Problem with Stern Meteor pin, playfield GI lights won't turn on

2PacMan

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Problem with Stern Meteor pin, playfield GI lights won't turn on

I'm going through a Stern Meteor I just bought and none of the playfield GI lights work. The flashers and game-controlled lights work just fine. All the backbox GI lights work and the coin door lights work. It's only the playfield lights. I checked the F5 fuse (GI lights fuse) and it is fine. No fuses are blown that I can tell. Where should I go from here?
 
Did you visually inspect the fuse, or actually test it with a DMM in and out of circuit? I've been victim of the bad fuse holder myself once.

If the backbox is working but not the playfield, then the transformer must be good. I would suspect wiring or a connector. Time to do some continuity testing.
 
The GI on that machine comes straight off the transformer assembly, in the bottom of the cabinet. Those things are notorious for burnt up connectors/headers.....cracked solder joints on the back of the headers. I'd pull that little board off the transformer assembly and give the back side a good look.

Edward
 
Yes, i pulled the fuse and tested it with my DMM and also tested it for continuity while in the fuse holder. Both ways checked out OK.

How should i check the continuity? Pull the J1 connector and put one end on the pin and another lead on one of the lugs of the lamp socket?

I do have an Alltek Ultimate MPU in there if that makes any difference.
 
The GI on that machine comes straight off the transformer assembly, in the bottom of the cabinet. Those things are notorious for burnt up connectors/headers.....cracked solder joints on the back of the headers. I'd pull that little board off the transformer assembly and give the back side a good look.

Edward

Would that be the board that has the fuses on it? I did have to fix one of the displays on the machine because it had some cracked solder joints on it's header pins, so that's def. a possibility that there could be cracked solder joints on the header pins of the transformer board as well.
 
Would that be the board that has the fuses on it? I did have to fix one of the displays on the machine because it had some cracked solder joints on it's header pins, so that's def. a possibility that there could be cracked solder joints on the header pins of the transformer board as well.

Yes, the board with fuses....and give the three connectors a good look. Look for any signs of heat....the white connector housings will have brown spots.

Edward
 
Yes, the board with fuses....and give the three connectors a good look. Look for any signs of heat....the white connector housings will have brown spots.

Edward


Nice, i will take a good look this evening and touch up the header pins with some solder. Thanks for your help. I'll report back tomorrow morning and let you know if that did the trick.
 
I would guess you have a connector problem at J1 on the rectifier board. The GI to the playfield comes straight off J1 and goes out to the playfield. All of the voltages to the playfield come from that connector. Usually the ground pin for the DC voltages is the main problem on that connector but GI can easily be a problem as well.

If I were you I would replace the molex headers and pins. Especially if cleaning up the solder and cleaning the pins "fixes" the problem.

If the connector at the rectifier board is not the problem it should be pretty easy to trace the wires to the playfield.

I shorted the solenoid voltage to the GI blowing all the lamps once. Anything is possible ;)
 
Nice, i will take a good look this evening and touch up the header pins with some solder. Thanks for your help. I'll report back tomorrow morning and let you know if that did the trick.

Do you have to pull out the boards to do the touch-up solder job? I'am following this thread :) I'am like a sponge here, taking in all I can for the future.
 
Do you have to pull out the boards to do the touch-up solder job? I'am following this thread :) I'am like a sponge here, taking in all I can for the future.

Yes.

Well... you don't actually have to pull the board out of the game but you do need to flip it over which involves detaching it from where it's mounted. I would pull the whole piece of wood that the transformer and rectifier board are mounted to out of the machine and take a look at it. The transformer wires are soldered to the back of the rectifier board so you can't pull the rectifier board without taking the transformer with it. Cleaning the pins will probably be more effective than reflowing the solder but both are a good idea. Actually... rebuilding the whole board and replacing the molex pins is a good idea.
 
Yes.

Well... you don't actually have to pull the board out of the game but you do need to flip it over which involves detaching it from where it's mounted. I would pull the whole piece of wood that the transformer and rectifier board are mounted to out of the machine and take a look at it. The transformer wires are soldered to the back of the rectifier board so you can't pull the rectifier board without taking the transformer with it. Cleaning the pins will probably be more effective than reflowing the solder but both are a good idea. Actually... rebuilding the whole board and replacing the molex pins is a good idea.

When you say cleaning the pins, do you mean just lightly sanding them with sandpaper to get a fresh surface? So I shouldn't be poking around in the backbox area at all? Nothing that has to do with the GI lights come from that area? I read on Marvin's site that the J1 connector is the one that controls the playfield lights, and J2 and J3 control the backbox lights and coin door lights, all of which are working. So i'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is an issue with just that one particular connector.
 
