Looking for a little help troubleshooting this issue - more guidance on how to see if my theory is correct since I'm new to this hobby (how long am I allowed to say that for? ). This will be a little long, mostly to ensure I'm not missing any troubleshooting steps.

Anyway, a few weeks ago while playing my MET Premium, the hammer magnet engaged when it wasn't supposed to and held the ball for a long time without letting go. Before I had a chance to figure out what to do, the ball released and I thought all was well. After playing a few more games though, I realized that none of the magnets were working... Doing some troubleshooting, I found that the F7 fuse blew. I replaced it, tested the magnets, and all seemed well. Success! (except for not understanding the root cause of the issue - which I initially attributed to a software glitch of some sort).

I was playing again yesterday and realized that after I hit the coffin 5 times, the magnet wasn't energizing (couldn't hear the buzzing). To confirm this, I took the glass off and tested it -- nothing. The other two magnets (Sparky and coffin) both worked fine.

So I lifted the playfield, unplugged and reconnected the leads to the magnet board, tested again, and it seemed to work. I guess that worked to fix the strobing GI lights, so maybe that's what fixed this?

But after a couple more games, the hammer magnet stopped working yet again.

So I did some research and found this site: https://pinballsupernova.wordpress.com/2016/10/07/pinball-repair-fixing-metallica-lepremium-coffin-magnet/

Sounds like a broken wire could be my issue, BUT, I don't see any obvious issues with the wires (not that I'm an expert in spotting this....). So how would I test this to see where the issue is? I received a multimeter for Christmas, but have never used one before - I suspect that is what I'll be using, but some step by step instructions would be awesome. Or maybe this isn't the issue and it's something else I didn't know to look for?

Thanks for the help! The old saying I read last year before buying my first pin holds true: "If your pins aren't broken, you aren't playing them."

Thanks! I don't remember seeing more than one board, but I'll doubelcheck that as well, especially if I can't find a bad wire.

I'll try out the multimeter tonight (time permitting) and see what happens. Sounds easy, so fingers crossed!

I think MET only has a single magnet board - at least that's all I could find under the playfield.

This is hard for me to test since the magnet has been working again... I unplugged some of the molex connectors and used the continuity test mode and was getting consistent beeps, but but not sure how to test all of them - two black wires go right into the magnet assembly, for example, and I'm a little nervous to take it apart...

However I do think that the magnets aren't as strong as they used to be. While it's hard to tell with the hammer magnet, I have now seen on 2 or 3 occasions where the Sparky magnet doesn't catch the ball when activating multiball mode. Could be a coincidence I suppose, but I'm skeptical.

Ok, I guess I'm moving past continuity and learning about a new mode on the multimeter. How do I test this? Where do I touch? And do I leave the pin on? I'm not sure how to test this at all but want to learn. And I don't want to burn my machine down.

Well there's a little more connectivity there since all the magnets are tied to F7... Maybe it's possible that when the hammer magnet malfunctioned and held the ball until the fuse blew that it somehow damaged the other cores? I'm not sure.

Good point on the continuity - although I was also using it for individual wires to make sure there wasn't a break I couldn't see, so that's good I guess.

Back to the problem at hand -- what do I touch to determine whether the ohms of the hammer magnet are 4.3? Is the machine on/off? And does the magnet have to be active or not? Thanks!

So I did the test - and I think I did it properly. I set the multimeter to ohms, touched the leads to the connectors in the molex, and it beeped. Started at a high number and then kept going down. It made it down to 4.5, but would fluctuate between 4.5 and 5.0 or so. Attaching a picture of what I touched, along with the multimeter itself (to make sure it's set right since as I noted, I'm new ).

I then did the same test with the Sparky magnet. It also started high and dropped down, but it went between 4.4 and 4.7, never going above that.

I don't know what any of this tells me though....

Also some more data points -- the Hammer magnet was working fine again today. I had a great game (for me) going on, locked two balls in the coffin, and then hit it enough to lock it a third time -- but the magnet hum never started, so it wasn't activated... I came upstairs, ate dinner, and went back down after eating -- and the magnet was working again. Could it somehow be heat related? I played the game again and was able to get coffin multiball.

I like it better when things are just broken - so much easier to troubleshoot.

Now where do I go?

20180210_184613 (resized).jpg

20180210_184646 (resized).jpg

So I checked the continuity of the cable that connects the black wires to the magnet board, and that seemed fine.
I've checked the ohms and you said that looked fine, so I assume the connection from that molex to the magnet is probably ok? (I can't really see where the wires go to the magnet - I'm guessing I'd have to take the whole thing off).
The pins on the magnet board look ok -- they don't appear to be falling off or anything, at least...

Could there be an issue with the capacitor on the magnet board? Is there something else I should be looking at on the board? Or elsewhere?

Another data point in my quest to solve this problem. The magnet worked fine today for a few games. Then it stopped activating. I turned the machine off and then turned it right back on, and it started working again... Doesn't that sound like it's less a connection issue and more an electronics issue? (ie: rebooting fixed it).

Maybe I should just buy another magnet board and see what that does... If nothing else, I'll have a spare part... :/

I reached out to Stern tech support and explained what I was seeing and what I had done to troubleshoot. David Carver said it sounds like a problem with the magnet board itself and suggested I replace it. Now to find someone who has it in stock...

After scouring the Internet, I found that Pinball Spare Parts in Australia had one magnet board left - only place on the Internet I could find that still had one in stock - so I ordered it. Like Pin_Guy noted, it's a little worrisome that it's hard to find a part for a game that's still in production.... But after spending as much as I did on the premium, I figured it was worth paying a few extra bucks to get one.

Hopefully the board is really the problem...

I'll keep everyone posted.

Yeah, replacing the board fixed the issue -- although occasionally the magnet stops trying to detect (no humming) in the middle of the game, so that sucks.. Doesn't happen often though. I have another board from Stern that Chaz said would probably fix the intermittent issue, but I haven't swapped it out with the one I paid for because it works 99% of the time... Keeping the Stern one as a backup for now.

Does it catch on a slow rollover? Try it with the glass off.