Well it’s not a prototype PF. So no clearer on why your game didn’t have the interlock switch fitted.

Yes and no.
When the LED emitter costs under a dollar from digikey... it's often cheaper and less of an issue to replace them all in one swift movement ... rather than waste time chasing intermittent phantom issues.
I think there were like 6 or 7 optos... in the subway. Worth the 8 or 9 dollars to never have to worry about them again.

This is my first game with so many optos, is it generally a good idea to replace some/all while the game is still apart? Is one more failure prone than the other (transmitter/receiver)?

I believe early infrared LEDs used an epoxy material in the lense that was reactive to the IR light being emitted.
This caused the lense to "age" by turning from Blue to Brown.
Nearly every picture I see of the optos in these games show them being various shades of yellow/brown.
If you look at a new Opto LED; you see the color should be light blue.

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I'm far from an expert ... I posted this years ago:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tech-optos-works-when-close-but-not-from-far#post-3010146
By all means; troubleshoot the system properly. Once you've fixed your problem... then and only then consider swapping the IR emitters if they have browned in color.

The PhotoTransistor (black colored) is made that color to effectively block all light but the IR wavelengths. As a result; I believe they are generally ok.
I did NOT replace the photo transistors when I did my opto swaps and they've been rock solid since. I'd only replace the transistor if I've tested to verify it doesn't work properly with a known good / new IR led.

Aha, so that explains why all my emitters are various shades of yellow/gold color.

These are the little half-inch long green and blue boards that the emitters/receivers are soldered to?

Yes. The transistor and emitter are soldered to oppositing boards . The two screws hold the plastic "standoff" to the pcb.

I have had a few of the German re-imports come back in and have had 2 set up exactly the same as you. The high current cut off wiring isn't present but can easily be added. It's actually a secondary harness and plugs into the main harness after the transformer. I'm having the loom made up and if your interested, the maker should have them in his site along with cannon looms if I can ever get the old ones to him.

I have a reimport and would be interested as well.

I’d be interested as well! I have a Japanese re-import with a coin counter installed as well and can’t figure out how this is supposed to be wired.

Any chance you have some clear photos of your ST's converted over to U.S voltage? Transformer wiring, line filter, whatever else needed to be done? I got the game non-working, so wasn't able to power on, and noticed a lot of funky stuff on the boards when I pulled them (fuses wired across, blown transistors, burnt traces) so I'm not too sure the game was converted properly.

It's much better if you post an image of YOURS. If you wait for an image from someone else you might be waiting forever. You're also asking them to open up their machine, take an image, download the image and then upload the image. You should probably do the work because you want the help. Plus, if you post an image you'll get MANY more eyeballs looking at it. There are many people here versed in voltage conversion configuration.

You know what's better than pictures of possibly someone else's hack job?

Get the manual. The WPC manual to be exact not the game manual. You will have the correct setup for 120V. Which wires go where in the connector from the transformer.

I agree but from what I have seen if someone is asking for images they probably cannot easily read wiring diagrams. Not everybody understands how to read wiring diagrams, schematics and such things.

The Pinwiki also very adequately documents all of this and a lot of people don't know about or read the Pinwiki.

• https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php/Williams_WPC#WPC_Transformers
• https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php/Williams_WPC#Early_WPC_Transformers_.289_pin_connection.29

I will take some photos and post them.

Meanwhile, I received my new plastics set from PP and thought I'd throw up some pics. The current ones are a mismatch of mostly scratched, worn, or brokwn originals, and a few from an unknown CMYK printed set with incorrect colors (hot pink became purple). The new set looks good, all solid colors printed so thank goodness, no halftones. A couple of quibbles, the royal blue is a little too dark and the lighter blue a bit too light. Other than that, looks good. New vs original comparison on the bottom pic, and I just noticed, the new plastic has an extra hole in the center that's not on the original, no idea why.
100_3687 (resized).JPG100_3688 (resized).JPG

To followup my own post, I finally was able to finish this project.

