Yay! Glad to have helped. Whack some bright green LEDs in there and robert's your mother's brother!

This is one of the very few instances I preach for LEDs in GI. They are just so much brighter than incandescents with condoms on and it really makes condition green something else.

Funny you should say that. I'm contemplating the entire led set.

Thoughts?

I redid mine on frosted white and green LEDs a few years ago, I’m happy with it and I tend to be a purist.

I have cool white jeweled twin LEDs all through the GI on my spacestation. The theme of the game actually suits stark, cool white, bright lighting. Just please make sure they're decent quality so those of us that can see the flickering of he cheap ones don't die.

Ha ha! Well, as I had some "warm whites" lying around. They aren't exactly warm... I threw a few in the bottom right sling. Wow, what a difference! I'll check for flickering tomorrow before proceeding.

I'll still need to grab some greens as the condoms won't stay put over the leds I have.

Next issue, find out why when I trap 2 balls in the left dock it doesn't register. Time to dig in, cause this game is worth it!

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That should not be possible. Once you lock a ball on a side, the diverter should send the next ball to the other side.
Only one ball will lock on each side.

It's happening from the playfield, not the habitual. Maybe I'm missing a guard or something?

The lock should not be enterable from the playfield. There (should be) a gate to prevent that.

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Bingo, I'm missing that. Much appreciated.

Look what showed up today. Yummy goodness.

Thanks Freeplay40!

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Anyone want this translite?

FREE, but you cover shipping. Can bring to the PA shows. PM me if interested.

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Translite has been claimed.

Got a U10 PIA Failure message when I powered the machine up last night. Turned it back off and back on and it didn’t show it that time, and it played fine.

From what I gathered on a Google, it’s not a particularly great issue and isn’t a DIY if it ends up being the chip. But some folks fixed it with cap replacements etc.

Anyone have any words of wisdom on that popping up?

I have had that exact issue randomly once in a while since I picked up my Space Station several years ago. It has not yet been a real problem. Switch back off and on has cleared the issue every time.

Same. Happened to me last night, which was maybe the 3rd time ever. Restarting fixed it.

Same.

Mine has done it randomly as long as I've owned it. Never been an issue, just turn it off and back on again and good to go.

Me three ,or is it four or five?? But it certainly seems common on space station and goes away once you restart the machine

Wow, lol. I guess the U10 PIA is just a badge of honor then!? I guess we know what the PIA really stands for

Mine did it a few times a few years ago iirc

Been searching this thread, and the internet in general, and I'm not seeing this issue exactly, except in a thread that didn't resolve...

...but I just turned my game on, and the station is spinning, continually. Not exactly sure how test what's wrong? Any ideas on how to diagnose and fix?

Anyone fit Titan glow rings to their Station ? How do they look ? Will be giving mine a thorough shopping and overhaul in the next few months - it’s been over a decade and overdue - and thinking of using them.

Either the transistor that turns the motor on is shorted/something else is off with the motor control, or the station can't find "home".

Jump into diag mode and try the coil test, just letting it cycle through all the coils. If the station is still spinning while the display is showing other coils, there's something wrong with the control of the motor, like a shorted transistor or something.

The the motor just pulses a little and then stops, the motor and its control is fine, it's likely the optos or something else on the board under the station. Check the switches in the switch test.

If you don't know how to get into the various tests:

I have Grizzla. To be honest I’ve got mish mash as I needed to change what was there and just used what I had in stock. They look ok but the jury’s out on them. I reckon it’d look better if the entire machine was done

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Cheers fella. Do they look any different during Condition Green ? Guessing not really. Was wondering about throwing some UV bulbs in with the greens for some Glow effect a la Stranger Things … not sure how that would look.

Other option is the clear rings. Or green rings ! Or blue rings ! Or just stick with good old white.

Yeah they look good in condition green but if you’re as skilful as me, condition green lasts 5 seconds.
I also have blue and white and clear it’s like steptoes yard in there

For me this is exactly what it was, the transistor on the main board behind the back glass. I don’t recall which one, but worked perfectly after replacing it. I think I have it in a post somewhere in this forum.

I’m amazing at Condition Green Nailed 3 Jackpots earlier today

Funny I got this just yesterday on startup. But game started fine anyways. Did not come back later on. Suppose it could be an omen of some work going to be needed soon..

Black is beautiful.

I had a blue Freeplay ramp but it cracked at both sides of the entrance. Get yourself some protection, whether black or blue.

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I've found a poorly space station here in Portugal.

I'm getting it next week, €75

I've shopped out a few pins over the last few years but never anything like this

But I'll give it a go

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Just a heads up for newer players …. Something I didn’t know for quite some time.
The Target above the right Outlane that when hit refreshes the Shuttle or Station award depending on which insert is lit can be toggled between the two by pressing both flipper buttons. This obvs gives you some control over the awards. Helping you avoid accidentally changing a decent one, or choosing to change a poor one.

