You want a logic level gate control, so a IRL540 (not IRF540) would be a good replacement.

Ditto.
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Yes.

IRL530 would also sub for the 13N10l.

I know this is an old thread, but figured I’d add some color to this.

I tried using an IRL540N in place of 13N10L and it didn’t work. This was for a Rottendog driver board, in a NASCAR (whitestar). The transistors in question are Q15 and Q16, the flipper transistors. I suspect that in this application, the IRL540N may not work with the way Stern pulses the flipper outputs, but it’s just a theory.

Anybody else run into this?

If it didn't work then there is something else going on.
The IRL540N and FQP13N10L are essentially the same part except:
1 -- the IRL540 is rated up to a 36 amp load and the 13N10L is rated up to a 12.8A load.
2 -- the 13N10L has about 2x 'ON' resistance of the IRL540. More resistance = more heat.

The load current won't matter. But I normally try to keep the power transistors in the same current range. It is probable that he has the circuit board traces sized for this transistor at 13 Amps (or less). If you throw in a 36 amp transistor - it is possible you can burn up a trace if you have a dead short and somebody overfused. Would rather have the transistor give up the ghost before the circuit board traces.
[Edit -- I made a misleading statement as traces are normally sized for the fuse, not the transistor. But the premise remains the same, best to have transistor burn before the trace.]

The ON resistance shouldn't matter at all unless his board uses current sensing. In that case, it would take some investigation.

Proper sub for the 13N10L is an FQP13N10L.

Well, three different IRL540 transistors were tried, none worked. The driving SN74HCT374N chip was replaced. The 5V is at 5.1V. I verified all resistor values in the circuit. I probed the SN74HCT374N output and can hear it pulsing when the flipper is activated.

There are some other subtle differences, mostly around capacitance and timing. Not sure if those are a factor for the whitestar flippers, since the outputs are strobed (not held on). Not sure. But agreed, something seems odd.

I’d love to hear from someone else with a rottendog whitestar board that’s had to replace the flipper transistors.

I know this is old but thanks to it I fixed this Rottendog MPU011C. Maybe it was eBay IRL540Ns.... working on a Rottendog MPU011c and one of the Special Solenoid was locked on. Replaced transistor with the IRL540N. Would blow after one or two times firing. After HOURS of chasing down all other options, and 5 new transistors I switched a 13N10l transistor from an unused circuit for this game and boom. Now it works no problem. So maybe just bad chips but I definitely had this issue!