During a game the flippers suddenly stop working and fuse F5 on the playfield power board is blown. A new fuse blows as soon as the game is switched on.
Flippers die mid-game and the new fuse blows at power-up: shorted kickback coil
Cause: The outlane kickback coil had failed shorted, which also blew its TIP36C driver transistor on the power board; the flippers share that fuse and so went dead with it.
Checks
- Think back (or check video) for a coil that stopped working just before the failure; here the kickback failed to fire right before the flippers died.
- With the game off, test the TIP36C transistors on the power board in diode mode: about 0.5 to 0.65 from the tab to each outside leg is normal, near 0 means shorted.
- Measure the resistance of the suspect coil; a reading far below normal means it is shorted.
- Unplug the connector that feeds that group of coils and see if a new fuse now holds.
Fix
- Replace the shorted kickback coil and the blown TIP36C, then fit the correct fuse.
- Check the matching driver transistor on the CPU board too, as a shorted output can sometimes damage it.
Systems
Games
Related tips
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- Flipper energizes and stays up at power-on or game start
- How a coil or flasher is switched: PIA to TTL to pre-driver to driver
- Flipper stuck up with power on (Playboy and later)
- Launcher, scoop, VUK, one pop bumper and knocker all dead: failed TIP36C on the PPB board
Source: Pinball Repair help group!! (Facebook group)