What's new
By:
Pinball info

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Stern GI sockets falling apart

kevlar

kevlar

Site Supporter
10 Years
Joined
Apr 11, 2013
Messages
6,810
Location
Newport, South Wales
I just noticed a flickering GI lamp on my Foo Fights under the right sling. I touched the led and the socket was completely loose. Lifted the playfield to find it had fallen apart. Looking around I found 5 more! They were loose but still touching, I'm surprised I hadn't noticed them flickering. Anyone else had this issue?. A bad batch of lamp sockets for sure.

IMG_20231219_122356.jpgIMG_20231219_122656.jpgIMG_20231219_122756.jpgIMG_20231219_123043.jpgIMG_20231219_123222.jpgIMG_20231219_123233.jpg
 
Last edited:
I can go back to a new in box Deadpool that did the same........imagine having to strip off the whole flipper plate and mechanism on a brand new machine with zero plays on it !
 
kevlar said:
I just noticed a flickering GI lamp on my Foo Fights under the right sling. I touched the led and the socket was completely loose. Lifted the playfield to find it had fallen apart. Looking around I found 5 more! They were loose but still touching, I'm surprised I hadn't noticed them flickering. Anyone else had this issue?. A bad batch of lamp sockets for sure.

View attachment 239961View attachment 239962View attachment 239963View attachment 239964View attachment 239965View attachment 239966
Click to expand...
hi Kev did you find a solution /fix for this , i have several gi bulbs out .
 
gawd I’ve missed this place. The itty bitty nitty gritty like this is what has been missing from my life. Who started this? /checks. Kevlar. FFS I love you man I need more of this in my life.

I’m like a noob again. I can’t remember how to lift up a playfield or how to go through the menus with buttons. Apparently you can restart someone’s game by pressing the start button. Apparently there is a thing called a credit dot. Allegedly not everyone is friends with everyone else. I know! It’s like Eldorado. I revisited Pinside too and still haven’t worked out how to post gifs on there or how to set it up to filter out all the crap I don’t want.

Anyway I am drinking (what happened to my old ‘post here if drunk’ and ‘xxxx is a *******’ and ‘time to moan’ threads? I can’t find them, they may need resurrecting just to annoy people).

Let’s see if I can post gifs from phone or not (on WhatsApp I cannot from laptop but can from iphone, spooky eh?) ….. now then, something inappropriate I think
That should do the trick. It is not what you think it is, no siree. It’s a man kissing the Blarney Stone which is an old pinball reference (look it up on IPDB or POA or …. er, …. PHOF and Cows and Easter Eggs, if you don’t believe me). It very cleverly links back to an amusing anecdote concerning John Trudeau and Pin2K. Fo realz.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
kevlar said:
Fix? Replacing the failed ones is the only option. I've changed 10 on my FF so far. I knew mine couldn't be the only 1!
Click to expand...
I have a couple of flakey GI bulbs on my Mando, squeezed re seated etc, cures it for a few days then the issue comes back.
looked online and brought what I thought were the correct sockets to replace them with, but they look different, don't suppose you have a link for the ones Stern use do ya?
 
kev a said:
I have a couple of flakey GI bulbs on my Mando, squeezed re seated etc, cures it for a few days then the issue comes back.
looked online and brought what I thought were the correct sockets to replace them with, but they look different, don't suppose you have a link for the ones Stern use do ya?
Click to expand...
These are the ones I've used to replace poor quality sockets on my FF that fell apart https://www.pinball.co.uk/spares-ac...base-for-44-style-lamp-2-lead-socket-a-11905/
 
Today I suddenly had an issue with my Foo Fighters not fully booting, or booting then getting stuck in a loop where it flashes the inserts over and over. You guessed it, stern ****ty GI lamp sockets strike again! :mad:.


Found the issue.... I'll change it tomorrow, that'll be 11 sockets just exploded on this machine although this is the first time one of them has caused a short.

IMG_20241215_201408.webp
 
kev a said:
I have a couple of flakey GI bulbs on my Mando, squeezed re seated etc, cures it for a few days then the issue comes back.
looked online and brought what I thought were the correct sockets to replace them with, but they look different, don't suppose you have a link for the ones Stern use do ya?
Click to expand...
So let me get this right.... you want to replace POOR lamp sockets with POOR lamp sockets?

I rarely have trouble with the old Bally/Williams WPC era lamp holders as long as they are clean.

Stern will continue cost cutting until people stop buying them.
 
Pick Holder said:
So let me get this right.... you want to replace POOR lamp sockets with POOR lamp sockets?

I rarely have trouble with the old Bally/Williams WPC era lamp holders as long as they are clean.

Stern will continue cost cutting until people stop buying
Click to expand...

I had assumed a bit like replacement coil stops, aftermarket ones may be the same size etc but better quality?
 
kevlar said:
Today I suddenly had an issue with my Foo Fighters not fully booting, or booting then getting stuck in a loop where it flashes the inserts over and over. You guessed it, stern ****ty GI lamp sockets strike again! :mad:.


Found the issue.... I'll change it tomorrow, that'll be 11 sockets just exploded on this machine although this is the first time one of them has caused a short.

View attachment 267745
Click to expand...
We should thank you Kev for taking the hit for us - looks like you got the lions share of the **** sockets in that one machine! Annoying but hopefully you’ve swapped out all the dodgy ones now 🤞🏻
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom