Electronics > Beginners
Solenoid from a late 70's Tomy Digital Raceway game
joelgraff:
I have an old Tomy Digital Raceway game that I came acroos which doesn't work. Thought I'd try my hand at repairing it, if only because I remember spending hours playing it as a kid.
Anyway, after getting it apart and continuity-testing the heck out of it, I figured out the issue appears to be with what looks like a solenoid to me. Not being an electronics guy apart form the occasional repair job / soldering experiment, I really don't know what it's called or where I could source a replacement. The bottom side of it is bulging and I see some orange fluid in the case under it... do solenoids leak?
Anyway, a reference pic:
james_s:
That is indeed a solenoid. They don't leak, a solenoid is nothing more than a coil of wire around a former with a metal core or movable slug that is pulled in by the magnetic field. Is the orange fluid melted plastic? It's possible the solenoid was stuck on and overheated to the point of melting the form.
joelgraff:
--- Quote from: james_s on February 03, 2019, 05:44:10 pm ---That is indeed a solenoid. They don't leak, a solenoid is nothing more than a coil of wire around a former with a metal core or movable slug that is pulled in by the magnetic field. Is the orange fluid melted plastic? It's possible the solenoid was stuck on and overheated to the point of melting the form.
--- End quote ---
I didn't think they had any sort of fluid from what I remembered about them... which is what had me scratching my head about what I was looking at...
I thought at first that maybe it was old glue. But I noticed it was wet on my finer when I touched it, so I really don't know.
You can see in the picture it's present on the two holes on the bottom of the solenoid bracket, directly under the solenoid itself, as well as around the plastic posts in the case where it sits. The only other component in the immediate vicinity is the DC motor, which was stuck, but I managed to get it running again.
Anyway, any idea how I can go about sourcing a replacement for it?
james_s:
I'm betting it's oil from the gears, possibly it was grease that has decomposed into oil.
The solenoid is probably fine though, they very rarely fail, especially on battery operated stuff. If you want to test it a 9V battery will probably work fine, or you could check it with a multimeter for continuity.
joelgraff:
--- Quote from: james_s on February 03, 2019, 07:14:02 pm ---I'm betting it's oil from the gears, possibly it was grease that has decomposed into oil.
The solenoid is probably fine though, they very rarely fail, especially on battery operated stuff. If you want to test it a 9V battery will probably work fine, or you could check it with a multimeter for continuity.
--- End quote ---
Ya know, I did think to try that. I got no tone when I put a probe on each of the bare wires. Then, on a whim, I put both probes on the same wire. Strangely... nothing. My multimeter works. Maybe the wire's too thin?
I suppose I need to desolder that thing.
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