Xenon pop bumper lights out

[Crashramp]

Hi guys,

I've lost the lights on my Xenon. Bop bumpers are still firing and scoring it's just that the lights are out on all 4.
There are no other lights out on the game and I've checked fuses as well as wiring to make sure nothing was shorting across the braid wire which links all of these lights. Any suggestions?

[Homepin]

Pop bumper lamps cop a flogging and are almost always out - did they all go at the same time?

[Retropin]

On a separate cct or daisy chained with the rest?

[Crashramp]

They all went at the same time and they are daisy chained. There's also 3 other lights on the same chain also out.

[Steevsee]

Some quick and easy things to try.

Check/reseat connector J4 on the lamp driver board.

Check/reseat connector J1 on the MPU.

Check for shorts at the coin door switches by removing J3 on the MPU, to see if lights come on.

Try these in order.

[Crashramp]

Some quick and easy things to try.

Check/reseat connector J4 on the lamp driver board.

Check/reseat connector J1 on the MPU.

Check for shorts at the coin door switches by removing J3 on the MPU, to see if lights come on.

Try these in order.

Thanks for that, I'll give it a go tomorrow afternoon.

[Steevsee]

Just checked and the pop bumper lights seem to be driven by the auxiliary lamp driver board.

Pay to check J1 on this board also, after checking MPU

Scratch that.

[Steevsee]

Some quick and easy things to try.

Check/reseat connector J4 on the lamp driver board.

Check/reseat connector J1 on the MPU.

Check for shorts at the coin door switches by removing J3 on the MPU, to see if lights come on.

Try these in order.

 Please ignore this as I assumed, incorrectly, that the bumper lights were controlled lamps instead of GI.
 

[pinball god]

Are they GI? My embryon ones only come on at certain stages of game play, I don't know xenon though. If they are controlled, do these have a lamp driver? If so that's where I'd be starting once the wire option is gone.

[Crashramp]

Are they GI? My embryon ones only come on at certain stages of game play, I don't know xenon though. If they are controlled, do these have a lamp driver? If so that's where I'd be starting once the wire option is gone.

They should be on all the time. It still plays well though......it's just that I need to be wearing a miners hat to see what's going on!

[Steevsee]

Are they GI? My embryon ones only come on at certain stages of game play, I don't know xenon though. If they are controlled, do these have a lamp driver? If so that's where I'd be starting once the wire option is gone.

Only going by the Xenon schematic, the bumpers are not listed on either the lamp driver or aux. driver board.

Embryon schematic does have them listed clearly on the lamp driver board section. So they definitely are controlled in Embryon.

Pretty sure Xenon's bumpers are part of the GI though and there are only two seperate GI "chains" to the playfield, both coming through J1 on the rectifier board.
This connector can become burnt so be worth to check it out.

[Crashramp]

Thanks, I'll check that out shortly.

[Crashramp]

Are they GI? My embryon ones only come on at certain stages of game play, I don't know xenon though. If they are controlled, do these have a lamp driver? If so that's where I'd be starting once the wire option is gone.

Only going by the Xenon schematic, the bumpers are not listed on either the lamp driver or aux. driver board.

Embryon schematic does have them listed clearly on the lamp driver board section. So they definitely are controlled in Embryon.

Pretty sure Xenon's bumpers are part of the GI though and there are only two seperate GI "chains" to the playfield, both coming through J1 on the rectifier board.
This connector can become burnt so be worth to check it out.

The connector looks good and the Rectifier board was rebuilt not that long ago with new connector housings on the board so it doesn't look like that's the problem.

[Retropin]

Im assuming that you've put a DMM across the bulb sockets??.. Always try this with a different ground point as its just as easy to lose ground as it is power to

[Steevsee]

Bit more info.

The 2 GI lines going to the play field are made up of a 2 pairs of wires: red/white pair and an orange/green pair.

Most lamps, apart from the last in a chain, should have two of each wire in the pair attached. ("Daisy chained")
The coloured wire may be replaced by braid in some sections but it does the same job.

You will have to follow these wires back from the first non working lamp to the last working lamp in the chain and check for good connection of all (4) wires between the two.
You can do this with a continuity checker or just visually by following the coloured wires.

Hope that makes sense.
Good luck.

Edit.
Just re-read original post and because affected lamps all seem to be around the section of braid, that will obviously be good place to start looking.  That braid should have continuity with either the red, white, orange or green wire, depending on which side pair is involved.