1. Consistently check the balls for wear, and replace the balls if they start to look worn. Also check to see if they have flat spots, tears, or are missing chunks out of them. Problems with the balls can cause drag, which will cause step count errors. This will cause scoring errors.

2. Be on the lookout for other things that can make the wheel drag. Look for fine white dust under the wheel. This could mean the roller bearings that the wheel rides on are binding. Check the axle bearings and make sure they are not binding or letting the wheel slop from side to side.

3. Check the blue rubber wheel on the stepper motor for wear and tear, and check to see if it is becoming egg-shaped. Look closely to make sure there is no slippage between the stepper motor and the big wheel. This slippage could be caused by a lack of tension between the motor and the big wheel.

4. There are 2 stepper controller boards in the Slam-A-Winner game. They are stacked on top of each other and control the conveyor belt and the wheel. The one closest to the wall runs the conveyor belt and should have dip switch 1 'on.' The one on top runs the wheel and it has all dip switches 'off.' The wheel board is the one that has the white/orange wire connected to it. In order to resolve the step count, the wheel stepper board needs to see the signal from the home sensor. This is how the CPU knows what hole the ball was in when it scores. If the wheel stepper board doesn't see the home sensor signal, the wheel motor will keep starting and stopping till the signal is restored. If this occurs, you will need to check the home sensor.

In PART 2 of common problems that cause wrong scoring we will talk about testing the HOME POSITION SENSOR.

Send comments to mrenz@benchmarkgames.com

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