Meteor owners, lend me your pin!!

[Aimef]

Hi All,

My "Meteor" drop target wasnt reseting after they were all knocked down.
So i had a look around to see if i could notice anything visible, anyway i noticed that there was an orange wire not conected to anything.
I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on what it might be conected to?
The first photo is of the plug where it is located on the playfield.

The second is the pin location on the plug & i'm holding the wire. On the plug there is 3 orange wires
1 X O/Red which connected to one of the Meteor drop target letters
1 X Orange/W which is conected to the Meteor bank coil
1 X Orange wire without any identifiable trace, and is not in the schematic.

If there are any Meteor owners out there that could help, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks  

[Retropin]

Can you put as meter from the wire to ground and tell us what the volateg is on this wire?

[Aimef]

It's running at 3.5volts

[Retropin]

Is a switch wire then that is coming from a plug... my guess is that this should go onto the beginning of a switch chain

[Aimef]

I traced the switch back, it connects to the rollover switches and the left lower bumper switch.
I checked the start of the meteor drop down switch bank for voltage, the first one had 1.3 volts and the others had 3.5 volts,I'm pretty sure that is where it would go. Thanks for the help.but that hasn't fixed the non reseting drop target bank problem. I've checked the diodes across the switches, they work. I have a feeling that it's a bad connection somewhere

Thanks again

[Retropin]

Hi Aimef,

Sorry i cant be of more help here, but i dont have a Meteor in the collection or any other Stern for that matter.

In all honesty....1.3V is an odd voltage to have and i wouldnt really expect to see this. Are you sure that you have ground at these switches also? Im wondering if you have a short and ground is at 1.3V... if the rest of the switches are at 3.5V then you only have a signal of 2.2V to the board... its not enough for a logic voltage and so the closure wont register.

Also make sure ALL switches on the bank are closed when they should be ( use your meter)... is there a 5th switch that closes on Stern drops when all 4 are down??

If all this is OK then you need to follow the switch closure right up to the board and beyond

[Ballywannabe]

According to the schematic (playfield switches) the orange wire goes to the slam switch, left sling, lower left 3 bank middle target and 'M' target on the 6 bank.  Reconnecting to the M target (see pic) should solve the problem.  If not, check that each target registers as it drops, as the CPU needs to see all targets down to reset the bank.  If any do not register, try cleaning and adjusting that switch.  If still no go, report back!

cheers
Ian

[Aimef]

Success!! The white/yellow wire was where the orange wire should have been, so i swappped them and the targets reset. Thank you for your help.
Do you know how to keep the targets up once they Reset?
I have a couple that are a bit sloppy, is there an adjustment that can be done?

Thanks again

[Strangeways]

Success!! The white/yellow wire was where the orange wire should have been, so i swappped them and the targets reset. Thank you for your help.
Do you know how to keep the targets up once they Reset?
I have a couple that are a bit sloppy, is there an adjustment that can be done?

Thanks again

Sloppy as they drop, or sloppy resetting ?

There's no real adjustment - just make sure the drop target switches are tightened. It may be necessary to rebuild the DT unit if it has been lubricated before. I've covered this on the Meteor and both Galaxy restores.

[Ballywannabe]

If you mean they drop straight away on resetting there are a couple of things.  If it happens EVERY time, the drop down coil could be locked on.  Reset the bank without the power on by hand and then turn the game on - if a target drops the coil is locked on.  Also, the lip on the target can get worn and cause difficulty getting a good reset. A quick fix is to use a file to get a sharp edge, of course the target will sit slightly lower, but this is usually too little to notice.  Other things that give poor hold are if the spring is pulling in the wrong way (try taking it off the target and putting it on the other way, believe it or not sometimes this works!) or the finger the target sits on has been bent by someone to an angle that does not work (compare it withe ones that work in the bank)  Finally, there is some adjustment in the 'lifting' along the bank through the allen screws that hold the arms onto the rod.  You need to adjust it so the end furtherest away from the solenoid is SLIGHTLY higher.  This allows for the torque and slop and should ensure all the targets are raised high enough to reset.

I strongly suggest the full rebuild - follow Nino's guide as these banks cop a hammering so a bit of TLC goes a long way

cheers
Ian

[Aimef]

Ok I rebuilt the meteor bank, went to turn it back on and ........nothing. The rectifier board has given in so I'm in the middle of rebuilding it, I've stripped it down and some tracks are shot. So I'm using Nino's guide to rebuild it.
If there is anyone that has a picture of the mask that would be great.

Thanks