STTNG mixing GI OCD and KBOP mods issue.

Looks great! And the best part is you didn't clear my high score!!

Nice job.

Anyone trying to replicate this, be aware, Patofnaud has an older revision of GI OCD. The new ones don't use a Z connector for the power input. They have a cable that runs from inside the cabinet to the GI OCD. The same fix can be done by making a splitter for that 9-pin molex cube connector.

So what needs to be done to get this working with the newer version of the GI OCD board? Can I just jump a couple of wires from J2 on the GI OCD board to pins 5 and 12 on J115? If so, does it matter which pins on the OCD board end?

Also, am I correct in thinking that the connection that's currently on J115 (the original one) can be removed?

Thanks! I went ahead and cut off the connection at J2 (sorry Herg!) and remade it with a couple of extra wires running to another connection I made at J115, pins 5 and 12. Then gave it the same treatment as you, with a connection at the now empty J120, pins 6 and 10, running down to the KBOP. I can't wait to get the game back together so I can see everything in action!

No need to be sorry. It's yours now.

I would have built a splitter for the connection in this picture, mostly because that keeps it a little "cleaner" inside the head. If you do this, you DO NOT want to connect the middle GND pin since the GI OCD runs the AC through a bridge rectifier. The GND pin would cause a short due to different GND references.

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I ended up using pins 3 and 7 from that connection, only up at the GI OCD board end (I forget which pins they ended up being on that connection). I chose them since they were the ones that originally terminated at pins 6 and 10 (respectively) on J115. I'm not sure if it made a difference, but I tried to keep to Patofnaud's original design.

Nice!

Whelp... I'm not entirely certain what I did wrong. My KBOP is not working. Here is what I know:

The KBOP works, I hooked it up to a benchtop power supply before I mounted it to the playfield and it lit up like a Christmas tree (ornament).
I seem to be getting less than 6.3vac. I forget the exact number, but it was somewhere between 3-4.5.
Every once in a while, the KBOP briefly illuminates but then powers down again.
I have pin 6 on J120 running to what was the white green connection of the KBOP.
I have pin 10 on J120 running to what was the green connection on the KBOP.

Does anyone have any clue what is wrong? I should be getting 6.3VAC at my new KBOP connection, right?

If you are using my KBOP WingLEDs; you have to have 6.3VAC in for it to work.
3-4.5V won't cut it because the LEDs in the ship needs ~= 5VAC (not sure of the lower limit).
Make sure you are measuring the input to my board in AC mode just incase you accidentally measured with DC.

If you run with a DC voltage into the ship... it would manifest itself as either the body/lower yellow led being on... or the cannon flashing with impulse engines or something like that. This is why you HAVE to have AC into the ship.

It sounds to me like your ACin is too low for the ship to operate properly; and that occasionally - you have surge in input voltage which causes the ship to briefly light. I'd recheck the connections and verify you don't have any aged/burnt connectors between the ship and the secondary side of the transformer.

First, make sure you're getting 6.3VAC on J115. If so, try going into the game's test menus and try GI brightness 8.

I like watching all of the videos on YouTube that I can find with a Led Ocd or GI Ocd search.
I just realized that I have seen your TNG before!
I wish you had longer videos of them!

I am not getting 6.3vac on J115. I'm getting about 4.5vac there as well as at J2 in the GI OCD board.

I also tried to go into the menu to check the GI brightness. I had to plug the dmd in for the first time in a few weeks, since I've been in the middle of tearing the machine down for a thorough shop job. I now see that in getting a "slam tilt switch is stuck closed" error. My coin door is completely disassembled while it's off getting powder coated. Anyway, do you think that error could be the reason I'm not getting the right voltage?

I'm also noticing that the LEDs on the LED OCD board are not on... Should I create a new thread?

The 6.3VAC input comes directly off the transformer secondary, and the game does not really have any control over that voltage you would see on J2/J115 other than a problem with the game making it sag or a problem with the transformer.

Are you measuring it correctly? I don't intend to be condescending, but a lot of people measure it incorrectly, using GND as a reference. AC should be measured with one DMM lead on each of the two input wires.

That's a good question. If it was, you should be able to disconnect J115 and get it working again, assuming the cable is OK and you didn't mess up anything on the GI OCD.

If you do decide to start a new thread, make sure to link to it in this one so that your help follows you. It would also help others who are trying to do this mod of a mod to be able to see what you go through.

