Checking for voltage at a coil

Steps

• Check the fuse first.
• Leave the game on in attract mode and lift the playfield (close the coin door on WWF Royal Rumble and later).
• Set the meter to DC volts, 100 V range or higher, and clip the black lead to the ground strap by the prop rod.
• Touch the red probe to one coil lug, then the other. Each should show roughly 25-80 V DC.
• Voltage on one lug only means the coil winding is open. No voltage on either lug means power is not arriving (see the no-voltage entry).

Keep hands off coil lugs and the solenoid supply while the game is on; 50 V coil circuits read up to about 80 V unloaded.

Systems

• Data East CPU Version 1/2
• Data East CPU Version 3
• Data East/Sega CPU Version 3b

Related tips

• No voltage at either lug of a coil
• Testing a coil diode
• What the coil diode does and how a bad one shows up
• A coil has power but never fires
• Low coil voltage from pitted L/R relay contacts
• Check every coil's resistance before first power-up
• Why a locked-on coil goes low resistance
• Which coil lug takes which wire

Source: Repairing DataEast 1987 (Laser War) to Sega 1995 (Batman Forever), Part Two, Clay Harrell (pinrepair.com)