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Eos switches constantly activating

Jib

Jib

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Joined
Mar 12, 2021
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Northamptonshire
Been having an on off problem with IMDN right flipper, just feeling a bit odd. Thought I’d fixed it by replacing coil stop, sleeve and cleaning and respacing the eos switch but today I noticed it wasn’t fixed so investigated more.

In switch test when I press the right flipper button, the right and upper left Eos switch activate, on release the right eos and the upper left activate several times before settling down. Spacing looks fine, definitely closed when not pressing button.

What do I try tomorrow?
Thanks
 
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Have you checked the switch leaf gap between the EOS leaf switches? Also check the flipper button switch leafs I forget if flipper buttons on modern sterns are setup that way mind.
 
Yeah sorry that’s what I meant by respacing. Modern stern eos are open on pressing the flipper button, which they definitely are and closed on released. They are definitely closed when not pressing the button but obviously still thinks it’s rapidly opening and closing and not even on the side I’m pressing the button.

Flipper button leaf switches also look fine and come up as a different switch in test than the Eos, buttons seem to be registering correctly in test.
 
I have checked the gapping and wires on the Eos switches again this morning and cleaned them, all looks fine. Reseated connectors to node board. Not sure what to do next
 
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You reseated the node board connectors but maybe a dodgy crimp within a connector? I've had to re-crimp 2 connections on my modern sterns recently, and know of others who have had issues.
 
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Thanks Scott, will have a read. As I have all spike 2s it’s probably not a bad idea to have a spare node board anyway. But I can also swap one in from one of the other machines once I’ve checked the wires don’t just need recrimping. Just have to hope it’s not something else that caused the node board to fail and by putting a different one in I damage that one too!
 
I used to have nothing but Sterns when I started out but the lack of availiable parts (node boards) and the fact that if they break are a absolute nightmare to repair it just puts me off.

That and the fact if a game starts racking up plays it devalues you just don't get that issue with the older Bally/Williams. Anyway rant over good luck!
 
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Modern sterns are always closed until the flipper is pressed then the gap opens.

Opposite to WPC games.

On node boards you may find the connector pins in the molex has failed. Had this alot.

Just swap over a node board and see if it cures the problem. Just make sure the DIP switches are ser correctly.

On reliability. Node boards in 2023 are pretty well rock solid. I would own a stern over a wpc/wpc95 any day if I thought the games were as good but I much prefer sys11/wpc/wpc95 era. I am not one for big rulesets and a rubbish player.
 
Managed to poke out the relevant connectors with a staple (wasn't fun, need to get myself a tool) all looked good connections still. I've ordered a new node board, wasn't as expensive as I thought so rather than swap one from another game, possibly damage it and be 2 games down thought I may as well order a new one. Won't hurt to have a spare if it's not the issue. Thanks for the help so far everyone, will wait on the new board and update then.
 
While I was waiting for the node board and reading some other threads I realised I hadn’t done a smack the playfield test. So I tried smacking the playfield which activated the upper left and bottom right eos switches, which made me think it was a loose connection somewhere and not the node board.

Back to rechecking everything again. Reseated all molex connectors. Checked the pins for the eos switches in the molex connectors. Looked around for any exposed wires. Cleaned and readjusted the switches again. I just ran a business card through them the first time but this time I took them off and gave them a better clean.

All seems to be working normally again! A bit embarrassing that it might have just been some dirt 🤣Might replace the eos switches if issue comes back, it did look like the contacts weren’t as flat and so had less surface touching each other than on my other games.

After fixing, my 2nd game I got a new GC by miles, 6 way combo (which I’d never got before) beat the beast and got 8 tomb treasures! Run to the Hills always seemed impossible but now I’m thinking maybe one day… Who knew working flippers were so important 😆
 
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