ok...what the hell did i do to my TRON???

[jonathan1138]

Yeah, the Flippers End of Stroke Switch switches over as to not burn out coil... i would check that in switch test anyway, when you hit the flipper buttons, make sure you get EOS on both sides.

I am sadly thinking the flipper transistor blew out - its very common fail point.

 

[pudluther]

I wouldn't think holding the flipper down for "two minutes" should cause it to pop the fuse. I have the home ROM in my TZ and will occasionally pause the game with a ball captured on a flipper to go get another beer or shot. I think the max. the home ROM will allow it to hold is 15 minutes. I know this is on a B/W pin, not a Stern, but still that blown fuse doesn't seem right to me

it's possible that it was 3 minutes, but seriously, it wasn't any longer than that....i was watching the clemson game and when it was over, i went and fired up TRON. i still had the game on and when dabo gave his post game interview, i captured the ball on the left flipper and turned around to watch. as soon as it was over, i released.

maybe it was just a fluke thing. i dunno.

 

[pudluther]

Yeah, the Flippers End of Stroke Switch switches over as to not burn out coil... i would check that in switch test anyway, when you hit the flipper buttons, make sure you get EOS on both sides.

I am sadly thinking the flipper transistor blew out - its very common fail point.

i tested the switch in switch test mode...when i pushed the left flipper button i was able to see both the upper and lower left flippers registering.

 

[pudluther]

ok, well....the fuse isn't the issue. or, at least, not the only issue.


put the new fuse in, turned it on, and the upper left flipper engaged on its own for about a second or so, then released.

started a game and the upper left flipper did not work.

 

[jonathan1138]

Pudluther,

This is one of the flipper transistors. Stuck up Flipper bat followed by blown fuse is the dead giveaway.

Pull the power board, multimeter set to continuity test, find the bad transistor. Look around Q15 or Q16, lower middle of the board.

Couple of options - replace the transistor (Q15 and Q16 is STP24NF10 transistor) or, contact Stern or your distributor for a replacement board.

If you are having the board sent out, you can swap in a Stern board from a SM or later game if you have one on hand / while you wait....

 

[pudluther]

Pudluther,

This is one of the flipper transistors. Stuck up Flipper bat followed by blown fuse is the dead giveaway.

Pull the power board, multimeter set to continuity test, find the bad transistor. Look around Q15 or Q16, lower middle of the board.

Couple of options - replace the transistor (Q15 and Q16 is STP24NF10 transistor) or, contact Stern or your distributor for a replacement board.

If you are having the board sent out, you can swap in a Stern board from a SM or later game if you have one on hand / while you wait....

ok....i'll check the transistors on the board sometime this week.


what kind of a repair am i looking at? i can't do board repairs....i have neither the skill set nor the tools. what kind of cost am i in for?

thanks.

 

[jonathan1138]

Desolder of the transistor in question (just replace Q15 / 16), solder in a new one.

Your distributor or Stern support should be able to give a replacement board....

 

[THE COUNT]

ok....i'll check the transistors on the board sometime this week.


what kind of a repair am i looking at? i can't do board repairs....i have neither the skill set nor the tools. what kind of cost am i in for?

thanks.

Yeah if you can't do board repair/solder then you can't fix it. Contact stern and have them take care of it. Not your fault IMO. I just had my wife hold the flipper for me for a couple of minutes while I when to p*ss in the middle of a decent game on BSD. Never though twice about it and you shouldn't have to either.

 

[pudluther]

Yeah if you can't do board repair/solder then you can't fix it. Contact stern and have them take care of it. Not your fault IMO. I just had my wife hold the flipper for me for a couple of minutes while I when to p*ss in the middle of a decent game on BSD. Never though twice about it and you shouldn't have to either.

thanks, man.


i can solder wires under the playfield and stuff like that, but i don't have the tools or experience to tackle board repairs....i think i spent $30-40 at the most on what i have now. i'm not spending a $hundo+ for a soldering station. i just don't do enough of this type of stuff to justify it.

i'll contact STERN and see what they have to say.