Many thanks to Zitt for his instructions on how to modify the USS Kelvin ornament for the modern Stern reboot Star Trek (http://pinball-mods.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/KelvinInstallWeb.pdf) Here is my write up for posterity (and the pinside search engine). I suspect a similar strategy will work for other modern Hallmark ornaments as well.

Unlike the older Hallmark ornaments, the newer ones are battery powered, and usually have a switch to turn on the lights, sounds, etc. While it is possible to wire up DC power to replace the batteries, you still have to press the small button on the ornament to get it to light. Not helpful inside a machine.

So I bought two of these ornaments, one not working one to open up and see how it is wired, and a new one to apply those learnings.

For this particular ornament, the PCB that controls the ornament is immediately behind the button on the bottom of the main body of the ship. Step 0 is to get in there to see what is what

Using an exacto knife, I went around the edge of the main body, break/cutting the glue holding the bottom half of the ship to the upper have. There are posts the front right next to the sensor dish. I cut these on both side, and gently leveraged open the bottom of the hull. Alas, the ship will look chewed up after this process. Do the best you can, and be careful of the PCB and wires inside the ship.

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Inside was a small PCB, with a LED to light up the sensor dish up front, wires to batteries, and 3 fine black wires and 3 red wires soldered to the PCB to the left and right of the sensor array LED as you're looking at the sensor array from the front. There are the power lines that go to the 3 nacelles. The LED for the sensor dish is powered from the PCB directly.

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My strategy was to bypass the switch, and deliver 5V DC to the LEDs in the nacelles and the LED on the PCB for the sensor dish directly (3 1.5V batteries -> 4.5V).

First, I used some probes and a 5V supply to confirm the polarity of the wires (check...+5V to the red wires and ground to the black wires lights all the LEDs) The brightness of the LEDs was approximately the same as when I fired up using batteries, so no funky voltage conversions going on on the PCB.

Next, looking closely at the PCB, there are 3 small pads on the backside of the front edge of PCB for each of the fine wires going to the nacelles. On my PCB, these were (mostly) shorted together with solder, and they are electrically connected to the LED soldered to the PCB for the sensor dish. Soldering wire to either of these pads will power all the LEDs.

I opted to drill a hole in the bottom of the ship directly in front of the starfleet insignia and run a DC cable through there. I soldered red to red and black to black on the group of 3 solder points for the wires going the nacelles, orienting the DC cable wire to cover all 3 of the solder pads on each side. Be careful when working with the PCB. The fine wires on the front side can easily break and are a PITA to reconnect (he says sheepishly)

AFter confirming no shorts and testing that the LEDs were all working, I carefully repositioned the PCB while drawing out slack on the DC wire, and closed up the ship. After again confirming everything was working, time to glue the ship closed, and use some hot glue to fill the hole for the DC cable and secure the DC cable to the ship.

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Amazingly, my sacrificial ship ended up working just fine (battery corrosion had taken out the ornament, but I no longer need battery power, and the LEDs were working just fine). The new ornament will be going on our tree this year.

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As an alternative approach, if you are brave and have steady hands, another option I thought about was to use some hand tools to drill a hole right at the starfleet insignia at the bottom, being careful to not go too far (don't want the drill bit to damage the PCB). Eyeballing it from when I had things apart, the starfleet insignia is approximately where the solder pads for the sensor array LED are located.

After expanding that hole (again, being careful to not damage the PCB, that would give access to solder a DC line to the solder pads for the LED on the PCB.

A bit riskier to the PCB, but protects the ship (no hack marks from cutting it open) and the fine wires going to the nacelles. If you have steady hands and good hand tools, this may be the optimum strategy (please post a note if you try this strategy...I have not).

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In all cases, remember to remove the batteries from the ornament before wiring for DC.

EDIT:

Doh, had posted this before installing. Pro tip: when installing this ornament keep the wire mounting screw as far away from the PCB as possible. That way you don't sever the wires to the third nacelle

Looks like I'll be trying method 2 soon...

