Tommy occasionally losing his mind ?

[Sgt GrizZ]

Just recently Tommy has shown some odd behaviour.

Every once in a while , so not every game, it will suddenly go absolutely haywire firing off coils very rapidly - almost like a ball search but much more rapid , and multiple coils , sometimes means extra balls are ejected into play .

Display carries on as normal .

Diagnostics show everything acting as normal .

Nothing has been changed and messed with recently . It has an Xpin Power Board.

Any ideas before I dive down the wormhole ?

 

[strobey]

It's probably the A/B relay sticking. What you're seeing is the game trying to fire the flashers but because the relay is sticking (or not actuating) it's firing the coils instead.

You can remove the plastic cover and clean the contacts with cardboard like you would a leaf switch.

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

It's probably the A/B relay sticking. What you're seeing is the game trying to fire the flashers but because the relay is sticking (or not actuating) it's firing the coils instead.

You can remove the plastic cover and clean the contacts with cardboard like you would a leaf switch.

Good man That sounds very plausible . Hadn’t even thought of that .
Will investigate as soon as I get at it next .

 

[Judderman]

You can remove the plastic cover and clean the contacts with cardboard like you would a leaf switch.

What? I had to change these twice on my LW3 (& I found it a bit tricky with the way the legs are laid out). Wish I'd known this.

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

It's probably the A/B relay sticking. What you're seeing is the game trying to fire the flashers but because the relay is sticking (or not actuating) it's firing the coils instead.

You can remove the plastic cover and clean the contacts with cardboard like you would a leaf switch.

Ok - think you are right . In flasher diagnostics the coils briefly all fired also.

So got the board out - what’s the trick to getting this cover off Must be a knack .I don’t want to go gorilla on it.

Looks like several little slots/ tabs where you could possibly press in a small screwdriver Though access seems tricky.

Note - I had lifted that fuse out so I could see better at that side of the relay . It wasn’t just sat like that

 

[Jay Walker]

Sarge,

Going by your picture, the cover's held by a clip on each end of the base, which protrudes into a slot in the cover. As to what to use; a thin screwdriver blade, angled in past that connector, could release the one, though the other side looks trickier. Maybe the tall U-shaped tool used to extract a chip from a socket. Placed over the relay, with the two edges used to push in the tabs and allow the cover to lift off.

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

Sarge,

Going by your picture, the cover's held by a clip on each end of the base, which protrudes into a slot in the cover. As to what to use; a thin screwdriver blade, angled in past that connector, could release the one, though the other side looks trickier. Maybe the tall U-shaped tool used to extract a chip from a socket. Placed over the relay, with the two edges used to push in the tabs and allow the cover to lift off.

Cheers Jay

There are actually 3 tabs - which makes it fun as I’m not an octopus I have been poking around with various tools but with no success yet . None of them seem to have much give in them .

If I can’t get it off to clean switches then next course of action will be reflow solder joints on relay and connectors.

If it persists then a new relay I guess.

 

[BigIan]

you could dremel (other wee drill things are available) one of the clear plastic under the tab off, then it should be simple enough, push one tab in while pushing the cover up/back

the two opposing tabs should be enough to hold the cover on but also make it easier to remove the cover the next time, we all know there will be a next time once you click it all back together.
You could just break the third tab off but the clear plastic will probably crack and break to an unusable shape

 

[Dovey79]

Took one off once. Was a pain and ended up breaking one of the tabs off. It went back on but was a bit rattley.
Next time I would probably just solder a new relay tbh

 

[Paul]

if you can prise the odd (non-opposing) catch out carefully with a dentist pick, the others may come out by squeezing the opposing sides.

 

[Calimori]

I think I used locking picking tools but the method was the same as Paul mentions. Get something jammed in the awkward one and use fingers on the other two.

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

Thanks for the tips troops - I won’t a chance to get back on it until next week now .