Quoted from timlah79:This is the kicker: I then was like, I'll play a few games and see if the issues resurface. With the machine on I started loading the balls back in, just normally letting them roll down from near the flippers into the machine. Literally once the 2nd ball made its way into the trough, BAM upper left GI lights went out. I then went into Service and saw the Node 9 overcurrent protection alert. Powering off then back on, back at square one, Node 9 overcurrent protection alert, followed by TROUGH MALFUNCTION yet again (the original set of alerts/errors).
Now I know that my gameplay triggering the issue previously due to what we think is vibration reviving the short somewhere makes sense. However, this doesn't. A ball slowly dropping into the trough causes very little vibration. Is it possible that somewhere in the switches/wiring/anything of the seemingly unrelated area of the machine could be in play here? Or is what I witnessed likely a red herring and I should return to examining the GI area we think is the issue? I did inspect this new area and didn't see anything physically awry. But with all that said, the second alert after the Node 9 upper left GI has all along been TROUGH MALFUNCTION... Hmmm.
Ok, I dug a little further into the issue, especially given you trough issue/comments. I looked up what appears to be the node board (520-7017-72) schematic. I haven't worked on the Spike system, but I am an electrical engineer. But first time looking at this, so a bit of a WAG as I sort thru it. Looking at the first schematic below, I see the FET drivers used to power the GI lights, going to CN15. There's also a line called 'COIL_RTN2' that goes to the current sense line. That line (circled red in the 2nd picture) is what monitors the current and indicates the fault. On that current sense line is also some of the flipper drivers. But looking at the CN7, those might be spares. Looking at the blue circled part, that's the current monitor that watches the trough (and other things too). Then it appears the two current monitors are combined together since the each current monitors output is an 'open collector' in the chip - resulting in a single fault line for both chips (black circle). The thing I don't know is what is powered down when a fault is tripped. Nor do I know how it figured out the trough is an issue.
Translating: It might not be the GI causing the over current, but rather the trough...and the lights just shut off as a result (not the problem). Or I could be wrong since you appear to be finding a short at times in the GI wiring (don't know what your skill set is. 
). If you really do see a short in the GI wiring, then wiggle the wires until you narrow it down.
Again, first time looking into this, so I might be off in left field. But it might be beneficial to look at the trough for something obvious.
Link to what I think is the schematic: https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/520-7017-72D-Core-Node-Hall-3amp.pdf
pasted_image (resized).png
pasted_image (resized).png
Richmond, VA
