Congrats on your first pin and welcome to Pinside. You've come to the right place.

the manual... http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/2644/Stern_Trident_Man.pdf

There is no free play option on the classic Stern games. I set the first high score at 10,000 and it awards a credit nearly every game. Put credits on it once and rarely have to do it again.

Jason

It was my second pin and I still have it. Congrats!

This game is under rated. It was the 5th game I bought and have kept it thru sale after sale. I wish they would make a repro backglass but I do not think it is popular enough.
Change the battery to a remote on the MPU ASAP if it is the MPU-100.

Yes, job #1 is to cut that old battery off.

Then inspect for corrosion around the battery.

You can drill out the keyhole of the lock and it should open with a screwdriver once the tumblers are gone.

I've been lucky many times and found the key to the back glass hanging inside the coin door.

After you get the head (where the backglass is) opened up, take a picture of the boards and post it here. We can help you more once you get to that point.

Jason

Welcome to the addiction! Best thing to do is invite a fellow pinsider/ pinhead over to show you how it all works. Pinheads are generally more than happy to talk shop, share knowledge and help each other out, but doing it online is no substitute for hands on learning. Especially with that battery, (it's not like changing the ones in your remote - involves removing the board and soldering skills) Good luck with it and congrats!

You don't need a certain size as much as a sharp bit.

Look in your drill box for an oddball size that never gets used.

I sent you a private message

Hrmm female pinballer. MUst... resist. crrreeeper urges. HI IM ANDREW

Cool, one of these just popped up two hours from me.

Look at the picture I just posted. Can you take one of your game for us? The arrow is pointing to the battery.

Jason

IMG_20130910_204445.jpg

That is the soundboard, battery is on the board just to the left of that one, dead center, bottom area.

Here is a pic of the spot where the battery was removed from an old board and a remote battery pack installed (pretty sloppily).

IMG_0067.jpg

There's no reason to laugh at you. We all were new to this at some point. You got the head open and the picture helped.

You're battery has been removed A remote battery holder should be installed if you want to retain credits and high scores .

When you turn it on, there is an LED on the top left board (mpu) that should flash 7 times. That means the game boots up. Any less than that, there's something wrong. Counting the flashes will help determine why its not booting.
When it boots up, the displays should all then on.

Do you have a digital multimeter?

Hi i'm keepthefaiths husband. I have a multimeter and basic soldering skills. From Rc airplanes that I built. So if a battery pack needs installed I can do that.

Hi Sniper. First off for getting this game running...

NEED THE POWER.

Start at the rectifier board mounted in the cabinet. Check all the test points for proper voltage and fuses are good.

Next check on the driver board. On the driver board need +230 VDC, +185 VDC, +12 VDC(usually reads high around 15v), and +5 VDC on both test points.

Next check the MPU. Need +5 VDC, +12 VDC, and +21.5 VDC.

For now just clip off of the battery off of the MPU. If it isn't leaking already, it will be soon. If the battery did leak, the MPU will likely need cleaned and serviced.

Hard to tell from her pic, but looks like the battery has been removed already. Just need a new battery pack installed. It's a simple 3 AA battery pack commonly available at most any electronics store. Simply solder the leads to the + & - points on the MPU and add a 1N4004 blocking diode to keep the board from trying to charge them and you are golden. Bigdaddy has the battery packs with the diode already installed for $6.
http://www.bigdaddy-enterprises.com/

Here is a link to Trident's schematics - very handy
http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/2644/Stern_1979_Trident_Schematics.pdf

I've got a Trident in peices right now and have never played it. I believe there are freeplay roms for many older Sterns, but depending on what kind of rom chips you've currently got installed, changing may require some jumper changes and a couple other mods, so may not be worth it. Probably the suggestion to set the replay score low is the best option.

Jim

Are they any down sides to using rechargeable batteries? What voltage does it need? On the linked website it showed 3 aa so that would be 4.5volts correct? I may have a battery pack. So if I just hooked up 3 aa rechargeable it should last years correct?

