Morini 200EI doesn't want to work anymore

[PirateJohn]

I just got my Morini about a month and a half ago and after the first battery change I'm having an issue. Whenever I turn the switch on, the red LED blinks rapidly for a few seconds and the trigger doesn't work at all. Anybody else ever have this issue? I tried contacting the manufacturer and they want me to send it in so they can check the electronics, but I'm hoping to avoid the cost and time of sending it through the mail if I can avoid doing so.

[Grippy]

You had to change battery after a month? I train up to 5 days a week and swap it about once a year.

Anyway, I'd disconnect and reconnect all the ribbon cables. potentially multiple times. The fresh boards sometimes have this protection lacquer interfering with the connections.

[PirateJohn]

You had to change battery after a month? I train up to 5 days a week and swap it about once a year.

I got rechargeable batteries. I was told you need to change after about 10,000 trigger pulls, and between dry fires and regular fires I do about 2,000 trigger pulls a week.

Anyway, I'd disconnect and reconnect all the ribbon cables. potentially multiple times. The fresh boards sometimes have this protection lacquer interfering with the connections.

I got a message this morning from the manufacturer and they suspect there is an issue with the board itself. I'm going to have to mail the grip, it would seem. So much for being able to use this gun during Winter Airgun... 🫤

[atomicgale]

Atomic here - in similar situation to Pirate - we're both about five weeks into NEW 200EI. Pirate, I'll brainstorm possible issue . . . .

My experience with the 200EI was possibly the "Dry Fire" feature - first competed with the 200EI in the October EIC, then at Dixie Double. I SWEAR the thing would NOT shoot on occasion. Seeing as I'm too lazy to actually read the damn manual, I'm thinking it was this "Dry Fire" feature . . .

. . . could a "NO Fire" be correlated to the "Dry Fire" ???

Ok, turn this thing on & exactly THREE Red lights, then an occasion short flash. So which is "Regular Shoot Only" vs "Dry Fire Mode" vs Pirate's unique "No FIRE Option" ???

Stay tuned . . . .

[PirateJohn]

Yeah, when I first bought it, the red LED flashed three times and it worked normally. Then when I switched the battery, it flashed rapidly about ten times and wouldn't work at all, either with dry fires or normal fires. I figured the battery might have been a dud, so I bought more and those were having issues, too.

Finally I got one to work, but it started doing what you described -- it would randomly not fire during dry fires. Then last night it completely stopped working in the middle of a drill during which I was shooting pellets. And no matter what I did, I couldn't get it to work again.

[Grippy]

Have you actually taken it apart fully? The "mail the grip" comment makes me wonder. Why not just the board?

The blinking a lot and not working also happens if you turn it on while holding the trigger.

I had this kind of issue when updating to the new bluetooth board. So what I would do is.

• remove the bottom and side cover
• unscrew the "main board" from the grip (assuming it's one of the new ones with the gyro that is screwed in)
• detach the ribbon cables and remove the main and the battery boards
• remove the grip and also detach the cable from the pistol side
• check if any of the pins in the connectors seem damaged
• reassemble the electronics without the grip by just connecting all the cables
• you should be able to dry fire in this state

Then I'd check for the usual signs of bad contacts if it still doesn't work. Reinsert the plugs a couple of times etc. every time you change something turn it off and on again. Since it will refuse to work if it finds something wrong while switching on.

I had these kinds of issues once because the gun side cable wasn't seated properly and then when swapping in the new board because of the lacquer issue mentioned.

[PirateJohn]

Well, yeah, he did say to just send the board, but I don't want to disassemble too much. I'm too much of a klutz. :-D. And yeah, I definitely was not holding the trigger when I turned it on.

I'll have to check out what you're talking about when my coach who likes to tinker is back in town. I'm sure you're right that it's just something loose, but I'm a little leery of taking things apart too much.

[Grippy]

But... but... you have to do like half of these things just to get the grip off anyway? As in you should disconnect the top cable from the board which is best accomplished by removing the board. Otherwise you risk pulling the cable off in an "unsafe" way when removing the grip.

