And I learned something new today about pinball coils...

[Mr. Fuzzy]

Hey all,

I don't know if this is something absolutely everyone already knew or not...but it was new to me, and I thought I would post about it.

I was going through my coils today, (looking for a viable replacement) and just kinda figured this out... (I also checked on the internet just to see if my hunch was right)

I noticed that on the Williams/DE type coils...they usually start with 22, 23, 26, etc... and then they are followed by a much higher # such as 600, 800, 1200, 2400, etc.

Well, on coils of that type, the first # is the wire gauge wrapping the coil, and the second # is the # of turns on the winding.

so a 23-800 coil would be 23 gauge, 800 turns...a fairly powerful little coil. So if you wanted more kick out of that coil, you could theoretically replace it with a 23-600 or whatever, because the fewer turns on the winding would be less resistance, and equal more kick. Also a higher gauge wire would equal less resistance as well...

NOTE: I am NOT suggesting you actually do this, and I am totally not responsible if you set your pinball machine on fire and burn your house down, this is just a thing I noticed.

Happy gaming all,
-Dan

[TheBatman]

Wow,

you make me feel smart, I already knew that (at least ONE thing I already knew that you didn't)!  I've actually learned that from talking to Chaz at Stern, Steve at PB Resource who winds his own coils, and people like Curly and Atari Jim.  I suppose if you're someone like me that asks a LOT of questions like "Why? Why? How? Why?" ...and have replaced and bought a few coils you learn that stuff.  Actually, Chaz first informed me about this when I called and asked him about that lower right Batman Forever coil, and I wanted more punch so it will really crank the ball over that left ramp, which is a very difficult shot and needs to be hit absolutely perfect to make it.  He said I can "simply" take some windings off the coil I have (about 50-60) to make it more powerful, reducing the resistance.  Of course, you kinda have to know a little what you're doing, and reconnect the coil wire properly...and a slight risk that the coil MIGHT burn up.  I didn't want to screw with doing THAT...have just left it alone and became a better player, so not an issue anymore.  When I place my next order with PB Resource though I think I'll ask Steve to send me one with less windings just to experiment.

 

[Mr. Fuzzy]

I actually already knew about the taking turns off the coils for better power, but I had been unaware that the 23-800 were rating #'s rather than some obscure cat #.

-Dan

[atarijim]

Gottliebs use a catalog number and the coil length is unique. Bally, Williams and Data East/Sega/Stern are pretty much universally interchangeable. The letter prefixes determine whether the coil has a diode or not and the wire lug configuration. Flipper coils are usually not interchangeable due to either parralell or series winding or with Data East only one set of windings in later games due to their flipper voltage control by the flipper pcb. Also, wrong coils for flippers can either dramatically weaken performance or conversly start busting standup targets and plastics. Hotter coils should only be used on EMs or launch or upkickers when better performance is required (not desired). It is always best to stay original.

aj

[TheBatman]

Thanks for that info Jim... I didn't know all of THAT!   I guess that's probably part of my thinking and good to just stay with original and what's SUPPOSED to be in there instead of customizing coils. I didn't know about some being "either parrallel or series winding" or thinking about using a different brand coil in a different manufacturer game, would make sense to again go with what's supposed to be in there.  But I guess that's not always the case, people might put in whatever they have if it's close, but guess that's why it screws things up.  So this is all good info!

[scrambled]

I haven't put any stronger flipper coils on any of my games, but I have put weaker ones on at least two.  I know I stepped down the ones on IJ from blue (11629) to orange (15411).  I'll probably experiment with red (11630) at some point because I still get more airballs off those center drops than I'd like.  Can't remember for sure if it was BSD and/or CV, but I think I stepped at least one of them down also since the ball was flying around one of the ramps too fast and at times falling off or not registering a switch. 

If you keep your WPC games clean, you can almost always step the flippers down at least once with no problems.  I agree with some of the comments made on RGP that the flippers were given more power than they needed to help cover for ops that didn't keep the games clean.

I've also read on RGP that some people like to step up the coil on the upper right flipper on RBION since the super jackpot shot is so hard for many to hit.  If I remember correctly, Pat Lawlor even responded to one of those threads explaining why he put a weaker coil in there than many thought he should have.  That's the only case though that I can ever remember anyone recommending a stronger flipper coil on any 90's+ game.

Someday I plan to step up the coil for the left VUK on my Stargate.  It does fine with a single ball in there, but on occasion you can sneak two balls in there and it really has a hard time.  Hasn't happened that much lately, but since it almost always requires removing the glass and digging into an inaccessible area to clear the problem I think it would be a good idea to bump it up.  Especially since the latest rearrangement of my gameroom doesn't allow me to get the glass off easily.