(Topic ID: 129349)

Defender Club... (fans welcome!)

By mof

8 years ago


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  • 211 posts
  • 54 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 69 days ago by KJS
  • Topic is favorited by 27 Pinsiders

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Defender Solenoid test.pdf (PDF preview)
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There are 211 posts in this topic. You are on page 4 of 5.
#151 7 years ago

I have odd behavior with my Defender, and am wondering if others are experiencing the same. If I lock a ball in one of the 3 slots at the lock trough and then drain the current ball in play, when it goes to kick a new ball into the shooter lane it ALSO drops the locked ball into play. Almost like I get a free multiball... except that I shouldn't be rewarded for draining a ball. It will also drop the locked ball when feeding the shooter lane on starting a new game (locked balls are not cleared between games for some reason). These are the only times I've seen locked balls get dropped at the wrong time. Starting a true multiball works fine and all 3 balls get dumped as expected.

The lock lane switches appear to be working fine, because the green inserts properly show the state of locked balls in the trough (flashing for empty, solid for locked... and when the locked ball drops the insert starts flashing again indicating the slot is open)

I read elsewhere that this game has more solenoids than drivers, so a relay is used to switch between A and B coils. Well, the coil to feed the shooter lane is shared with the coil that kicks out from the lock trough. I located the relay and cleaned the contacts, tested the coil, etc, and I think it's fine. MPU and power boards are modern day repros so I don't suspect them. Not sure what to check next.

Anyone else ever seen this behavior?

#152 7 years ago

if i can tomorrow, i'll try to reproduce.

3 months later
#153 7 years ago

I finally have my custom Defender up and running:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/defender-from-scratch-populated-playfield-go

So, I'm officially in the club and no longer just have boxes of Defender parts.

#154 7 years ago
Quoted from snyper2099:

I finally have my custom Defender up and running:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/defender-from-scratch-populated-playfield-go
So, I'm officially in the club and no longer just have boxes of Defender parts.

SWEET !!

4 weeks later
#155 7 years ago

So here is a question for the other owners of this game:

Does the bell ONLY go off when you earn a special or match for a credit?

#156 7 years ago
Quoted from snyper2099:

So here is a question for the other owners of this game:
Does the bell ONLY go off when you earn a special or match for a credit?

i think so

2 months later
#157 7 years ago

apron scans

apron right (resized).jpgapron right (resized).jpg

apron middle (resized).jpgapron middle (resized).jpg

Apron left (resized).jpgApron left (resized).jpg

1 month later
#158 6 years ago

looking to join the club.
very serious buyer

Shipping is fine
will be attending the Allentown show.

3 months later
#159 6 years ago

Wanting to join the club; if anyone is wanting out, let me know!

2 months later
#160 6 years ago

Hey guys...
Picked up Defender serial number 602136.

It will be at the York show for free play.

Looking for a restorable playfield if anyone has one available.

#161 6 years ago
Quoted from burningman:

Picked up Defender serial number 602136.

Congrats! I have been looking for a few years but always out of town or on vacation when one comes up.

Played both Defenders on location and loved the vid so get the rules.

Someday I will join you.

4 months later
#162 6 years ago

Looking for replacement side rails. Will Black Knight rails fit Defender?

3 months later
#163 5 years ago

Quick rules question: What are the best shots to take while in multi-ball? I don't see 3x-scoring inserts on the playfield -- is there any scoring benefit to being in multi-ball mode?

mof

#164 5 years ago
Quoted from mof:

Quick rules question: What are the best shots to take while in multi-ball? I don't see 3x-scoring inserts on the playfield -- is there any scoring benefit to being in multi-ball mode?
mof

No multipliers or any other scoring benefit. But multiball definitely helps in finishing levels and possibly making it to 5, 10, 15...

3 months later
#165 5 years ago

Simply amazing how much stuff is stacked on the bottom of the playfield...

I was wondering if anyone can explain to me what the purpose is of this double row of diodes, located just behind the 3rd flipper, between the bumper and the inline drops?

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#166 5 years ago

ok think I found it: they appear to be blocking diodes for the solenoid driver returns. A joins B and then -> backbox. Makes sense...

