Opto issue?

[PAX]

I seem to be having an issue with the ramp opto on my Houdini.
Switch testing seems ok using the on-board system and a finger or ball. However, during normal play, if you shoot the ramp it doesn't register any scoring and you get no End of Ball Bonus when the ball eventually drains.
Any ideas or help appreciated
Cheers

 

[replicas]

Just sounds like a flaky opto, the new optos are nowhere near a good as the older ones.
Buy a new and swap it out.

 

[PAX]

Can't believe this has been going on since April last year.

I eventually got this looked at but still couldn't pinpoint the problem. Possibly a switch diode problem thought to be the cause.

Contacted American Pinball and they said it was most likely a problem with the opto interface board.
Ordered one on Boxing day and it turned up the following Wednesday - pretty good I thought, even if postage was $67 nearly double the cost of the board itself!
Fitted the new board (get me, genius) but it didn't solve the problem

Spoke to AP again and they refunded me fully which was very decent of them and suggested the following;

"Hey Paul,
Sorry that opto interface board didn't solve the issue. As I said, it could either be this opto interface board or something with the SW-16 switch boards.
Try flip-flopping the 2 switch boards in question.
When you change them, you'll need to also flip-flop the DIP switches on the board.

If the problem is isolated to these boards, that would mean Right lock 1 and Right pop bumper will now show the exact same behavior as your ramp entry and front of stage did.

If the ramp entry and front of stage switch behavior stays the same after the flip-flop of boards, then this is either a code issue or issue with the P-Roc."

I haven't tried this yet as quite frankly not sure what or where exactly I'm supposed to be looking (from genius to thicko in one move )

Any hepl greatly appreciated

Cheers

 

[PAX]

Looks like the day for technical issues, so bumping this one

 

[Asiapinball]

Looks like the day for technical issues, so bumping this one

I don't have American pinball machines and I doubt whether many others do. But looking at manual etc what I believe they are saying is that they think you have a problem with a sw16 board. 2 of them in the machine and they want you to swap them over. But the sw16 boards have a bank of 8 switches on them and each of the 2 sw16 boards has unique settings as per p41 of the manual. So on swapping the boards you also need to change the dip switch settings. Take photo of the dip switches on each board before taking the boards out of the machine and then use photo to check you have them correct once boards swapped.

Then once you play again if the problem moves to somewhere else on the machine you will know that the fault is in the sw16 board. But if it doesn't move you will know the two sw16 boards are OK and the fault is elsewhere. Hope this helps. Difficult without having access to a machine or even photos of the sw16 boards in the machine.

 

[PAX]

Cheers,
I will have to do a bit of research.
Reminds me of the first time I sat behind the wheel of a car, s***ing myself. But the more you do it the easier it gets and then becomes second nature

 

[PAX]

Swapped over the sw16 boards and it made no difference - so at least not a board problem then.

Just sounds like a flaky opto, the new optos are nowhere near a good as the older ones.
Buy a new and swap it out.

Had to take the right ramp out to swap opto transmitter/receiver around and hey presto now all working fine, so you were absolutely right @replicas. Simply front of stage opto interfering with ramp opto