That is a good question, and I'm not certain of the answer. I'll try unhooking J115 and seeing if the LED OCD fires up.

Not condescending at all! You were correct in your thinking, I was measuring it incorrectly. Should all pins at J2 on the GI OCD board be getting 6.3vac?

Depending on what I find when I get in front of it later today, I may make a new thread. If that happens, I'll be sure to link it here.

Pins 1,2,3 are one terminal, and 5,6,7 are the other. If you read between 1 and 5 (or 2/7 or 3/5, etc), you should see 6.3VAC.

My "new" wires are on pins 3 and 7. When I test it with one DMM lead on each, I'm seeing 7.77vac. Am I using this DMM wrong?

Since it depends on your line voltage and the drop through the transformer, the actual voltage can vary a bit. Normally, I see about 6.8VAC for an actual measurement. 7.7 seems a little high, but it should not prevent things from working.

You say that the KBOP isn't working, and the LED OCD status LEDs aren't lit. I didn't see you mention whether the GI is lighting up, though. Did you mean to say the GI OCD isn't lighting up, or did you really mean LED OCD? If the latter, that is completely separate, and it gets its power from the lamp matrix column outputs.

Thanks, Herg. The GI is mostly lit. I killed a fuse on the GI OCD board, but that will be fixed as soon as I get back in front of it with the new fuse. The LED OCD board is still dormant, none of it's onboard LEDs are illuminated or blinking. I'm not sure if that has something to do with my game displaying "SLAM TILT SWITCH IS STUCK CLOSED". None of the controlled lamps are cycling like normal during attract mode.

Does it matter what gauge wire I use to run the new connections I made? Right now I have 18 gauge stranded wire running from the GI OCD board to J115, since that was all I had. Then the same wire gauge running from J120 to the KBOP. should I be using a smaller gauge wire? When I was out buying new fuses I also bought some 22 gauge and 20 gauge wire.

Yeah, they're both fine. But they are just sitting on the bottom of the cabinet while my coin door is off getting powder coated. I most likely have a short somewhere. And as I think about it, there is a grounding wire that isn't connected to anything at the moment...

giraffe, was that pointed to me? Or Herg or Zitt?

Lol. It was you and your TNG, but I've watched everyone's ocd videos a million times. One guy put one on a Star Trek Pro. I thought that was awesome also

(I don't know how to do the quote thing here)

Just highlight what you want to quote and an option to quote should pop up.

Thank you!

Okey dokey! The slam tilt issue has been fixed. It was a very deep and complex issue that took the full might of my illustrious brain to resolve, and totally not a ridiculous error on my part involving a connection being improperly reinstalled on the MPU...

And, wouldn't you know it, my brilliant deduction on that issue was so profound that it resolved the KBOP problem, too.

Thank you Herg, Patofnaud, and Zitt for your help! My KBOP is ready to help me against those pesky Romulans now. Sorry for the runaround from my boneheaded mistake!

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One more quick question. How warm are these boards/LEDs supposed to get? Mine are very hot to the touch. I used my IR thermometer and those LEDs are clocking in at 120 degrees.

120 F?
IF so; are you sure it's the LEDs and not the bridge rectifiers on the board? 120F = ~60C which should be within spec of the LEDs.

If you are really concerned; use the brightness pot to turn down the brightness which will reduce power consumption considerably.
IIRC; I designed the board to run "in spec" at 20ma per LED - even when the pot is effectively 0. So "in theory" you can't cook the LEDs off the board.

There is one pot for each wing.

IMHO; the purple is a little overwhelming at full brightness... but it's your machine.

Thanks, Zitt. I'll tone it down a bit, I think.

Ok, so slight issue just popped up. One of the wings caught fire. Turned on the game to try test the cannons after I reassembled them and immediately noticed smoke coming from the KBOP. Shut the game off and the right wing was in fire. I pulled it out of the game and booted if back up. Voltage connection still shows about 4.8 vac. Any ideas why this happened?

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Send an email via web site.
We'll get this covered under warranty.

Thank you, Zitt. E-mail sent through pinball-mods.com.

Also, for an electronics rookie, where is the brightness pot on the board? Is it R11?

Yes. R10 on one wing... R11 on the other. Looks like a screw head.

What should one use to adjust? A tiny driver or something special?

tiny screwdriver is the correct choice. I've used "jewelry" mini screwdrivers; anything that fits the pot head.

Feel free to take any WingLED specific support questions to the thread on the product:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stng-wingled-kit