Motor doesn't spin even though sound activation appears to be working

[Medel]

When I was playing yesterday, the motor stopped spinning, even though I was getting the blinking red light of sound activation "activating". I popped the front off and saw that the white wire was dangling helplessly next to the motor. Upon arrival at home I broke out the old solder station and reattached the loose wire. Remarkably the behavior is the same. Normal green light slow blinking when on, and red blinks when it's near loud noises, even when it's just down to the motor mount/circuit board level (no bottom plate, freeway or anything to block the motor. Multimeter shows 0V on the motor leads even when I feel the LED status indicates it should be running. I assume the board is fried from the motor wire shorting, but I was more curious if this was a common problem and a new board would fix it, or if I should be looking at a whole new loader. I got it used with a marker, so I don't know its history, so I'm not wholly against a new loader, but saving $50 is always nice, too.

[Raadio]

Since you seem to be good with a voltmeter, check the board to see if its outputting voltage to the motor with the motor unplugged. Also, try to spin the motor with a battery independently of the board. More than likely the motor or one of the....crap...I forgot what they are called (Brown components attached to the motor) is bad. But those 2 tests will help you troubleshoot it.

[Medel]

I'll try throwing on a different power source so I can get some readings without the motor attached when I get home tonight (motor and battery are on the same connector). I should have some extra disc caps lying around if it's just the one on the motor, and I might even have some extra toy motors if that were the case, too. Unfortunately I'm on a rubbish multimeter so I'm not going to get capacitance out of it without actual "work". I really need to get a proper multimeter some day. Fluke is calling my name..

[Medel]

Motor spins happily off a 9V (easiest source for those things since the contacts are the same width). I'll look around for an adequate source for running the board motorless, but I'm not so confident that will produce results I like

*edit* No luck without the motor, and no luck with replacing the cap. I guess it's truly dead. :( Thank you for your help anyway, Raadio!

[Raadio]

YES......Disc Capacitors....

No Problem. Any time! Give Kee a call they are really good about replacing that stuff.

[Medel]

Indeed that's my next step! I still love that for under 20 bucks you can get a few thousand ceramic caps off ebay from China. Makes having a supply around so much easier! I'm glad I'm found this forum, at least for the ridiculous amounts of slow motion footage!

[Raadio]

I <3 Slow motion Footage.


Kinda funny. I hate seeing it happen in realitme (especially on my marker) but in slow motion....everything is better!