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EDIT:

After accidentally severing the wires to the third nacelle with the mounting screw (DOH!), I took a more direct approach using a new ornament. The pads for the LED for the sensor array LED on the PCB is right under the starfleet insignia at the bottom, and the pads for the wires that go to the nacelles are right above the horizontal line on the bottom (toward the sensor array side of the line).

I first carefully drilled a hole in a new ornament (batteries out before drilling!), being careful to not go too far and damage the PCB. I opted to go direct to the solder pads for the wires that go to the nacelles. I soldered my DC lines directly to those pads, and it worked great!

Saved the hassle (and damage) from opening up the body, and no risk to the delicate wires going to the nacelles. If you have a slow drill and steady hand, definitely the less hassle approach.

While I had it open, I did confirm with batteries there is ~3VDC going to the nacelles. I updated my post to reflect that, and I am running my ornament with 3.3V DC in my cabinet (I have a PC supply with 12V/5V/3.3VDC in my cabinet)

Please note in post above I stated 5V. I did not have any issues running 5V to my first ornament, but I have the new one wired for 3.3V just to be safe

probs a very silly question but... how do you turn around the little shuttle from the Beta Quadrant ramp ?
on my game the head if facing the back panel but I see most of you have the shuttle turned around 180° with its head facing the playfield.

Remove the clear plastic that it's on, the one that covers the ramp. Then two screws underneath attach it, just unscrew and turn it around.

OR......pick up an Eaglemoss Goddard shuttlecraft for around 20 bucks on Ebay, about the cost of a set of new shuttle decals. A little smaller but so much nicer. And it matches the shuttle on the front of the cabinet.

goddard (resized).jpg

Tonight I turned this......
100_3690 (resized).JPG
......into this. And managed not to break it! I got a spare just in case. Have to crack open the gearbox on the other side though, it's spinning freely, spinning freely, then catching. Then spinning, spinning, catching.
100_3691 (resized).JPG

Did some looking around but haven't found a definitive reason for the additional hole in the new version of the 31-1803-2 plastic. Most leave the hole unused, I have seen one pic that used the hole to run the wires up to "Advance in rack / Command Decision" lamp board, though the hole is not ideally placed for such use. I'd probably leave it unused, so that it was more like the original plastic

Speaking of that Command Decision lampboard, mine was missing entirely and I've acquired all the parts to build the assembly from scratch, except for the metal bracket. That bracket has always bugged me, it has holes for two screws to attach it to the plastic it stands on, but the plastic doesn't have two holes for it, so I always see it attached with just one screw to that elongated hole in the plastic. This makes it look like an afterthought. As long as I have to fabricate a bracket from scratch, might as well make it a 1-holer.

thanks for your reply!

Has anyone bought the replacement gun motor/gearbox that's available on Ebay? Is it a good quality part, all metal like original / no plastic parts, motor turns same speed as original? Unfortunately Ebay won't let me send a question to the seller.

Dupe

I was wondering if anyone has experienced the only lights not working, are both Launcher lights?

Tech question, I resolved my issue with my 12V line that I had previously posted. However, after I got everything back up and going I would get an occasional reset. I thought, the game is 30 years old and installed one of the no more reset daughter boards, the behavior didn’t change. I believe I isolated the issue to the connector on the opto board underneath the playfield. When messing with the connector I got the game to reset and at one point it caused a ground short. Right now the game is playing reset free, but with one issue remaining. Instead of resetting, sometimes the ball will auto launch. Are the auto launch and the reset related, anyone have advice on how to connect to the opto board in such a way that you don’t cause any issues?

As always any and all comments and help are appreciated.

Are you referring to the lights inside the "Cannons"? Have you removed the covers and replaced them? or checked the connections?
Most issues are basic in nature to finding the solution.

The "No More Resets" is a simple solution, however time well spent inspecting all connectors for burns, and general problems is worthwhile.
Good advice for ANY machine of this age.

Auto launching ball is a great indication of a OPTO transitioning when it isn't supposed to.

