WPC Driver Board
Question: I installed the new PinLED WPC Driver Board in my pinball machine. After the pinball is switched on the flipper enable relay on the WPC Driver Board switches on and drops out again immediately. This process repeats itself over and over again, creating a rasping sound.
Answer: With WPC Flipper without a Fliptronic Board, the Flipper Enable Relay is used to enable the flipper coils. In pinballs like Terminator 2 or Hurricane, the pinball coils are switched via this relay on the WPC driver board. I.e. when a game is started this relay picks up and the pinball fingers can move. After the game, this relay switches off again and the pinball fingers are deactivated.
In later pinball machines, a new Fliptronic board was introduced. This then controlled the pinball flippers. The relay on the driver board is then no longer used. Therefore, later WPC driver boards no longer had a flipper enable relay. These parts were simply no longer fitted and therefore saved.
The signal that activates the flipper enable relay is then also used for other purposes. If the relay is equipped as on the PinLED WPC driver board, it can pick up and drop out in an uncontrolled manner. This can be prevented by unsoldering the corresponding switching transistor and thus interrupting the control to the relay. The relay can also be unsoldered, but this is more difficult.
This phenomenon can occur in pinball machines with a Fliptronic Board, but does not have to be. So far I am only aware of two such cases.
