Scared Stiff Ball eject issue

[Bulla]

Powered on yesterday and although it was trying (See vid) the balls weren't ejecting into the shooter lane. I got the glass off today armed with my multimeter to start testing coils etc but powered on and it's now telling me to check Fuses F106 and F101. F106 is blown but before I go any further and replace the fuse any advice on what the issue may be ? Could it be a bad AE-26-1500 coil and causing fuses to blow or is that a coincidence and maybe I shorted something raising the playfield ?

 

[Bulla]

Vid

 

[paulg100]

Chris B did a lovely shop job on this machine a few years back before it came to me for a bit. It sailed through pinfest a couple of years back as well.

Was as good as gold whilst i had it, hopefully its something simple

 

[waynej4]

Coil seems to be working, as it is trying to eject the ball.

I'd check basics first. Have the coil mounting brackets/fasteners worked a bit loose? And what about the coil sleeve? Is it old and worn? If there is movement/freeplay in any of these it won't generate enough power to kick the ball out.

 

[Bulla]

Just checked the coil brackets etc and everything was tight. Some wiggle in the sleeve but assume that’s normal ? I’ve since swapped the sleeve out for new just in case and while it was out tested coil resistance against a new one and almost the same at about 13 ohms. Put everything back and same issue.

Oh also tried solenoid test from the menu and it is firing on the test

What’s next swapping out the coil ?

 

[Moonraker]

Looks like your spring is broken, the plunger should travel right to the end of the bracket - which is the area under your thumb in the second video.

 

[Bulla]

Oh it does, I'd just pulled up the plunger to demonstrate the play .

 

[paulg100]

did you check the correct voltage is going to the coil to begin with (48vv?) or what ever it should be

 

[Bulla]

Nominated but the plot thickens. I just powered it on and added a credit. Opened the door to manually get a ball in the shooter lane, closed the door again and shot the ball but all flippers are decidedly weak. Got to be a power issue hasn’t it ?

 

[Bulla]

Flippers

 

[Pick Holder]

That fuse error also shows up when there is a problem with optos.

Go into switch test with the solenoids active and check the flipper buttons (they have optos on SS) and the ball trough optos.

Clean the optos on the flippers if they 'flicker' in test.

Leave the machine in switch test and see if there are any phantom triggers.

 

[Bulla]

Right just started the switch test and everything seemed ok.

I then decided to lift the playfield up but hadn’t turned the power off and as the rails touched the metal under the lock bar I got a spark.

Turned off and sure enough F106 had blown. I decided to check everything else and F108 solenoid secondary was out too. Replaced both, popped the playfield back down and now everything is working !

Is the fact I blew F108 a coincidence or could this have been blown the whole time ? I didn’t get an error for F108 only F101(not blown) and F106 (blown again).

Either way game is working as expected and balls are flying out of the trough.

Note to self never raise the playfield with the power on !

 

[paulg100]

Good news, something simple!

Had playfield up and down tons of times with various machines and power on and not had an issue. Maybe the lockbar isnt grounded properly? Normally there is braid running behind it so worth checking if its been routed properly.

 

[Bulla]

I thought I had too but started second guessing myself. Will check the braid.

 

[drhex]

The lock bar is grounded which is why it blows fuses on contact. Your coil power is shorting to the metal brackets underneath the playfield.