Hello everyone!

I bought a project Paragon and it dies when I press the left flipper button. Please bear with me as I'm very new to the hobby and perhaps bit off a little more than I can chew.

If I'm reading this page (https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bally/Stern#Reset_Circuit) correctly it looks like I'm likely triggering the reset circuit because the +12 Volts is dropping below 8.2/9.1 volts.

Guess:
I either have faulty diodes or the coil on one or both are bad.

What I've done so far:
I have a DMM but I'm very sorry to say I don't really understand what I'm doing here. I put it on the diode reading and tested each diode and the meter quickly would down to zero for all diodes--the left side and the right side both did the same thing and the right side is functioning "correctly" (meaning the game doesn't reset when the right flippers are pressed).

Some additional details worth mentioning:

• when the left flipper was briefly working it wouldn't stay up when the button was held. I checked the EOS switch but it looks the same as the others to me, separating when it is roughly at 75-80%.
• the upper left flipper is completely off the link. This is because the coil sleeve seems pinched and the plunger will not go all the way up and down smoothly and I suspect it was getting stuck up. Part of me wonders if someone figured it as the culprit (as I do now) and took it apart

Next move, if this makes sense...
Replace the upper left flipper coil.

I read through this thread: (corrosion damage on the MPU)
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/paragon-dies-after-i-flip

and this thread: (the MPU matrix wires were getting mixed up with the flipper wires on the solenoid board?)
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bally-paragon-resets-with-right-flipper-why

but I don't think either of these apply to my particular problem. Why? Because while this behavior is exactly how the pin was described by the person who sold it to me the game *did* seem to work for a very brief period (3 minutes) before exhibiting this behavior. Besides, the second "fix" seems more like a hack than understanding the core problem.

Hi Quench--

First off, thank you for your response. And apologies for the newb moment on the diodes (I'll read up on them some so I don't ask and do as much silly things).

I tested TP2 on the MPU and it read as 13.5vDC ± 0.3.

If I'm reading the schematics correctly (which one should not assume) TP2 on the MPU should be 11.9vDC unregulated.

edit: I changed ~13.5vDC to ~13.5vDC ± 0.3 to 13.5vDC ± 0.3. Just wanted to not confuse everyone with wonky vernacular. If I ever do it, please let me know as I prefer to be exact and follow proper terminology.

This was strange to me because it wasn't consistent and I'm scratching my head. Something tells me we (really, you) have narrowed the problem down.

I did as instructed and my first readings were in the -9±1 range (on the 2000m setting--sorry I've got a cheapo DMM) but it continued to go up over time. My last reading was at -30±1 (after perhaps a minute) and it seemed as though it was going to continue going up. I turned the machine off because I became concerned at the inconsistent (and rising) reading. I was getting a "1" on the 200m setting and in the hundredths on the 20 setting. (I probably need to invest in a better DMM.)

NOTE: the device read with a negative sign which is what I'm not understanding. I would have expected a positive value and I double-checked (and triple- and quadruple-checked) this because I didn't understand if I was doing something wrong.

Once again I greatly appreciate your help.

Apologies for the delay...you know, life stuff.

I attempted to do this again, removing the J3 connector from the solenoid driver board and testing TP3 on the rectifier board. As I previously mentioned the voltage continues to go up as the game is on but there is definitely something wrong here. Here's a pic of the DMM (excuse the lousy DMM--I didn't realize there were different quality meters and perhaps I should just go get a good one) reading for TP3 after the game had been powered on for ~8 minutes:

DMM reading - Rectifier TP3 (resized).jpg

I did notice that TP3 on the rectifier was bent. I'm unsure if that makes a difference but I figured I'd show how this board looks because I was wondering if that is at all my issue (on top of other things).

Rectifier Board Test Points (resized).jpg

Once again, I really, really appreciate any advice given and if you're ever in Seattle I'll gladly buy you your drink (beer, wine, whisky, coffee, etc.) of choice.

The black lead on the MM was on the ground braid at the front of the head of the cabinet; actually it was on the screw that screwed it into the head.

Paragon Ground Braid (resized).jpg

Click up to the next higher volts DC range and check again, it does not normally pass 20v, but some cheap meters don't give you any hint you are out of range.

I checked the range on 200m, 2000m, 20 and 200. The readings for TP3 were...

200m: out of range
2000m: -046
20: -0.04
200: out of range

Just to make certain I wasn't going crazy I also measured the remaining test points. They were:

TP1: -22.2vDC
TP2: 161±0.1vDC
TP4: 28.5vDC
TP5: 18.4vDC

If it still reads zero volts, switch over your meter to AC volts and probe across top-right and bot-left terminals of BR2 as we are looking at in your picture. Should see ~12v AC. If still zero volts, probe from BR2 top right lug to the bottom F3 fuse clip. If you now see AC volts the fuse or fuse clips are bad.
If you still see no AC volts you have to check the transformer tap wires.

Before I move forward with this part let me make certain I understand because I don't want to mess up and give you false information. Are these the two terminals (top-right and bottom-left) you're referring to on BR2 (circled in red)? And then based on that, if that still reads 12vAC I should probe (again, AC) the top-right of the circled red and the bottom of the F3 fuse clip (below, not shown in pic)?

Rectifier Board Test Points - Copy (resized).jpg

I apologize for the likely frustration (you and everyone in the thread) and greatly thank you for your patience.

