I'd love to see pics.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.ChrisHiblerPinball.com/Contact
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My Bond LE had issues from the factory - essentially incorrect/poor installations that caused a set of optos to not read and a playfield switch to not register correctly. My tech had to fix them and indicated it was poor quality control from Stern.

I purchased my Godzilla Premium from ABT in Glenview. The ABT tech was here this morning. He replaced the opto sensor, but the building still doesn't see the ball go through. I also still receive the Tech Alert Opti Sensor #64 error message. This is our first NIB modern pinball machine, so the family is disappointed.

Here are pics of me new optos from stern via warranty
The sawder joints seem ok right?
Ps. The game was 6 days old. Ugh!

IMG_2168 (resized).jpeg

IMG_2169 (resized).jpeg

I’m so pissed. I installed the new optos above. Did the test. They were working fine. This game is 6 days old. 3 games later and it seems the building shots are not registering.
The brand new optos went out.
I can see a red light in the left opto board but they no longer register. Ten thousand dollars and it works a few days or a few games?
Please. Can anyone advise me on how to fix this issue on the building Optos? I got a new set via warranty and they lasted 3 games.

Please advise on which joints we can re solder. The new ones I received looked ok but failed in 3 games.
Pics if possible

Let’s see the other side of those two boards.
The second board looks OK.
The first board may have the opto leg clipped too closely and into the solder meniscus (volcano).
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Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
Http://chrishiblerpinball.com/contact
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Do you mean the board with three wires?
They r in the machine and have already failed
I guess it can’t hurt to attempt a re sawder but please advise on which joints and which sides of the board. I have back up ones coming in a few hours that I ordered as a precaution from pinball life

Ok. Here is my story. Spoiler alert, it’s bad news
Called stern and they shipped new optos that arrived Friday. As a precaution I bought a back up set from pinballlofe.com that arrived Saturday.
Upon testing I only needed to change the 4 wire opto. I verified it was working well then pulled it and as a precaution re flowed the two led solder joints. De installed and it worked 3 games. Like super disappointing. Even though it was nit working the red led on that opto was still lit.
Saturday came and I installed my back up 4 wire opto. I still have not changed the 2 wire one.
The 4 wire opto went out before I played 5 games
So 2 fried optos in just a few games. Even with precautionary re flowing of solder on the led points, they still went out
I hope someone figures this out soon.
I have 4 more 4 wire optos on order from pinballlife and I’m gonna call stern on Monday

Any help with this would be much appreciated

Here is the opto with preventative prior led pin re flowing of solder. Still failed in under five games

IMG_2175 (resized).jpeg

Seems it might not be a soldering issue as I preventstively re flowed the led solder prior to install and it still died in under five games

HELP!

I do have 4 more optos on the way but I have no confidence as I been through three of em already in ten days.

I used super thin solder wire. Not flux filled solder. I did have flux on the iron tip. Is it possible that that thick flux filled solder would fix my issue?
Ps, I’m only doing the led legs on the 4 wire opto as the other joints test ok with an ohm meter

Ok. Tried to heat until liguid, added paste, it bubbled a bit. Left a drop of solder on board but opto still does not work. I have thin flux filled solder coming in on Monday
You think that will make a difference?

If not, I have 4 sets of 3 wire optos coming in maybe as early as Wednesday.
I still have 2 of the two wire optos that are good

Should I replace both or just the bad opto?

Last, the VUK has what looks like the same optos. They don’t seem to be failing. If they the same optos, why are the building optos failing? Is it the vibrations?

That gives me hope. I got 4 coming in a few days. I have the rosen core solder coming in tomorrow.
The main leads always look good. I’m gonna re flow just the two led pins in the new ones.
I also bought a de soldering tool so I can completely re do the led joint.
Thanks so much for your amazing detailed Instructions above.

Spoke with a stern tech today. Sent them a pic of my bad opto.
Check out this pic. There is a tiny black rectangle. Looks like a piece of plastic. It’s broken on mine and skewed sideways. Seems like it’s broken due to possible vibration or being hit.
that plastic is a piece of the diode that has broken off, maybe due to trauma or vibration.
compare this pic to a new one and you will see the difference

IMG_2178 (resized).jpeg

I then sent a pic of the stand up targets. He feels the stand up target might be hitting the opto board. Here is a pre and post picture of me bending the aluminum plate. FYI, I was not able to make the stand up target touch the opto even though it’s super close. New optos are on the way but I improved the gap between em. See copy and check your clearance as a precaution as this may be the cause.
IMG_2182 (resized).jpegIMG_2183 (resized).jpeg

That is a surface mount transistor, labeled Q1.
I doubt the target sheered that off. Still, I don't have any other theories as to how that might have happened.
BTW...pretty easy to solder that part back in place, assuming none of the legs are sheered at the part package.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.ChrisHiblerPinball.com/Contact
https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisHiblerPinball - My YT Channel
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

In the category of "it would have been nice", had you posted an image of the business side of that opto a few days ago, we could have helped resolve this a couple of days sooner. Pics/videos always help.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.ChrisHiblerPinball.com/Contact
https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisHiblerPinball - My YT Channel
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

Can I throw a stupid possibility out here and don't be offended. Is it possible that this may have happened by accident. Not sure if you removed that target and then reinstalled it and perhaps hit that transistor and damaged it. Just a theory, could be so wrong here. Those stand up target are pretty solid and unless it was loose and then was pushed back into the opto board, then I could see that damage happening.

