Help needed with LOTR LE lighting issue

I was hooking up some additional lighting to this GI light in my LOTR. Ive done this with other pins, but not GI lighting with diodes on them:

IMG_1725_(resized).JPG

Each of the additional wires went to where the red and yellow wires are attached. But then I noticed that an insert LED light stopped working - the "flipper" LED light for the skill shot:

IMG_1729_(resized).JPG

So then I took the additional lighting I was trying to set up, but then the flipper light and the GI light still didnt light. Im thinking the lights are in a circuit, so I attached a wire to bypass the diode and the GI light started working again:

IMG_1727_(resized).JPG

the flipper light indeed lit again, but stayed lit, which it is not supposed to do. So then I changed the diode, but that didnt fix it.

Any idea's how to get the GI bulb working again and the Flipper LED light to light, but only when it is supposed to?

#2 8 years ago

D G

Pin_Guy

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from Animal:
Ive done this with other pins, but not GI lighting with diodes on them:

GI lighting doesn't have diodes, you are messing with your lamp matrix wiring which is Red-xxx (rows) Yel-xxx (col).

OP
Quoted from Animal:
Each of the additional wires went to where the red and yellow wires are attached.

What color stripes are on the the lamp you added these wires to, or attach a good picture of the lamp you were messing with.

OP
Quoted from Animal:
the "flipper" LED light for the skill shot:

This is lamp 56; column 8, row 7. Do any other lights in row 7 or column 8 not work?

#3 8 years ago

KJM

Animal

Pinside+ Frequent

Thank you for the response. Yes, "shoot again" is not lighting up. Ill take a close look this afternoon what other lights may not be lighting up.

The GI light in question is in pic 1 and 3. the wires are brown and yellow as you can see in pic 3. In pic one you see the diode and as per the manual, pg DR. 7 its a 1N4001. I changed it hoping that was the issue since when you bypass it the GI lights, lamp 56 (thanks) lights, but stays lit, and therefore, does not react as it should.

#4 8 years ago

KJM

Animal

Pinside+ Frequent

Everything on Column 8 is out.

#5 8 years ago

CAT

DCFAN

Pinside+ Frequent

Chantilly, VA

12y 148K 12,776 34

The lights near the shooter lane on LOTR are controlled lights. Tap off of the inlane/outlane divider GI light or slingshot GI light instead for mods.

#6 8 years ago

KJM

Animal

Pinside+ Frequent

Tap off - do you mean run new wires from a sling shot GI light to the one light near the shooter lane that is out and all of column 8 should comeback?

Any idea why it went out? Did I short something out when I tried tapping into the GI shooter-lane light?

#7 8 years ago

CAT

DCFAN

Pinside+ Frequent

Chantilly, VA

12y 148K 12,776 34

OP
Quoted from Animal:
Tap off - do you mean run new wires from a sling shot GI light to the one light near the shooter lane that is out and all of column 8 should comeback?
Any idea why it went out? Did I short something out when I tried tapping into the GI shooter-lane light?

No, sorry about that. I was referring to adding light mods connected to GI.

#8 8 years ago

CAT

DCFAN

Pinside+ Frequent

Chantilly, VA

12y 148K 12,776 34

Are there still some lights not working? If so check the fuses.
Also, the lamps could be damaged and may need to be replaced if they are not working.

#9 8 years ago

D G

Pin_Guy

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from Animal:
Everything on Column 8 is out.

That's what I was afraid of. You may have taken out the drive transistor for column 8, you can make a visual inspection of Q8 on the power driver board and see if it looks okay. Any chance you have a logic probe? Do you have any active alerts?

OP
Quoted from Animal:
Any idea why it went out? Did I short something out when I tried tapping into the GI shooter-lane light?

The 9 shooter lane lights are controlled lamps #64-72, not GI. They provide chase lighting when there is a ball in the shooter lane.

#10 8 years ago

MVM

markmon

Inactive member

Hillsboro, OR

13y 98,300 13,010 21 81

OP
Quoted from Animal:
The GI light in question is in pic 1 and 3.

The light in pic 1 is not a GI light. Pic 3 is too blurry.

#11 8 years ago

LCN

Dellamarmalade

Pinside member

Toronto, ON

10y 37,050 443 11 17

Oh shit

#12 8 years ago

KJM

Animal

Pinside+ Frequent

visually, the power driver board looks fine. All fuses are good. All the lights are off for column 8, so its not the bulbs themselves.

this are started when I was trying to do a quick tap in of a single LED to controlled lights - had no idea I could take a column down doing this. duhhh

#13 8 years ago

D G

Pin_Guy

Pinside member

Quoted from Pin_Guy:
That's what I was afraid of. You may have taken out the drive transistor for column 8, you can make a visual inspection of Q8 on the power driver board and see if it looks okay.

Sorry, that information was the column 8 switch drive, not the insert lamp drive.

Connecting an additional lamp in parallel with one of the controlled lamps alone wouldn't have taken out the column. If you had a logic probe, I would recommend removing J-13 and probing pin 1 for the lamp drive pulses, this way you can isolate it to the board or playfield. The only thing you can check without one is if column wires are all connected properly. The Yel-Gry wires are daisy chained to the bulb side of each column 8 lamps, make sure this is so, and that the circuit is not being grounded anywhere. U10 on the power driver board is the column 8 lamp driver, not Q8 like I had in my previous post.

#14 8 years ago

KJM

Animal

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from Pin_Guy:
Sorry, that information was the column 8 switch drive, not the insert lamp drive.
Connecting an additional lamp in parallel with one of the controlled lamps alone wouldn't have taken out the column. If you had a logic probe, I would recommend removing J-13 and probing pin 1 for the lamp drive pulses, this way you can isolate it to the board or playfield. The only thing you can check without one is if column wires are all connected properly. The Yel-Gry wires are daisy chained to the bulb side of each column 8 lamps, make sure this is so, and that the circuit is not being grounded anywhere. U10 on the power driver board is the column 8 lamp driver, not Q8 like I had in my previous post.

Thanks for your attention to this. I checked if the wiring for all lights in the daisy-chain are good and on physical inspection, they all appear ok. Looks like I have to invest in a logic probe...

#15 8 years ago

MVM

markmon

Inactive member

Hillsboro, OR

13y 98,300 13,010 21 81

I don't think you need a logic probe for the stage you're at here. Transistors can be tested with a normal dmm and continuity of wires can also be tested with a meter. Visual inspection is almost always worthless.

#16 8 years ago

D G

Pin_Guy

Pinside member