Corvette

Manufacturer	System	Year	Model	Produced
Bally	WPC-Security	1994	50036	5,001

1 Corvette Shop Guide

Please add info here...

2 Game-Specific Issues

2.1 Coil Power carried on Playfield Metal (Yikes!)

Yikes! Coil power present on the metal wireform and on the "Race Car" toy. Coil power can also be measure on other playfield metal parts.

The "Route 66" kicker coil, located on the playfield back/right, often wears through it's coil wrapper and shorts to the metal bracket it's attached to. This results in coil voltage being present on playfield exposed metal parts. This can deliver a surprising and unpleasant shock to the unsuspecting technician.

"Route 66" kickout coil with coil wrapper worn through. This enables shorting coil voltage to the metal assemblys.

The fix for this is straightforward. Remove the kicker assembly, which is easier said than done. Replace the coil, put a new wrapper on it, or wrap a few turns of electrical tape around the coil.

2.2 LT-5 Engine Electronics issues

The LT-5 engine electronics, which cause the assembly to "shudder" when the engine revs, is a closed loop servo system. This system can be quite difficult to troubleshoot. The difficulty is partially due to the amount of remote circuit boards used, and the level of inaccessibility to troubleshoot these boards due to their rather awkward mounting locations. Documentation available for the electronics is sparse and sometimes incorrect. By combining the sparse information in the original release game manual with the information in manual amendment #16-9890 or the WMS 1996 service bulletin, a bit more sense can be made of the system.

Ultimately, a collection of 4 coils powered by 20VDC flash lamp power cause the assembly to move. This is accomplished via the following components.

1. WPC-S MPU
2. Ribbon cable from WPC-S MPU to the "Motor Drive Master Board A-18532"
3. Motor Drive Master Board A-18532 in the backbox
4. Especially long ribbon cable from the Motor Drive Master board to the "Slave Board A-19243 or A-19625"
5. Slave Board A-19243 or A-19625 under the playfield
6. Hall Offset Adjustment PCB A-19706 under the LT-5 ramp (not present in early production games)
7. Hall Effect Sensor under the LT-5 ramp
8. Opto board under the LT-5 ramp

Note that there is an error in the schematics for the Master Board. U2 on the master board is not a 74LS374 as indicated. It is in fact a 74LS175 Quad D Flip Flop. The only function performed by U2 is to disable the coils by shunting the enable signals to the TIP-102 drive transistors to ground. The LED signals shown in the schematics aren't present nor are any LEDs other than the "power present" LEDs.

Also not shown on the master board schematics is the voltage regulation circuit that accepts 20VDC and regulates it down to 12VDC via a TO-220 case 7812T.

Power Train
As mentioned above, the 12VDC for the circuit is derived from 20VDC, and regulated by the master control board. The 5VDC used for the master control board (J2 pin 3) is the "typical" 5VDC used for the WPC-S boardset. However, the 12VDC originating on the master control board is transferred to the slave board via a ribbon cable. In addition to the 12VDC, a 7805T 5V voltage regulator is utilized on the slave board to generate 5VDC for the necessary components on the slave board and hall effect sensor board.

Logic ground for the circuit originates at J204 of the CPU board, and is transferred to the master control board via the ribbon cable at J1. Logic ground from the master control board (J3) is transferred to the slave board (J3) via the ribbon cable. Logic ground is transferred from the slave board (J1 pin 4) to the hall effect sensor board (J1 pin 4) via a single black wire.

The 20VDC and solenoid ground used to drive the four engine's coils is input into the slave board via J4, a .156" connector, and exits the board via J5, another .156" connector.

Note: The coin door power interlock switch must be closed for the LT-5 motor to operate.

System Concept of Operations
The system creates a signal called "V/2 Ref" which compensates for 5VDC power circuit fluctuation. The Hall Effect sensor voltage and the V/2 Reference voltage are provided as inputs to an LM324 op-amp at U1. This provides the first voltage reference.

This second voltage is created by the MPU sending 8-bit digital values to the master board. The master board buffers and relays those signals to the slave board. Via J3 on the master board, the ribbon cable, and J3 on the slave board, the digital values are conveyed from master to slave. These signals pull the normally high 12VDC for each data line (D0-D7) on the slave board to ground, creating input to the AD7524 digital-to-analog (DAC) converter. The AD7524 outputs an analog voltage at pin 15.

The first and second voltage references are "mixed" via additional gates on U1 (U1B). That voltage acts as the drive voltage for additional gates on U1 as well as U3 (another LM324) which amplify or attenuate the signal relative to the V/2 reference and a "bias" voltage that is created similarly to V/2 reference. Eventually, voltages reach a level necessary to turn on/turn off the TIP-102 drive transistors.

Probable failure points
At least two instances of the 7812 voltage regulator failing have resulted in U1 (74LS374) and U2 (74LS175) on the master board failing as well as the AD7524 on the slave board. ULN2803s and LM324s have higher voltage tolerances, and do not appear to fail as frequently.

Systematic Troubleshooting

1. Test the "disable" signal from the 74LS175 that shunts signals to the TIP-102s to ground. The "disable" signal must be high for the LT-5 assembly to move (yes...it should be called an "enable" signal). Setting "disable" to low shunts signals to the TIP-102s to ground. At game power up, as the LT-5 test begins, the "disable" signal goes high. Once LT-5 initialization is complete and the two "race cars" begin test, the "disable" signal returns to low. The "disable" signal (U2, pin 2) originates at the WPC-S MPU as data on the data bus (D0). It is "clocked and latched" into the 74LS175 when the ASIC pulses /DIS2 (ASIC pin 41). If you do not see the "disable" signal changing, it is possible that the "clocking signal" is being lost. This could be due to a failed ribbon cable, poor connection at the ribbon cable header pins, or a dicey connection to the ASIC. Merely reseating the ribbon cables, changing ribbon cables, or reseating the ASIC may "correct" this issue.
2. Test each of the 74XX ICs on both boards via the diode test. If any gates test bad, even if not used/connected on the board, replace the IC.
3. Measure the output of the 7812 voltage regulator on the master board, regardless of the 12V indicating LED's state.
4. Follow the analog signal provided by the hall effect sensor through the LM324 gates, starting with U1B pin 7 on the hall effect sensor board. Manually moving the engine assembly should cause DC voltage variations in the readings. If no variation is seen, the signal is being lost either at one of the LM324s or between them. Please note that the game does not have to be in T.16 test mode to perform this check.
5. Measure the analog signal output from the AD7524. During T.16, the output voltage should start at about 2.5VDC, increase to about 3.5VDC, decrease to about 1.5VDC, then return to about 2.5VDC.

Additional Information
Cliff "Cliffy" Rinear and Martin Reynolds have compiled additional helpful information including adjusting the "non-adjustable" early version of the hardware. See: http://passionforpinball.com/lt5adjust.htm

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