From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

Hello all - just acquired a Demo Man and have fixed all the issues with the exception of one: The Cyroclaw is throwing a "Magnet Broken" error. I checked continuity as the magnet is driven off the Fliptronics II board and I am getting some strange readings at the magnet coil lugs. When in test, both lugs read 0.43 vdc, then move to zero when the magnet test in engaged. I am probably doing something wrong, but everything else on the claw works fine. Does not seem to be much on this in the usual places, so anything is helpful. I did swap a new Fliptronics board in with the same result. Can the magnet actually be bad? That would be a first for me.
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

On 10/26/21 3:38 PM, tacxbo...@gmail.com wrote:

Hello all - just acquired a Demo Man and have fixed all the issues with the exception of one: The Cyroclaw is throwing a "Magnet Broken" error. I checked continuity as the magnet is driven off the Fliptronics II board and I am getting some strange readings at the magnet coil lugs. When in test, both lugs read 0.43 vdc, then move to zero when the magnet test in engaged. I am probably doing something wrong, but everything else on the claw works fine. Does not seem to be much on this in the usual places, so anything is helpful. I did swap a new Fliptronics board in with the same result. Can the magnet actually be bad? That would be a first for me.

You are right, the Claw Magnet is run off the Fliptronics board. It
uses Q2. The power is supplied by J907-6.

First thing I would do is measure the resistance. Turn the power off
and disconnect J907. Perhaps disconnect J902 also. I am not sure what
the resistance should be for this, but if you read infinite (or on an auto-ranger, something very high in the mega ohm range) then it is
broken open. If it reads very low, I would be concerned. Not certain
what too low is, but expect maybe in the 100 ohm vicinity or so - a guess.

Pg 3-11 of your manual shows the Fliptronics circuit. This is the
'generic' version and does not reflect your game.

The magnet is in place of the upper right flipper coil. I don't
understand why you would read only 0.43 V DC. This coil should have +50
V DC on it even when not in use (may read as high as +70). Even if the
coil is broken open, it should read +50 on one lug.

The circuit diagram for the Fliptronics board is in a separate
Schematics manual. This shows that J907-6 gets power from F903. I
would bet that fuse is blown. Check the fuse resistance by removing it
from the holder with the power off.

In a perfect world, the fuse blew because it felt like it and replacing
would fix it. But it could also blow if the coil is shorted or if Q2 or
Q8, the pre-driver is shorted.
--
http://orcalcoast.com/
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

On 2021/10/26 12:38 p.m., tacxbo...@gmail.com wrote:

Hello all - just acquired a Demo Man and have fixed all the issues with the exception of one: The Cyroclaw is throwing a "Magnet Broken" error. I checked continuity as the magnet is driven off the Fliptronics II board and I am getting some strange readings at the magnet coil lugs. When in test, both lugs read 0.43 vdc, then move to zero when the magnet test in engaged. I am probably doing something wrong, but everything else on the claw works fine. Does not seem to be much on this in the usual places, so anything is helpful. I did swap a new Fliptronics board in with the same result. Can the magnet actually be bad? That would be a first for me.

When you are testing a coil powered up you want to have one lead
(usually the Negative) of your voltmeter tied to the cabinet ground.
Then probe each side (solder lug/electrical connection) of the coil. If
the coil is not powered then both sides should show the B+ voltage of
other coils on the same circuit.

When the coil is energized, then only one side will show B+, the other
side will be very close to Zero volts (around 1VDC or less).

That is usually a good coil.

You can also do a resistance check on the magnet coil with it unplugged
- what value do you get?

John :-#)#
--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the USENET newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd.
MOVED to #7 - 3979 Marine Way, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5J 5E3
(604)872-5757 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021 at 3:11:37 PM UTC-7, John Robertson wrote:

I disconnected the leads to the magnet lugs and it reads 99 ohms.

So if I am reading this correctly, that would mean the magnet is ok. Hard to believe a magnet would go bad, but I suppose it happens.

I swapped out the Fliptronics II board with a brand new one, and no change..

Appreciate both you gents very much for weighing in on this....
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

On 10/26/21 6:16 PM, tacxbo...@gmail.com wrote:

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021 at 3:11:37 PM UTC-7, John Robertson wrote:

I disconnected the leads to the magnet lugs and it reads 99 ohms.

So if I am reading this correctly, that would mean the magnet is ok. Hard to believe a magnet would go bad, but I suppose it happens.

I swapped out the Fliptronics II board with a brand new one, and no change..

