I'm in!

Picked it up this afternoon.

batteries were dead, but fine. Also noticed that the cabinet woofer was torn (didn't notice that until I had the cabinet up on it's back), so looks like I'm going to have to replace the speakers.

Red flashers are also not working, and while I don't have any 906 bulbs yet, I think the circuit is out. any suggestions on where to start with diagnosing this?

Also.... how difficult is it to replace the GI with LEDs? looks like I'll have to do a full tear down?

Congrats on your new pin!!

I will help where I can, I am still very green and learning as I go.

Everything on the game can be switched to LEDs with no problems at all. In case you don't already know if you switch flashers bulbs to LED the polarity does matter. So if you put a LED flasher in and it doesn't work just pull it and turn it 180 and put it back in.

As for your red flashers most likely a bad transistor. Q25 is the transistor for RED.

Do you have a manual? If not shoot me your email in a PM and I can send you a PDF of it. The paper manual is better some of the text on the PDF is blurry.

Here is a pic of the location of Q25. The transistor model is TIP102
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I would not do led flashers as it's blinding in this game.
As far as led cool or warm white in the gi and any inserts will need non-ghosting leds

Or do led flashers cause they look bold colorful and awesome. Just pick a different bulb that's not as bright.

ya... I figured it was a bad transistor (one is out on another of my pins).

I think I'm going to need a lesson in soldering circuit boards. I'll have to find some old ones to practice on and then take the plunge (how hard can it be right?)

Also I've got a load of white LED's coming from AliExpress (both GI and inserts). They should be here in 10 days or so.

Probably won't change out the flashers for LED as I think they're pretty good right now.

It's actually not that hard to solder. But not a bad idea to practice a little. As with everything YouTube has a lot of tutorials on how to solder. But a quality soldering iron will help and everyone has something they like to use others might not. Personally I like to use desoldering briad or wick they call it instead of a solder sucking pump. I never could use one the right way. And I use a solder flux cleaning pen. That's about it in a nut shell. I usually clean the board I am working on after I finish soldering.

Must be something with the red flashers on SST. As you can see in my pic Q25 is new. lol As for flashers I have bulbs in all mine with the exception of the multiball bug flashers and the brain bug flashers.

Thanks...

I did watch some youtube and it doesn't look too difficult.... slow and steady

got the new speakers in. definitely an improvement. Can understand everything they are saying now... also even though the two backbox are full range, the screeches are definitely less piercing than before.

Did my first soldering job on a board, and it turned out pretty damn good!

Fixed the problem of the red flashers... but now the bank of 4 flashers on the right side of the pin are only working intermittently (the problem started before I did the repair). I read somewhere that this is sometimes caused by not enough voltage getting to that last bank. I'm waiting on some LED bulbs to go in that bank, so hopefully that will help. I already re-seated all the lamp connections, and that didn't help at all, and all the connectors looked fine.

LED flashers in SST is INSANE! Seriously, try it out but I can't imagine you'd keep them in there for long, so make sure you have regular flasher bulbs on hand for when the time comes.

Just to complete.... I replaced the flashers with LEDs and the right bank flashers now work. And yes.... it is insane with led flashers. I wonder if I can cover some of the SMDs ... maybe a little electrical tape?

You could if you can find 12v frosted LEDs. All the LEDs on the playfield and inserts are 6.3V
I left bulbs in all my flashers with the exception of the Brain Bug under the playfield and the bug multi-ball.

I put LED flashers in mine and it's great! The LED colors are so much richer than an incandescent bulb. The lightshow is one of the awesome things about SST and I love the lightshow enhancement with LEDs. Don't use really bright ones (it's still super bright), just something basic to let you color match to the domes.

Try it out and see if you like it...

Here are some cheap 12v flasher bulbs on amazon that I used which work very well

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077PVR91Z only $0.35/bulb.

You do not need colored LED's in my opinion if you use a cool white bulb... only difference you will probably see is that when they flash, you do see some white light below the flasher that leaks on to the playfield. They also offer some smaller frosted bulbs that look like they have 2 smd's for about $0.80 each,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0794X8GQ8

I haven't tested them so no idea how good they are, however, they look identical to the ones Comet sells for $2.29 each (http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/opmax12v.htm)

Note.... brain bug and other flashers are 6V, so these are only good for the 4 banks of colored beacons.

Picked up an unshopped SST....THis will be my 3rd What are the rubber posts on the bottom of alot of the posts in the game. Several are rotted down to nothing? Example is the top post of the right sling.

So most go with warm white leds and not much color?