Those read as 13.0 ± 0.1 vAC.

Here's a picture of the lower portion of the board. As I was taking this picture I noticed what I *think* is the wrong size connector. It's connected correctly but I think I'm going to re-pin that one with a correct sized one eventually. (One thing at a time, right?)

Rectifier Board - Lower (resized).jpg

Top Left Connector - Wrong Size (resized).jpg

Well, that's too bad but not totally unexpected. I'm seeing several different prices for what appears to be the same thing: a replacement AS-2518-18 board. When I see this I assume the components are the reason. Any recommendations here?

And thank you very much for your help on this!

First off I really must say this: you guys are awesome and I love this community! It's really nice for someone like me who is trying to learn but nobody nearby (that I know of) to learn from. Thank you very much to all.

Between what I've read and what I've now been told it seems I can reduce the overall power consumption if I change out the displays to newer LED displays and to replace the GI.

For the LED GI I either need to have a modern lamp board (such as Alltek) or I can purchase an adapter. The pricing seems to be $120 vs $45 respectively so I guess I just need to consider whether upgrading to a new board makes sense.

Regarding the LED displays I think I can immediately put them in without issue, but I will be able to disconnect the HV from them as the newer displays don't use them. Of course, the cost of new displays is high so it's something to consider.

It read as 13.5 ± 0.2 vDC.

Ok, I reconnected J3 on the solenoid driver board and tested C23 which looks significantly different than others I've seen--photos below.

It reads as 13.42 ± 0.2 vDC.

Here's shots of the board and I tried to get a pic of the specific C23 capacitor.

Paragon Solenoid Driver Board (resized).jpg

Paragon Solenoid C23 (resized).jpg

I'll get that picture in about 10 minutes! From memory there are black and red wires running from the leads but I couldn't necessarily see underneath.

This suggests the capacitor is faulty. But something doesn't smell right. You originally mentioned the game was actually powering up and playing? Does it still?
When you tested the DC voltage on the BR2 bridge, you did have the J3 connector (top right corner of the head-box) disconnected?
Also, just confirm your game is a Paragon?

The game powers on, the LED flashes 7 times, the solenoids all fire (except the knocker as one of the wires has been disconnected/pulled off before I got it), and a game will start up and play until the left flipper button is pressed.

Yes, when I tested the BR2 bridge J3 was disconnected.

Yes, this is a Paragon.

Pictures below.

I can clearly see the black wire from the negative lead going to the left side and the red wire from the positive lead going to the right side.

For Orientation:
IMG_0840 - Copy (resized).jpg

Where the red lead ends:
IMG_0839 - Copy (resized).jpg

Where the black lead ends (apologies, this was upside-down so the bottom of that capacitor is pointing down):
IMG_0837 - Copy (resized).jpg

I was just looking at the Solenoid component parts list in the manual and it looks like C23 is supposed to be a 11700uF 20v capacitor.

Am I reading the one in my board wrong or does that say 1,500uF and 75v? Wouldn't that be significantly underpowered?

When you measured the 13.2vDC on the capacitor, you had the black meter probe on the lower side of the capacitor and the red meter probe on the top leg of the capacitor?

Yes, I connected the red probe on the top leg and black probe on the bottom leg.

Yes! Very good pickup... I originally thought it was 15,000uF without paying close enough attention. That is very likely your problem. You can probably ignore the flipper tests I just mentioned. So the voltage measurements did point to something with that capacitor..

Ok, great!

I'm going to scour my area for someone who may have this capacitor on hand but if they don't I'll probably be ordering from GPE. I think this is the correct ones for C23 and C26 respectively (assuming I should just replace both):

https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=CERH-15000uF-25V

https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=CEA-150uF-350V-RMD

Is there concern in going significantly over on voltage? There's a local place that has 15,000uF 63v capacitors in stock and I seem to remember this should be fine although the memories of my classes from the 80s have been eroded by hops and grapes.

Edit: my research sounds like I technically can do this but at the expense of overall lifetime of the capacitor.

[NOTE: I apologize for the very long post here--I guess I had a lot of questions.]

It wasn't until I started waiting for my capacitors to show up that I really absorbed what was written here. Now I see exactly what was meant and so I dug in a little more. One thing I noted early on was most of my backbox did not light up. It looks like the first two J3 pins on the rectifier board are burned and someone clipped them off. Good--problem was easy enough to figure out but now I'm seeing a ton of other burned pins. Boo. So I'm going to actually try to re-pin these guys and I was hoping folks would be kind enough to get me going in the right direction here.

Edited to remove most of my babble as to not clog up the thread--I found everything I need so the questions became unnecessary.

Yesterday I turned on my Paragon got a few flips in and then something popped. Now I'm only getting 6 flashes so I'm attempting to troubleshoot this and would like a little confirmation I'm chasing this down the right way.

I checked TP3 and I'm getting ~23vDC on it. My next test point should be pin 18 on U10, correct? And just to confirm, this is the 18th pin on (I guess I'm calling it) the bottom side of the PIA. From what I've read this should be pulsing?

Nice call. F4 was blown and to make matters worse I hadn't checked to make sure the fuses were correct when I acquired the machine. This isn't the correct fuse so I'm hoping no further damage was done.

Lesson learned.