#167 5 years ago

Yes those are the diodes for the multiplexed coils. This was the first game to do this from Williams. They didn't do this again until Road Kings and eventually those diodes end up on the AUX driver board.

#168 5 years ago

Here's some more food for thought.

As known (and on IPDB) the date of manufacture is December, 1982. But then check the date stamp on my playfield... Is it a joke/mistake from 35+ years ago?

IMG_20180925_094448 (resized).jpgIMG_20180925_094448 (resized).jpg

1 month later
2 months later
#170 5 years ago

I had both the pin and the arcade at one time. Sadly both are now gone after an operator gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. Defender never worked right, but it seemed ahead of its time with the random popup aliens. Wish I had kept it and got it right - oh well! It's the rarest pin I've ever owned, so I'm unlikely to see another.

5 months later
#171 4 years ago

I have a fun story and some rambling about finding these machines in the Atlanta area:

Eight years ago I got into finding pinball projects for restore. I saw a defender pin for sale about that time and thought that was neat but was to slow to fetch it just northeast of Atlanta. Then in 2015 I snagged one by getting early arrive at a garage sale .. yeah. Fell in love with it. I saw another one sell a year later just north of Atlanta and thought .. 3 in Atlanta .. hum

I ended up selling my machine at SFGE to someone who made an offer my wife made me take!

Could another be found here:

Looking at the ipsnd,Pinside and pinball owners crudely 30% are over seas. Starting at 369 units we are down to 258. Assume 20% lost to destruction I’m at 206. Minus the documented owners of three sites guessing 20% overlap that’s another 70 not available so that puts the number in the ‘wild’ at 136. Divide by States I’m at 2.7 though some states/cities would have more so i’ll move Atlanta into the 3 machine market. My quota was filled or was it it?

Two days ago I happen to spy a defender in the corner of a pic of another machine for sale. It was 20 min from the house. I went out and made a deal! Wow .. I’m back in the club. Here is the pic

58316BCA-A530-4A47-84A2-3408D7450AEE (resized).png58316BCA-A530-4A47-84A2-3408D7450AEE (resized).png

Mike V

#172 4 years ago

If you want a quick flip OR anyone wants to leave the club then please LMK.

Looking to join this prestigious club.

3 weeks later
#173 4 years ago

I can’t get enough of this game. I swear I waxed the playfield and adjusted a couple things that were bothering me (drop target height and lock kick outs) and I played the game 30 times in a row. Took me a few hours. I love everything about it. I’m working on some custom lighting and will post pics when I’m done.

I’ve played it hundreds of times but don’t think I really appreciated how good it was until yesterday and today.

6 months later
#174 4 years ago

I’ve got a couple of bizarre problems with my defender.

1) The game starts but doesn’t kick out the ball. Went through all the test on the solenoids and it is doing the A and the B backwards which explains the no ball at startup because it launches the multi-ball release instead. The two relays under the playfield appear to be working during test mode. Can someone shoot me a picture of the wiring as shown in the shot below just in case it is wrong on mine

2) The game never registers any waves ever. Stays on wave one. All switches are registering fine.

It seems like a software problem but I’ve never seen software ‘go bad’ like that. Just a side note the wave issues has been there since I got the game but the ball kick out problem just recently started

Any help would much appreciated.

Thanks!

Mike V

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#175 4 years ago
Quoted from RacingPin:

Can someone shoot me a picture of the wiring as shown in the shot below just in case it is wrong on mine

Here's mine.
I remember my game showed some weird behaviour when I bought it. I replaced all pins and connectors in the head, which solved all problems.

IMG_20200308_142639 (resized).jpgIMG_20200308_142639 (resized).jpg

#176 4 years ago

Not sure why I've never seen this club... but I've been a member for a few years now. Here's what mine looks like.
I haven't yet done any restoration work to it, but works great.

20171206_232034 (resized).jpg20171206_232034 (resized).jpg

4 months later
#177 3 years ago

Hi All - brand new to the club. Would anyone be willing to post some close up pics of the connectors on the boards in the back box and in the cab? I just got the machine with the head disconnected and don't know where to reconnect everything. Afraid to hook up something wrong and blow up the machine! Thanks in advance for any help.

