(Topic ID: 158888)

Firepower #89 Flasher Help

By Pinball-DOOD

7 years ago


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#1 7 years ago

Replacing LEDS on Firepower and got two big 89 flashers under the 'Fire' and 'power' on the play field. They don't seem to work. The old bulbs I replaced were old and burned out so I've never seen the 89's flash. What should I do? I posted two photos below, it's the 89 in the middle of each.

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#2 7 years ago

There is a small board between the two flasher bulbs with a large resistor on it. You need to cut the large resistor off the board. Then your led flashers should work.

#3 7 years ago
Quoted from kuelman:

There is a small board between the two flasher bulbs with a large resistor on it. You need to cut the large resistor off the board. Then your led flashers should work.

I will try this, thank you!

#4 7 years ago
Quoted from Pinball-DOOD:

I will try this, thank you!

Go here and have a look.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/firepower-tech-repair-and-restore#post-2276297

There is another thread that I found similar information about the warming resistor but I can't locate it at the moment. My LED flashers worked once I cut out the warming resistor. Just make sure you clip the correct one...

#5 7 years ago
Quoted from dzorbas:

Go here and have a look.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/firepower-tech-repair-and-restore#post-2276297
There is another thread that I found similar information about the warming resistor but I can't locate it at the moment. My LED flashers worked once I cut out the warming resistor. Just make sure you clip the correct one...

Thanks a bunch, man. I'll check that out.

#6 7 years ago
Quoted from dzorbas:

Go here and have a look.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/firepower-tech-repair-and-restore#post-2276297
There is another thread that I found similar information about the warming resistor but I can't locate it at the moment. My LED flashers worked once I cut out the warming resistor. Just make sure you clip the correct one...

Hey, I found the burned out warming resistor. How would you recommend I remove it? Just want to make sure. Thanks.

#7 7 years ago

If there are #89 LED flasher leds put in a machine with a warming circuit they will lock on. Until the ground is cut from the warming resistor board. Not won't work until it's cut.

If they are not lighting immediately there is a problem somewhere else.
Broken power wires on the warming resistor board.
The smaller resistor on that board is bad open, broken or missing. Driving transistor for the lamps is bad.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/led-flash-bulbs-89-in-firepower

#8 7 years ago
Quoted from Pinball-DOOD:

Hey, I found the burned out warming resistor. How would you recommend I remove it? Just want to make sure. Thanks.

Cut the ground wire off.

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#9 7 years ago

Are these 2 flashers wired in series to light at the same time? LEDs are polarity sensitive, so the positive voltage needs to go to the center pin on the socket. If they are wired in series then the positive wire starts at the center pin of the first bulb socket and the side wire goes to the next bulbs center pin and so on.

#10 7 years ago
Quoted from erak:

Cut the ground wire off.

Gotcha. Thanks a lot man. So the little metal piece to the right of the resistor? What should I cut it with?

#11 7 years ago

The pic that erak has posted shows a flasher with the polarity reversed and will not work with an LED.

#12 7 years ago
Quoted from Pinball-DOOD:

Gotcha. Thanks a lot man. So the little metal piece to the right of the resistor? What should I cut it with?

Just cut the black wire. But if the small resistor in the pic on the board is no good the lights will never work. You need to check if thats good as the LED flashers aren't ghosting before removing the big resistor. I think you have another problem. Probably that.

#13 7 years ago
Quoted from GRUMPY:

The pic that erak has posted shows a flasher with the polarity reversed and will not work with an LED.

All modern quality #89 flashlamps are no longer polarity sensitive.

Check your small resistor. Cut the lead of the big resistor that goes to the black wire. Or the black wire. And they will work. Unless you have a driving transistor issue.

Tons of threads on pinside about this. And also info by just searching google.

#14 7 years ago

Check what I circled in green.
And cut one of the red marks I put on the pic. It doesn't matter which one you cut.

The small resistor circled in green has to be good or your lights will never work.

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#15 7 years ago
Quoted from erak:

Check what I circled in green.
And cut one of the red marks I put on the pic. It doesn't matter which one you cut.
The small resistor circled in green has to be good or your lights will never work.

Thanks, man. I'll keep you posted.

#16 7 years ago

Went to cut the resistor but it was so disintegrated that it just broke in half. The flashers still don't work so it may be a problem elsewhere.

#17 7 years ago
Quoted from Pinball-DOOD:

Went to cut the resistor but it was so disintegrated that it just broke in half. The flashers still don't work so it may be a problem elsewhere.

Check the small resistor circled in green with a Multimeter. If it's no good, your lights will NEVER work. More than likely the heat from the big resistor going bad fried the small one. Replace them, $ 0.50 cents each or less.

Then if that doesn't work you need to do some troubleshooting.

#18 7 years ago
Quoted from erak:

Check the small resistor circled in green with a Multimeter. If it's no good, your lights will NEVER work. More than likely the heat from the big resistor going bad fried the small one. Replace them, $ 0.50 cents each or less.
Then if that doesn't work you need to do some troubleshooting.

Awesome. Thanks so much. They probably haven't worked in 20 years so it's gonna be awesome seeing them work. Thanks everyone

#19 7 years ago
Quoted from erak:

All modern quality #89 flashlamps are no longer polarity sensitive.

I must not be getting the good ones.

