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Spiderman left flipper stopped working....

T

Tony9i9i9i

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5Years
Joined
Aug 31, 2014
Messages
13
Hi All, sorry if this is on the wrong board. My left flipper has just stopped working, the flipper button is scrolling the screen high scores etc, pre game but not moving the flipper.

If there a common problem that this could be or does anyone have any advice as to what the problem might be, I'm a bit of a newb, but if its a case of its probably fuse number xx, I've got the manual, I should be able to manage that.

Thanks in advance.

Tony.
 
Hi Tony,

I'd go for the obvious first, Are all the wires still attached to the coil? Vibration can cause them to become detached.
 
Thanks John,

I had a look all wires are attached, soldered on.

I swapped the fuse with the right hand flipper and the left had still didn't work.

I've ran through the coil test after working out I have to push a white button to make the machine think the door was closed and everything works except the left flipper coil:(.

I thought I had a tester but I can't find it, I'd like to compare the voltage across both of the flipper coils.

Does this sound like I need to swap out just the coil or do you need to replace the whole unit? Or could it still be something else?

Tony.
 
Thanks again guys, I'll get a tester tomorrow, the wires feel attached (not broken) I can’t see any sign of a burn or anything obviously broken.

If I move the hinged bit of the mechanism with my finger the bolt slides out and the flipper moves very easily.

Thanks for the advice.

Tony.
 
The coil is almost certainly fine. This is the one part that never dies. The only time I've had a faulty one was when it had locked on and you could tell as the paper around it was burnt.

The good news is that you probably don't need to buy a new flipper kit or coil.

Test the continuity of the coil to ensure there's nothing broken there. sometimes the thin wires from the lugs to the coil do get broken. Is the diode also still connected across the lugs?

Next follow the wires back from the flipper coil to ensure that's fine. My hunch is still a wire has come off somewhere

Given that the coil doesn't fire in test mode but the button registers I think you can rule out a problem between the button and the boards. So the issue is somewhere between the boards and the coil

I guess it's possible that a transistor has locked off on the backboard but I'm out of my depth there. I'm sure someone else will chime in.

Where in the UK are you? There's a good chance there will be someone on this forum near you who might be willing to help for a beer or two.
 
i would say mosfets died.did tou recently cradle ball for a long time as that will fry them on sterns had it happen to me.if fuse,power and coil check ok,look there.not at home at mo so cant check manual.if that an irl540 mosfet is fine
 
I've got about 5 ohms across both coils, I've got continuity between the the red/yellow power wire and J10 and the orange/grey and J9.

When I hold the tester on DC on the power board on the right flipper wires while my son tested the right flipper I get a burst of voltage, when doing the same for the left flipper nothing.

I'm getting well out of my depth here but I think the problem is on the power board I think its component Q15 which I think is a diode (there is a note in the manual on the assembly page no diode on the assembly, its on the power board and I can't see a mosfets mentioned anywhere).

I really messed up when I went to put the playfield up on end to trace the wire, the right hand side came off the rails and dropped, the whole thing got stuck and the metal stud that should sit in the left hand rail runner has gouged the inside of the cabinet. The right hand side of the play field got stuck under the rail and I could not move the playfield at all. I managed to undo two of the three bolts on the rail and to push it vertical and lift the back end of the playfield while my wife held the front up and put the under playfield legs on the front of the cabinet at this point the whole thing was stable enough to put the rail back where is should be.
I've powered back up and it looks like everything is flashing/working baring the left flipper which is good, but I've broken the right-hand ramp where it screws into the upright post and a plastic below it, doh!

Looks like I might need to get a pro to look at the power board, I'm based in Bridgwater, Somerset, does anyone know of a good repair guy local to me?

Cheers,

Tony.
 
General rule for pinball schematics

D = Diode
C = Capacitor
Q = Transistor/mosfet/SCR

symbols and other bits here

http://www.talkingelectronics.com/projects/DataBook1/DataBook1-1-21.html


For your game Q15 is LH flipper
Q16 R/H flipper mosfet
As I said an IRL540 or IRL540N Mosfet is ok.Pinball mania sell suitable mosfets


Sorry to hear re your playfield-same thing happened to me with my GnR a few months ago-feel your pain there :(
 
Is the switch contacts on the flipper still there ?
Had one side broke off on my Indy (stern) result flipper not working!!
Have you but it in switch test?
 
Thanks Guys, nothing has fallen off as far as I can see.

I think it probably is the mosfet Tyho, but I don't think I want to take a chance on soldering on the main board.

I've been contacted by Neil from Pinball Madness and he is going to come and take a look and sort it out for me.

Tony.
 
Quick update for anyone who's interested, it was the Q15 mosfet as Tyho called it, Neil came and sorted it this morning, I got a bit of a tutorial out of it and the game is playing fine, money well spent.

Cheer all.
 
Tony9i9i9i said:
Quick update for anyone who's interested, it was the Q15 mosfet as Tyho called it, Neil came and sorted it this morning, I got a bit of a tutorial out of it and the game is playing fine, money well spent.

Cheer all.
Click to expand...


Glad to hear

Just a reminder don't hold a ball on a Stern flipper for more than a couple of minutes or it may happen again
 
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