Bakersfield, CA
Hey all, in preparation for the new Star Trek we are starting to see a few mods pop up, here is a simple one you can do yourself .
First locate yourself a Hallmark light up USS Kelvin readily found on eBay and Amazon, you should be able to get one for maybe under $40.
You will need:
Razor Blades
Small flathead and small Phillips screwdrivers
Small gauge solid wire
Soldering iron and solder
Super Glue
Tape
Needle Nose pliers
This mod bypasses the button and timer to allow for always on. Simply soldering wires to the contacts in the battery compartment and gluing the button down will not work with this mod.
Step 1: This part takes care and patience. Carefully take a razor blade and slowly slice into the small seal around the edge of the ship on the bottom side. Most of the seal will come up easy but there are about 5 or 6 pegs that are glued tight, you need to pry with the small flathead to pop them loose every inch or so. See pics.
Step 2: Once the two halves are separated you will carefully pull them apart to reveal the small board inside. There are a bunch of wires coming off the board but we are only concerned with 2 of the wires, the red and white wires. (Pic 4)
Desolder both the red and white wires from the board and remove the old solder from the holes. (Pic 5)
You do not need these wires anymore, so just tape them to the inside of the shell. (Pic 6)
Step 3: Cut 2 new pieces of wire about 4 inches long. I used a couple wires from an Ethernet cable. They are small and solid which is what you will need. The reason is because you will later need to feed these wires through a tiny hole and stranded wire won't work.
Step 4: Solder the 2 new wires to the same points from where the red and white wires were removed. At this point you can test the ship lighting with a 4.5v - 5v powered source. The red wire spot is positive and the white wire spot is the negative.
Step 5: Remove the battery cover. You might want to pry up the contact that covers the access hole. Possibly not necessary but helps.
Step 6: Feed the 2 wires through the hole that the rest of the wires are going into. Do 1 at a time and it is a very very tight fit but can be done. Try to feed into the hole and at an angle so that the wires will exit into the battery compartment. Once you see a small tip of the wire come through you can pull it through with some small needle nose pliers.
Step 7: Carefully reassemble the saucer. Careful not to move the red plastic piece. I put a small amount of super glue around the rim inside before closing up.
All done. You now have 2 available wires to connect to leading from the battery compartment. Wire management and mounting are up to you at this point. Good luck and happy modding.
Sketching and brain storming night.
