(Topic ID: 300618)

Gottlieb Bad Girls weak flippers

By Ramakers

2 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 4 posts
  • 2 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 2 years ago by Ramakers
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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#1 2 years ago

I'm working on a Gottlieb #Bad Girls. The flippers are really weak, if you are lucky you can return the ball to the popbumpers but not higher. In the schematics the coils are referred to as super flippers?
If I hold the flippers down while pushing the button the flipper pulses but I don't need force to keep it down. If I let go of the flipper it hits up fast and stays up. If I try to push the flipper down I need a lot of force to push the bat down. Both flippers have the same problem (the top right flipper needs a new coil).
I cleaned the flipper buttons, adjusted and cleaned the EOS with no luck. What else can be the problem?

#2 2 years ago

So, if i understand correctly, the flippers seem to function fine, its just that they don't have a lot of power to get the ball past the pop bumpers ?

According to the manual, do you have the correct coils and they are wired correctly ? Same with eos switch ?

I doubh its the coil sleeves making so much drag that its causing this. Just for fun check the coil sleeves, make sure they didnt melt, clean em out replace em, whatever. Make sure the flipper linkage moves freely but isnt so loose its causing a hang up.

#3 2 years ago
Quoted from JadedHesher:

According to the manual, do you have the correct coils and they are wired correctly ? Same with eos switch ?

I checked the coils, they are the correct type (Coil A-20095 SS) and the sleeve is in good condition. If moved by hand the bat moves smooth without any resistance.
The solder connections all look as if they are done in factory (or by a good technician a long time ago) so I presume the wiring isn't backwards but it kind a feels that way, weak when going up, strong in the top position.

#4 2 years ago

For future reference I post my own solution:

I did some more investigating, all connections to the coils where right.
I made a switched jumper cable and put this straight from the power supply to the ground lug of the coil. If I push the button, no change.
I bridged the 24v lug to the power supply and use the original button, the bats fire like hell. Since the other coils are working fine I presume there is something wrong in the 24v daisy chain, so I bridged it from the pop bumper to the flippers and this made the flippers work like they are supposed to, very strong.
Now this is fixed I took my attention to the "burned" coil of the upper right flipper. The previous owner sold me the machine with a non working upper flipper, he told me it was burned, but the wrapper didn't look that bad. The plunger was very loose in the coil and the wires weren't soldered . There was also a Wago clamp connecting two wires. The coil was a Bally one without the sleeve. After looking at the wire colors it proved to be all connected wrong. They connected the coil in series with the 24v daisy chain, this added resistance in the chain and caused the other flippers to become weak. I replaced the coil with a correct one with sleeve and wired it up the way it is supposed to be. Now the upper right flipper works just fine. I also removed the jumper wire from the pop bumpers to the front flippers and as expected they keep working with high power.
Lessons learned: Start with the worst problem first and if someone tried to repair a machine before you, keep in mind they are no experts, especially if they sell the machine broken. (I also don't consider myself an expert yet)

The advantage is that I was able to buy the cabinet cheaply and have it playing again with minimal costs.

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