Flash Pop Bumper Not Working

[massappeal]

Hi all.

The right pop bumper on my Flash has stopped working.  The switch looks fine, it scores when I push the ring down, but the solenoid wont fire.  Does not fire in test mode either.  Solenoid does not look burnt out, all wires are connected correctly.  Is it more than likely to be a bad solenoid?  I havent found any info on how to test the solenoid that makes sense to me.  I have a multi meter, and if someone could give me some advise, that'd be great!

Thanks

[ddstoys]

Set your multimeter to the ohms then hold each lead on one lug each of the coil if it read higher than two ohms your coils ok

[massappeal]

Is that with the machine off?

Thanks!

[ddstoys]

 Yeah mate have the machine off

[massappeal]

All flipper coils read around 4.7 ohms.  So it seems the coil is ok.  Where should I go from here do you think?

Cheers

[casperthefriendly]

Hi,

Now that you've tested that the coil has continuity and all seems OK with it, check to see if you've got power to the coil. Guide here - http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.ph...Testing_a_coil

Chances are that you don't have power to the coil - first check the 2 wires attached to the coil, look closely and/or give them a good tug  . You say that you've already done this though...

You'll then have to carefully trace the wiring that goes to the coil back into the loom as far as you can. It will be daisy-chained in a few places - chances are a wire is broken upstream somewhere, if not on the coil itself. The pops take a fair amount of abuse and tend to share the same power wire, so you may find find the broken wire or dodgy solder joint in there.

Look closely at each solder joint - if in doubt, just reflow it.

HTH

[Retropin]

More than likely the transistor has failed on the driver board

[massappeal]

Thanks Casper.  I'll do that tonight.

Retropin, would a bad transistor stop just the one bumper from working?

Cheers guys

[Retropin]

Yes.. each has its own transistor... do you have the schematics??

If you know what transistor it is, with the game on go to the boards.. connect a wire to the ground braid and touch the metal tab of the transistor with the other end... if its Ok, it will fire... if not, its a dud

[massappeal]

I have the manual, but it seems I'm too dumb to work out which transistor it is!!  I'm only new to this stuff.

Cheers

[Retropin]

There are 3  bumpers... look on the schematic. One will be labelled LEFT BUMPER.. one RIGHT BUMPER...one CENTRE BUMPER.

Follow what ever bumper it is and the transistor will be labelled Q with a number next to it.
Now look on the driver board and Q * will be labelled on the board

[massappeal]

FIXED!  The problem was, the connector to the driver board has been cut and one of the wires was soldered directly to the pin.  I had previously melted it to remove the driver board.  Anyway, I re-soldered it and now the pop bumper works!!!  I am so happy, but feel like a total clown!!

Cheers guys, back to the next problem.....

Pinbot!

[Retropin]

Thats the ticket!! Good stuff

[casperthefriendly]

  I am so happy, but feel like a total clown!!

I don't think clowns can fix pinballs! ;) Good work fella...