seanriddle
Member
I read the 2 recent threads about other games ejecting 2 balls hoping to get a hint. My FH just started doing this. About 1/2 the time when all 3 balls are in the trough, it ejects one ball and then 1 second later, ejects another. With the glass off I can just drop one of the balls down the drain and play the other ball normally. Everything else about the game plays correctly. It definitely has the right number of balls, and all the switches test fine in diagnostics. Even so, I tried replacing the right plunger switch (62), but that didn't help. Next I tried replacing the left trough switch (72) and that fixed the problem.
I thought it was odd that the game would eject a 2nd ball when the right plunger switch was correctly reporting that a ball was already there, but then I realized that the game didn't know which of the 2 switches was wrong, and the safest (highest profit) thing to do is to make sure there is a ball to play with; it's better to have 2 balls eject than none.
The left trough switch is a standard cherry microswitch, and I had tons of them lying around for video game buttons and joysticks. It does have a short metal tab that my spare switches didn't have, even though my switches had the spot for it. Since I didn't want to wait until I got an exact replacement, I just cut the 2 plastic tabs holding the switch halves together to remove the metal tab, and transferred it to the other switch. I didn't glue the halves, since the mounting bracket will hold it together. If you just barely separate the halves on the side with the tab, you can get the tab in and you don't have to worry about the switch guts falling out.
Those switches aren't sealed, so I might have been able to squirt some contact cleaner into there and made it work. I'm guessing some dirt got in there and made the switch bounce, which confused the game into ejecting a second ball.
Sean
I thought it was odd that the game would eject a 2nd ball when the right plunger switch was correctly reporting that a ball was already there, but then I realized that the game didn't know which of the 2 switches was wrong, and the safest (highest profit) thing to do is to make sure there is a ball to play with; it's better to have 2 balls eject than none.
The left trough switch is a standard cherry microswitch, and I had tons of them lying around for video game buttons and joysticks. It does have a short metal tab that my spare switches didn't have, even though my switches had the spot for it. Since I didn't want to wait until I got an exact replacement, I just cut the 2 plastic tabs holding the switch halves together to remove the metal tab, and transferred it to the other switch. I didn't glue the halves, since the mounting bracket will hold it together. If you just barely separate the halves on the side with the tab, you can get the tab in and you don't have to worry about the switch guts falling out.
Those switches aren't sealed, so I might have been able to squirt some contact cleaner into there and made it work. I'm guessing some dirt got in there and made the switch bounce, which confused the game into ejecting a second ball.
Sean