Firepower II
Williams, 1983On my Firepower II, when a ball drains, instead of the ball being kicked up the next ball staging ramp, it just sits there. If I bang the cabinet eventually it will kick. But the strange thing is that when I do a switch test, the switch works fine. It only fails during game. I tested the diode and it works. I also checked to see if other switches on the same matrix row or column are working and they are, so it's not a row or column problem.
Quoted from brothersun:On my Firepower II, when a ball drains, instead of the ball being kicked up the next ball staging ramp, it just sits there. If I bang the cabinet eventually it will kick.
Maybe the banging has nothing to do with triggering switches? Maybe there is a loose connection in the solenoid firing circuit?
Quoted from brothersun:But the strange thing is that when I do a switch test, the switch works fine. It only fails during game. I tested the diode and it works. I also checked to see if other switches on the same matrix row or column are working and they are, so it's not a row or column problem.
You are simply making an assumption that a solenoid not firing is caused by a switch failure. Maybe the switches are testing good because they are good.
You never mentioned doing a solenoid test, or if you did any testing or troubleshooting on this particular solenoid circuit.
Quoted from sparky672:Maybe the banging has nothing to do with triggering switches? Maybe there is a loose connection in the solenoid firing circuit?...
No, because the machine stays in ball play mode; does not start the end of ball sequence such as counting down bonus, etc. It's as if the ball is still in play, so that tells me the switch is not registering a close event.
Quoted from slochar:Are you testing with the ball or finger?
I thought of that and so tested with both. The switch arm is a little wiggly (side to side) so I'm guessing a new switch will fix the prob. Meanwhile, I can open the coindoor and wiggle the switch with my finger which does make it work after wiggling for a while. New switch arriving today from Amazon! (a 10-pack for the price of 1 and free shipping 
Quoted from sparky672:You said the switch this was only a problem during game play. A switch can be flaky and intermittent, but how can it only fail during a game and not during testing?
My thought was that the logic circuitry could be different in those two situations. During gameplay all switches in the matrix are polled consecutively, while in test mode, perhaps it's a direct connection. That's the only thing I could think of.
Quoted from brothersun:On my Firepower II, when a ball drains, instead of the ball being kicked up the next ball staging ramp, it just sits there. If I bang the cabinet eventually it will kick.
But the strange thing is that when I do a switch test, the switch works fine. It only fails during game. I tested the diode and it works. I also checked to see if other switches on the same matrix row or column are working and they are, so it's not a row or column problem.
Few questions....
When you bang the machine to get the outhole relay to kick out the ball into the shooting lane does it drain the bonus as it should?
Does this happen for every ball?
Does the outhole relay fire on?
Does the outhole relay fire on and the ball doesn't come out?
When you trigger the outhole relay switch with your fingers to get the ball to kickout are there any other relays that kick on?
Here is the manual for the game. https://www.ipdb.org/files/857/Williams_1983_Firepower_II_Operators_Handbook.pdf
Page 5 of the manual says to place 3 balls next to the outhole to run diagnostic test. I'm not exactly sure why but it does say this is important. I skimmed through the rest and there is a section on diagnosing and running tests.
Hopefully you replacing the switch will fix it!
Quoted from brothersun:My thought was that the logic circuitry could be different in those two situations. During gameplay all switches in the matrix are polled consecutively, while in test mode, perhaps it's a direct connection. That's the only thing I could think of.
That's not wrong but the terminology is different. There is different reaction times in each routine but the core hardware to software reading is exactly the same. It would have to have a dead spot in the game mode to make it not react. When you were in switch test did it continuously show the outhole or only the initial hit with the ball?
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