When you say cleaning the pins, do you mean just lightly sanding them with sandpaper to get a fresh surface? So I shouldn't be poking around in the backbox area at all? Nothing that has to do with the GI lights come from that area? I read on Marvin's site that the J1 connector is the one that controls the playfield lights, and J2 and J3 control the backbox lights and coin door lights, all of which are working. So i'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is an issue with just that one particular connector.

Yeah... I mean lightly sand them. You're actually taking finish off of the pin which is a bad thing but I consider it a short term solution... and it does work. Alternatively you can clean them with some alcohol but sanding will typically show better results. I wouldn't sand the pins unless you're planning to replace them within the next couple of years... or when they fail again.

You're also correct that the playfield GI does not come from the backbox (on that game). It will be 2 wires from J1 on the rectifier board straight to the playfield. As far as Bally/Stern games go the Stern games are easier to do this kind of troubleshooting on (IMO).
 
Thank you Lindsey...i'm going to work on this tonight and report back.

I also have another issue i'll probably need your help with, the upper flipper is very weak. I hit the button and it barely flutters. Sometimes it kicks pretty good, sometimes it doesn't. It seems pretty loose under the playfield. I've adjusted the EOS with no help. It probably needs to be rebuilt, but i'm going to get the GI situation fixed before i start dealing with that.
 
You'll have to lift the playfield and take a look at the upper flipper mechanism. You don't want it to be too strong or it will break the targets but you do want it to be consistent. If you post a picture I'm sure we can help you out.

My guess would be it's loose and possible even missing some mounting screws or something. Could be any number of things. Parts can be a bit tough to find for those flippers. The ideal thing to do is convert the lower flippers to WPC style mechanisms and use the best leftover parts for the upper flipper but that's a little costly and time consuming. I can't imagine doing it without a rotisserie. That would be a real PITA.
 
Do you know, are you supposed to be able to hold the upper flipper up? Or do you just push the button, and even if you hold it down, the flipper will still fall back down? The upper flipper on my Meteor will not stay up even if I hold the button. I didn't know if this was normal or not.
 
Do you know, are you supposed to be able to hold the upper flipper up? Or do you just push the button, and even if you hold it down, the flipper will still fall back down? The upper flipper on my Meteor will not stay up even if I hold the button. I didn't know if this was normal or not.

If the Flipper will not stay up then more then likely you have a bad coil, remove the coil and look for one of the fine wires to be broken at the solder lug, if it is then it can sometimes be repaired by scraping off the varnish/insulation and solder it back to the lug. But plan on buying a new coil....
 
OK, well I got the GI lamps working! Thanks everyone for your help. My rectifier board and connectors are all hacked up. Whoever worked on this before I got it really did a number on it. I'm not even going to attempt to fix that mess, looks like he wired some stuff right to the test points. I pulled the J1 connector off, sanded the pins, plugged it back in and the GI lights work now! I took a picture of the rectifier board just to show you what it looks like. The connectors look like they were burned in the past as well.

I still have the flipper issue, but i'm going to start a new thread on that now that this issue is resolved.
 

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OK, well I got the GI lamps working! Thanks everyone for your help. My rectifier board and connectors are all hacked up. Whoever worked on this before I got it really did a number on it. I'm not even going to attempt to fix that mess, looks like he wired some stuff right to the test points. I pulled the J1 connector off, sanded the pins, plugged it back in and the GI lights work now! I took a picture of the rectifier board just to show you what it looks like. The connectors look like they were burned in the past as well.

I still have the flipper issue, but i'm going to start a new thread on that now that this issue is resolved.

Ugly... but basically exactly what I would expect to see. You will continue to have problems with that board. One of these years I'll get around to writing up an article on my site showing a rebuild of a rectifier board. I'm sure a lot of people could use it.

Another thing that sucks is you won't be able to pull the playfield out of the machine because the harness coming from it has wires soldered right to the rectifier board.
 
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If the Flipper will not stay up then more then likely you have a bad coil, remove the coil and look for one of the fine wires to be broken at the solder lug, if it is then it can sometimes be repaired by scraping off the varnish/insulation and solder it back to the lug. But plan on buying a new coil....

Good advice.

I will add that when the "hold" winding on a flipper coil goes open the flipper will usually flutter. This is because it reaches the end of stroke, the EOS switch opens but there's no coil to hold it in that position so the flipper bat falls back down closing the EOS switch and the process repeats rapidly.
 
On those old Bally/Stern pinballs, 99% of the time the general illumination problems are caused by bad connectors on the power transformer board. The male and female terminals burn up/corrode from poor design.

There are reproduction/replacement newly manufactured boards for these available now.

The one that Tom Callahan makes is the best of the bunch, IMO.
 
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