White water solenoids problem

[peter]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Hello,

A couple of weeks ago, I was playing a multiball when I eventually
noticed that as the balls drained, they were not being delivered to the
trough by the outhole solenoid. I ran the solenoid test and found that
solenoids 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 weren't working at all. They are all on
the same power driver connector, J130. However, solenoid 4, the Lockup
Popper, is working, and it's on that same connector. I disconnected and
reconnected J130 (several times), and the solenoids still aren't firing.
As far as I could tell, none of the fuses are blown.

Any suggestions? Should I try to check connectors under the
playfield? Do I need to dig in and check voltages or current somewhere?
Should I go ahead and try to redo the connector? I hope it's not
board work that is needed. There is an air conditioner in the window
behind and to the right of the machine. All the cold air isn't blowing
directly on the back box, but there has been some.

Feel free to respond to greenoak2@hotmail.com or here in the group.

Thanks,
Peter

 

[pt]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Look on all of the solenoids 1-7 for a broken wire hiding somewhere.
Those solenoids all daisy chain together back to J107-3. That string
may be broken. Solenoid 4 must be the last one in the chain. It is
either broken off of 4 or the one before it. You may find a solenoid
with only one wire on a terminal where there should be two. The
broken off wire may be hiding!! Look around.

John

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

First check for a blown fuse- often the case- and easy to check. Be sure to
remove each fuse for testing "off board"- they can "look" good when in
place, but an actual test with an ohmmeter is sometimes the only way to
tell....

Second, if fuses check out, look at each coil on the same power line under
the playfield- power wire is "daisy-chained" from coil to coil, so if it
breaks at one coil, all the rest "downstream" will stop working. Sort of
like old style Christmas tree lights.

This may explain why the #4 coil works and the rest don't (they're not wired
in numerical order....)

Hope that helps!

Ray J.
--
Action Pinball & Amusement, LLC
Salt Lake City, Utah USA
Web: www.actionpinball.com

We're serious about pinball. Anything else is just for fun!



"Peter" <greenoak2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:xsrCe.5089$Y54.7@twister.nyc.rr.com...
> Hello,
>
> A couple of weeks ago, I was playing a multiball when I eventually
> noticed that as the balls drained, they were not being delivered to the
> trough by the outhole solenoid. I ran the solenoid test and found that
> solenoids 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 weren't working at all. They are all on
> the same power driver connector, J130. However, solenoid 4, the Lockup
> Popper, is working, and it's on that same connector. I disconnected and
> reconnected J130 (several times), and the solenoids still aren't firing.
> As far as I could tell, none of the fuses are blown.
>
> Any suggestions? Should I try to check connectors under the
> playfield? Do I need to dig in and check voltages or current somewhere?
> Should I go ahead and try to redo the connector? I hope it's not
> board work that is needed. There is an air conditioner in the window
> behind and to the right of the machine. All the cold air isn't blowing
> directly on the back box, but there has been some.
>
> Feel free to respond to greenoak2@hotmail.com or here in the group.
>
> Thanks,
> Peter
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Thanks for your reply, John. I never thought that a single broken wire
could be responsible. I did find a broken wire, from the one working
solenoid. Well, I re-soldered it, but none of the others are working
now, and the one that was working is now not working. Either I badly
messed up the soldering job, which is entirely possible, or I shorted
something out doing the "repair". Thanks also for your reply, Ray. I
guess I'll check out all those fuses. I'll let you know what happens.

Peter

 

[pt]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Now you probably have a fuse out. Maybe you soldered the broken wire
to the wrong side of the coil while you were at it? The daisy chained
wires should all be violet/yellow in that string. Unfortunately both
sides of coil 4 in that string have violet/yellow according to the
manual page 3-9.

>or I shorted something out doing the "repair".
Hopefully the game was "off" when you were repairing it! In that case
I doubt you shorted anything.

John

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Well, John, I did try to repair the machine when it was powered on.
Stupid me. I thought I would conveniently use the outlet in the
cabinet. Sure enough, my soldering iron touched something it
shouldn't, and I did see a spark. I used an extension cord after that.
So I went to check the fuse that controls those solenoids, and I broke
it trying to get it out. But replacing it fixed everything. I am so
happy both that the game is working, and that fixing it is off my mind.
My brother and my nephew are coming to vist tomorrow. Thanks so much
to you and to Ray for your time, and thanks again for this group.
Next, I'll be bugging you about how to get my cranky playfield lights
to stay on when they should.