New Premium owner - twisted the wires while doing the pinbits install. Had an issue my first game (prior to twisting...), but since then, started Vengeance multiple times with no hangups whatsoever.

Thank you guys for finding this fix!

Do I need to twist both sets of the wires? I think I only have one set twisted and that may be why my ball keeps getting stuck on the magnet...

So I've twisted the optos and moved the wires away from the magnet...But now I'm getting ball sticks every time I get to Vengeance - left or right flipper shot. Any thoughts?

I was having the issue, yeah. I'm also using the pinballlife balls already. And no, they don't come loose with a shake - in fact, they get stuck every single time I've noticed. I'm REALLY unhappy about it...That's one of the cooler features of this game. I'm thinking of calling Stern tomorrow and bitching to see what they may be able to suggest otherwise (unless that's a lost cause?).

E: Anyone with a Premium able to post a pic of your wires and how you have them oriented? I want to see if SOMEHOW I screwed up.

I'll be calling them first thing Monday morning. I'll report back!

Original - and yeah, I've followed the best I can. I'll take a pic of mine tomorrow and show what I've done...See if maybe I'm doing it wrong?

The arrows correspond to the board that the twisted wires connect to.

I originally only had the green set, but when the ball was sticking still, I did the blue set. The ball was still sticking, so I tried the orange set today.

If you follow each set of wires, you can see that they have a small loop in them...I can't imagine that would cause a problem, but it's something to point out.

ST Premium Optos.jpg

So do I need to actually take the protective coating off the wire?

Yeah, I'm confused. I thought I was doing it right by twisting the two wires together as I show in my pic. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong if my pic is incorrect. I don't know if the premium is any different than the pro in terms of what wires need twisting?

So I corrected my optos and it still happens. I'll be in contact with Stern tomorrow. Thanks for the pics!

I will try and call after work. Had to take dog to vet yesterday (followed by crazy storms). I want this fixed because it's sort of a key feature for that mode.

I've been back and forth with Pat via email. No luck with a solution yet. His last email said:

Try reseating the (2) and (5) pin connectors going to the opto amplifier boards under the playfield. Also, inspect the wires going into the connectors for poor crimps.

I told him the issue still persisted, so we'll see what he says.

I've gotten a few requests for the status of my Star Trek magnet fix. Here's summarized chain of emails I had with Pat at Stern. For what it's worth, I seem to have managed to solve my problem, so hope those with persisting issues can get some help from Pat's final statement!

Me: I have a Star Trek Premium and have been experiencing an issue since I've had it. During the Vengeance multiball, you are supposed to use the ball to knock the held ball off the magnet to begin a 3-ball multiball. The problem is that when I hit this ball, the second ball gets stuck and doesn't release until the 15 second timer is up. On the Pinside.com forums, there is a thread about this. I have read and followed through with the changes/tweaks that everyone has suggested (twisting the opto wires to eliminate any noise), however this has not worked. I'm wondering if the board is bad or something else is wrong.

Pat: Do optic switches 33 and 34 register during switch test? Do either of these switches register during switch test if you pound on the playfield?

Me: Switches register during switch test and do not register when I pound the playfield.

Pat: Try reseating the (2) and (5) pin connectors going to the opto amplifier boards under the playfield. Also, inspect the wires going into the connectors for poor crimps.

Me: I checked everything and played a few games. Ball is still sticking. I noticed that it stuck with the right flipper one game, and the left flipper on another.

Pat: Please swap the amplifier boards under the playfield and see if the problem persists.