How do I identify a switch which is firing

[Mfresh]

I've got a pesky problem with a switch firing on IMDN - for example as the ball is ejected from the trough into the shooter lane it often but not always fires, so that you start the game with a number of points, not zero points, and the option to choose a song disappears because the machine thinks the ball is already in play. But I can't identify which one it is. It's not the slingshot switches as I have put slips of paper between the leaves to rule them out. Is there a way of seeing what switches have fired in the switch tests, or some other clever way of figuring out which one is sometimes firing when its not meant to

 

[AlanJ]

on a lot of games each switch usually triggers a different sound and different number of points. i’ve used those 2 clues to help identify the culprit. i had it just last week on my ballly star trek and the sound led me to figure it was one of the drop target switches.

on a more modern machine such as yours you could go into switch test, then fire the ball eject solenoid and see which switch triggers. (to fire the ball eject when in switch test mode, isn’t possible from the menu, but you can short the coil to ground momentarily to trigger it - if you are aux fait with this method of firing coils to test them)

 

[Spandangler]

Had it on my iron maiden mate. It was the target switch on the backboard from the jump ramp. Too close and were firing at will!!!

 

[ronsplooter]

You can also try banging on the playfield with the game in switch test to simulate the vibration of a coil firing and see if that throws up switch activations

 

[CHRIS B PINBALLS]

I bet it’s those stupid captive balls

 

[Mfresh]

Thanks for all your help peeps.

I bet it’s those stupid captive balls

Yup! Using the @ronsplooter method it was very easy to establish that it was both the Clairvoyant captive ball sensor and the mummy lock captive ball sensor which were closing. Just talked to Neil who told me to threadlok the balls onto their actuator sticks before adjusting the leafs. Hopefully that should be sorted.

I only just go the machine and have been wading through pinside threads but wasn't quite up to speed with the fact that the captive balls are known to be stupid.

 

[ronsplooter]

I fix pinballs the way the Fonz fixes jukeboxes.....just f*cking hit it