Flippers hot during attract mode- 1979 Stern Meteor

[mhbr549]

Hello all,  I just replaced the 20 pin connector on my rectifier board (had three or four pins that were melted through almost completely) and at the same time put new flippers on this Meteor.  I have now found that the flippers are live during attract mode.  I'm not sure if I did something or if they were suppose to have been live all along and replacing the connector fixed something.  Everything on the machine seems to be working and playing flawlessly.  Any thoughts on this?

Oh, and also I can't for the life of me find the correct replacement shooter for this thing.  I ordered 7-7/8" shooter from Marcospecialties, and it is not even long enough to get past the shooter gauge.  Any idea on what the correct shooter is for this thing?

Thanks for any help!

[Strangeways]

Flippers should not be live. Two things to check - The relay on the solenoid driver - check for dry joints and also check that it is working. It should "click" during the booting process. Double check that you replaced the correct pins (didn't accidentally swap two pins over).

Edit - Part number for the plunger is 5A-136. Sorry - I don't know the length.

[mhbr549]

My solenoid driver board is an new Alltek solid state so I hope something hasn't fried there.  When I installed the new connector, I cut, replaced the ends, and put them into the new connector housing one at a time to make sure I didn't swap any, but of course that doesn't mean they were right to begin with.  They identically match where they were in the old connector.  I've attached a before picture as well as the schematic that makes no sense to me if you could please take a look at it.  There was a solid orange wire soldered directly to my recitifier board right above where the burnt out spot on that old connector was, so my assumption was that it went there so that's where I installed it into the new connector.


Thanks for the part number on the shooter, but I can't seem to find it with a Google search.  Any idea where I might be able to find it?

Thank you again for your help.  I appreciate it very much.

EDIT:  The relay on the driver board does click on boot.  Just double checked it to be safe.

[Mr Pinbologist]

For the shooter rod on Sterns i use these.. got them on ALL my early Stern games 

http://www.pinball.co/Products/28525-a5920.aspx

[mhbr549]

For the shooter rod on Sterns i use these.. got them on ALL my early Stern games 

http://www.pinball.co/Products/28525-a5920.aspx

That is an exact match for the one in my machine.  Thanks!!!  Now if I can get this "flippers in attract mode" thing figured out, I'll be a happy man.

[mhbr549]

Update:  I ordered a brand new Rottendog rectifier and installed it tonight thinking maybe something was shorted in the board but alas, the flippers are still live during attract mode.  I have double and tripled checked all wiring on the j3 20 connector pin and can verify that all is correct.  The only thing I can find out of whack is that during a self test the flippers are the only coils that do not fire, but yet they work fine during gameplay.  Am I on to something with that?

Edit: The relay on the driver board does click when the machine boots.

[mhbr549]

Ok guys, I replaced the Q15 transistor thinking it might be bad but still no luck on this.  The flipper enable relay energizes as soon as I turn the maching on and before I start a game which is not how it's suppose to work.  As a test, I put the original "old school" driver board into the machine and the flippers work as their suppose to, so I know it has to be something else in this Alltek board, but am clueless as to what it could be.  Surely someone has an idea on this thing?  Please?

[Homepin]

If the flippers work correctly with the original board and not with the replacements that tells me the replacements have an issue - either by design or an onboard fault. Might pay to send them to someone for checking like Skybeaux or Beaky.....

[Strangeways]

OK - I read this as the Altek Solenoid Driver board presents this issue, but the original does not.

How old is the Altek SD board, and did it work previously ?

[mhbr549]

I agree the issue is on the board.  It's only about 7 months old.