If you can't make up your mind about red or blue of purple there is always blurple:

https://www.pinballlife.com/pop-bumper-blurple.html

I ordered them and they were definitely blue.

I'll snap a picture of them later today. Maybe they are different batch runs, or I'm just color blind haha

New to the club but obviously very late to the party! I've read through the first 40 pages of this thread and there's so much great information. I feel much more prepared for when things inevitably go wrong.

It's only my 3rd pin but I think I've got a good example. Playfield looks pretty much perfect, and the overall condition is great. The translite and apron have been signed by Steve Richie. Lots of mods have already been done (some of them I didn't know were mods until I read this thread!). What's already been done is:

-LEDs
-Painted Borg ship and other craft
-decal on the backboard
-Pinsound and upgraded speakers
-domes on the canons

I've got a ColorDMD on order and think I'll get some mirror blades after. I can see flicker in the backboard LEDs and shield lights, so think the GI OCD board would fix that?

The only issues I've got so far are the right canon resting too far over to the right, so it blocks the ball on the rail next to it at times. And I also can't work out how to get the playfield to lock in position so I can lift it up without it sliding back!
PXL_20211022_142326440 (resized).jpgPXL_20211022_163829717 (resized).jpgPXL_20211022_163836964 (resized).jpgPXL_20211022_163854736 (resized).jpgPXL_20211029_171438886 (resized).jpgPXL_20211029_171446417 (resized).jpg

My STTNG has a been pretty solid since going over all the boards. Just the other day it started launching two balls at times instead of just one. The first ball is fine but if I start out with locking a ball then it ends up launching two after locking that first ball. I’m guessing opto issues but haven’t dug into it yet. Want to see if I can get it isolated over the weekend. I know the opto boards for the trough were rough so will check that out again. I finally ordered a fresh set of trough boards for it.

I am trying to work trough this list made by Pin_Guy
The game did not have the tieback mod and fried a coil and the board. new board and coil is in the game.

Here is the checklist:

In order to properly diagnose this problem you should perform testing on all parts listed above with power off:
1) You should read a short between the +50V TP (TP6) on the power board and J4-1 CHECK
2) You should NOT have a short between J4-1 (50V) and J4-7 (GND) CHECK
3) With the J4 cable removed, the coils should measure around 10 ohms each between the Pin 1 of the J4 cable and solenoids at pins 2, 4, and 5; and 5 ohms at pin 6.
4) The transistors should have high resistance between J4-7 (GND) and the solenoids connectors on J4 pins 2-6 with the cable removed CHECK
5) The blocking diodes should pass a diode test between J4-1 (+50V) and the solenoid connectors on J4 pins 2-6 with the cable removed CHECK
If the above tests do not ALL pass, powering on the machine could result in secondary failures as mentioned above.

Any suggestions on what to test next? i do not get the readings on
3) With the J4 cable removed, the coils should measure around 10 ohms each between the Pin 1 of the J4 cable and solenoids at pins 2, 4, and 5; and 5 ohms at pin 6.
my readings is way off. am i using the multimeter wrong?

please educate me

I must be color blind...

20211030_213052 (resized).jpg

Did you check fuse F103 on the powerdriver ?

That looks blue…. I got mine from(Europe) Pinball center - they are Purple..

pasted_image (resized).jpeg

I hope you’re not wearing the same glasses as Scooter……

J/K

Those are the same blue as the ones I ordered.

You are going to get flickering with LEDS on the STTNG. It's not a ghosting issue. The GI OCD board will manage the correct power and eliminate the flickering. It will also allow you to alter the brightness to the leds, and allow for the SHIELDS to be at various brightness when the gameplay goes.

LED OCD is also another fantastic product for the STTNG. Several videos on YouTube showing the side by side comparison.

Pinsound is a must have for this machine. No question about it.

It's also worthwhile to restore the gun handle, however that is something you can do yourself.

And if you haven't done it.....DO THE TIE BACK MOD. Not optional. Several blogs on this page related to the Williams Tech Mod required for the machine. Do them all.

All the things described here I have done to my machine, and it's fantastic.

Swapped out the IR transmitter board for the trough and game is playing again as it should. The original one has a lot of prior work. At least three different styles of IR LEDs were used. Different shades of the plastic on them reminded me of old Christmas lights. May eventually get a new set of IR LEDs later and rebuild it as a spare.

I've been dragging my feet for too long with my STTNG - it's really time for me to consider pulling the trigger for PinSound and a color dmd....

From what I’ve read PIN2DMD is also a good option for Star Trek. I was really happy with the one I installed in Independence Day and have one ready to install in my STTNG. Did a quick test and the colorization looked good.

I really like my color DMD on my STTNG. I have the LED one. It's beautiful.

Shameless self plug for the PIN2DMD project I created for STTNG; I went all out and matched up the Okuda palette from the TV series on the LCARS screens and they really looks the part; lots of dithering throughout too which looks gorgeous on LED panels. TNG is such an important franchise so I was careful to do as good a job as I could - files are freely available at VPU!

I haven't ruled out doing a 64 colour update in future either...

