sega twister problem. upkicker keeps firing into shooter lane?

woodrailsrus

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sega twister problem. upkicker keeps firing into shooter lane?

hello. i spent about 1 and a half hours tonite trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with my twister pinball machine
the upkicker coil at the bottom of the playfield that sends the ball into the shooter lane (with the plunger) keeps firing 5 times after it launches each ball into play.
at first i noticed the rubber grommets were all worn off the one opto board (the board with the green and white wires)(the other side was ok).....so i replaced those and it worked ok for 1 night and about 5 games i played on it.....
now today i went to play it with my neighbor and it was doing the same thing.......so i tried to clean the 2 little opto eyes.......still didnt work......
every time i start a new game it will shoot the ball over ready to be launched into play then it will keep firing 5 times. even in multiball when it shoots another ball over it will fire 5 times. it looks like all the ball trough switches are working ok (so far as i can tell).
long ago when i first got the machine i had a 5 balls missing error message but i found a wire off and i fixed that....(not sure if that had anything to do with the problem i have now)
i tired to trace the wires back.....(i gave a half hearted attempt because it was getting late) and didnt see much. i took the translite out and didnt see anything burnt on the boards.
i tried giving you experts the most info i could.....does anyone have any other ideas???
thanks in advance
dave in pittsburgh
 
I don't know the specific game, and I don't have any experience w/ opto's, so take this with a grain of salt, but...

is the switch in the shooter lane registering? Maybe that's why it keeps wanting to shoot a ball over there - it doesn't see evidence of one already being there.
 
Can you verify the TX side of the opto is working? If you look at with a digital camera, you should be able to see it on.

I've used the light on my iPhone to test the RX side of optos before. You might be able to use a small flashlight to do the same. Put it in switch test and see if it works.

Usually the TX side burns out. After all, they are just little light bulbs.
 
Can you verify the TX side of the opto is working? If you look at with a digital camera, you should be able to see it on.

I've used the light on my iPhone to test the RX side of optos before. You might be able to use a small flashlight to do the same. Put it in switch test and see if it works.

Usually the TX side burns out. After all, they are just little light bulbs.


I too, have had this happen. Check the alingment of the 2 boards and make sure there are no cold solder joints on the connectors.
 
I had a problem like that on my RCT. I think the opto boards for the trough are the same or close. I removed them both, reflowed the solder on the header pins and leds. I then replaced the connectors for both boards and problem fixed.

One way to check for a flaky opto.

Pull the playfield up and remove the balls. Go into the switch test and tap on the opto boards and plugs. If the switch registers then the above fix may fix your problem. - Barry
 
I don't know the specific game, and I don't have any experience w/ opto's, so take this with a grain of salt, but...

is the switch in the shooter lane registering? Maybe that's why it keeps wanting to shoot a ball over there - it doesn't see evidence of one already being there.

i will have to check that because i did mess with that switch but i thought it was working
 
Can you verify the TX side of the opto is working? If you look at with a digital camera, you should be able to see it on.

I've used the light on my iPhone to test the RX side of optos before. You might be able to use a small flashlight to do the same. Put it in switch test and see if it works.

Usually the TX side burns out. After all, they are just little light bulbs.

which side is the tx side? is that the side with the small white and green wires or the side with the thicker black and red wires
 
I had a problem like that on my RCT. I think the opto boards for the trough are the same or close. I removed them both, reflowed the solder on the header pins and leds. I then replaced the connectors for both boards and problem fixed.

One way to check for a flaky opto.

Pull the playfield up and remove the balls. Go into the switch test and tap on the opto boards and plugs. If the switch registers then the above fix may fix your problem. - Barry

thanks for the advice guys.....i guess i know what im doing tonite!!!! when you guys say reflow a solder joint and look for cold solder joints.....to reflow one means to heat up the solder enough to melt then let it dry in the socket it was already in to try and make a new solid connection?
and a cold solder joint is a solder joint with a crack in it that will make it not work or only work sometimes? is it possible to see the broken joints? im going to guess and say no since they are so small. i think this may be where my problem is...becuase there is alot of force coming from that upkicker and it fires the ball into the lane.



that sounds like what might be the problem. but i never had to fix an opto board before.....
 
thanks for the advice guys.....i guess i know what im doing tonite!!!! when you guys say reflow a solder joint and look for cold solder joints.....to reflow one means to heat up the solder enough to melt then let it dry in the socket it was already in to try and make a new solid connection?
and a cold solder joint is a solder joint with a crack in it that will make it not work or only work sometimes? is it possible to see the broken joints? im going to guess and say no since they are so small. i think this may be where my problem is...becuase there is alot of force coming from that upkicker and it fires the ball into the lane.



that sounds like what might be the problem. but i never had to fix an opto board before.....

Reflow - remove existing solder and flow new solder. I'd do 1 pin at a time so the headers don't fall out. I couldn't see any problems, but the fix worked. - Barry
 
You'll have to check the schematics to be sure. Outside of that, I don't know if it's always the case, but in the ones I've seen the TX side has clear or translucent bulbs and the RX side has dark bulbs. Or, you can do the digital camera thing, the TX(emitter) side will be emitting light.
 
ooooook. so i spent about 3 hours trying to figure this problem out tonite......
i first put the game in a switch test and found the problem to be on the board with the green and white wires closest to the player when the playfield is down.
all i did was loosen the board a little and it worked.....for about 3 games.
then the upkicker started firing again. so with the playfield up i touched the back of the opto board where the leads come from the light and it worked.....i tried flexing the board a little to make sure it wasnt a problem of the entire board being too tight or loose and nothing happened. i tried this like 10 times.......and every time i touched the back of that light (on the other side of the board) it would work.....so i REFLOWED the solder for that light. then it was working fine for another 2 games. then it started acting up again......and NOW......the next small piece on the board....(not sure what it is.....its a very small white/black square that says 103 on it) is doing the same thing. i tried flexing the board....then i would press lightly just on that board component and the switch would go off like normal in the switch test.......i tried reflowing that solder and it still doesnt work.....
when i say flex the board i dont mean twist it like crazy.....i mean i am just picking up on one end slightly to make sure its not a problem of the optos not lining up correctly

also......in the switch test it shows my problem to be on that one opto board.....when i unplug the connector from the opto board the problem disappears off of the switch test screen......does this MEAN that my problem is located on that opto board......and would a new opto board solve this?

im bummed out because this is the only shopped out game at the place where i work on my machines......so when i go to play it....it doesnt work....
i have a getaway pinball there but it has a very dirty playfield.....and i dont wanna play it with a dirty playfield till i go over it myself....i think you pinheads would understand this lol
 
I had a little bit of trouble following what you did, but I think:

- you need to tighten rather than loosen the mounting points to ensure a good alignment
- when you unplug the opto board from it's harness, the MPU is probably reading them all as closed, doesn't really mean anything, other than you unplugged the opto board
 
if you have used the test features on the game before, you will find a test for all the switches and the state, on or off, as you watch the score display. This is the best way to know for sure how each switch is working, and how the game acutally see's each switch.
 
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