#178 3 years ago
Quoted from gac:

Hi All - brand new to the club. Would anyone be willing to post some close up pics of the connectors on the boards in the back box and in the cab? I just got the machine with the head disconnected and don't know where to reconnect everything. Afraid to hook up something wrong and blow up the machine! Thanks in advance for any help.

Here are a few from my Defender There are also 2 ground wires that go under the wing nut at the neck. My Defender is fairly easy to get to if you need more let me know.
Phoebe
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#179 3 years ago
Quoted from Butterflygirl24:

Here are a few from my Defender There are also 2 ground wires that go under the wing nut at the neck. My Defender is fairly easy to get to if you need more let me know.
Phoebe
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

Hi Phoebe - Thanks so much. These will be very helpful. I'm at work currently but can't wait to get home to start hooking things up. Thanks again.

#180 3 years ago
Quoted from Butterflygirl24:

Here are a few from my Defender There are also 2 ground wires that go under the wing nut at the neck. My Defender is fairly easy to get to if you need more let me know.
Phoebe
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

Thanks again Phoebe. The pictures you provided were a life saver!

7 months later
#181 3 years ago

Hey Defender fans!
We need just *1* more pinball machine review to pop in at #128 on the top-400

Can you check the ratings page and see if you've already uploaded your rating?
https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/defender/ratings
-mof

#183 2 years ago

Hopefully Defender will be BACK soon into the top-400, since the minimum ratings jumped up to 25...

7 months later
#184 2 years ago
Quoted from fuko:

I have odd behavior with my Defender, and am wondering if others are experiencing the same. If I lock a ball in one of the 3 slots at the lock trough and then drain the current ball in play, when it goes to kick a new ball into the shooter lane it ALSO drops the locked ball into play. Almost like I get a free multiball... except that I shouldn't be rewarded for draining a ball. It will also drop the locked ball when feeding the shooter lane on starting a new game (locked balls are not cleared between games for some reason). These are the only times I've seen locked balls get dropped at the wrong time. Starting a true multiball works fine and all 3 balls get dumped as expected.
The lock lane switches appear to be working fine, because the green inserts properly show the state of locked balls in the trough (flashing for empty, solid for locked... and when the locked ball drops the insert starts flashing again indicating the slot is open)
I read elsewhere that this game has more solenoids than drivers, so a relay is used to switch between A and B coils. Well, the coil to feed the shooter lane is shared with the coil that kicks out from the lock trough. I located the relay and cleaned the contacts, tested the coil, etc, and I think it's fine. MPU and power boards are modern day repros so I don't suspect them. Not sure what to check next.
Anyone else ever seen this behavior?

fuko did you ever get this figured out? We are having the exact same issue with ours.

#185 2 years ago
Quoted from BenTheCartoon:

fuko did you ever get this figured out? We are having the exact same issue with ours.

It's a switch issue. The game is losing track of the balls.

Go into switch test.
First, confirm the ball in play/credit display shows NOTHING and that NO SWITCHES ARE CLOSED. If any switch numbers are shown (closed), you will need to find them and open/gap them.

Now the game is ready for you to test the switches.

Remove the apron and the plastic covering the ball lock.

Move balls trough those areas, testing all 6 switches. As you go, also check for balls hanging up. Also test the outhole switch and the shooter lane switch. What did you find?

#186 2 years ago
Quoted from snyper2099:

It's a switch issue. The game is losing track of the balls.
Go into switch test.
First, confirm the ball in play/credit display shows NOTHING and that NO SWITCHES ARE CLOSED. If any switch numbers are shown (closed), you will need to find them and open/gap them.
Now the game is ready for you to test the switches.
Remove the apron and the plastic covering the ball lock.
Move balls trough those areas, testing all 6 switches. As you go, also check for balls hanging up. Also test the outhole switch and the shooter lane switch. What did you find?

