Addams Family Teething issue

[ylumno3]

Hello, I've eventually added an Addams family machine to the garage collection, I have a basic knowledge and ability to repair most of the issues I have with my machines but this one has got me scratching my head, I have an issue with thing but I'll have a better look at that before I start troubling anyone with it. The issue that I'm struggling with is the m/c shooting out 2 balls into the shooter lane, I've done a switch test and the switch is registering when I trigger it with my finger so I don't think it's that but I can't find any other issues and now I keep thinking that it does have a fault, what's got me thinking is it shoots two balls out and stops it doesn't keep trying to shoot them out, so is the weight of 2 balls triggering the switch properly some how. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

 

[pinballmania]

All the time? Then check you only have three balls installed.

 

[ylumno3]

When I first powered the m/c up it worked ok then it started randomly shooting a second ball out, now it does it most of the time, once maybe twice in the last 20 it hasn't

 

[pinballmania]

It can be that one of the switches In the ball trough isn't clearing. Use switch test to look at what happens when you manually eject a ball from the trough by activating the kick out with your finger.

 

[DRD]

I had a very similar issue on my whirlwind

The 3 ball trough switches (where the balls are stored at the bottom of the game) on this era machine are microswitches. If the microswitch is failing, or of it is too tightly screwed to its bracket, it can be slow to "open" after the ball has rolled off it. This delay might be less than a second, but it is long enough to confuse the machine into thinking a ball is still there so it fires the ball eject again - meaning you end up with two in the shooter lane

It could very well be this fault with the left or middle trough switches

 

[ylumno3]

OK, a bit of a delay here as I never seem to have the time I need, but, I've eventually got round to looking at this and the problem seems to be two fold. I've stopped it initially ejecting two balls I think, took the switches off in the eject/storage trough cleaned operated etc etc and it seems to have stopped the problem, until, a ball gets locked (for multiball) after going down behind the bookshelf, then it continually tries to eject more than one ball again.

 

[stoptap]

OK, a bit of a delay here as I never seem to have the time I need, but, I've eventually got round to looking at this and the problem seems to be two fold. I've stopped it initially ejecting two balls I think, took the switches off in the eject/storage trough cleaned operated etc etc and it seems to have stopped the problem, until, a ball gets locked (for multiball) after going down behind the bookshelf, then it continually tries to eject more than one ball again.

Dodgy diode on one of the swamp switches ?

 

[ylumno3]

How would that interact with the ejection, it must be getting a signal when the ball is locked to try and eject another one but there's some kind of interaction after that as it's not picking up the ejection. I'm chasing one thing after another at the minute. It's now won't play as it's saying there's a ball missing although all the switches in the ejection trough are working and when I run a test when I switch the m/c on it doesn't register a ball as being missing, agggghhhh

 

[DRD]

It still sounds like ball trough switches to me. Quite possibly the micoswitch arm is not moving freely in the gap in the playfield or swamp kickout mech.

Unfortunately a problem on a ball trough switch can cause seeming chaos like this but it is usually easily fixed. Probable causes in order of likelihood ...

1. The arms on the microswitches are not moving freely, they are perhaps sticking on the playfield or kickout mech momentarily and not returning to the open position immediately. So one may be slow to return either when a ball rolls over it or when a ball standing on it is released
2. Defective diodes on them - they cost nothing. Just replace them
3. defective microswitches - Jim @myPinballs sells these things

I would remove the apron, stick it into switch test and manually move balls around the game to see how the microswitches behave in a game situation.

See whether a ball rolling into the swamp registers properly

Similarly load up the ball trough to see whether they work properly. Then manually eject via the ball eject solenoid

If you are new to all this, take plenty of photos before you dismantle stuff so you know what went where, where wires were soldered, what screws came from where, which polarity the diodes have etc etc

 

[Sutol]

An issue I had with my addams was a diode put on the wrong way round prior to me owning it which was causing multiple switches to open and do crazy things.
If you need any pics taking to compare anything just give me a shout

 

[stoptap]

How would that interact with the ejection, it must be getting a signal when the ball is locked to try and eject another one but there's some kind of interaction after that as it's not picking up the ejection. I'm chasing one thing after another at the minute. It's now won't play as it's saying there's a ball missing although all the switches in the ejection trough are working and when I run a test when I switch the m/c on it doesn't register a ball as being missing, agggghhhh

The diodes on the switches isolate the switch within the matrix. A dodgy diode can cause all sorts of phantom switch triggers and crazy behaviour.
I would be checking the switches and diodes of both the trough and the swamp.

 

[ylumno3]

Thanks for all the help/replies, next spot of spare time I've got I'll go through the suggested avenues and see what I find.

 

[Moonraker]

I suspect a picture of the batteries and area underneath is required...

 

[Cryptkeeper]

Check to see if the balls are magnetized.
Worth a check anyways