Road Show - head solenoids

[Hammerhead]

Questions regarding the head solenoids for Road Show (I suppose this can also apply to Funhouse). Sorry for the long message but too much info is better than not enough.

The power wire to Ted's eye solenoid lead was off and the eyes weren't working, so I resoldered the wire back on. Now the eyes only look one way in testing regardless of which way they're supposed to look, and they also look that direction when you're testing the eyes or the eyelids:

1. How accurate are the wiring diagrams in the manual? Manual shows the power to the right lead for the eye solenoid, but on my game the power goes to the left lead (these specific solenoids cannot be accidentally flipped end-for-end - they can only go in one way)
2. Can you wire a solenoid backwards? Will it blow something or will the solenoid work in reverse?
3. If you run a continuous test, the eyes are always looking on way, you can hear they are under load always, and you start to see smoke coming from the one solenoid.
4. Both Ted and Red are wired exactly the same - coincidentally(?) both have issues with their eyes not working

Solenoids are firing so I don't suspect any solenoid/transistor issues yet. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Menace]

Ok, I don't have a RS but I do have a FH so I'll do my best...

Wiring / schematic diagrams in the manuals have known to be incorrect, but are usually well documented on RGP.
The eyes in FH have separate coils for eyes left and right (one coil for each direction) so not sure what you're talking about only one coil?
Coils cannot be hooked up "backwards", there is no polarity per se. The only time you MUST hook them up a certain way is if there is a diode ON the coil, and I'm pretty sure there are no diodes installed on any of these coils.
If you are seeing smoke from the coil, be careful you haven't damaged the coil! The resin coating on the coil wire will be melting off and shorting together lowering the overall resistance of the coil, which means it's on it's way to becoming a "short" and ruining the drive transistor.

If you could send a picture of the head assembly it might give us a better idea of what you're looking at?

D

 

[Hammerhead]

Looks like it might be a bad transistor after all - the eyes look left no matter what solenoid is being tested.

Will try testing the transistor tomorrow.