[Jchurch]

Careful with disconnecting and reconnecting cables. I do not know which brand of connectors used but many are damaged by repeated connections. Some as little as 8-10 connections. They lose spring tension from terminal deformation, then connector resistance goes high potentially resulting in erratic behavior.

Jim

[Grippy]

You'd hope Morini made an appropriate choice there since disconnecting them is a requirement to removing/swapping/adjusting the grip. If you could only safely do this 8-10 times that would be a major flaw.

Anecdotally I certainly toke mine apart a lot more and haven't had any issues.

[Bardolph]

My experience with the 200EI was possibly the "Dry Fire" feature - first competed with the 200EI in the October EIC, then at Dixie Double. I SWEAR the thing would NOT shoot on occasion. Seeing as I'm too lazy to actually read the damn manual, I'm thinking it was this "Dry Fire" feature . . .

I have a new Morini, one of the purple ones - for months I had this issue where on rare occasion the pistol would not fire. I thought at first perhaps I did not reset the trigger properly but over time I realised that was not what was happening. It just would not fire sometimes. I think it has stopped happening now - I have not done anything and have not done a firmware update. Going to leave it alone!

[atomicgale]

. . . for months I had this issue where on rare occasion the pistol would not fire.

Same. I'm definitely not 'gimping the trigger . . . it just won't send the pellet . . . .

I SWEAR the thing would NOT shoot on occasion.

It's NOT the "dry fire" system - as I've learned you have to plug the cable in to do this. I've never messed with the cable.

Also:
1. The 200 sent two slow "keyholers" into paper Wednesday.
2. Unrelated, had entire 10-shot group = ALL LOW - wft? - the 200 does not have the "low air lock-out lever" as on the 162. Just something to get used to.

[Kowal_1986]

I was about to buy a CM200EI myself but I am not sure if it is such a great idea. Does this issue with electronic boards is a common problem in Morini?

[Bardolph]

I don’t believe so - you should be fine. Must say though my pistol was part of a batch that all had leaking cylinders that had to be warranty repaired immediately. They would not hold capacity overnight but I’ve had no problems since that was fixed.

[atomicgale]

. . . issue with electronic boards is a common problem in Morini?

Can't say "common." Both Pirate and I are only about six weeks into each pistol (we're in different states). His quit; I may be hallucinating my (very rare) alleged no-fire . . . I'll continue shooting it daily & post my observations prior to Winter Airgun. I plan to use the 200 as my primary at next CMP match.

I was about to buy a CM200EI myself . . .

Good luck - there's no 200's for sale anywhere on this continent. I was going to buy a second (back-up) before possibly parting with my 162's.

[Kowal_1986]

Thanks, I'm now shooting a CM162EI with the newer eletronic board and I'm completely happy with it. But... there's something about the look of the CM200ei that draws me to it. Luckily here in Europe where I live we have some CM200ei left for sale :)

[Dcforman]

If you haven't tried it, and haven't sent the board back, I would swap in a new, non-rechargeable battery. Electronics can be fickle, and I've seen batteries cause weird behaviors...

I've not had a single issue with my 200, vintage 2020 (just before Covid).

Dave

[PirateJohn]

If you haven't tried it, and haven't sent the board back, I would swap in a new, non-rechargeable battery. Electronics can be fickle, and I've seen batteries cause weird behaviors...

I've not had a single issue with my 200, vintage 2020 (just before Covid).

Dave

Tried that yesterday. Still not working.

I'll have my coach look at it Wednesday to see if it's something simple like a loose connection. He likes to tinker. If that doesn't fix it, I'll have to send it to Switzerland.

[thirdwheel]

Just a thought, have you adjusted the trigger weight, and gone light on the second stage, if you go too light the trigger will not reset or will go intermittent. There are other things but if it is new send it to the national importer to deal with or if you have no back up in that respect send to the factory.

Good luck

[PirateJohn]

Just a thought, have you adjusted the trigger weight, and gone light on the second stage, if you go too light the trigger will not reset or will go intermittent. There are other things but if it is new send it to the national importer to deal with or if you have no back up in that respect send to the factory.

Good luck

It's not so much that the trigger isn't resetting as it is tgat the LED rapidly blinks when I turn it on, signaling that there is an error. My guess is there's either sonething loose or the board got fried somehow.