Firepower help needed

tevans333

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Hey guys, I don't know much about pinballs so please bear with me:)

I have a Firepower thats works except for one thing. When I get a ball into the multi ball spot in the upper right of the playfield it doesn't eject when it should. If the multi ball isn't lit it should pop it back out, but it doesn't it just sits in there and I do not get another ball to start with. It's not that the switch isn't getting made because when I cycle power it pops it out. Any ideas?
 
Actually, it probably is the switch. The machine automatically cycles those kickout holes whenever it begins attract mode.... which happens whenever a game ends, or also when you first power up the machine.

Have you tested that switch via the built-in diagnostics? I'd give that a check, maybe give it a cleaning and check that it's properly adjusted with an actual ball in the kickout hole. Some people adjust it with their finger pressing the switch, but it doesn't always come out right via that method. Just don't test it with your finger during a game, that kickout can bite pretty hard.

-Hans
 
Thanks guys it looks like the switch contacts were dirty. For some reason I thought it only poped the solenoids that needed to be, not all at power up.

One more thing, the ball display is no longer lighting up the digit that tells you which ball you are on. Its one 6 digit digital assembly and the other 5 digits all work.
 
Fire up the display test, and make sure that you don't have any digits out for players 3 or 4 also. If you do, it's a chip problem. If you don't, likely a cracked solder joint or leg on the display glass itself.

-Hans
 
Ok just did that and player 1-4 all work, but only 3 of the 6 digits work on the credit/ball display. From left to right the first, fourth and sixth digits don't work. Does this sound like a solder issue? If so what joints should I check?
 
Ok just did that and player 1-4 all work, but only 3 of the 6 digits work on the credit/ball display. From left to right the first, fourth and sixth digits don't work. Does this sound like a solder issue? If so what joints should I check?

Hmmmm. Unfortunately, I'm not quite so good on displays, so I'll need to dig out a schematic. But before I do that, I need a good photo of the master display board. There's 3 different versions, all with very different schematics.

-Hans
 
Thanks for all of your help and efforts I really appreciate it. Here is a picture of the board, if its not clear enough or you need some numbers or something off of it let me know.

Tim
 

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That's all I needed, you've got the better of the available boards. Good thing too, some parts on the other ones are near impossible to get.

The good news is you actually only have a single digit out, which is the ball counter one. The others aren't even wired up at all, they're not used for anything.

Now I just need to track down the schematic.

-Hans
 
usually, just a pull up resistor burns out and the digit quits working.....look closely for any dark resistors then check it with a meter to verify if its bad.
 
Hans,

Out of curiosity how do you determine the "better" display board?

VB,
 
The better one has lots of transistors and resistors on it instead of the worse one that has some chips. The chips are expensive and hard to find, whereas the transistors are cheap and easy to find, and as a result makes the "better board" easier to repair.
 
FINALLY, the board is letting me post again. I had this all typed up yesterday morning, but was getting errors when I tried to post it. I do thank Geese for answering the question about why I think that's the better board to have.

Anyway, back to the technical stuff......

Ok, finally found what I needed. Not a full schematic, but enough to go by.
This is the assembly diagram for that display.
www.firepowerpinball.com/downloads/MasterDisplayBoard.pdf

Be careful testing this thing! Power input for the plasma is +100v/-110. Most of these tests you can do though with the machine powered down.

Check the legs coming out of the display glass, #3 and 5, for breaks or cracks. #40 is all the way on the left, #1 is all the way on the right. (there is no #1 pin though, starts at #2)

Also test the resistor, driver and pre-driver transistors for that digit.
Q32 (MPS-A92) Just above the glass, 4th transistor from the left)
Q57(MPS-A42) and R63 (8.2k ohms 1/4w) To the right of the glass, 4th transistor and resistor from the bottom.

Signal input for that digit is the right side connector, the brown/gray wire.

-Hans
 
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