Attention hive mind: I need some tech help with my TOTAN.

It started simply enough when I noticed during a game that the fireball magnet stopped grabbing the ball - the ball would just continue down the left ramp during the Fireball hurry-up. Self test confirmed this on the next start-up: "Fireball Magnet Broken."

I went into diagnostics and did a coil test and this is where things get weird. When I selected "Ramp Magnet" and closed the door, the ramp magnet did nothing, but the diverter coil to the right of the genie pulsed! The ramp diverter also pulsed when its own coil test was selected

When checking out the boards for physical signs of distress, I noticed that fuse 104 had blown. I replaced it and started the game, keeping an eye on the open backbox. Sure enough, as soon as the ball was sucked into the fireball magnet, fuse 104 blew again.

Next test: Under the playfield, I unpluged the connection to the ramp diverter coil. Then I installed a new fuse and started the game back up. No error message! The fireball magnet worked several times in a row! But, of course, the diverter did not. So it must be a problem with the diverter! I checked the manual and discovered that the wrong coil had been installed - Williams recommends an AE-30-2000, but a Black Beast 090-5015-00 was installed, with the diode cut out. Probably a bad coil.

I ordered a new AE-30-2000, installed it along a new fuse F104 and, sure enough, the fuse blew again as soon as the fireball magnet activated. Back in the coil test, I was getting the same result: the ramp diverter pulsed during the fireball magnet test as well as its own test. Right now, the diverter coil is plugged in but the fireball magnet is unplugged.

Electrical schematics make my eyes cross, but it appears that the fireball magnet and the ramp diverter coil are on two completely different circuits and shouldn't even be related. Any thoughts on what's happening? Any ideas about further tests? Any more specific information I can give?

Looking at the manual, I see that the Ramp Magnet Coil (#8) is on the high power circuit and the Ramp Diverter (#21) is on a low power circuit - actually on the same circuit as most of the flash lamps.

SolinoidTable (resized).jpg

Here's the high power circuit that controls the magnet:

HighPowerCircuit (resized).jpg

And here's the flashlamp circuit that includes the diverter:

FlashCircuit (resized).jpg

HOWEVER, neither of these circuits involve fuse F104. That's found on the special (general purpose) circuit.

SpecialCircuit (resized).jpg

Back on the solenoid chart at the top of this post, we can see that the special circuit controls four flash lamps at the very top of the playfield. My guess is that one of the lamps (probably one that fires at the same time as the magnet) is shorting something out. I'll test it this weekend.

I started testing by removing the bulbs from the four Special Coil circuits. I plugged in the magnet and installed a new fuse and everything ran perfectly!

Next, I added one bulb back at a time, testing in between each one. Jet flashers: no problems. Ramp flasher: no problem. Top flasher: no problem. Must be the Start Tale flasher, right? Nope. I ended up with all four bulbs back and all the coils plugged in and the game ran fine. No fuses blown, no components failed. I'm calling this problem solved.

I guess it was just a matter of jiggling one of the wires while messing with the bulbs? We may never know.