Help tracking down UPPER G.I. blowing a fuse in AFM

[Ataritoday]

Hi Rec.pinball,

I could use some help, the upper G.I. is blowing a fuse in my AFM and I just can't find it. What I have done to date:

1. Lifted playfield and examined all wires about 2 dozen times.... nothing found....
2. Unscrewed each socket, examined, and tested each bulb (LED) outside of the machine. All LED bulbs were fine and worked. I only did this once....
3. I figured out that the pop bumper G.I is part of that circuit (that should have been obvious).... I pulled the cap on the one pup bumper I could easily get to and it looked ok, it has a normal bulb in it. I have not examined the other two....
4. I have looked at the pops a long time to see if anything is touching around there, thought there was one... shifted that, but that did not solve.
5. I have blown about half dozen fuses along the way... thinking it should work, but it does not.

is there some way to narrow this problem down ? Tell me if these are crazy:

1. Can I just cut the wires going to the pop bumper G.I. and by pass them. Take the lead going in and out of the pops and just connect them. If I did that and the G.I does not blow, I would know it is one of the pop bumpers.

2. A more thorough inspection of every G.I. socket.... what should I be looking for that I am missing ? How would I know if it shorting ?

3.. What else...seems like this should be an easy one to fix....

One last question for the group... if I decide to rebuild the pops...(if that turns out to be the G.I problem may as well). What do I have to take off of the upper playfield to get to them.... it did not look as easy as just pulling off the right ramp.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Jim

[Lloyd Olson]

Post by Ataritoday
Hi Rec.pinball,
1. Lifted playfield and examined all wires about 2 dozen times.... nothing found....
2. Unscrewed each socket, examined, and tested each bulb (LED) outside of the machine. All LED bulbs were fine and worked. I only did this once....
3. I figured out that the pop bumper G.I is part of that circuit (that should have been obvious).... I pulled the cap on the one pup bumper I could easily get to and it looked ok, it has a normal bulb in it. I have not examined the other two....
4. I have looked at the pops a long time to see if anything is touching around there, thought there was one... shifted that, but that did not solve.
5. I have blown about half dozen fuses along the way... thinking it should work, but it does not.
1. Can I just cut the wires going to the pop bumper G.I. and by pass them. Take the lead going in and out of the pops and just connect them. If I did that and the G.I does not blow, I would know it is one of the pop bumpers.
2. A more thorough inspection of every G.I. socket.... what should I be looking for that I am missing ? How would I know if it shorting ?
3.. What else...seems like this should be an easy one to fix....
One last question for the group... if I decide to rebuild the pops...(if that turns out to be the G.I problem may as well). What do I have to take off of the upper playfield to get to them.... it did not look as easy as just pulling off the right ramp.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Jim

That line that blows a GI fuse. I'd unwire the suspect socket, if fuse doesn't blow you have a bad socket, bad bulb, or bad fuse. Otherwise unwire all the sockets on that line and hook back up one at a time until you find the bad socket or bulb.

Rebuild the pop bumpers - if the skirts are okay. All you need is below the playfield. 3 locknuts from the coil and bracket. 2 locknuts to unhook the metal pop bumper ring. Then pull it off and replace fiberboard yoke, metal yoke, coil sleeve. Check plunger and coil stop on bracket for wear. To replace the metal ring too, remove pop bumper cap to pull it up from the top. If ramps are in the way, you need to remove them too.

If you need to replace the skirts or bodies. Same as above except unsolder the light bulb socket leads below the playfield. Pull the bulb up through the top. 2 screws hold the pop bumper body to the playfield. Remove the screws and pop bumper comes right off. ( after you remove the coil and stuff below the playfield ). Then the bottom of the pop bumper body snaps off. Easy to replace the skirt and pop bumper body as needed.

LTG : )