TIP102 transistor replacement

[drbabs]

Hi I have a AFP machine which the upper left flipper just started being weak. I had the same thing happen to the lower left flipper a ways back and I hired a guy to fix. I watched him and ran through the same checks as he did. Bascially the flipper assemble looks good and I am 99.9% certain it is the power transistor on the main flipper board. I believe this to be true as I over-rode the power transistor for the ulf with the llf and the problem switched to the llf. I looked through the schematics and followed the wires and I've identified the exact transistor.

I've done some simple soldering in the main compartment but I've never soldered on the boards. Is there anything I need to be cautious of when soldering on the flipper board? If someone is willing to meet me somewhere to help I'd be very willing to spring for a beer and burger.

Thanks

[ROM]

Which game is AFP again?

[drbabs]

Addams Family

[Opto]

You might try reflowing the solder on the header pins of the flipper board - replacing a transistor is pretty easy, but doing the pins first is certainly easier. You can basically re-melt the solder thats already holding the header pins to the board and it removes any cracks in the solder. You might add just a touch of new solder to help it melt.

[Opto]

Oh wait - you said you already confirmed it was the transistor - nevermind

[revtest]

use a temp controlled iron set to 65ish not to hot and use a solder sucker to remove the old solder and try to get the legs as free as possible to avoid pulling or wrecking traces on the board. really just be carefull use some common sense don't force it there not that bad to do if you have the tools and drive to try. if you can find a crappy old board to practice on it helps but not everyone has one.

Clays site is the bible for pin-repair read read read!!!! good tips and tricks that help take some of the mystery out of it!!!

http://www.pinrepair.com/

[eric]

Whoa, hold up a second. Does your Addams Family have opto flipper switches? Also, please explain how you jumpered upper left / lower left flippers in your test.

[drbabs]

No I don't believe it has an opto flipper switch.

To test I simply clipped and spliced a wire from a working flipper to the power wire of the not working flipper. I also did the same from the not working flipper to the power line of a working flipper. When I did so the ulf which was not working now worked fine and the llf now had the weakness problem.

The board which I want to replace the transistor was referred to as a fliptronics board by a tech at specialty coin.

I watched the repair guy who fixed what appears to be the same problem replace the transistor in about 2 minutes. I hate the idea of paying someone an hour minimum to fix at 80 bucks an hour but I also don't want to damage the board which will cost much more. Maye I just gotta suck it up.

[eric]

In relation to the diodes on the flipper coils, did you remove the wires from the banded or non-banded side? Also, double check to make sure you have leaf switches and not opto switches, as dirty optos can cause similar problems. I'm pretty sure WMS moved over to optos somewhere during the production of Addams Family.

[drbabs]

I actually did my test by splicing into wires under the playfield not on the board itself.

After reading a bit on the pinrepair link I'm not completely confident in my ability to replace the transistor. All I have is a cheap radio shack soldering iron and no rivet gun.

If there is someone who has the right tools, is experienced, and is willing to help me I am willing to pay a fair amount. I'm willing to bring the board to you for repair as well to help keep the cost down.

Let me know thanks