It’s possible. However I’m holding onto two non working 3 wire optos and both have that transistor missing or knocked off. I’m hoping the left stand up target was hitting it and causing vibrations that damaged the surface mounted transistor. I bent the metal to give it more clearance. The new optos will be here in about three days. We will see if this allows em to work for more than a few games.

I was able to find the other two bad optos and all had damaged or missing diodes. Hopefully my issue is with alignment and the pop up target was hitting that opto and damaging it. If you guys have optos going out, double check to see if the diode is damaged as you might have an alignment issue with relation to the stand up target

Thanks for the post. So many people seem to always have issues with optos and it's good to see them. My opinion, the "conditioning" board as Gomez calls it, should be mounted under the playfield and the LED should be decoupled from it to solve various issues and help people to debug opto issues.

As others mentioned, that 3 leg thing is a transistor to boost the receivers signal. Looks like it was machined properly at factory and it snapped off afterwards since it looks like the legs are soldered correctly to the joints and later snapped off the transistor body. Sounds like the issue is fixed now / got a new board coming?

Future tip: a) Its "solder" b) buy a multimeter and put it in short circuit mode. put one at any solder joint and other to the opposite end of wire. If it beeps, then the connection/solder joint are connected electrically.

I have replaced the building opto a few times on my heavily played, location game. Currently working, here’s what I’ve learned…
The 3 wire side seems to be the one that fails, 2 wire side is generally ok.
There is another opto pair, for the back loop, it uses a similar bracket (possibly identical) and has the same optos and plugs. I have used this to help troubleshoot and test the optos and wiring. Determine what side is bad, and see if the problem is the opto boards, because…
I have seen these opto pairs act up because of bad connections to the node boards, and also backed out wired from the plugs. Working those connections has fixed problems that I thought were bad opto boards.
Hope these help make it easier for someone to fix their problem, the building opto pair is also pretty shitty to get to.
As for this being some new flaw in the testing and build of pinball machines at Stern, it is not. Just typical pinball problems.

Ok. I have lost 3 optos all within a few games of each other. I have learned that the small black plastic diode got knocked off each time
I have since installed the 4th 3 wire opto and this is what I did differently
I bent the aluminum tab to allow more clearance from the stand up target as it may have been hitting the diode and breaking it off
I adjusted the opto and stand up target away from each other when tightening the screws
Lastly, on the 3 wire opto, I removed the screw and the black plastic piece. I installed a tiny rubber o ring in between the plastic and the board. That did two things. First, it moved the board about an extra millimeter away from the stand up target making it very unlikely the target can hit the board diode and damage it. The other thing it does is reduce the vibrations transmitted to the opto circuit board when the ball impacts the metal plate

I only have one game on it so far but I will give an update when possible. Can’t play much as I have the flu but I’d like to get 10-20 games in before I update that this solution worked

If it fails sooner I will update but I’m hoping my issue was an alignment issue that made the stand up target damage the diode

Ok, can officially say my opto issue has been solved. Definitely have more than ten games in and no issues.
I think both adjusting the stand up targets away from the board as well as placing that o ring between the board and plastic past to reduce vibration and increase space from the stand up target have fixed my issue. Seems the diode was gettin struck or being damaged by vibration. See the final picture showing the increased space it now has. If you have optos issues, if it’s the three wire one, check for diode damage and spacing issues

IMG_2187 (resized).jpeg

The issue of the standup target “bending backwards” and striking the receiver opto was the exact problem in my case. Had about 60 games in when it stopped working. In my pic you can see the bottom bad opto has an impact crack and sheared off pieces compared to its top replacement. My concern is keeping that standup target from bending backwards again due to repeated hits and creating the same problem over and over.

IMG_4382 (resized).jpeg

My GZ premium has about 1,000 plays on it. A few weeks ago the building stopped registering and I ordered a set of optos not know which one might be the issue. I put the 3-wire one in and the building was back. A few days ago it stopped registering again.

I have another 3-wire on order and still have the first 2-wire one that I ordered, but based on the posts here it’s going to be the same one as before.

I didn’t toss the old opto, and just found it and took some pics. I was hoping to see something ripped off, but no. There is some rub, but it doesn’t even get back far enough to reach the components on the board.

I’d like to fix this one as well just to have, but nothing looks damaged. The surface mount stuff looks ok under a light, but haven’t magnified anything yet. The opto solder job looks nipped pretty close, but nothing looks cracked. I might reflow that anyway or replace the bulb and leave more of a lead when I trim it.

Anyway, here are the pics. What are we doing to try to avoid these failing sooner than they should?

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IMG_8095 (resized).jpeg