multimeter next time. If it survived, I will buy new caps, a proper 1A fuse, and a new transistor. Thanks again for the useful info!

sometimes the transformer survives, but seeing as the fuse has been bridged by a wire I would say it is unlikely to survive due to the high current flow. the normal sequence of events is... capacitors age causing the frequency of the oscillator to decrease, this allows more current to pass through the transistor and transformer, this causes them to get hot! eventually the transistor gets thermal runaway and goes short! that's why the capacitors should always be changed on a working display as they are now old and degraded.

Apart from the exploded transistor, there is absolutely no other visible damage, burn marks, or anything else on the board that looks heat-damaged. The transformer and the traces look physically perfect.

Thanks for the info! I looked closely at the display board and found that the 1A fuse was blown and someone had bypassed/bridged it with a wire. As a result, the inverter transistor (C3303) has literally blown apart. My question is: do you think the inverter transformer (chopper coil) could have survived this direct short circuit, or is it likely toast and not worth bothering with anymore? Should I try replacing the C3303 transistor and the caps, or is the shorted transformer usually a death sentence for these Samsung VFDs once the fuse is bypassed? Thanks!

just change all the surface mount capacitors on it, if your unlucky the transistor on it will be blown and sometimes the transformer goes short circuit, it just depends if you have caught it in time, the best time to catch the displays is when they get a bit dim. once they go dead it is a different story. usually people just buy another off ebay and hope

Hi everyone, I am opening a new topic because I need some technical help and repair advice regarding a dead VFD display module from a Maygay Epoch machine (Super Turbo Fruits). The display module is a Samsung 16L102DA4 Rev D (16-character, single-line VFD). Right now, it is completely dead and does not light up at all. I would really appreciate any help with the following: Does anyone have a datasheet, schematic, or pinout diagram for this specific Samsung module? What are the standard voltages I should check on the pins? (Filament voltage, logic VCC, anode voltage, etc.) What are the most common failure points on these specific Samsung VFD boards? Are there any notorious capacitors or voltage converters that usually die? Any documentation, pinout info, or troubleshooting tips would be a huge lifesaver to get this display back to life! Thanks in advance for your help!