How long would non rechargeable batteries last?

How much is a diode? Is that something you can buy at radio shack?
Thanks

Replace them on Jan 1st every year. Otherwise they leak like a son o bitch.

.10 cents.

It is probably the last electronic component still for sale at Radio Shack.

"Hey buddy, what kind of cell phone you got? You want me to save you some money??"

Looking for a little help regarding the Trident myself...

I replaced the MPU with the Ultimate MPU due to bad battery corrosion. Linked up everything and checked for +/-5 on Solenoid Driver board and still not working right. The Playfield lights up, but the 6 digit displays do not.

F4, the 7amp fuse, blows each time I start the system up and upon researching the MPU problem, apparently the problem is linked to the rectifier board.

Currently, I have checked all of the playfield for loose wires and blown circuits/diodes, resoldered 2 varistors on the pop-bumpers, checked the coil ohm ratings (all appear fine), replaced the J1-J3 connectors on the Rectifier board since a few of them had burned out.

So, where am I left at?
Checking the coil diodes?

Also, looking at the schematics I see that J1 on the Rectifier Board is correct, but I cannot tell if J2 or J3 are. Does anyone know the correct wiring patterns? J3 in particular as it looks like someone ran wires from that same bundle to TP3 (Orange wire) and TP4 (Red/White & Green/Red). Not sure why they would be ran that way.

give us a clear picture.

Thanks for looking into it for me... Not exactly sure what to check next.

20131006_131324.jpg 20131006_131519-1.jpg

Wow! Chris Hibler would drool over that hack lol

I've never seen a rectifier hacked that bad.

That is something!

First thing I would do is test the bridges. If they are good make sure the rectifier board has proper voltages at test points. Once the board is good and working, I would move on the getting the wires back to how they were originally wired with new connectors and pins.

Normally, I'd say fix it, but a brand new Rottendog board is only $50 for your game. $50 has got to be worth a hour of frustration in this case.

There is some corrosion on your J3 female connector (pin 9), so I'd pop that contact out and replace it (if it were my game, I'm sure I would just replace all the female contacts in the connectors).

http://ksarcade.net/new-replacement-rectifier-board-for-bally-and-stern-games.html

http://www.greatplainselectronics.com/Category-80.asp

Yikes! That's a good one.
I wonder if the designers realized that those test points would someday be used as convenient "attach" points?

I'd replace the board.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

Isn't that what test points are for. Long term use to connect wires.? Now I am confused HIB...

Dang it....I had some games to sell but since I hacked them I can't sell them....?? LLOLLOLOL...

Looks like a replacement is in order. I figured it was probably do, but thought I would check to be certain.

I noticed that there are actually (2) Rectifier boards at K's.

http://ksarcade.net/new-replacement-rectifier-board-for-bally-and-stern-games.html

And one that it says is a New design with 35 Amp 400 V bridge rectifiers with heat-sinks for only $4 more. (However Rottendogs site doesn't show this updated version) Any preferences?

http://ksarcade.net/new-rectifier-board-for-bally-and-stern-games.html

Thanks.

When I rebuild my rectifier boards, I use 35 amp bridges. For only a few bucks more, I would spring for the upgrade.

Ok, thats what I was thinking. Went ahead and placed the order. Thanks

If it just keeps scoring without the ball hitting anything, it is probably a stuck switch somewhere. There are a few ways to check.

You can go into switch test mode and see if theres a stuck switch. All the drop targets must be up and the ball removed.

Next time it happens, take note at how many points its giving. That will help you narrow down which switch.

You can also take the glass off look at all the switches. If it only gets stuck scoring after the ball is in play, then start a game and push each switch with your finger and see if you can get one to stick.

Jason

So how did this project end up? Reading all posts since I just bought a Trident in non-working condition.

ping