Description: Neontact, Pacific Amusement Co (PamCo), 02/35, neon lights spell out "Two", "Five" or "Twenty" in backbox, very cool. Also the playfield has an upside down "U" arch of neon. Runs on four #6 dry cell batteries at 1.5volts each (four batteries in series, and then another four batteries, if desired, in parallel, to give more current), for a total of 6vdc. Inside the cabinet there is a neon starter aka "trembler coil" or "buzz coil", which in a wood box. The trembler coil is made by K-W Ignition of Cleveland, who also supplied buzz coils as ignition coils to Ford Motor Co. for their Model T cars. The buzz coil is suspended by two large springs going across the cabinet, making a neon transforer elevated by the springs inside the lower cabinet. Uses ten non-metal blue balls (.975" diameter, pretty much 1") which close a switch to light particular neon letters in the backbox. But the "Ignitor" hole must be occupied for any of the letters to light! The player needs to spell a complete word; "two", "five", "ten" or "twenty" to get paid that many coins from the location. On the left side of the playfield there is a user selectable ball influencer, that allows the player to direct the ball into specific areas of the playfield. The user selectable gate mechanism allows the ball to go across the playfield and into specific metal "U" holes. These lamps also run on 6vdc from the batteries. Schematic is listed below. Electro mechanical pinball.

Please contact me if you have this game for sale at cfh@provide.net

The neon tubes used in this game are 7mm in diameter, which is the smallest diameter available for neon. To light a neon tube, you need at least 3000vdc at about 30mA. This is achieved by the Trembler coil (aka buzz coil). This technology comes from the Ford Model T ignition system. On the Model T, a 6 volt battery connectos to the Trembler coil. The buzz coil is actually a transformer, with a primary and secondary coil. This increases the voltage output to (so they say) about 25k volts, but at low current, which is what neon tubes require. Because the neon tubes are small diameter, extra voltage is required to light them. Often as more letters light, the tubes will dim due to the excessive voltage required. This is especially true if the Buzz coil is compromised.

I mention the 7mm neon tube size because this small diameter neon means a lot when calculating voltage required to light said tube. The smaller diameter the neon tube, the more voltage is needed to light the tube. Neon makers have a formula of tube diameter, total tube length, and gas used (neon tubes use either Neon or Argon.) If a clear neon tube is Neon filled, you get a red glow. If a clear neon tube is Argon filled, you get a blue glow. That's why there's two different colors of neon on the Pamco Neontact game!

The buzz coil, which was mounted inside a wood box, and encased in black tar which secures, insulates, and waterproofs the box (this is known as potting.) Inside there's a transformer and a condensor (capacitor.) The transformer is a step-up design, where the secondary coil has more windings than the primary. Hence if there are double the number of secondard windings, the voltage is doubled, but the current is cut in half. Obviously to get the high voltage needed to light a neon coil (or a spark plug for a car), the secondary winding will have way more windings than the primary coil. And hence the current will be low (which is fine for neon, which requires high voltage but very low current.)

With this in mind, transformers only really work when the voltage and the magnetic field is constantly changing. Tha's why they are typically used with Alternating AC current, which is constantly changing polarity. However the electrical system in cars (and this game) uses batteries, which are direct current DC power. Therefore some means of changing the voltage and magnetic field is required. This would boast the power enough to get a consistent high voltage for a spark plug (or in this case, to light the neon.) To achieve this, mounted on the outside of the buzz coil is an interupter switch. This is a spring loaded normally closed contact switch. When the transformer coil gets power from the battery, the transformer's core gives an electro-magnetic force, which pulls down the spring loaded interupter switch. This opens the the switch and de-powers the transformer. The spring loaded switch then closes, which restores power, and repeats the process over and over.

Unfortunately this design creates a spark at the interrupter switch. If left unchecked, this spark will burn the interrupter switch contacts. Also this spark allows current to back flow to the primary transformer winding. This means the primary transformer winding collapses rather slowly, and this limits the voltage that the secondary side of the transformer can output. To solve both these problems, a condensor (capacitor) is mounted inside the trembler coil box. This boasts the output of the transformer and minimizes the spark across the interrupter switch.

Obviously any 1935 Pamco Neontact with the original buzz coil will need some repair work. Not the transformer part, but the condenser (capacitor) inside the trembler coil will need to be replaced. Capacitors do not last generally more than 10 years, and at nearly 100 years old, that capacitor will no doubt failed. To do this, the wood box can be opened and the black potting tar removed, digging out the old capacitor (and the glass insulator between the cap and the transformer.) Alternatively I've seen people repair buzz coils with a new external capacitor. It just depends on how much work you are willing to endure. Or in my case, I decided to use a new NeonPro 8000volt transformer, thus eliminating the need for a working Trembler coil, and giving an upgrade to the neon tube glow! It also allows me to disable the game timer, and allow the game to be turned on for extended time periods, and neon glowing without the Trembler coil buzzing and potentially overheating.

In addition to changing the Trembler coil's capacitor, the interrupter switch needs to be gapped properly. That gap when the switch is open between the switch contacts should be .030" wide. Not a bad idea to clean the switch contacts too. The new capacitor should be .47mfd at 400volts. With this implementation the Trembler coil draws about 1amp to 1.50amps. Hence this is why the game has a factory installed 2amp fuse.