Micro E Mag won't fire in electronic mode.

[ignatz]

My Micro E Mag won't fire in electronic mode. The last time I played with the marker, everything worked great. I cleaned it and put it away without testing anything. Before playing this time, I decided that I wanted to shorten my trigger pull. I read BlackVCG's Trigger Adjustment Thread and watched the video. I adjusted the trigger stop and tested the marker. I wouldn't fire in EMode. Here's what I know:

1. The battery was fully charged. I used a voltometer and the reading was 19.21 VDC. The battery also works to power a different E Mag that I have available for testing.

2. The marker works great in manual mode.

3. The electronics cycle through the functions with no problem. The game timer functions properly.

4. When I attempt to fire the marker in E Mode, the shot counter increments but the solenoid doesn't engage and the Intellifed Warp does not spin.

5. If I move the trigger magnet too far forward, the LED display stops functioning properly (it only displays 10-40% of the dots it should) and once I back it out to a safe distance, the LED display begins working correctly.

6. I am fairly certain the trigger adjust is within an acceptable range. I have a never been adjusted E Mag that I am comparing it too.

7. Switching the sear assembly doesn't change anything.

8. If I turn the magnet in the trigger over, the shot counter stops incrementing.

9. If I remove the burst jumper, the board switches modes. If I set the marker for a 6 shot burst and pull the trigger in E Mode, the shot counter is increment by 6.

Does anyone have any ideas?

I'm not sure if the problem is with the solenoid or the board since the Warp doesn't spin. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[Vitamin G]

I had a similar problem with my MicroEmag. At first it was me not charging the battery more than the 45mins it took the charger to change colors. Try doing the 6 hour charge and see if it helps any.
The next thing i noticed was that after i fired one manual shot on hybrid mode, it would fire electronically in hybrid. Eventually electronic mode just broke in or something after about 5000 shots.

No idea what I did, if anything. Hopefully you'll have the same luck.

[athomas]

Originally posted by ignatz
4. When I attempt to fire the marker in E Mode, the shot counter increments but the solenoid doesn't engage and the Intellifed Warp does not spin.

5. If I move the trigger magnet too far forward, the LED display stops functioning properly (it only displays 10-40% of the dots it should) and once I back it out to a safe distance, the LED display begins working correctly.

You have done an excellent job in providing information for us to help.

4. This is important in figuring the problem. Since the counter is incrementing, it is a good bet that the microprocessor and HES is functioning.

5. I don't know what could cause the LED display to react like this unless there was a power problem.

The combination of both of the above leads me to think that maybe the electronic ground is bad between the board and the body. Try cleaning the hole where the screw goes through the board into the grip frame.

[ignatz]

Vitamin G - Thanks for the quick reply. I tried firing the marker in hybrid mode and it worked without problem and I switched back to E Mode with no success. I would just run in hybrid mode but my Warp isn't spinning with I pull the trigger. I'll test this tonight when I get home though.

athomas - Thanks for the quick reply also. I had a similiar thought so I actually removed everything from the grip and cleaned the whole thing throughly. I reassembled the marker making sure to get a good ground. Also, wouldn't a bad ground cause the board to turn off completely or to reset? I think the problem with the display only showing some of the characters is related to the proximety of the trigger magent. When I move the magnet away from the HES the display quirks stops.

Thanks again to both of your for the help. Any more ideas?

[Vitamin G]

you mentioned that when you do certain things, it only displays 10-40% of the dots that it should. How many dots SHOULD be displayed? mine only has one that flashes.

[ignatz]

Yeah, that's a little unclear. For example suppose the display was trying to show 'TS 3945'. The string 'TS 3945' is made up of several small dots. When I move the trigger magnet too far forward, and cycle through the menus only 10-40% of the dots for any given string that should be displayed are seen. If I hit the top button to cycle to the next menu item, the arrangment and number of dots changes. It seems like the board is still cycling through the menus but when the magnet is too close the LED isn't lighting all of the dots necessary.

[openboater]

trigger Magnet is too close to board. back magent away from grip.

I had the same problem, but it is detailed in BLACKVCG's write up.

[ignatz]

openboater - I think moving the trigger magnet too close is the cause of the weird display on the LED but I don't think its preventing the Mag from firing in E Mode. If that were the case, then I could move the magent back further and the marker should work... or if I removed the magent from the trigger altogether and booted the E Mag, I should be able to get it to fire by moving the magnet near the HES but that isn't happening. Many thanks for the help.

[ignatz]

Anyone else have any ideas? I'm at a loss.

Should I call AGD? PTP?

How can I verify that the solenoid is good?
How can I verify that the Intellifeed connection is good?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

[BlackVCG]

Thanks for taking the time to do everything you did to diagnose the problem.

It is not a magnet issue and it isn't a ground issue. Those things are fine since the TSC is registering shots and the board is booting up fine.

What you need to look at now is the solenoid.

I would desolder it from the board and measure its internal resistance. It should be ~3-4 ohms. Unless you have a really expensive DMM, your's probably can't measure a short pulse like the warp signal. You can try it anyway. Put your test leads of your DMM on the two pins for the warp output and have someone pull the trigger. If the DMM display moves from zero at all then you're getting some output from there.

I'm afraid to say, if all output from the board is toast, one of the transistors is fried. AGD has just transistors at the factory and if you're really good with a soldering iron you replace them. Surface mount isn't the easiest thing in the world to solder, so do everything possible before you try replacing your transistors.

[ignatz]

BlackVCG - Thank you very much for your help. I was afraid that might be the case.

UPDATE - I connected an oscilliscope to my problematic marker's solenoid connection at the board, pulled the trigger and observed no voltage. I also connected the o-scope to Intellifeed port pulled the trigger and observed no voltage. Just to make sure that my connections were in order, I tried the same connection configurations on my working EMag and did observe voltages on the scope.

Does that mean that the board should be replaced or should I try to replace the parts myself? (I have some surface mount soldering experience and a low watt iron.)

Should I send the marker in for repair? If so, who?

Thanks again everyone for all of the help!

[jimmyjobob]

wish i wasnt electronically challenged.

either way, good info.

[BlackVCG]

I'm pretty well sure that it's the top transistor on the board that sends the output to the Solenoid and the Warp interlink. I'm going to e-mail Tom and ask him.

[ignatz]

BlackVCG - Did you happen to find out 'bout the transistor? I don't mean to be impatient just want to get all the info before I decide what to do with this marker.

[BlackVCG]

I talked to Tom and he said that they do have some of the transistors and that you should call AGD. Tom didn't say this, but what I would do is see if you can talk to Eric. He's the other engineer there and he'll have a much better idea of what you need to get done than if you talked with the tech department. Just tell him what you've done so far and see if it's possible if you can get a transistor or two to resolder.

Provided the problem is actually a bad transistor. I'm pretty sure it is but I'm not absolutely certain.