(Topic ID: 124277)

Relay Issue Whirlwind backbox light

By Oldgoat

8 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 8 posts
  • 4 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 8 years ago by Oldgoat
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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#1 8 years ago

One circuit of the backbox lighting on my recently acquired Whirlwind is out. After some troubleshooting, I have it isolated to the little circuitboard on the back side of the translight portion of the backbox (the part that swings out). Further, I found I can get the lights to come on if I jump the circuit from the relay. My immediate thought is that the relay must be bad...but I've been fooled far too often my jumping to such conclusions. I'm having trouble locating this little circuit in the schematic so I thought I would ask the experts if there is something else I need to check that should be triggering this relay (which would seem odd given the other circuits light up), or if there is some definitive test to pinpoint the issue t the relay or something else I should try.
Thanks

#2 8 years ago

Look for cold solder joints first.

#3 8 years ago

As you experts know, solenoid 16 is really a combo of two relays, one under the playfield and one in the backbox

When I run through the coil test, both relays fire when testing sol 16. However, when I turn the machine on, they don't. Is there is a different logic path used when running the diagnostics as opposed to normal startup? If so, where could I determine the source of the difference is and, therefore, a good place to start my search?

#4 8 years ago

You should have another relay board mounted under the playfield. If they are the same, you can swap them around.
Your problem may be on the interconnect board. Go to the System 11 pinwiki and look over the applicable interconnect board and relay board sections.

#5 8 years ago

Reseat the connectors on the GI relay board. Chances are it will work again temporarily. These are notorious for getting burned. If they are burned, replace the header and connector with .156" pins and trifurcon connectors.

#6 8 years ago
Quoted from schudel5:

Reseat the connectors on the GI relay board. Chances are it will work again temporarily. These are notorious for getting burned. If they are burned, replace the header and connector with .156" pins and trifurcon connectors.

I'm thinking this has to be the issue. (Reseating does not help) Check my logic, here. Relays work fine on the coil test, but no lights regardless of whether the relay is engaged or not. Since the relays are controlled by the two pin connector, the issue has to be the other connector on the relay board. I've checked for continuity on the cable itself and I have checked the connector on the interconnect board (with the suggested method in pinwiki) to verify power to the pins, so it has to be connector? How hard is it to replace these?
Thanks

#7 8 years ago

Got my parts from PBR and repinned the connector. No change. The relays work fine in the coil test. I'm not sure if they are supposed to fire on startup or when you start a game or at some mysterious point in the game; however, they don't fire. (And when the relays fire in the coil test, the lights do NOT come on). So, I have one string on the backbox on but all the rest of the GI, including upper playfield is out. Thoughts?

#8 8 years ago

Well, I thought I had found the problem, which was the connector at the transformer. One of the pins in the four pin connector for the GI lighting was fried. I need to find the correct part for the connector but in the meantime, just hardwired it together. That did not solve my problem, so I decided to pull the interconnect board. I discovered two issues. One, a trace that had heated up enough to lift from the board in places. While it showed continuity, I decided to go ahead and jump it. Then as I finished up and was looking for any other trace issues, I noticed a resistor (R4) was missing. Yep, right in front of my eyes missing. I replaced it and the lighting now seems to be working.

Now interestingly, laying in the bottom of the cabinet was the resistor and it tested fine, so I put it back in. As a noobie to all this, my question is why would someone have removed and perfectly good resistor unless they were going to replace it? Is there some other issue, like spontaneous combustion, that they were trying to address? Anything I should check?

Also, I want to replace the plug on the transformer but I can't locate the part# in the manual. I assume all System 11's are the same, so if anyone knows the part number for the 4 pin connector at the transformer, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

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