 

[THE COUNT]

thanks, man.


i can solder wires under the playfield and stuff like that, but i don't have the tools or experience to tackle board repairs....i think i spent $30-40 at the most on what i have now. i'm not spending a $hundo+ for a soldering station. i just don't do enough of this type of stuff to justify it.

i'll contact STERN and see what they have to say.

No sense in you spending your money just to fix this. Even if it were mine, and I do my own repairs, I would let Stern handle it. That is part of the reason you buy a new pin, so you don't have to fix it.... for awhile. Just like a new car/truck warranty: I'm an auto tech., but I let my wife take her cars in for even the simplest sh*t when they are still under warranty.

 

[jackal2001]

All you need is a soldering iron and some desoldering braid, and of course new solder found at your local radio shack. No need to spend $100s on fancy soldering station.

I have a cheapo 30Watt Radio Shack soldering iron that I do most of my work with. I've re-soldered transistors on with this as well. Obviously you can't do some stuff with these irons but it works well for most jobs.

Most people like to repair stuff themselves but Stern does have a quick turnaround if you ask politely to have them ship it out asap. Normally you will get it in 2-3 days.

 

[jonathan1138]

Yeah if you can't do board repair/solder then you can't fix it. Contact stern and have them take care of it. Not your fault IMO. I just had my wife hold the flipper for me for a couple of minutes while I when to p*ss in the middle of a decent game on BSD. Never though twice about it and you shouldn't have to either.

Thats Funny. I am sure your wife loved that (here hold this button while i go).

 

[willkaotix]

FYI The LE does NOT use the same board as other stern's.
The lamp drive area and connectors are different because of the way (wrong way) they do the LED's.

If you are having the board sent out, you can swap in a Stern board from a SM or later game if you have one on hand / while you wait....

 

[jonathan1138]

Will,

THANK YOU for that very important detail - dont swap in a board, just get a replacement.

By the way - are the connectors different? I would hope so (so anyone trying would hit a wall unless they hacked it up). I have a IM and TRON LE together, i should check that later.

 

[jackal2001]

I heard the boards are physically the same, but the system code is different.
For example say the boot code looks like this:

Tron LE:
System 1.86
Firmware 1.3


Tron Pro:
System 1.84
Firmware 1.3

Just using that as an example as I have no idea what the real system versions are. I know they are different though. They may use different types of chips as well. Not sure.
Tron may be different just because of the LED boards, but other LEs such as Avatar might be the same physical layouts.

 

[willkaotix]

I am talking about the driver board, it IS physically different. Different connector too.
Looks like part of the lamp circuit is on the boards under the playfield. Makes for less wires from driver the playfield, but is also the reason for the problems with the leds flickering and lighting when they should not. Bad design, should have left it alone.

I heard the boards are physically the same, but the system code is different.
For example say the boot code looks like this:

Tron LE:
System 1.86
Firmware 1.3


Tron Pro:
System 1.84
Firmware 1.3

Just using that as an example as I have no idea what the real system versions are. I know they are different though. They may use different types of chips as well. Not sure.
Tron may be different just because of the LED boards, but other LEs such as Avatar might be the same physical layouts.

 

[jackal2001]

I haven't noticed any LED flicker or ghost on my TRON LE.

 

[willkaotix]

Its a common issue that not all machines have. Stern sent out wire harness kits to correct it but it didnt help me.

I haven't noticed any LED flicker or ghost on my TRON LE.

 

[jackal2001]

That harness was to fix an issue where the leds were not coming on or were stuck on all the time. A buddy had that happen on his.

 

[THE COUNT]

Thats Funny. I am sure your wife loved that (here hold this button while i go).

She understood, it ended up being a just over 1 billion score game Gotta love those full length flippers!