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Tron - help!

M

MarcC

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Joined
Apr 27, 2025
Messages
14
Location
Midlands
Hi all, bought a Tron on here this week. My first machine.

It arrived on Tues, I set it up on Wednesday… and… it’s not working. Balls won’t come up, flippers won’t move (but the flipper buttons are able to cycle through menus, etc).

Lights are on, sounds are working, screen is working…
 
Sounds like the high voltage stuff is not enabled. Are your fuses all good on the main power board? You should see a red LED by the expected voltages on there. Have any connections come loose in the backbox? Check J10-7 (according to manual)

Stern’s SAM system is pretty reliable. I doubt it’s a major thing.

Manual: https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Tron-Manual.pdf
 
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Youre not trying to play it with the coin door open are you?

First pin, its a question that has to be asked, modern pins have high voltage lock out switches behind the coin door so cuts all power to the coils when its open, you can usually pull it out and get the power back with the coin door open.
 
Funny enough I had a IJ4 and I am pretty sure this happened to me , it was just a fuse in the back box can’t remember which one but check them .
 
Video shows some of the issue.

Variously seeing messages for “Device malfunction auto plunger”, trying to locate balls, tech Ian alert for ball missing, etc. The video shows what’s basically happening. It’s set to free play, it worked ok for a day.
 

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You’ll definitely get this fixed and realise a great part of the hobby is problem solving & how helpful some people on here can be.

As the pin has been moved I’d be looking for any connectors that have come loose, also if you’re really stuck ask on here if there’s anyone nearby who could pop round and assist. If you’ve not owned a pin before it would be good to be shown how to remove the glass and balls, lift playfield etc

Also post replies to the previous messages above (have you looked at the fuses etc) as this helps to diagnose what’s wrong 👍
 
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Opened the backbox and could see fuse F5 (labelled ‘50VDC coils and flippers’) was blown. Quickly switched it out for another to see if that would work and it blew that one straight away as well. Any idea what could be causing this? Set this up last Wednesday and only had a day or so of light use before this happened, and now my lad’s here for the holidays and it isn’t working… *sigh*
 
HHH said:
F5 takes a 7 Amp Slo-Blo fuse according to the picture @Jason Catrine posted above.
Is that what you used when you replaced the blown fuse?
Click to expand...
Yeah, any idea what might cause this one to blow? I’ve ordered more from Amazon.

Also, maybe as a result of this, the 50v here is intermittent and dim?

Excuse my newbie-ness on all of this!
 

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The 50v led shouldn’t really be lit at all with a blown fuse in there. I’d check all your coils next with a multimeter. See if you have a dead one. Look at the wiring to the coils too and see if theres any obvious signs of damage, anything loose or exposed wires etc.
 
MarcC said:
Yeah, any idea what might cause this one to blow? I’ve ordered more from Amazon.

Also, maybe as a result of this, the 50v here is intermittent and dim?

Excuse my newbie-ness on all of this!
Click to expand...
It will most likely be a transistor on the power driver board, the sticky up thing and or a diode on one of the coils, possibly the coil itself.

It will keep blowing the fuse, I wouldn't bother putting another in yet until you work out which transistor has failed.
 
Disconnect the connectors going to the playfield so that you isolate the board from the game and see if it still blows the fuse. That will tell you whether it's a board problem or a playfield problem.
 
@MarcC I'm happy to jump on a video call tomorrow and help you if you like (failing that, I can do Monday as i'm going to a pin league meet this weekend). Others on here have done that for me so i'm happy to pay it forward so to speak. I dont have a Tron here to compare but do have a Stern Batman The Dark Knight which is similar hardware in the back. You will need a multimeter though to help you troubleshoot.
 
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Jason Catrine said:
@MarcC I'm happy to jump on a video call tomorrow and help you if you like (failing that, I can do Monday as i'm going to a pin league meet this weekend). Others on here have done that for me so i'm happy to pay it forward so to speak. I dont have a Tron here to compare but do have a Stern Batman The Dark Knight which is similar hardware in the back. You will need a multimeter though to help you troubleshoot.
Click to expand...
I’ll need to pick this up with you at some point, but can’t today. I was hoping that simply replacing the fuse might fix the issue. Tried again today with some new ones, but I just turned it on and it blew the same one (F5) immediately.
 
MarcC said:
I’ll need to pick this up with you at some point, but can’t today. I was hoping that simply replacing the fuse might fix the issue. Tried again today with some new ones, but I just turned it on and it blew the same one (F5) immediately.
Click to expand...
It will, it's either a transistor a diode or a coil. The coil being the least unlikely.
 
From a quick look at the manual the board at the top left in the cabinet drives the power.

Follow at @ronsplooter advice

Put a new fuse in

Disconnect the connector that specificly powers the flippers

Turn on

If the fuse blows it's most likely the board.

Personally you best to take the board out and test the transistor that relates to the flippers, it's most likely one of them.

@Jason Catrine
Will be able t o help
 
Honestly, this is just too much for a beginner to deal with on day 2-3 of owning a first pinball machine (that’s cost a lot of money). I don’t even know what I’m looking at here. The playfield seems ok. If there’s an issue with the board, I don’t have the skill or knowledge to recognise it or fix it :-/

This is a bit of a nightmare, tbh.

I knew there’d be things to maintain, but a massive failure of the functions for a ball to be in play and the flippers to move is way beyond me.

How do I go about getting someone to look at this, and how much money (that I don’t have after spending above budget to get something newer and hopefully in need of less immediate maintenance than other options I was looking at) is it likely to cost?
 
@MarcC give Andy a shout and see if he can come out and help you:

pinparts.co.uk

Pinball Mania - PinParts

We offer mobile Pinball Repairs to owners within a 40 mile radius of our base in Rugby. If you are outside of this area then it may be possible for you to bring the machine to our workshop for repair or overhaul. Pinball parts sales for all Pintable Repairs.
pinparts.co.uk pinparts.co.uk
 
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