Yes it should light up the string. Really, if you touch and wire to any of those GI pins they should light. If it doesn't, it's probably a fuse blown. burnt GI connectors extremely common.

It's pinball, so there could always be something else going on, but yeah, GI connectors on machines with a full load of incandescents can just get ridiculously hot and burn up.

Not a dumb question. As TheLaw said you may have a fuse out as well, but also note when those GI connectors get hot enough to burn the plastic, the pins themselves can get scorched as well, so they may have a layer of carbon/crud on them, inhibiting a solid connection.

The male and female side of this plug will need replaced. Use trifurcon crimp pins.

Redo your plugs first before worrying about why a string doesnt work. You will probably find the issue is burned up solder joint on the header pin.

Heat is a really good reason to go to all LED lighting IMHO.

You should have probably replaced the entire connector wafer, but hey if it works, go for it. nice job

Agreed. 1 pin burnt = the rest have compromised plating as well. If the rest of them burn, don't replace them 1 at a time - replace the entire 11 pin header.

Glad you got through it though

on the same subject.....On my system 11 gi I notice that the wires piggyback and go to the next pin. It's seems impossible to double up the wires in the connector. Are the two woes necessary going to the next pin?

Best way I've seen to 'fix' the looped GI connectors on the WPC interconnect PCB:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/board-hack-job-check-it-out