Wow, I wonder what happened to that Space Station? If it’s just dirty and not fire-damaged, it could clean up well.

Yes I know, playfield and other parts seem to be there under a massive layer of dirt.

The playfield glass is missing, maybe someone can tell me if the playfield looks complete??

I'm not familiar with this game but know there wasn't many made.

There seems to be a lot of 80's 90's pins here in Portugal, must have exported a lot back then

Check out what I did. I’m a huge fan of this. I put UV post lights on the slings and UV posts and rubbers including flippers. Not only gives an eerie space glow during the game but when it shuts off the glow is cool. Also, I added a UV trough light for normal mode. In green mode, I wired a second trough light that’s green. HUGE green light improvement vs without it. Also did blue post lights in all the blue posts on the field. Included a pic of the harness I made to power them all off of one GI to simplify wiring.

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I don’t think I’d like this on any other game, looks cool

Thanks for this! It does just keep spinning through coil test. I replaced Q6 on the Aux Power Board, which seems to be the transistor that controls this…but no dice.

What else could it be?

Love it ! Thanks

Could be a few things.

I'd disconnect the controlled solenoids from the MPU board.

If the station still spins, it's a fault in the cabinet, like the motor driver board or something.

If the station stops when the controlled solenoids are disconnected, I would guess it's an MPU board fault. Q6 is controlled by a predriver transistor, etc up the chain back to the actual processor. Checking the signalling at Q6 with a logic probe and seeing if it's being held on, then working your way back to the PIA and MPU etc.

Thanks so much for this. It truly helped!

I had completely forgotten about the predriver transistor. Changed out Q2, and bam, we’re back in business.

Thank you, @ajfclark!

Great work everyone, glad to see the club come together to help a guy fix things.

Aw. A got warm fuzzies.

More than happy to help. Glad it was something simple!

The real question is what shorted the transistor. Usually that happens when the field collapse on the coil isn't snubbed by a diode. The diode across the relay coil on the motor control board may have come loose or something. I'd check D1 and make sure the solder joints on it are good, or just replace it given they're a few cents a pop.

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Hi Guy's and Gal's. Here is some photos of my space station pinball. Doing a bit of light restoration work on it at the moment. Play field semi stripped.
Everything works fine. Machine spent 15 years in a sea side arcade. 7 years on off at a university bar in Ucd Dublin. Slight smell of Spilt Guinness's from the machine.The final remainder of its time was in a shed.

Now it's happy in my home nice and dry.

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Lovely pin buddy

Sorry to post but I picked up the €75 space station pin today

Went through fuses etc today before powering on, turned it on.

I get no display, I get five bongs then a short bong afterwards

Some go lights on permanently with no attract mode, just stuck

CPU board, 5v led on permanently, 2nd led flashes regular, third led on permanently

I'm not an expert and only have wpc 95 pinball.

Any pointers gratefully received

Hi Jack mate,

Thanks for that, there is a bit of rust in my machine, that I have to see too as go about my light restoration.

With regard to your machine. I haven't had any booting or locking up problems. Just the usual broken lights, misaligned switch, broken diodes, sticky solenoid.

Maybe the problem is on your logic board. Check for battery acid damage? My batteries didn't leak luckily and I put in an external battery holder away from the PCB.

Maybe there is shorts on the switch matrix or lamp matrix pulling down the CPU board. Try disconnecting those 4 connectors with machine powered off and see if it boots normal afterwards? To try and narrow the fault to an area.

Here's a link to the manual and schematics. Will help you in your trouble shooting

https://www.ipdb.org/files/2261/Williams_1987_Space_Station_Operations_Manual_and_Test_Procedures.pdf

Also check out Joe's classic video games on you tube. He has done lots of trouble shooting and repair videos on various system 11 machine's including space station, pin bot, f14 Tom cat etc.

He is very good explaining the circuits and schematics

Wow thanks buddy, lots to go on there it will keep me busy I'm sure

I did have a close look around the battery area, wasn't any in luckily.

It's been stored in a barn here in Portugal for God knows how many years so I'm going to go through cleaning up all the connectors, checking solder joints etc first too.

Hopefully it'll be back to a working pin in time like yours

I just picked up a Space Station that appears to be in great shape and operating well. However, the green GI hasn’t turned on with multi-ball when I dock three balls. Can someone confirm how to earn the condition green multi-ball? Also, how can I check the green GI to be sure it is working?

1. Lock 3 balls, listen for “condition green” call out

2. The snubber board relay under the playfield sound like it needs solder reflowed on the pins, or the relay is bad

You can also test the Green GI solenoid in the standard coil test menu. Should turn the green GI on. As mentioned by @chosen_s, the boards are notorious for cracked solder joints and often just need to be reflowed.