HELP MY TOWER WON'T WORK!!!!!!!!!
I wrote this some time ago and it needs updating so here goes.
The most common thing wrong with towers ... they are dirty.
Well Yes and No. It is true that 90% of the time a good cleaning fixes them
but you have to know what to Clean. Cleaning the tower takes a little care but
you can do it. Take it completely apart. When you clean, look for hairs, lint
or foreign objects around the motor gears. The Motor is the main problem. The
brushes get worn and dirty and will not make contact. This kills the game and
produces the "All lights go Dead" trouble in the "Self Test".
So if your Tower will not pass the Self Test I would suggest you Start with
the motor AFTER you replace and clean the battery compartment. Do the obvious
like checking for loose connections.
If your tower dies or quits in the middle of the game...USE FRESH BATTERIES.
this is a very small voltage on these towers and the batteries have to be fresh.
If you have already cleaned the unit, this is probably the problem. Still doesn't
work? Well sometimes the motors have to be rewound, and if you used to work
on slot cars as a kid you should be able to handle it. read the FAQ below and
see if you can find help
- Here are a few tips:
.
Question:
When I press my Tower the display reads 00 then --
but when I push the self test the tower dies. What does this?
Answer: It's probably your motor.
You can purchase another through gamepart.com or you can try to rebuild the
one you have. Most of the time Cleaning the brushes and armature will last a
while.
Question:
When I turn the tower on nothing happens there is no display.
Answer : It could be a lot of things. It could be your switch or the converter/regulator
IC chip, or another semiconductor problem. To eliminate your switch. Jumper
the wires on the switch. To test proper voltage on the PC board test Pins on
the small 8 PIN IC converter/regulator chip. You should be able to read 9 volts
on the output of the converter. Neve overlook a bad connection or dirty battery
contacts.
Question: My Tower does not stop/align on the Graphics. It is a little
behind/ahead of the Icons:
Answer: This is difficult to fix. Graphics not aligning comes in several varieties.
"The wrong Motor." This will do it for sure.
People stick just any motor in and expect it to work. It doesn't.
If your batteries are strong and the motor is new it is probably going to go
past the icon until the batteries and motor are used some. If your batteries
are weak, or the motor is dragging it will tend to undershoot the icon. Some
of this is just the design and age of the PC board along with the switch that
supplies voltage for the motor. Sometimes it allows the motor to coast a little.
Try a new and weak battery together and see if that fixes your problem. If it
is undershooting the Icon clean the unit and motor, use new batteries.
Question: My Graphics wheel is a long way off from the correct Icons.
Answer: If it is not even close to aligning , you may have the wrong graphics
wheel. Even though theses are interchanged by collectors, and owners there
were several revisions. You cannot tell by the revision numbers which graphics
wheel goes to which unit, you must have one of each to compare them.
Question: My tower self test but will not allow me to move or some functions
do not work.
Answer: It is probably your touch pad you will need to clean it or replace it
with one from Gamepart.com or use a silver ciruit pen repair tool for simple
breaks in the wiring.
Question : I lost my rule book how do you play?
Answer: Please go here
If the above info doesn't fix it, it's probably the key pay or something in
the electronics. If you have a friend that likes to tinker with that kind of
stuff.... pawn it off on him and let him have a try. You have nothing to loose.
Or you can send it to me, for info email Mary@gamepart.com I will repair and
clean it for $59.99
you pay the shipping to us. We pay it back to you for more details go here for
info on reconditioned towers
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