Xenon Blowing 4 amp Fuse

jeff412

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I have a Xenon that is blowing the 4 amp fuse on the power supply board when the flipper relay closes on the solenoid board. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to check?

Jeff

Edit: It's the 5 amp fuse, not the 4 amp fuse.
 
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Edit: Now it only plays about 3 balls then blows the fuse. It seems to blow it when you lose a ball. Sometimes I can play 5 balls and sometimes I only get 3. Any ideas?

I found the problem. Evidently the previous owner wired in new flipper coils by twisting the wires onto the connectors of the coils. They had grounds wires connect to hot wires. Does anyone have a flipper wiring diagram for Xenon? I need to make sure I get them right.




Thanks,
Jeff
 
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I have traced everything out and that's how I found the flipper problem. I rewired them properly and it's still blowing fuses. Just now it is taking several minutes to blow the fuse, which makes it a lot more difficult.

Jeff
 
The manual doesn't say it's a slow blow, but that's what I'm blowing. For some reason I'm pulling too many amps when the flipper is engaged. Does anyone know an easy trick to check the diodes on the coil?

Jeff
 
You guys nailed it! The diodes on the flipper coils were shorted, so the high powered coil was always staying in. Xenon is finally alive again. Thanks for all the help.

Jeff
 
Future ref, remove one leg when checking diodes on the coils. Personally, I think that is too much of a PITA and just replace a suspect diode as it saves a lot of time. Diodes are dirt cheap and readily available.
 
That's how I did it. I had plenty of diodes, so it wasn't a big deal to replace. I still tested them so that I knew what the problem was.

Jeff
 
Future ref, remove one leg when checking diodes on the coils. Personally, I think that is too much of a PITA and just replace a suspect diode as it saves a lot of time. Diodes are dirt cheap and readily available.

How does twice as much soldering save time? ;)
 
I'm assuming that instead of trying to salvage the existing diode, he just snips it off and leaves the legs there. Then just solders on the new one. Then you don't have to fight getting the old one out and worry about pulling the coil wire out in the process.

Jeff
 
I'm assuming that instead of trying to salvage the existing diode, he just snips it off and leaves the legs there. Then just solders on the new one. Then you don't have to fight getting the old one out and worry about pulling the coil wire out in the process.

Jeff

That's still going to take longer than testing the original diode. That said... I don't think replacing the diode just for the hell of it is necessarily a bad idea.

Properly desoldering the old one and installing the new one in it's place with some fresh solder is probably the best plan if you're going to do it. Hack "repairs" of potentially working components is never a good idea.
 
Damn, how long does it take "you" to "properly" change out a diode? I know for a fact that I can change one out a lot faster than lifting a leg, testing, resoldering the leg.

Diodes cost pennies, and if I want to prove that it was a certain diode that was bad I can test it before I toss it in the shit can.

I don't leave any of the old diode on the coil, that IS a half ass hack repair and it makes me crazy when people do that shit.
 
I don't leave any of the old diode on the coil, that IS a half ass hack repair and it makes me crazy when people do that shit.


I feel the same way. I agree it's not hard either way. I still test anyway. That way I know whether I've located the bad component or not.

Jeff
 
Damn, how long does it take "you" to "properly" change out a diode?

It takes what it takes. I try to do nice work so I don't really care about my time. It's a hobby. You're the one who suggested it was faster to replace a diode than test it and I disagreed. I stand by that. If you're going to just clip the old one and tack the new one in over the old crappy solder then you might be able to do that faster than I could test the old one but in that case I should be able to just clip one leg of the old one, test it and tack it back in. I'm sure I could do that faster but that's not how I would do it.

What a ridiculous argument. haha. Totally not the point anyway.

I know for a fact that I can change one out a lot faster than lifting a leg, testing, resoldering the leg.

Desoldering/soldering 2 legs vs. desoldering/soldering 1 leg. Doesn't seem like difficult math to me. Of course you have to factor in the time to test the diode but you should be doing that anyway. It's nice to know if your "repair" is actually going to do something.

Diodes cost pennies, and if I want to prove that it was a certain diode that was bad I can test it before I toss it in the shit can.

That's the whole issue. I don't disagree with replacing working diodes if it makes you feel better. They're cheap enough that it's not a big deal. My issue is with the idea that people should replace stuff without testing it first. That's a great way to put a bunch of parts in a machine and fix nothing. The cost of the part is irrelevant. I see people suggesting that people throw parts at games without knowing that it will even do anything all the time. I don't agree with that approach so I suggest another approach. That's what this forum is all about. It's up to the individual to decide which approach they want to use.

Here's my point: If you want to replace working components go right ahead. Just do some basic troubleshooting first so you'll know when you've actually found your problem. That's called "fixing stuff". Any other approach can only be called "guessing".
 
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