Weak haunted house up kicker solution?

Malice95

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Donor 2011
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So I was able to adjust all the switches on my haunted house
to work well but one thing is nagging me. The up kicker solenoid from
the lower playfield is weak. Sometimes it kicks the ball up on the first
try, other times it takes 2 or 3 tries. I can see it popping up in the hole
when it does this so I know its firing.

Should I replace the solenoid? Something I can adjust?
Do solenoids get weak over time?
 
if it's kicking at all, the solenoid itself is probably fine - it's just a big coil of wire.

check that the solenoid is the right strength. the manual should tell you (or ask here - i just did that with my whirlwind).

if it is, then something is probably binding in the solenoid. you may need to clean or replace the sleeve. or the linkage may be getting caught on something. or the sleeve may be in backwards (no, i would never do something like that, never, ever in my life, especially on my whirlwind :shiftyeyes: ).
 
Yeah, as mentioned, disassemble & clean all the mechanical parts... they're probably caked with crud. The sleeve on the upkicker is different from most, too. Also, make sure that the clear plastic tube (mounted on the bottom of the main playfield) is well centered over the ball in the hole; there's a metal bracket to guide it. There are pics and an explanation in the manual (Section VI-G). I took off the metal deflector over the top end of the tube to look straight down it.
 
In some of the manuals, the wrong coil number is listed for the upkicker assembly. There should be an A-4893 coil installed.
 
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