Stern SM Flipper Hum Normal?

[Judge Dreads]

Don't know anything about Stern games except that they feel flimsy, here goes, went to play my SM last night and the RH upper flipper hums quite loud when I hold the button, pretty sure it was not like this before, never heard anything like it on good old Bally Williams, I appreciate that Williams coils have 2 windings, a high power and a low power and Sterns only the one, it this coil hum normal because it sounds new to me, don't like it if it is as it's pretty damn loud and detracts from the game?? if not, what gives, not even looked at it yet as I can't be bothered until I have a bit more info.



Cheers in advance

 

[Fintan Stack]

Hi Dreads



My TSPP does this too when you hold the right flipper. I'm pretty certain it's an issue on all Sterns.

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

Normal I'm afraid - though seems to vary machine to machine. Was hardly noticeable on my FGY but was there.



Apparently playing about with the coil stop, or fitting a different one can sometimes reduce it .

 

[JT.]

My SM makes flipper noise too. I dicked around with the coil stop trying to make it stop (there are a few tips on the internet about this) but nothing I did made any difference. But don't really notice it any more.

 

[Judge Dreads]

Cheers guys, had a feeling it was something I would just have to live with, noisy coil added to grey hair, wrinkles and beer belly

 

[PinballDaze]

I'll have some new Stern flipper parts available at The UK Pinball Party. Can't guarantee they'll cure the noise issue.



PinballDaze

 

[pinballmania]

The technical bit. Bally Williams use a constant voltage on the flippers , one for power and one for hold on two windings. To get the hold on a single winding stern coil, the same voltage is pulsed, at a slower frequency. Hence the hum. New plungers and coil stops can help, an overly strong spring can make it worse.

 

[JustLikeMe]

Both my SM and TSPP had the same issue. TSPP the noise was fairly constant, whereas SM would be pretty quiet one day and much more noticeable the next. Always annoyed me slightly, and certainly made the Sterns feel cheaper and more toy like than B/W titles. But hey, the noise didn't stop the games from being great!