Did all of that, and the switches themselves all seem to be operating properly. The switch test is otherwise silent unless they are actuated, both by finger and with the ball. Wiring seems to be ok as well. Is there anything to look at pertaining to the actual mechanism that releases the ball from the lock? Or is something else perhaps?

#187 2 years ago
Quoted from BenTheCartoon:

Did all of that, and the switches themselves all seem to be operating properly. The switch test is otherwise silent unless they are actuated, both by finger and with the ball. Wiring seems to be ok as well. Is there anything to look at pertaining to the actual mechanism that releases the ball from the lock? Or is something else perhaps?

A few times over the years I've run into a gummed up ball eject, works but only goes back half way until more coils are fired. Take apart and clean.

#188 2 years ago
Quoted from BenTheCartoon:

Did all of that, and the switches themselves all seem to be operating properly. The switch test is otherwise silent unless they are actuated, both by finger and with the ball. Wiring seems to be ok as well. Is there anything to look at pertaining to the actual mechanism that releases the ball from the lock? Or is something else perhaps?

Nope, not a switch issue. It is the A/B solenoid relay (fired as solenoid 11) that resides on the underside of the playfield in the back right corner. Note how solenoid 8A and 8B are the lock release and the trough release. See the attached PDF of pages from the manual. Download the whole file - only the first page is shown in preview on Pinside

I had this issue a few years back. I tried cleaning the contacts inside the relay, but the real solution was to just replace it.

If you go into solenoid test, you may find that it is inconsistent in firing the coils on either side of this A/B relay, sometimes firing both coils at once.

Defender Solenoid test.pdfDefender Solenoid test.pdf

#189 2 years ago
Quoted from Defender:

Nope, not a switch issue. It is the A/B solenoid relay (fired as solenoid 11) that resides on the underside of the playfield in the back right corner.

That did it, thank you so much! We had not yet looked at the relays, and it turned out one of them had a barely noticeable break in the wire just as it crossed over the prong. A bit of solder to reattach the wire, gave the contacts a nice cleaning, and it works great now!

#190 2 years ago
Quoted from BenTheCartoon:

That did it, thank you so much! We had not yet looked at the relays, and it turned out one of them had a barely noticeable break in the wire just as it crossed over the prong. A bit of solder to reattach the wire, gave the contacts a nice cleaning, and it works great now!

Great to hear! Such a fun game.

#191 2 years ago

Just repairing one of those recently. Wondering what there value is,7-8 condition?

#192 2 years ago

Name your price, these days it seems the sky is the limit. I’ve been offered some very nice trades (modern Stern machines) for my unrestored machine.

3 months later
#193 2 years ago

Did anyone ever make progress with CPR or Mirco on repro playfields? Were prior scans insufficient?

7 months later
#194 1 year ago

Anyone have a source for these drop target micro switches? Steve Young shows them out of stock. W-56470972800 is the part number he shows.

I am having no luck finding them. My Defender game evidently has 5 bad ones.

Defendermicro-switch (resized).jpgDefendermicro-switch (resized).jpg
#196 1 year ago

wow! that was an amazing collection of games, all looked to be in great shape.

yeah and i'm wishing that my defender looked that good...

#197 1 year ago

I think I'm going to get a new backglass from BGResto. Has anyone got a Defender BG from them?

#198 1 year ago
Quoted from doghouse:

Anyone have a source for these drop target micro switches? Steve Young shows them out of stock. W-56470972800 is the part number he shows.
I am having no luck finding them. My Defender game evidently has 5 bad ones.

Bought these from Zoro. Let's see if they work like the originals:
https://www.zoro.com/honeywell-miniature-snap-action-switch-lever-long-actuator-spdt-01a-120v-ac-contact-rating-v7-3s17d8-048/i/G4723887/

2 weeks later
#199 1 year ago
Quoted from snyper2099:

I think I'm going to get a new backglass from BGResto. Has anyone got a Defender BG from them?

I got my Cosmic Gunfight BG from BGResto. Its beautiful!

Steve is great to work with, and lucky for me is local, so no shipping needed.

11 months later
#200 5 months ago

Finally in the club! Anyone got an extra PF

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