Appreciate both you gents very much for weighing in on this....

The sound you hear is me going "wow, and I guessed 100 ohms"!

That coil is good.

I am guessing that if you find the reason that there is not 50 V DC on
that coil, you will solve the problem. I suspect that fuse is blown.
If Q2 and Q8 are good, I don't know why the fuse would blow. Even if
the coil locked on, 50 V / 100 ohms is only 0.5A. The fuse is 3A SB.
--
http://orcalcoast.com/
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021 at 3:31:12 PM UTC-7, LexingtonVAPin wrote:

On 10/26/21 6:16 PM, tacxbo...@gmail.com wrote:

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021 at 3:11:37 PM UTC-7, John Robertson wrote:

I disconnected the leads to the magnet lugs and it reads 99 ohms.

So if I am reading this correctly, that would mean the magnet is ok. Hard to believe a magnet would go bad, but I suppose it happens.

I swapped out the Fliptronics II board with a brand new one, and no change..

Appreciate both you gents very much for weighing in on this....

The sound you hear is me going "wow, and I guessed 100 ohms"!

That coil is good.

I am guessing that if you find the reason that there is not 50 V DC on
that coil, you will solve the problem. I suspect that fuse is blown.
If Q2 and Q8 are good, I don't know why the fuse would blow. Even if
the coil locked on, 50 V / 100 ohms is only 0.5A. The fuse is 3A SB.

--
http://orcalcoast.com/

Yes sir - awesome guess!

As mentioned, fuses are good so somewhere there is a break. I will report back. --- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

On 10/26/21 6:58 PM, tacxbo...@gmail.com wrote:

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021 at 3:31:12 PM UTC-7, LexingtonVAPin wrote:

On 10/26/21 6:16 PM, tacxbo...@gmail.com wrote:

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021 at 3:11:37 PM UTC-7, John Robertson wrote:

I disconnected the leads to the magnet lugs and it reads 99 ohms.

So if I am reading this correctly, that would mean the magnet is ok. Hard to believe a magnet would go bad, but I suppose it happens.

I swapped out the Fliptronics II board with a brand new one, and no change..

Appreciate both you gents very much for weighing in on this....

The sound you hear is me going "wow, and I guessed 100 ohms"!

That coil is good.

I am guessing that if you find the reason that there is not 50 V DC on
that coil, you will solve the problem. I suspect that fuse is blown.
If Q2 and Q8 are good, I don't know why the fuse would blow. Even if
the coil locked on, 50 V / 100 ohms is only 0.5A. The fuse is 3A SB.

--
http://orcalcoast.com/

Yes sir - awesome guess!

As mentioned, fuses are good so somewhere there is a break. I will report back.

Yes, I rushed my response without reading carefully. Your trying two
boards should rule that out. My apologies.

Tracing down a broken wire is a pain. I guess I would start with the
plug crimp, plus check the resistance between that and the magnet. Can
even jam in the tip of the voltmeter lead into the wire end of the plug
on J907-6.

Are these the original IDC connectors?

The schematic infers that both J907-6 and J907-7 are wired together.

Since the power from that plug is not daisy chained anywhere else, you
cannot even look elsewhere.
--
http://orcalcoast.com/
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

Thank you Lex and John for responding, you set me on the right path!
Here is the resolution:
It ultimately wound up being a bad opto pair at SW. 74 Elevator Hold. What threw me was it was intermittent and appeared to be working fine, but by process of elimination I got there and found the emitter was flakey. I replaced the pair and voila: No magnet error, and claw/elevator/magnet function is 100%!
Bottom line: The magnet broken error had absolutely nothing to do with the magnet being broken - it was fine.
If you have a bad opto @ SW. 74, the game will throw a magnet broken error. --- Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

On Friday, October 29, 2021 at 12:47:27 PM UTC-7, tacxbo...@gmail.com wrote:

Thank you Lex and John for responding, you set me on the right path!

Here is the resolution:

It ultimately wound up being a bad opto pair at SW. 74 Elevator Hold. What threw me was it was intermittent and appeared to be working fine, but by process of elimination I got there and found the emitter was flakey. I replaced the pair and voila: No magnet error, and claw/elevator/magnet function is 100%!

Bottom line: The magnet broken error had absolutely nothing to do with the magnet being broken - it was fine.

If you have a bad opto @ SW. 74, the game will throw a magnet broken error.

Epilogue: ALSO! While you have the Elevator Assy off the game, reflow all the connections on the PCB on the bottom of the assy, and also nix that Z connector!
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