theatre of magic fuse 104 blowing

[pinball god]

Had this go during gameplay the other day which took out a bank of solenoids including the ball eject, raising the trapdoor and metamorphasis magnet. I replaced it and all good for a dozen games over a few days and now its gone again after a couple of minutes game play. Any ideas why or where best to start looking? Thanks very much

[Caveoftreasures]

Was it the correct fuse (size and slow blow or fast blow) compared to the schematics when u first looked or did you replace the fuse with identical.

I am assuming with game turned off you have reseated all connectors on various boards to get a better/correct contact.

If u open the playfield, can u follow the wiring that that fuse is responsible for as per the schematics and make sure there isn't a loose wire or broken wire or something shorting intermittently.

If you have done all this, then I would be looking at the rear of some of your boards to see if there are any blackened/overheated areas or areas that have been repaired before.

I do these steps and if I can't get an answer or the fault to stop, time for someone else with a multi meter with the schematics who is more patient than I.

I am pretty sure you have the game manual n schematics. Theatre of Magic. Great game.
Drop Beaky a PM. He is amazing at solving this stuff.

[pinball god]

Thank you for your suggestions. I haven't had a chance as yet. I think the manual is incorrect in that it state f105 for the bank of solenoids but I found f104 was the offender. My thoughts as to what may be causing the problem could be the side magna save magnets. Either or both may be too sensitive and are being activating a lot during game play. So this may be putting too much strain on the fuse. I will try adjusting these first unless someone can suggest more obvious things to look at first. Thanks again

[rads]

What brand fuse are you using. I had the same issue where the magnet would blow the fuse regularly but not every time.  My fix was going from a cheap fuse to the buss brand. 

[Homepin]

Are you using a fast blow fuse instead of a slow blow perhaps?

[pinball god]

Buss slow blow 3amp were used, brand spankers. Put my last one in and blew within seconds of playing. The side magnets seem to be coming on way too soon and maybe staying on too long. I heard them activate while the ball was bouncing side to side across the playfield. This could be a coincidence but I dunno???

I am pretty sure the magnets are over heating the fuse. I may put in a fast blow to just see if the magnets are on all the time. What do you think?

[Caveoftreasures]

Fast blow won't hurt. In actual fact will protect machine quicker by blowing fuse quicker.

I say disconnect both magnets and play some games then reconnect one magnet at a time and see what happens.
Do this to both magnets by reconnecting one at a time.

Magnets overheating are a big problem.
What's the cost to replace the magnets if they are not working correctly.
Can u identify the driver which runs them and check the voltage there isn't too low or too high ?
The Next step is Beaky.

[Homepin]

Magnets are a tricky thing to fault find as you can do massive damage to many things if you are not very careful.

I would refrain from continuing to replace fuses until you have a plan of attack for rectifying the problem, perhaps replace the coils and driver transistors all at the same time???

[pinball god]

Magnets are a tricky thing to fault find as you can do massive damage to many things if you are not very careful.

I would refrain from continuing to replace fuses until you have a plan of attack for rectifying the problem, perhaps replace the coils and driver transistors all at the same time???

sorry mike but unsure what you mean. Are these on the power driver? Forgot to mention using a rottendog driver thats a year or two old. I can replace it with the original for testing.

I haven't tried anything yet as figured there are suggestions that could save me a lot of heartache and blown components. Please advise next moves and will wait till then. Isolating the magnets is on m list.

[The pinballist formally known as Dean Morgan]

Fuse 104 controls solinoids 9 to 16 according to the print. Run the solinoids test function fit a good fuse installed and see when it blows. Sol 9 is left sling, 10 right sling, 11 bottom jet bumper, 12 Middle jet bumper, 13 top jet bumper, 14 trap door, 15 left up down gate and 16 right up down gate.  Run solinoids T 4 test in repeat mode that way you can slowly step through each soliniod till fuse blows

Shouldn't have anything to do with magnets at all

[robm]

Can you swap another power driver board from another machine? I have seen all sorts of wirrd issues with rottendog stuff including mpu, power driver and fliptronics boards from them

[pinball god]

I think the manual is wrong as F104 fires magnets, trapdoor, ball eject etc, but can try this test. I also have the original power driver that works fine but I lost confidence in when it cooked a fuse holder while just being on idle. Got it fixed but replaced it with the rottendog seeing I had this spare. Will have to try all these suggestions on the week end, bit also need to get my hands on 3 amp slow blows too. Got lots of fast blows though.

[robm]

Having a 3a and 5a circuit breaker on hand is a good idea as well. I have them with alligator leads attached and use them for trouble shooting. That way you aren't blowing fuses looking for the problem

[pinball god]

Ok guys, no idea what's going wrong. I replaced the F104 fuse and played a game. I could see this fuse light up when the spirit ring magnet activated but hung on there for a good while. Then tried solenoid test mode and all solenoids on this line lit the fuse like a light bulb when they activated. The only reason the fuse didn't blow was I let go of the door switch in time. What I did notice was the transformer really started to hum loudly when testing a solenoid on the line.

I tried removed the left drain magnet from the game and it wouldn't fire up. Reconnected it without the rod/core and it powered up. Just unplugged the right magnet and same thing happened. And yet my first test for the night was to unplug both of these magnets and I could power up and play a game, although the fuse still was under much stress.

Any idea on what to try or is it time for a tech? Thanks. Btw I have unplugged the game from the gpo

[Caveoftreasures]

So with the magnets disconnected the fuse still glows hot.

Maybe something driving that circuit is feeding too much juice down the line.

Send Beaky a PM and grab his phone number. He is the BEST pinball tech in Australia and understands every part of a pinball machine extremely well. I am sure Andy would spend half an hour with you on the phone and walk you through exactly what and how he would trouble shoot your problem.

I think a multi meter and checking what is coming out of your boards would be where I would start to determine if the values are correct or not. Once that is established and checked, you can then work down the line on each component.
Phoning Beaky could save you hundreds. Ask him in your PM to look up Thatre of Magic schematics before he rings you so u both have them on hand at the same time.