Gang:

My Judge Dredd has recently been blowing one of two fuses every time that the coin door is closed. Either the main line fuse in the cabinet, or F112 on the Power Driver (PD) board.

The boards were recently inspected and updated with NVRAM by a respected PinSider and he confirmed that my problem is not on either the MPU or PD. The only recent mod done to the game was the addition of a PINSMX daughter board to the sound board, but I don't think that has any thing to do with the issue...I merely mention it for the sake of being thorough.

All of my coils test within tolerance >2ohms, so we can eliminate a bad coil.
I replaced the varsitor at the line filter, so we know it is not the culprit.

Last night when I disconnected J107, 127, and 130 and closed the door, it blew the main line fuse. I then replaced it. Closed the door again, and F112 blew.

At this point I unplugged J102, closed the coin door and no fuses blew.
Reconnected J107, 127, and 130, but left 102 disconnected, closed the coin door and no fuses blew.

So, it would seem like connector J102 is the culprit. It is labelled as pulling 16VAC from the transformer. I just can't figure out why when it is connected that it blows fuses and why it isn't always the same fuse.

Again, is long as the coin door is open, no fuse blows.

Attached a few screen captures of the manual for reference.

Thanks in advance for weighing in!

J102 (resized).png

SolenoidCircuit (resized).png

zaza "King of awesome custom troubleshooting graphics"! Thanks for chiming in! I will try that as soon as I get back from work.

I have reseated the ribbon cable, but will do it again.

@zaza, So, your point there is a good one, and I have been waiting to mention this...but prior to blowing fuses, all of my flipper strength significantly dropped off. All four would flip, but they had very little power.

Does this point us back to the Fliptronics board?

Thanks for not disappointing me in the cool pictures department!

zaza I think you called it.

When I probe with the negative lead on the positive pole to the AC poles on the Fliptronics bridge, the meter buzzes out.

Conversely, when I put the positive lead on the negative pole and probe the AC poles, I get the expected .4-.6 reading. Of course, I have several bridge rectifiers on hand, but none with wire leads, so I will have to order one.

Think that's our culprit?

zaza New bridge rectifier installed on the fliptronics board and the game has been stable for a week. Thanks again for your help!