#20 7 years ago
Quoted from erak:

Check the small resistor circled in green with a Multimeter. If it's no good, your lights will NEVER work. More than likely the heat from the big resistor going bad fried the small one. Replace them, $ 0.50 cents each or less.
Then if that doesn't work you need to do some troubleshooting.

Hey this may be a silly question but I'm kinda new to pinball repair but do you just solder in the new small resistor?

#21 7 years ago
Quoted from Pinball-DOOD:

Hey this may be a silly question but I'm kinda new to pinball repair but do you just solder in the new small resistor?

Heat up the leads on the old one, remove it, replace it with the new one. Just solder it in there. If I recall correctly, it doesn't matter which way you put it in as they don't have a polarity. If you want to be sure, match up the direction of the bands when you put the new one in.

#22 7 years ago
Quoted from dzorbas:

Heat up the leads on the old one, remove it, replace it with the new one. Just solder it in there. If I recall correctly, it doesn't matter which way you put it in as they don't have a polarity. If you want to be sure, match up the direction of the bands when you put the new one in.

Thanks a ton, man. I actually think the small resistor is still alive! The red started blinking but then stopped. What do you think is happening? Thanks.

5 months later
#23 7 years ago

Update: So I multimetered the small resistor and it is still alive. The #89 lights are still not lighting and I have removed the warming 300 ohm resistor. When I push on the socket of the blue Power light, the Red 89 will come on. Any idea of what I should look at? Thanks!

#24 7 years ago

What happens when you turn the game on? In "attract" mode the 89s will flash at the same time. You can also put the game in diagnostic mode and go into the solenoid test. When you advance to test 15 the 89s will flash continuously. When you say you push on the socket and the bulbs come on, do they both come on or just one? To me that sounds like a bad socket or a loose wire. The bulbs are in a series and if one doesn't work, the other won't either.

#25 7 years ago

Gotcha! Yes, when I push the blue bulb, the red bulb comes on. When I push the red bulb, nothing happens Could the blue socket be bad? How can I check?

#26 7 years ago

The bulbs do not flash during attract mode... I'm with you, it's probably a Loose wire or bad socket

#27 7 years ago

Sockets aren't expensive so I'd look at replacing them as the first step. It's a bit odd that they both don't come on when you push the blue one in. I realize someone said it doesn't matter which way you put the bulbs in but try pulling the blue one out, rotate it 180 degrees and put it back in.

When are you actually pushing on the blue bulb, when the game is in attract mode or in diagnostic mode? Other than during gameplay, that's the only time they should come on.

#28 7 years ago

I will try this, thanks a ton. The red LED lights up and stays lit during attract mode when I push on the blue bulb. It doesn't flash with the 44's next to it though it's just a solid light.

#29 7 years ago

Okay, that's not normal behaviour in attract mode. The 44s will flash and then the 89s will flash. The 89s never stay on. Watch the beginning of this video -

If the 89s are staying lit that means there's current flowing to them. Are you sure that resistor isn't toast? Take a picture of the board and post it. When you start a game, if you push on the blue 89 will the red 89 come on as it does in attract mode?

#30 7 years ago
Quoted from dzorbas:

Okay, that's not normal behaviour in attract mode. The 44s will flash and then the 89s will flash. The 89s never stay on. Watch the beginning of this video - » YouTube video.
If the 89s are staying lit that means there's current flowing to them. Are you sure that resistor isn't toast? Take a picture of the board and post it. When you start a game, if you push on the blue 89 will the red 89 come on as it does in attract mode?

Will do!

#31 7 years ago

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#32 7 years ago

UPDATE! This wire was really loose and just popped off! Is this the problem?? Should I strip wire and solder back on?

#33 7 years ago

You might as well just snip off the half of that resistor that's still on the board. It won't make a difference but it looks horrible sitting there like that. Check the path of all the wires between the two 89s and the board. Check all the other wires soldered to the board. Make sure everything is solidly connected. If a wire came loose or popped off, solder it back on and make sure it stays.

I'm going to go have a look at mine and get a picture of my board and compare.

#34 7 years ago

Gotcha! I'm about to solder it back on. I stripped the wire that fell off to expose the copper. Just checked and the wire between the 89's is good!

#35 7 years ago

The other thing you might want to do is swap the bulbs to make sure that they both work. Do the same thing you did before to get the red one to light up. I know this sounds stupid and the bulbs are probably brand new but you want to make sure that something really obvious isn't causing more problems.

#36 7 years ago
Quoted from dzorbas:

You might as well just snip off the half of that resistor that's still on the board. It won't make a difference but it looks horrible sitting there like that. Check the path of all the wires between the two 89s and the board. Check all the other wires soldered to the board. Make sure everything is solidly connected. If a wire came loose or popped off, solder it back on and make sure it stays.

Just soldered the wire back on and tested all connections, everything's all good! I even desoldered that warming resistor part. Still nothing

#37 7 years ago
Quoted from dzorbas:

The other thing you might want to do is swap the bulbs to make sure that they both work. Do the same thing you did before to get the red one to light up. I know this sounds stupid and the bulbs are probably brand new but you want to make sure that something really obvious isn't causing more problems.

I'll try that! I multimetered the ears of the 89's and they were good though

2 weeks later
#38 7 years ago

Ok, so I soldered in new sockets and still nothing... any ideas? Continuity checks out on wires and small resistor has continuity

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