I was thinking today after having to leave my game mid ball to do something more important (pff I know right?) that a pause feature would come in handy for me. My idea was simply to add a secondary latching push button to the flipper switch and have it dangling in the coin door somewhere I could reach in and push. This would mean I would have to cradle the ball and then it would essentially activate the flipper hold until I came back. Any foreseeable problems with doing this? Seems like a nice easy solution to me that can easily be undone by simply disconnecting the switch again. For that matter it could even be connected using alligator clips. My concern is how long a flipper could be left having the hold voltage being sent through the coil. I'm sure it wouldn't be much of a problem for me because in my case it would be no more than a few minutes (take food out of the oven, let the dog out, forgot to leave the door unlocked for someone coming over, etc). Any thoughts on it? Any better ideas?
Thinking about a pause switch...
- Thread starter brad808
- Start date
brewmanager
Active Member
I have to think the overall strain on the components wouldn't be worth it - not just the coil, but transistors etc.
You may be correct. I don't really see how it would be any different from cradling and checking out a status report though. Other than the fact that you wouldn't be there reading it obviously. Unless of course you had some mechanical issues like a bad eos switch or something (but that should be fixed regardless). Even to avoid that situation though you could use a dp switch and hook up the flipper switch and then have the eos hooked up either nc or no depending on the type of eos so that both are in the "pause" switch to guarentee the coil wouldn't get anything other than hold voltage.
This might be okay on a Bally or Williams game but on a Stern you will likely blow the transistor after 1.5-2 mins of cradling the ball. Stern used a transistor undersized for their flippers and they also pulse high voltage to the coil every 12 milliseconds when you hold the flipper. If this ever happens make sure to replace with a IRL540N transistor so it won't blow as easily in the future.
I think some games like TZ have a home rom and there is a built in way to do this.
I think some games like TZ have a home rom and there is a built in way to do this.
Chris Bardon
Well-Known Member
Yes, the TZ home roms have a pause built in. Cradle the ball and push the buy in button, and it'll hold for up to 15 minutes. Neat idea, but if it's going to damage things, not something I'd use for long periods of time.
You could just keep a piece of painter's tape handy and use that to hold in the button
You could just keep a piece of painter's tape handy and use that to hold in the button
brewmanager
Active Member
DRANO
Super Member
Shoot ball into scoop or saucer. Open pin door (disabling the could power and preventing a kickout) and go do your business
I keep my keys on my games so this would be fairly easy and not involve any sort of mod
I keep my keys on my games so this would be fairly easy and not involve any sort of mod
bstock
Active Member
DRANO said:Shoot ball into scoop or saucer. Open pin door (disabling the could power and preventing a kickout) and go do your business
I keep my keys on my games so this would be fairly easy and not involve any sort of mod
This is exactly what I do on my games. WCS94 I shoot the ball into the striker hole and then open the coin door. Johnny Mnemonic I put it in the mode start and do the same thing. Easy to do, not hard on any equipment as far as I can tell.