Hello All,

Running into a few issues with my Diner tonight. I just installed pinballbulbs no ghost LED thought the machine. I keep blowing a 5amp fuse which causes me to loose the left hand side G.I. and pop bumper lights. It doesn't happen right away. It only happens when either of the top out-holes kickers launch a ball out. Besides crossed or exposed wires is there anything else I should check for? The switches test fine in diagnostic mode and I don't see any GI wires touching the solenoids or anything. Is it possible that the circuit is drawing too much power causing the blow?

Also I'm running into an issue where a few of my LED flashers strobe slightly when ever I hit the flipper buttons. I read about removing the warming resistors but wanted to see if anyone had experience doing this on a Diner. Not really sure which ones to remove. Its only 2 customers and the '10x Scoring' arrow but still a bit annoying. I don't believe I have a warming circuit mounted under the playfield.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks !

Everything tested fine. This problem seemed to develop over the course of a few test games. I just reassembled this game so its possible things moving around could of shifted something. I will note that the ball lock switch under the cash register wasn't registering a locked ball. The switch tested fine in diagnostic but the game wouldn't go through the ball lock sequence. Eventually the ball would eject out of the hole when the game went into ball search mode. Is it possible it could be a diode issue on the switch? I had to solder and desolder the switch a few times maybe I damaged the diode from heat? I think the relays are working fine but not certain. Is there a way to test them?

Thanks everyone so far.

@ wayout440: Thanks for the advice. Makes sense to use a ball now that you mentioned it. I just doubled checked the diodes and they seem to be in working order ( both test .589 on meter). I will desolder the wires on both switches to make sure they are making good contact.

@nickrooster: I did run the solenoid test and I do remember an audible clicking noise when I got to that part in the diagnostic so I'm confident its OK. Diodes are soldered pretty well onto the switch. I couldn't pull them off.

I'm going to go over my soldered connections this afternoon. In the meantime I took some photos of the potential problem area on the playfield. I used pictures to reassemble so its possible I may have crossed something. Let me know if anything looks out of the ordinary. Since the G.I. is only blowing when the solenoid fires, I'm thinking that a wire maybe touching or soldered incorrectly to something on the solenoid chain. I also took pictures of the pop
bumper area. Anything look suspicious?

p.s. A side not I forget to mention was while playing a test game the left side G.I. went out twice, but came back on. I thought maybe it was an issue with switching over to LEDs, so I ignored it at first. Both times the lights did that the G.I. went dark but the pop bumper lights remained on faintly. The third time they went out it was kaput for the fuse.
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I will check all the bulbs and their sockets. Its possible something could of fallen in while assembling, but things looked clear for the most part. Could I remove the lamps and test the socket with a multimeter to see what each sockets is receiving as far as voltage is concerned? If there a voltage range they should be around ? Its just odd that the problem only happens when a coil fires. They are on separate harnesses. Could there be a voltage spike somewhere on the interconnect board or something?

Thanks guys. I'll check them out and report back. I went over the pictures I took today and nothing seems to be touching so I'm a bit confused at the moment. Here's a thought. If somehow the G.I. and solenoids were crossed or touching wouldn't that cause both both the G.I. and solenoid fuses to blow? One would think both would short out. Also I would think this would happen right after powering on the machine. Leaning more towards an LED issue like you guys have said. I'm running low on fuses though . If something pops again I'm out of luck. Any place local have 5amp 250v (sloblo?) fuses?

p.s. Just realized that the pop bumper LEDs are regular, not non-ghosting. Would this have anything to do with it? That would explain why the pop bumper LEDs remained dimly lit while the G.I. went out.

Whelp file this one under they dumby files. Found the culprit. Not sure how it happened but at some point a lock nut managed to find its way into the ONLY socket I did not put a G.I. bulb into. Burned it up pretty nicely too. I didn't even notice the socket when I was reassembling, but thought that area looked a bit dim . Thanks for everyone's help in diagnosing the problem. everything is 100% now. I'll order a new sock and iron out the flashers over the next few days but I consider this one fixed. Thanks again !
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