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Operation Thunder coil locked! HELP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Friz
  • Start date Start date
F

Friz

Hey all,
I have recently got a Gottlieb Operation Thunder pin for my birthday from my Mrs (god bless her). She got it off ebay and was supposed to be 'fully working' yet it had 2 up-kickers that didnt function and a pop bumper that did not function too. After stripping the whole machine down to clean it up and inspect the faulty parts i managed to sort the 2 up kickers (work on the same fuse and one solenoid was getting jammed and blowing the fuse), the pop bumper was jammed solid so i removed that and stripped it down, it looked like the coil sleeve had melted itself to the coil around the metal rod and stopped it functioning
When i replaced the coil and sleeve, replaced the fuse and fitted it back in place and fired up the machine, as soon as i navigated to test mode, the coil locks on and stays on. I turned it off briefly after and tried it a few times but same thing happened so ive pulled the fuse until i get to the bottom of it. I guess the last owner had just let it happen and overheat to the point it cooked the coil and blew the fuse, then left it! NICE!
I assume there is a short or faulty component some where, can anyone give me a few pointers of whaat it could be? ive done a visual inspection of the boards and wiring and they dont seem to have any damaged components and everything else works perfectly so im at a bit of a loose end.
Thanks in advance guys!
 
You need to replace the transistor that drives that coil.

I don't have the manual for operation thunder so I can't tell you exactly which.
 
As Carl say's, one of the boards will have a transistor that drives the components. The manual, or wiring schematics, should be able to help you trace the issue but these are not "freely" available due to copy right protection. http://www.ipdb.org/gottlieb_cease.html
That cease and desist letter gives information about who you can purchase them from but there might be a local source who can assist.

You can get this fixed, where are you based? A local Gott-head might be able to help.
 
well fortunately I got a user manual which has been loads of help for fuses and parts etc but I find the wiring diagrams hard to follow. I live about 10 miles from Leicester (nearest big city). Will this be something I can visually see on the board that has gone or will it be something that going to require finding the associated transistor and testing it? also will this be on the main board?
 
Someone will hopefully come along and say what board it is on and may even what number transistor it is (if it is one linking all of them). I am the blind here, leading the blind but usually they are marked as Qxx where xx is a number. You could just start testing them and see which ones give the same reading and which ones are odd but I don't know if your game has so many of them that this would be time consuming. Here is a quick and dirty description of how to test them:
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-to-test-a-transistor

Different methods are require for different transistors, so it is always worth getting a reading from a good one to confirm you know that bad one when you see it.
 
And yep they are numbered Q1,2,3............it's the bottom left board I think! It defo sounds like the MOSFET has locked on its multimeter time
 
Getting somewhere now guys, thanks for that, wish I had joined weeks ago when I got the pin. Although saying that, its been lots of fun figuring stuff out for myself.

So, assuming that the MOSFET has definitely gone south, are these readily available through somewhere like RS components or are they abit specialist?
 
ronsplooter said:
Where abouts are you exactly. I'm in Nottingham so may be close to you if your north of Leicester.
Click to expand...

CV130HW is the postcode, im actually nearer Hinckley if that helps (about 5 miles away)

If it is just a case of replacing that component I think I will be ok, a chap at work repairs lots of electronic stuff in his spare time and im sure he'll be up to the job of replacing that. Thank you for the help though, I don't want to trouble you unless its something I cant sort out myself. It would be good to meet a pinball fan though and chat, none of my friends are really into this sort of thing, I have been into arcade games for a few years now and always wanted a pinball cab though.
 
There's lots of us around the Midlands that May be able to assist if needed, and as long as the Tea keeps flowing then you'll have a problem getting rid of most of us lol :)
 
Friz said:
Getting somewhere now guys, thanks for that, wish I had joined weeks ago when I got the pin. Although saying that, its been lots of fun figuring stuff out for myself.

So, assuming that the MOSFET has definitely gone south, are these readily available through somewhere like RS components or are they abit specialist?
Click to expand...

Yep, by new from RS. This should be the one if it's a 12N10L http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/mosfet-transistors/0295703/
 
You guys are too helpful. Haha. I will do some digging this afternoon with the manual and driver board and identify the right part, then get one ordered.

Thanks again everyone who inputted.
 
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