I've never been a fan of the Pin2dmd project... and as I understand it - you are knowingly violating ColorDMD's patent.
Maybe your work is worthy; but sorry - you get a hard fast NO from me because you took someone elses idea and patent and stole it.

Sounds pretty cool, gonna look into this. Is there a quickstart somewhere? Or is this one of those things that takes a lot of research?

I can't speak for the history of PIN2DMD hardware/firmware/software, I am just a TNG fan who colours the dots and wanted TNG to actually look like it belonged in the TNG universe - honestly, the Okuda palette is something that is so well defined and so well ingrained with the series, not using it for the LCARS screens seems like a massive oversight on their part in my opinion, but that is just my opinion. You are absolutely entitled to give a hard fast NO, no complaints from me.

I hasten to add I make all my projects freely available for all, and I make no real profit from this endeavour - the few donations I have received in the past inevitably get poured back - pun intended - into the alcohol that sometimes fuels my colouring time.

If you can afford a ColorDMD then go for it - I have one in my Ghostbusters and I love it, I doubt very much I will ever replace it with a PIN2DMD. There's no denying that ColorDMD produce a great product. But for those on a budget or wanting to go the DIY route, or even custom animation/colour, then PIN2DMD may be a viable alternative.

It is a DIY project, though there are a few people around that sell pre-built displays. Given the above, it's perhaps best I don't go into more detail here, but if you search this or any of the main pinball forums for PIN2DMD you will easily find threads dedicated to it and some links to various guides etc.

Hi folks, hoping someone can help me. I just replaced the original CPU board with the PIN_TEK 89 board and replaced all of the ribbon cables. Everything looks connected fine, however, when I power the machine on I get no playfield lights at all, and the DMD display is not showing the start up screens, almost appears scrambled if that makes sense? I've replaced a few fuses that blew after the install. The D19-21 LEDs on the board are not lighting per the specs. 21 stays lit as it should, but 19 is also staying on constantly. I'm guessing I have something plugged in wrong, but I can't figure out what it is! Any assistance would be great. FYI, I am an extreme novice here, so, if you can explain it like you would to a child that would be best. Thanks!

What was the game doing before you installed the new board? Was there battery damage? If so did it travel down into the connectors?

Do you have a link to the specific board you bought? Did it come with the ASIC and game ROM or did you move them over?

When plugging in the ribbon cables have you triple checked orientation and that they are plugged in off by 1 pin?

The 19 is the blanking circuit IIRC.

How are your voltages from the driver board test points? there should be two points close to the fuse F115 (this should be just to the right of the CPU board) that you should check (5v and 12v)

I am worried about the fuses blowing tho. What were the symptoms leading up to the CPU board replacement?

Symptoms leading up to the board replacement were that some of the switches in the coin door did not work, the switches tested fine, everything traced back to the board and some of the original board connections were really shoddy. It had obviously been repaired many times before. Since I am very much a novice, I thought a new board would be the best bet. This is the board I bought: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-12742-XXXXX It did not come with the ASIC or game rom. I moved them from the original board. I have triple checked the orientation on the ribbons, and they all look good.

I will check the driver board test points with my meter shortly, thanks for the suggestion.

Wow.. that looks like a nice board!

Yes, please check those voltage test points... It might lead you to this Driver board (C2 cap)

See this link for more info:
https://pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_WPC#WPC_and_WPC-S_Games_With_No_Solenoid.2C_Flasher_or_Feature_Lamps.2C_A_Blanking_Signal_Issue

Unfortunately, I think that it's easy to chase issues with these boards.. it seems like once one thing goes, then it cascades along getting the driver board voltages up, and any other places where leaked capacitors may have caused damage.

I might need a bit more help here. I have a fairly old (and cheap) multi-meter. I'm not sure how to check these test points, I'm guessing red to the post and black to a ground? suggestions for meter setting? Should the machine be on? I have noticed that when the machine is on the heat syncs on the power driver board get VERY warm very quickly.

Meter will need to be set for DC Volts which may be represented as V with a solid line over it and a range that is higher than what you are testing, i.e. if you need to test for 12V choose a range of 20V or 50V. You are correct about orientation and placement of the leads, best to use the ground test point for the black one to rule out any possible wiring oddities. Game will definitely have to be on and be very careful around the High Voltage sections for the DMD display on the AV board if you get that far, the rest of the voltages in the backbox are fairly safe to work around.

I just found a sample of this on YouTube and it looks FANTASTIC!! I wish ColorDMD would have gone with this color pallet too. I'll never be able to unsee it now. I looked into it and it seems to be a complicated setup. Are there none for sale that are already assembled and ready for install?

Thanks! 5V test reads at 4.91 and the 12V reads at 11.9. I am guessing that's close enough to not be the issue?

Yes, you should at least boot with those voltages. I am not familiar with that Pin-Tech board at all but I would probably do another really close inspection of the EPROMS and the ASIC to make sure you don't have a bent pin not making connection. Then try disconnecting all the ribbon cables (with the game off) and see if the board will boot / give you the proper LEDs with it that way.

