Looks like they corrected the price to $975.

That's a 26v circuit, isn't it? Are you using the right bulbs? The manual says #1683 (eg http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/04-1683 )

Pretty sure a #89 will fit in the socket as they're both BA15s, but as it's a 12v bulb it'll be really bright and then blow. #89 only work as flashers at 24v because they are only on such a short time, as soon as they are on for a while, they'll fail. Same deal if you put #89s where the manual calls for #1531s on my Space Station:
20171202_204213 (resized).jpg

This one? http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/804/Williams_1987_F_14_Tomcat_Service_Bulletin_no_number_undated_to_resolve_binding_diverter_gate_assembly.pdf

They're special solenoids which I'm pretty sure only activate as long as the switch is closed. I guess that when the ball hits where the switch is, it's able to hold the switch closed longer which translates to an increase in force vs when it hits where the kicker is, the rubber doesn't push back and close the switch for as long. Narrowing the switch gap might change things, but it might make them machine gun too.

I'm not sure it's critical - I think it's a debounce circuit? Kind of like this with the resistor in a different place:

http://www.ganssle.com/debouncing-pt2.htm" data-aspect="333/303" data-sizes="auto" data-srcset="https://imgproxy.pinside.com/cWdrZgmyg_2pKWGCQKNlyQ9xXEIEZqZ3iT081kLwhoQ/rs:fit:1024/q:85/fn:Pinside_forum_4159374_1153126/aHR0cHM6Ly9vLnBpbnNpZGUuY29tLzYvMzEvMDUvNjMxMDVlMGJkYmZiOThmMmY5N2MzYjlkNTM4MjE2YTU4OWNhZThlNi5qcGc 1024w,https://imgproxy.pinside.com/e9qXOiL78aF5X1l0hTaCxt8aWgFFZAIz-wJWygiMeDE/rs:fit:512/q:85/fn:Pinside_forum_4159374_1153126/aHR0cHM6Ly9vLnBpbnNpZGUuY29tLzYvMzEvMDUvNjMxMDVlMGJkYmZiOThmMmY5N2MzYjlkNTM4MjE2YTU4OWNhZThlNi5qcGc 512w,https://imgproxy.pinside.com/l4JxjzvAO1wqKEN36z2Jx4yZ_05cZ5rbzoB7eLZSU-w/rs:fit:320/q:85/fn:Pinside_forum_4159374_1153126/aHR0cHM6Ly9vLnBpbnNpZGUuY29tLzYvMzEvMDUvNjMxMDVlMGJkYmZiOThmMmY5N2MzYjlkNTM4MjE2YTU4OWNhZThlNi5qcGc 320w" data-src="https://imgproxy.pinside.com/-dvJ5vgzhPwNKbEDxMhO6M95NuTN_iqRkBSwC8HToh0/rs:fit:800/q:85/fn:Pinside_forum_4159374_1153126/aHR0cHM6Ly9vLnBpbnNpZGUuY29tLzYvMzEvMDUvNjMxMDVlMGJkYmZiOThmMmY5N2MzYjlkNTM4MjE2YTU4OWNhZThlNi5qcGc" />from http://www.ganssle.com/debouncing-pt2.htm

The kickers on my Space Station are the opposite of your but my jet bumpers the other way like the picture above. You could check with the jet bumper for consistency or someone with more experience might chime in?

I played a few games and watched the way the slings behave. I see the same behaviour with the kickers on Space Station as you - occasionally there's a really flat response when the ball hits in the middle of the sling. Radical, which is CPU controlled slings with a set pulse length, seems to behave differently with the kicker moving the same amount every time - not that that means the ball comes off with the same speed though. Depending on spin, angles, initial force, etc it's all over the place.

I've read the Bigs Guns was done as both a System 11A and System 11B. System 11A had directly controlled special solenoids. System 11B was where they started moving away from special solenoids being directly triggered and moved to CPU control. Some machines seem to use direct switching and some are CPU control. I haven't picked a pattern in which is which. All System 11C had CPU controlled special solenoids.

Big Guns was right on the change from 11A to 11B and I've seen notes that Big Guns System 11B was one of the first to use CPU controlled special solenoids. The Big Guns backbox internals shot on ipdb is a System 11A so the special switches connector (1J18) is populated. Maybe the 11B version is what you played?

[edit: just found a picture of a system 11B board with 1J18 in use so maybe not: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-big-guns-williams-1987-1991 ]

I was thinking yesterday that might work, but wasn't 100% sure I understood the circuit so I didn't want to suggest it.

