New TZ owner. Game had several flashers out. UR Flipper. Power Payoff. Etc... But swapping the bulbs on those all worked. Still both bumper flashers are out. Swapping bulbs (they were 904's, but manual asks for 906's so I put those in) to no avail. Manual says it's J125-1 (BLK-BRN). I pulled the connector and wire from driver board and reseated it with a IDC wire insertion tool. Still no dice. Connection looks great and not burned in the board. Can I test that pin somehow? All other flashers are fine. I have a DMM but I have no idea how to use it other than testing continuity on fuses. I'm not very handy but I can follow instructions to a T. As far as I can tell its a BLK-BRN wire and a RED-WHT wire. It comes in and breaks into a molex joint, 2 pairs on the male side. 1 pair on the female side that runs up to the topside of the play field for one flasher, then the male side with 2 pairs continues down and terminates completely on the flasher underneath the bumpers in the middle of town square. Thanks so much in advance for any ideas...

Thanks for your reply. I'm sorry... I'm such a rookie. Do I have to be careful which wire (red or black) goes on which lead? How do I use the DMM at the power driver board? Thanks again. (If anyone has a link on how to use a DMM on a pinball machine with examples, that'd be great!)

On the flasher/solenoid table for the Bumpers (2) it says voltage J125-1 (I did remove that wire from the cable harness, and re-seated it with a IDC Connection tool a little further down the wire and snipped the top off: still didn't work). So I see the J125-1 pin, Also says J107-6... what's that?

The rest of the flashers on J125 work without issue. I've attached a quick picture of the table. I really hate to be a bother but could you tell me what to set my DMM to and where to put the red lead and the black lead on the driver board?

If I use my DMM on the socket where the bulb is, should I use AC or DC and what voltage? Do I ground the black lead?

(P.S. LTG: in my google searches I've found quite a few posts by you on other sites helping out other pinball noobies, the answers just aren't clear enough for a noob like me.. thank you for your uncredited service.)

TZ-Flasher.jpg

Okay I'll try that. If there's nothing.. how do I test the driver board with a DMM?

Should I just take out J125's IDC Connector from the driver board then remove the BLK-BRN wire in J125-1 and put it in place of J125-2 and do all lamp+flasher test? Do I only need to move the one wire or do I need to move two wires (I don't see the red-white wire on the driver board that is also connected to the flasher socket). I am testing good on continuity from a working flasher socket to the none working flasher socket. Is that possible? Bulb is verified good.

Bump because I'm home and ready to try something. By the way, with my DMM set to continuity... One lead on the flasher and the other on the IDC connection makes a beep. But the goes for any pin on the IDC connection. I have continuity on every flasher (connected to J125) and every socket... As well as continuity between all sockets (again, for sockets on J125).

Chris- you're my hero. Thanks. So my test on the socket lugs showed voltage getting to both lugs. (This particular flasher line lights two bulbs in two sockets and I have voltage to all 4 lugs.

Jumper wire test produces a flash to both bulbs.

The diode test shows good voltage (.7) on the left leg. But the right leg builds up from .200 and tops out at .490. Takes about 1-2 seconds to get there. I tested some others and the right leg on those also settled around .490 but they seem to bounce around and sometimes hit above .550 or .700 then back to .300 and then settle around .480.

Q36 and Q42 never get above .500. Q36 runs a single flasher that works.

Flashers still dead.

I can't thank you enough for the quick lesson in how this stuff works!

With the cables disconnected, voltage looks perfect on Q42 and Q36 for that matter. I did notice that Q41 is that smaller pre-driver type transister and it looks bent and possibly there is a disconnected right leg (tough to tell). Could that be related?

Actually Q41 looks connected. I gently bent it up and down and all 3 legs moved with it. As well as giving me a better view.

Touching the black of the predriver and the leg produces nothing in a diode test on dmm. But none of the predrivers on the board do. I touched the right leg of the predriver then the metal tab of the Q42 resister and got a reading. That useful? Attached is a pic.

image.jpg

Pre driver test looks good. I was able to get continuity on all 3 legs on both transistor and pre driver (following traces). With the board out, you could tell Q42 had been worked on before. The middle leg of Q42 wasn't soldered in very well (but I could buzz to j125-1 all the same). I added more solder to that joint... Still no dice. I'm going to take it to a professional tomorrow to replace the transistor and I'll be crossing my fingers.

A friend of mine had a spare Rotendog power driver which I installed and everything was perfect, except this particular board has a nasty habit of resetting after 10 minutes (which I verified). Let's say a new transistor doesn't fix my issue... What's the best replacement power driver board to get? This Rotendog has me scared to buy from them because it was delivered to my friend brand new with this resetting issue. I've heard they don't work very well with TZ too.

Also a huge thanks to Mike Patrick here locally who gave me some tips and the replacement board to test. As well as a new loaner DMD to replace my bad one until they come out with Color. The good people in this hobby make it a heck of a lot easier to deal with!

Thanks again Chris. Hopefully Ray @ Action Pinball here locally can trace the problem. I don't know if he'll have a method to test fully, but he said he'd only charge $10 to replace the Q42 transistor for me. Maybe I'll have him replace the pre-driver while he's at it.... anything else?

If I get it home tonight and it still doesn't work, I'll probably be hitting you up Chris.

He said one of the pre-driver legs was testing voltage a little high. He replaced the pre-driver and the transistor. I'll give it a try when I get home tonight with both fingers crossed.

Well....... Verdict is in. And it works! Not sure if it was the transistor or the pre-driver... But either way many thanks to those who helped in this thread. I learned a lot from this experience! Thanks again guys! Always nice to have one less problem to worry about