Mr & Mrs Pac-Man outhole kicker solenoid doesn't fire

alejandromad

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Mr & Mrs Pac-Man outhole kicker solenoid doesn't fire

What I have tried...

1. Grounded tab of Q4 on Solenoid driver board... nothing
2. metered wire from A3J1-5 to outhole solenoid... rings out fine, 0 ohms
3. plugged P1 ontop Solenoid driver board, left it slightly up, metered from the exposed socket pin to the outhole solenoid... rings out fine, 0 ohms (sort of redundant, but wanted to be sure socket in plug was making contact with pin on driver pcb)
4. Placed game in "lamp test" and grounded tab of Q4 on solenoid driver board... nothing (did this because I was curious if the Solenoid Expander was part of the problem.
5. Visual inspection of outhole kicker solenoid... part number AN-26-1200 (as called for) freely travels in and out (if pushed manually). Not burned, doesn't get hot...

What's next?

Is the solenoid dead?
 
You can jumper the hot wire from one of the slingshots to the outhole to see if the outhole solenoid fires when the slingshot fires. If not, try again but jumper the ground wire, too. If it still doesn't fire, then the coil is probably bad (or has a broken wire to one of the legs).

If it does fire, then remove the hot wire jumper and try actuating the outhole switch with the ground jumper still attached. If it fires now, then the ground wire isn't connected to ground properly. If it doesn't, then you are not getting a hot signal to the coil.

Check continuity from the board all the way to the coil. if you have continuity, replace the drive transistor, as the coil should fire when you ground that tab....
 
"You can jumper the hot wire from one of the slingshots to the outhole to see if the outhole solenoid fires"
--- it does

"If it does fire, then remove the hot wire jumper and try actuating the outhole switch with the ground jumper still attached."
--- it does not

"If it doesn't, then you are not getting a hot signal to the coil."
"Check continuity from the board all the way to the coil."
--- I have continuity (checked, and noted, previously)

"if you have continuity, replace the drive transistor,"

After the above testing results, I also tested the transistor by metering.
(meter was on lowest ohm scale)

tab to center leg = 0 ohms (normal)
tab to right leg = infinite (open)
tab to left leg = infinate (open)

I repeated the test on the adjacent transistor, Q3 and did read resistance between the tab and either of the outside legs.

So.. I think it's safe to blame the transistor, Q4, at this point.

Parts list says it's an SE9302
I see reference to TIP102 as the correct replacement.

Correct me if that's wrong.

One additional question... should I also replace the components associated with that transistor (capacitor, resistor and diode)?

Thanks for the tips. I am starting to feel more comfortable with poking around on this machine.
 

This part makes it seem unlikely that the related components have failed...

"A diode, resistor, and capacitor work to slow the speed at which the TIP102 and the solenoid are able to turn off."

... unless I am misunderstanding the explanation.

Thanks for the link. I had read through that a few days back but wasn't really thinking "Solenoid Driver board components" at that point... I had just played the game in the seller's garage and, since I had to disconnect the backbox to bring it home, bad connections/broken wires were at the top of my list of suspects.
 
Most likely a bad Driver (TIP102) or Pre-Driver (2N4401 IIRC)

The link above tells you exactly how to test them and what part number to use when replacing them.
 
1. Grounded tab of Q4 on Solenoid driver board... nothing

So.. I think it's safe to blame the transistor, Q4, at this point.

Even if the transistor is open (bad) the coil should energize when you connect the metal tab of the transistor to ground. Unless the connection between the collector leg on the transistor and the metal tab is open but I kind of doubt that. You could verify with a meter.

If the coil doesn't energize when you apply ground manually it won't energize when the transistor applies ground.

If that test doesn't work and you've verified that you have voltage at the coil and a good coil then you have a problem with the connection between the collector leg of the driver transistor and the coil (most likely a molex header or cabinet wiring problem).

Also make sure that the mechanism isn't stuck/broken or something and the coil isn't energizing but not doing anything. Stranger things have happened.

EDIT: It's possible to have continuity between the transistor and coil but still have a bad connector preventing enough current to energize the coil from flowing. I would really try to get the coil energizing when manually grounding it at the driver transistor before anything else.
 
Last edited:
Lindsey: "It's possible to have continuity between the transistor and coil but still have a bad connector preventing enough current to energize the coil from flowing."

Good advice. I took the Solenoid Driver PCB out to replace Q4 (I realize it was a shotgun approach but..). When I flipped the Solenoid Driver PCB over it looked like it had been used in 'soldering school'... by the freshmen! Wow is it ever full of 'repairs' and gobbed on old gray solder. Can we say 'cold solder joint'?

Anyway... as I was cleaning the older solder off a bit and reflowing fresh solder on... when I got to one pin (with a large gog of solder on it) I learned it no longer had a pad to attach it to... hence the giant solder blob. So I soldered a clipped of section of a transistor leg making a bridge to the run it should have been making connection to and metered it from the pin side through the backside to the transistor and it was all a nice short. So far so good.

Once I was finished with the rest of them I put it back in the pin, said a little prayer, and fired her up.

Yes ! It works now... 100%
Thanks for all of the help from this group!
 
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