Skip to content

Tag: bulbs

Hotwiring old flaky bulb sockets

A number of sockets on Surf Champ were flickering or not even working. Thanks again to pinside for the recommended fix – which involves soldering the bracket and the barrel together, and then moving the wire connection from the tab to the “tit” of the socket. I did 16 sockets – the top lane rollovers (which weren’t working at all), the bonus counters, and a few others. Shout out to pinsider Don_C for his comprehensive notes on the subject which I used as a guide for my work. I ran out of flux during the process but was able to eek out the last few sockets with some extra patience and cleaning. Plugged in the machine and the lights are all working perfectly!

I also switched out the flipper coils back to original, and remembered why i replaced them—they are broken (doh)! I’m putting in a Pinball Resource order this week for new ones, but luckily i’m able to cannibalize the coils from Team One so i can complete Surf Champ this week.

Leave a Comment