Note:  There’s usually no reason to go to the extent I did to rebuild this power supply.  The only reason I replaced so many parts on it is due to its condition.  If your power supply is in good shape except for some specific issue such as low 5v, bad fuse clips, etc., just fix what is wrong.  Don’t replace tons of stuff like in this article.

Power supply rebuilds are pretty easy.  A pinball power supply is rather simple and there are a few common components that fail.  So fixing what you have usually makes more sense than buying a new replacement power supply.

Of course, sometimes you don’t have a power supply to fix.  This was my situation.  I debated buying a new power supply.  But then this showed up on eBay:

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The T-Rex in Jurassic Park is a neat toy, but it can be prone to problems.  In fact, it can be down right aggravating at times.

My T-Rex stopped eating pinballs.  It would bend down, but it could not pick up the pinball.  Let’s do some investigation and see how things look:

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The capacitor located at C1 on the strobe power supply board for Attack From Mars (AFM) is notorious for failing.  Bally/Williams used a 100v non-polar capacitor in a location that has at least 140v across it all the time.  Finding a replacement non-polar electrolytic capacitor with a voltage rating of greater than 100v proved difficult.  Actually, you can find them, but they are usually so large they will not fit within the strobe’s power supply box.  So I decided to take matters into my own hands.

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