WPC Weak Flipper Issue
Joe Entropy
either here or in Clay's repair guides. I have a Doctor Who that had a
A-12697-1 Power Driver board in it, and it worked fine. But then I got
a T2 with no boards, so I wanted to use the -1 board in that. I found
a -3 board for cheap on eBay (supposedly working but a little hacked
up).
So, I installed the -3 board in my DW and everything pretty much
worked _except_ now the flippers are just a tad weaker than they were
with the -1 board. It happens with all the flippers, but it's
especially noticeable when hitting the Cliffhanger Ramp with the upper
left flipper... when the -1 board was in there the ball would fly up
the ramp, but with the -3 board a solid shot just barely gets the ball
around the loop.
Most of the discussions I've seen on weak flippers say to either
rebuild the flippers or goof with the Fliptronics board, but I find it
hard to believe that's the issue because everything else in the game
is exactly the same... I mean, maybe some quirk with the new board is
exacerbating a problem my Fliptronics had all along that I just didn't
notice, but that seems like a stretch.
Probably irrelevant info: The game did sit idle for about 2 months
between when I pulled out the -1 board and when I installed the -3
board. I have been playing another DW in my pinball league, but I
don't think it's tainted my impressions of flipper strength on my
game. And finally, I have not done due diligence and re-installed the
-1 board in DW because it's a pain.
Any ideas? Thanks.
Chad Keller
I can't remeber if Dr. Who has flipper button optos but if it does you
can check them. Try cleaning them first and if that doesn't work try
swapping them with known good ones.
Joe Entropy
>
> I can't remeber if Dr. Who has flipper button optos but if it does you
> can check them. Try cleaning them first and if that doesn't work try
> swapping them with known good ones.
It does, but I'd be surprised if they suddenly became filthy within
two months.
Joe Entropy
outputting 72V to the flippers, a little more than the 50V it should
have. I also checked the power to the coils from the driver board and
it's outputting 72V as well. The other voltages I looked at from the
driver board seem within about 10% or so of where they should be.
Does that sound easily fixable or like major work?
Cayle George
voltage.
-cAyle
metallik
Sounds right for the flipper and coil voltage - it always reads higher
than 50. My AFM is close to 80v.
Joe Entropy
>
> Sounds right for the flipper and coil voltage - it always reads higher
> than 50. My AFM is close to 80v.
Man, I thought I had something there. Well, I guess I'll re-swap the
boards and see if the problem goes away.
c...@provide.net
Stuff breaks. there's no time limit.
i suspect the flipper optos. it's really
becoming a problem with games of this
age.
Chad Keller
That is just one aspect of the problem. You need to swap out those
optos with known working ones because those things go bad and exhibit
the exact symptoms you are talking about.
Joe Entropy
so I threw it back in the game. Suddenly, I had mighty flippers again.
So it seems like it must be the board or some fallout from the board
on another component.
And just for a little more context, I bought both flipper opto boards
new about 4 years ago.
TheKorn
b6cc-1cd...@b23g2000yqn.googlegroups.com:
Sounds like you have a connector issue to me. Iffy connectors can
sometimes pass voltage but not be able to pass *enough* current when the
rubber meets the road.
Check J102, J104 & J105 for *any* signs of corrosion and/or cracked/broken
solder joints. Rip & replace the pins & housings if you find any. Yes,
even though your old board works if there is corrosion, crud, or whatever
building in that area the old connector will be stressed. So it's just
better all around to replace them preventatively *before* they become a
major issue since it's a high power area.
Also check F112 & its fuse holder. (Check F111 while you're at it, just
for completeness sake.)
--
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Joe Entropy
> Sounds like you have a connector issue to me. Iffy connectors can
> sometimes pass voltage but not be able to pass *enough* current when the
> rubber meets the road.
>
> Check J102, J104 & J105 for *any* signs of corrosion and/or cracked/broken
> solder joints. Rip & replace the pins & housings if you find any. Yes,
> even though your old board works if there is corrosion, crud, or whatever
> building in that area the old connector will be stressed. So it's just
> better all around to replace them preventatively *before* they become a
> major issue since it's a high power area.
>
> Also check F112 & its fuse holder. (Check F111 while you're at it, just
> for completeness sake.)
Korn, that makes a lot of sense. I just looked at the joints and they
look fine, but I'll give them a closer look.
Thanks!
JE
kenny_ii
I suspect your +12 volts is bad. It is created by BR5 and C30 on the
top left of the power driver board. I have seen this issue before,
especially in opto heavy games like Dr Who. When I redesigned the
Type 1 flipper board, I found games with a weak 12 volts responded
much better to my boards than a game with solid 12 volts and no
ripple. Original design flipper boards will oscillate if supplied a
low or ripply emitter power. Since the power of the emitter directly
relates to how well the phototransistor pulls the switch matrix low,
this is critical for proper operation.
Anyway, the power comes into J112, is rectified by BR5, filtered by
C30 and feeds the opto emitter power from J116,117 and 118. I would
check the voltage (both DC and AC), replace any components that are
suspect, including the header pins and connector plugs.
K2
Joe Entropy
was a connector, and Kenny was also right that it was a weak 12V
(that's what the pinball repair savant at my pinball league suggested
too). J114 was bad on the driver board, which was causing irregular
issues with the 12V going to the Fliptronics board... I replaced the
plug & pins and it works great now. Thanks for the helpful
suggestions!
Joe