(Topic ID: 161511)

Sling not firing and switches not responding - Firepower

By dzorbas

7 years ago


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#1 7 years ago

The right side sling in my Firepower stopped working a few days ago. I've put the game into diagnostic mode and the solenoid does not fire and in switch test mode neither of the switches respond. These are the only issues with the entire game. All other solenoids and switches play fine and test fine. Is there something obvious that I should be looking for?

Thanks!

Dino Z.

#2 7 years ago

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

Anyone? Did I insult somebody? Did I not shower today?

Any advice where to start?

Thanks!

#6 7 years ago

Sorry for no responses on this yet. I pulled the driver board out of my machine last week and replaced a bunch of transistors and resistors as preventative maintenance and haven't had a chance to test out the suggestions. As part of my maintenance, I heated up all the solder points on the 2J2 and 2J3 connectors. I'm assuming this is considered "re-flowing" or do I have to do something else? I did check continuity with each solder point and corresponding male pin to ensure that I didn't screw something up.

As I mentioned, every other element in the game is working properly so I don't think it's the 2J2/2J3 connectors otherwise I would have a bunch of other stuff not working.

I will check Q10 and the orange-green wire on 2J13 (pin 8). I guess as a proof of concept, I should be able to short the orange-blue wire on 2J13 (pin 9) and the left kicker should fire. When connecting to ground, can I just attach the wire to the ground strap of the machine? Is that sufficient?

From what I understand, the two switches on either side of the sling are what trigger it to fire and count the points. I've looked at all the wires on the coil and the switches and everything looks normal.

I will test and check back in ASAP.

Thanks!

#8 7 years ago

Okay, so here's the latest.

I've shorted the Q10 transistor and the orange-green wire on 2J13 connector but the coil will not fire. I doubled checked by testing Q12 and the orange-blue wire for the left kicker and it worked as expected. I had a look at the underside of the playfield. There are no loose wires. I tested the switches with my multimeter and they seem okay for continuity when they are closed. I tested the resistance of the coil across the lugs and it's a bit over 3 ohms so it looks okay. There is another switch under the kicker that is for adding points. It works just fine and adds points when you move the lever.

I rewired the 2J3 connector completely so I don't think there is an issue there.

So, any suggestions on what to test next?

#11 7 years ago
Quoted from cody_chunn:

Do you have Solenoid B+ voltage on both lugs of all your coils underfield? Prolly like 25-40 VDC...

Quoted from Inkochnito:

As Cody_Chunn says, check the voltage on the coil.

I'm getting 38 VDC on both lugs. When I ground the one lug to the side rail the coil will fire. Is it possible the Q10 transistor is bad? Or does this seem more like a wiring issue? I'm not sure how the switches on either side of the kicker are wired to the coil so I'm not sure where to go next...

#13 7 years ago
Quoted from Raff:

When you tested Q10 did you grounded it by touching the top of Q3 with one side of wire and touching ground with the other side of the wire , if it doesn't fire get you DMM out and test Q3

I'm a bit confused. What is the relationship between Q10 and Q3? When I tested Q10, I did as was suggested and grounded the tab on the transistor with the ground braid on the machine. The coil didn't fire.

#18 7 years ago
Quoted from Inkochnito:

You should get power on the blue-green wire to the board at connector 2J12 pin 8.
If you do not have power on the metal tab of the transistor, the wire is interupted.
Check the metal tab with a DMM to see is there is a voltage present (most likely not).
Also check the blue-green wire at the connector for voltage.
Did you check the male pins at 2J13 and 2J12?

I tested the blue-green wire for voltage and I'm getting 38 VDC. I tested the tab on the transistor for voltage and I'm getting nothing. I was going to test the transistor as Raff suggested but got sidetracked last night. I'm thinking the transistor is bad. I'm going to replace it tonight and see what happens. What pisses me off is I had that board out a week ago to replace some other components!

Will report back later!

#20 7 years ago

All right, here's the latest and please don't curse me out too badly, even though I probably deserve it!

I pulled the board out of the the machine, tested the transistor with the DMM and tested all the traces back to the pin on the connector. All the readings were as they should be. I started wondering, if all the traces from the pin through the transistor are fine and I have 38 VDC on the blue-green wire why wasn't I getting any voltage through the transistor? So I put the board back in, plugged in all the connectors and powered up the game. I gave the blue-green wire a good wiggle inside the connector and started a game. Well, that seemed to fix the issue! I could swear that was the first thing that I did!

After all the troubleshooting and all the input from you guys it was a stupid loose wire! Okay, let the cursing begin, I feel like an idiot.

I do want to say thanks to all of you, I learned a few things along the way. Hopefully this thread keeps someone else from embarrassing themselves!

Thanks again!

DZ.

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