Sounds good! I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

dpannell certainly used to make and sell displays and was based in the US, not sure if he is still offering them - I got one of his shipped over to the UK and it has served me very well! I am sure there must be some other US based vendors who could help out if you ask in the PIN2DMD thread, or else dzorbas in Canada is pretty close and might have some displays available. There are options in Australia or Europe who could sort you out too, but the shipping might make that a bit more prohibitive.

This is a GREAT THREAD related to the STTNG TIE BACK ISSUE / FIX
https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation#Diode_.22Tie_Back.22_missing_causes_8-Driver_Board_transistor_to_fail

The best tieback reference I have found with install photos is this thread -- but you need to join and login for images to load.

https://www.pinballrevolution.com/threads/13-sttng-tie-back-mod-best-way.3954/

I did my machine when I got it 3 months ago. Hope it helps. Did my first led kit vs custom. Not quite as perfect. A lot cheaper and faster. Don’t tell anyone.

Star Trek - The Pinball Experience - Borg Alcove Display (version 23) "pinball mod"
Modified and added additional media
Some sample images from the video media

00005.00_01_11_36.Still001 (resized).jpgborg alcove display 11-6-2021 1 (resized).jpgborg alcove display 11-6-2021 2 (resized).jpg

I will be fitting the large pin2dmd to my STTNG soon hopefully, a 64 colour update would be very cool for that but great that you did this pin.
Looking forward to seeing your work as the last one I had I fitted an lcd colordmd.

FYI, I replaced the plunger, sleeve, spring etc. but the problem has started again, the plunger is magnetised and keeps sticking to the bracket.

I've got a demagnetizer on my Amazon Wishlist but in the meatime I've just gone back to plan A and fitted little bits of stick foam that my wife had in her craft drawer to prevent the plunger coming into contact with the bracket. Working great so far!

The only other problem I'm having at the moment is with the popper that feeds the left cannon, occasionally the ball will fail to make it out and fall back down again causing the machine to search endlessly. I think I'm correct in saying that coils generally don't go bad so I'm considering replacing the sleeve, spring, plunger again, unless there's anything else I can do? I can't see how optos would come into this one, unless there's an opto to detect a ball in the plunger and it's not being detected?

IMG20211107125456 (resized).jpg

IMG20211107125507 (resized).jpg

Double check the ribbon cables as I had a new pintech and the one ribbon was reversed as to how the first pin was opposite of the Board I replaced.

Could it be sticking in that circular groove it has created?

I think the ridge on the coil sleeve is supposed to be on the other side of the bracket.

This - When the coil stop bracket gets that deformed the plunger head can stick in the groove, I've had to replace the bracket a couple of times when all else failed.

BTW, not sure why someone stuck a flat washer under the coil stop bracket, but that doesn't belong there.

Raise the PF (after removing the balls) and manually check how smoothly the VUK plunger moves and also if either the coil bracket screws or the screws holding the mech to the PF have come loose. I'd look at replacing the VUK's sleeve, and clean the plunger - also inspect the plunger and mech for damage or wear while you have it apart. The sleeve can collect grim, which roughens the sleeve surface and causes additional friction on the plunger - often replacing this is all that is needed

That is correct, the bracket with the circular groove worn into it is what causes the plunger to stick, change that and it won't stick any more. That problem has nothing to do with magnetism or the plunger.

Still having this issue. Have replaced literally every board because, why not start new, and still having the issue. On first power-up the main fuse blew. Replaced it, powered up again, blew fuses F103 and F104. This happened previously too. Still have bad display, scrambled. I also see spots were a few connectors on the power driver board may be scorched, but I can't tell if it's old damage or new.

Do you know which ribbon you're referring to? And which board it connects to?

Can you take pics of where each ribbon cable is plugged in? And the scorch marks you mentioned?

Hi!
Just picked up a STTNG. Can someone pls send me a pic of their upper right flipper?

I cannot hit the delta quadrant ramp for the life of me. I wait until the very last moment to flip and it only goes to the 'advance in rank' hole.

I may need to make an adjustment or perhaps just play better.

Thanks!

I have found some machines harder to make the ramp than others. Have you checked that it's the correct coil? Also check the plunger, sleeve and coil stop for damage/wear - might be worth doing a flipper rebuild.

In regards to the alignment, the back of mine is slightly off the ball guide such that the flipper tip sits marginally out into the orbit lane - in the pic I've put a straight edge from the orbit ball guide to give you an idea of the angle. To be honest this was the way mine was setup when I bought it and I've not needed to change it (that said mine isn't the easiest of shots but is doable)

STTNG upper flipper (resized).jpg

While this may be a longshot, this happened to me when I picked up my STTNG a year or so ago. Check and make sure your flipper bats are indeed Williams.
When I got mine (which needed a shop job something terrible), someone had put in Data East bats (slightly shorter than Williams) and it was extremely difficult to get up the Delta ramp....every once in a blue moon, I'd make it up there. I put in new Williams bats and I started making the Delta ramp much more frequently. After the shop job, which included flipper rebuilds (but I kept the original coils), I'm able to get up the Delta ramp all the time now pretty easily.

Flipper was recently rebuilt and the bat is Williams.

It has to be the angle. I can't be that bad of a player.

I am going to mess with the angle tomorrow.