I am working on a TAF and neither motor (book case or Thing) works at all. From what I can tell they’re not getting power. All the fuses check OK, but when I put them in test mode and put a meter on I seem to be getting a zero reading. I can’t really tell from the manual – which connector on the power driver board would be the one that’s driving them? Is it J118? Any other ideas for things I should look at?

Thanks guys. I looked at the manual again yesterday and saw J122 was the one I wanted (not sure how I missed that before... duh).

I'll take a look at some of those things you mentioned after clearing out tonight's snow. It seems a little odd in that all the other solenoids are working as they should, it's just the two motors giving me problems. I'll dig out my info on testing the transistors and pre drivers and see what I find.

Yep, LED 7 on the power board is indeed lit. I assume I should be getting 12v at pin 1 on J122 when the Thing motor is engaged too, correct? I don't seem to be, but I can't be sure. I seem to be having DMM issues, as I removed the driver board tonight intending to check the transistors, but my DMM is ranging all over the place when I test the TIP102s, even a brand new one. I'll have to look at it again tomorrow.

Got the DMM issue figured out and tested all the components on the driver board related to the motors - everything tests good. I'll have to reinstall it and take another shot at it tonight.

So I tested all the transistors on the driver board and they checked out OK. LED 7 is lit, and the regulated 12v TP reads 12v as it should. When I engage either motor test and measure the voltage at J122-1 and J122-3 (Thing motor and bookcase motor respectively) I'm showing only .6v, which seems wrong. When the motor is not engaged in the test menu it hovers around .1 mV. So it's seeming like something isn't quite right with what the driver board is outputting.

The only other thing I noticed was that someone had reflowed the solder on J122 and J121 (no other board work was apparant) so I heated it up again and reflowed it myself in case there was dry solder, but the readings were the same before and after. Any suggestions for what to look at next?

Incidentally, I hooked up a 12v battery from a garage door opener and both motors ran fine so at least I know they're not shot.

Thanks guys, you've given me more to look at and I will hopefully get to it tonight or tomorrow. I am following what you're saying so I will check it out.

In spudman's earlier post I saw what he was saying about how the motor voltage worked but it was so counter intuitive to me I admit I kind of blew past it. Now that its been expounded on I get it. I'll check it out and post back what I find.

Thanks again to all trying to help me out.

So just wanted to post a followup now that I've finally gotten the motors running. Turned out to be user error on my part - loose connector on the 2 pin molex that's connects the grey/yellow supply voltage wire between the opto board and the EMI boards. Ridiculously simple, but took a lot of time and effort to find.

HUGE thanks to terryb - he spent an unbelievable amount of time examining his own machine, giving me voltage readings to compare to mine, deciphering incorrect wiring schematics in the manual, and many other things I'm no doubt forgetting. By helping me eliminate everything else it came down to having to be a broken wire somewhere under the playfield, and lo and behold that's what it was. Can't thank him enough!

Kyle