Personally I hate warm white, so I don't use those anywhere for GI, except in games where I want a yellowish hue (something like Indiana Jones). That aside, I used some purples because it's a space theme, but more so because there is lots of UV reactive colors in the playfield, namely the orange. Looks cool to get a little glow from those areas.

agree. space theme i like cool white, blue and purple

Loving the color DMD! It fits better then the factory DMD.

SST Color DMD (resized).jpg

Just picked up SST as my first pin.
The Brain Bug isn't secure on it's platform and moves when hit with the pinball.
Then jams the whole thing when it drops down with it's legs.
Can't tell from the manual diagram if there are any screws that should be in there or if it is secured in another way.
What can I do to keep the lil guy from wiggling his way out?

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If I get some free time this weekend I will look at mine. I am pretty sure it is screwed to the slide plate. The manual really doesn't show the assembly very well.

IIRC, the bug is attached to the plate below it, which slides back and forth to register hits.

Thanks!

I pulled up the playing field and it looks like I have only 1 very lose screw holding the Brain Bug in place. I tightened it up for now, but going to have to find some replacement screws for the other 3 holes. I am guessing that they are the item 36 in the manual #6-32 X 1/2 PPH MS?

Bring your remaining screw to Home Depot/Lowe’s and ask someone... They’ll get you the right screws.

I was playing mine this evening and the sound out of my pinsound + started to get a little choppy and I lost sound out of my subwoofer. Anyone have any suggestions on what to check other than reflashing the latest firmware and plugging and unplugging the cables in the Pinsound + and the CPU board?

Check connections to/from PinSound board. Check connections to sub as well. Those can be flaky and come off during shipment.

I wouldn’t reflash anything until you troubleshoot the easy stuff first.

Thanks. I tried it twice and no change...

Anyone have a colorDMD in their SST and have the following problem? I've noticed with the latest firmware that when I advance to Zegema Beach, the DMD will freeze and shows only half the trooper's head and show the words "Today" I unfroze a couple of times, once being when I advanced to Danatana.

Mine has been working fine.

Back in the club after a 4+ year hiatus (or Yatus if you watch Big Brother). Have completed the cabinet cleaning and underneath insert cleaning. Still need to remove and clean the subway. All LEDs in the inserts now, although I only had a 25 pack of non-ghosting bulbs, so only the lower playfield got those. The upper insert LEDs will need to be replaced upon my next order since non-ghosting LEDs flicker on this game.

The only LED GI is in the slings, outlanes and the two spotlights. Both upper corners and almost the entire upper right side GI are out. I have another project ahead of this, so now that I've got it playing 100% I swapped in my Pinstadium kit. Shortcut to stripping the entire playfield to replace all the GI bulbs for now.
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Lots of paint worn away from around the flipper buttons on this cabinet. I had a set of metal button covers and drilled a 1 1/4" hole for the 2nd flipper button.

No more wear visible around the buttons.

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DIY stadium style white LEDs with a remote that can cycle between warm-daylight-cool-white. Temporarily mounted with Velcro because I was out of magnetic tape, hence the gap between the rails and the cabinet sides.

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I'm doing my part!!

The only thing that I can't figure out right now is how to disable it auto plunging the ball after about 2 seconds.. has anyone had that issue? I couldn't find anything in the settings about it. It's really annoying to start a 4 player game and it someone isn't right by the machine for their turn it automatically fires it off (would be a really useful feature for events actually).

I was able to figure out the autoplunge issue - the ball wasn't pressing the switch in the trough was all.

In the trough? or the shooter lane?

I have a nice SST I will be listing shortly.

$2500 cash

Listing coming when I get a chance to snap some pics and blast it out.

First steps should be to replace the coil sleeve and possibly the coil stop. Rarely is the coil the problem.

Every supplier should carry them. I like to order from Pinball Life: https://www.pinballlife.com/coil-sleeves.html

Have a friend with a SST that doesn’t hold settings through power cycles. Requires the coin door to be opened after every power cycle. Replaced batteries to no avail. Boards look pristine, no signs of battery leakage.

Advised him to get NVRAM, regardless, but anyone seen this before? Any reason to think the NVRAM won’t solve the issue?

Friendly daytime bump to see if anyone has thoughts on the above

Trying to bump the club . Back in again. I want to side blades. I did this on an earlier SST but can’t find anything about it in Pinside. If I recall it was a space /galaxy theme but I can’t seem to find any posts. Maybe it was done on my Facebook group. Anyone add a space theme side blade? Do stern side and mirror blades fit sega?

Something like this? I have only seen mirror blades on SST.

https://www.retrorefurbs.com/shop/starship-troopers-pinball-sideblades/

They look great. I think it had some galaxies and planets...I have stern mirror blades but could get those too.

are sega blades same as stern?