What you are saying lines up with my understanding though. While the cap is charging, the signal is pulled to ground. The bigger the cap, the longer to charge and the longer the minimum pulse of the signal and hence the coil.

http://ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=804&picno=4624&zoom=1 shows the standard black plunger.

Currently on special at pbresource for $5.20. They will also have a barrel spring, the correct shooter spring (WLL-10-148-2), etc. http://www.pbresource.com/shooterrod.html

I'm used to seeing a debouce circuit being used to send a single pulse to a circuit when normally you'd see a bunch of flutter as the contacts almost close. The higher the capacity of the cap, the longer the switch appears to stay closed and multiple closures within that period are read as a single event.

From that logic, if you used too big a cap multiple hits in quick succession might be missed or the mechanics of the mechanism being in the way of the switch being closed (eg the bumper ring staying down too long). Way too big a cap would result in the coil staying energised too long and blowing a fuse, transistor, coil, etc, just like the switch being held closed.

The cap only needs to be big enough to give the coil enough time to complete its action and 22uf seems to have worked for years. I'd be hesitant to fiddle with them too much and would look at mechanical issues first (coil sleeves, gummed up pivot points, etc) first.

If you had a solenoid saver (http://nvram.weebly.com/repair--conversion-kits.html) in place or another method of individually fused specials it'd be less scary to fiddle with the values.

High score entry.

Later system 11 used an opto chip on the interconnect board.

I'm pretty certain all four trough switches should read closed when there's 4 balls in the trough.

That's ball hunt. It thinks it's a ball short and will not start a game. That lines up with the trough switch not being closed.

I think everyone has made that mistake at some stage.

It does a ball search at power up if it can't see them in the trough, right? An issue with the trough switches will also cause it to fail to start a game.

To keep it that way, I would invest in a remote battery pack at least.

Sometimes the blue fades out of plastics. I have a blue flasher dome that's pretty well transparent in my Space Station.

Yes. Head in to the settings, you're looking for the backup high scores, adjustment numbers 14, 15, 16, 17. Set those really low (maybe 0?) and save and then reset teh high scores.

I usually turn off the reset after X plays setting too (22).

My first step would be to figure out if it's the MPU or the playfield by testing the MPU without the playfield attached: http://pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_System_9_-_11#Switch_Matrix_Row_and_Column_Testing

Might be worth having a quick look at why it blew. If that's the column with the lane change switches on it, make sure the nylon spacers etc are all in place.

I was thinking the same thing. There's a few headlight restoration products that explicitly mention they remove the yellow from plastic headlights. I'd probably give one of those a go in the first instance.

In Australia we have a plastic polish for car headlights that removes the yellowing (eg https://www.meguiars.com.au/glass-clear-plastic-and-exterior-trim/plastx/). Could something similar work on the dome?

It isn't a case of seems to make it harder, it makes it harder, more so for some people than others due to differing flicker frequency sensitivity.

Incandescent glow for some time after voltage is removed. This means as AC swings + to - or the lamp matrix strobes, the globes continue to glow for a period even while they don't have power. This leads to a continuous light.

LEDs are much faster to turn on and off. So as the matrix strobes, the light strobes. The best example I have of this is the standups on my Space Station. With incandescents under the inserts, nothing seems wrong and all movement seems normal. With LEDs, I can see the targets shake after the ball hits them because the light from the insert is (to me) noticeably strobing. The LEDs I'm using in that machine are far better than some I have seem previously, but I still get a strobing effect a lot.

LED GI is even worse for me, especially when there's no supplementary light. The worst machine I can think of was a Getaway in a dark bar. Instead of seeing a ball travelling down the playfield, I see 50 frames a second, distinct, individual balls on the playfield. That might be down to the particular LEDs used by that operator as the GnR there is horrid too. The Green LEDs that came in my Space Station were also far worse than the current ones too - that might be down to them being sensitive to polarity and therefore actually being off 50% of the time when powered by AC.

It happens with other LED lights too. A friend of ours has all LED lights in their house and I get a massive headache there because everything strobes at 50hz, all the time. It's like a disco when anything moves.

Kind of like this:
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See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flicker_fusion_threshold and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroboscopic_effect for more.

Does that mean in AU we could go as low as 2 amp perhaps? We start with a 4 amp because we're on 240v, Watts/Volts = Amps. Might pop a meter on on of my system 11s...

If you get the power and ground the wrong way around, all the power goes through the diode and the fuses blows. It doesn't melt the coil.

Looks like an advertising flyer not a translight to me.

The weird thing is those look like they are Motorola flags, not Williams, or at least I expect the logo to be oriented with the handle at the bottom.