Fix the underlying problem with the opto board.
1) Reflow and/or replace the pin headers on the opto board.
2) Look for damaged resistor solder joints on the opto board.
3) Examine wires in IDC connector. Are they loose? If so; replace IDC connector.

If problem persists; repeat and/or replace the IDC connector with a crimp on variety.

New bulbs, connections look good.

I'd suspect broken wires in the cannon wiring lume - easy way to check would be doing a DMM continuity test on the lamp wires

Or check for voltage across the lamp socket.

Question about the shields and what lights to use.

I remember reading in the past that the LED flashers don’t give off the sane effect as the original bulbs. What are people using? What about the 2 lights next to it?

I still uses flashers and normal bulbs in the game. I've only converted the switched inserts, backbox, and borg ship to led

You cannon problem sounds like you need to replaces the switches under the playfield. They tell the cannon when it's safe to load the ball and when to shoot.

It's TWO switches per cannon! Mark and home. (#92 and 97 for left, # 96 and 95 for right). See page 2-43 of manual.

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The votages across the wires fluctuate between about 3 and 1.

Found the problem, it turned out to be something very simple, the lamp sockets were dirty.

I’d start by checking for phantom switch closures - possibly a failed diode causing multiple switches to trigger. Go into switch test mode and trigger each switch watching the DMD for multiple activations. To verify it’s not the CPU board you can pull the switch connectors and then test the board independently (Pinwiki WPC page has the procedure).

Edit: In thinking about it a bit more, if shuttle simulation and mission modes are starting at the wrong times, they are both triggered by the ball going into the subway. So it might be an opto board issue??

Hi guys,
Quick tech question which I am sure you know:

Which connector, in the backbox, is responsible for the GI 2 lighting?

The GI 1 field is working but not the GI 2 field and i suspect it is a burnt connector which i need to replace to get my GI 2 back…

I have a feeling it is the one same contactor for both but before i do any silly repair work i tought i may ask the experts first!

J120 is GI for the backbox, but sometimes J120 & J121 are swapped (it'll be the connector with 4 wires, not 6).

Thank you !!!
Appreciate

Am realizing that i got my question wrong.
What i was looking for was to get the GI 2 from the playfield to work. (Only GI 1 works on playfield right now).
So yes i meant the connectors inside the backbox but not the actual backbox GI - my mistake.

I checked and re-seated J120 and J121.
J121 has 6 wires and makes only GI 1 work on the playfield.
Interestingly, when i move the connector a pin to the right, then GI 2 works again (but not GI 1): i guess it means one of the pins on the board contactor has an issue.

Now i did try to move the connector further more, seating it both on J121 and on the available J123 at the same time, and VOILA: to my surprise and great pleasure, i now have both GI 1 AND GI 2 finally working on the playfield!

Probably not the cleanest solution but it works so i’ll save myself the hassle to fix/repair/replace/solder contactors on the board and leave it as it is.

photos always help when describing a problem. the GI connection on the sttng machine always suffer horribly. This is what was going on with my board. Yes, instead of fix the problem, they bypassed it. Over the years, the connectors burn up. You will likely need to rebuild the connectors and fix / replace the driver board.

2 (resized).jpg

Many thanks.
Clever! ☺️

There are 5 GI light strings (2 for the backbox and 3 for the PF), with each string having it's own fuse and power draw. Offsetting the connector may have worked for 2 of the PF GI's but you won't light all 3 PF strings; the other thing is that you will have placed 1 or 2 PF strings on to the same circuits as the backbox strings which could potentially overload those circuits and cause even further damage.

I see.
I figured it could very possible cause some harm. I did test for about an hour and it seemed fine.

what do you mean by "you won't light all 3 PF strings", i haven't seen anyhthing that wasn't lit on the PF after I did this little "trick"..
Also the backbox strings are on J120 isn't it? i'm still using J121...and J123.
By the way how come J123 is available, with no connector on it originally? maybe using some of its connectors can't be that bad?
I dont know exactly which string is where on the 11-pin connector, but maybe since one is set on J121 and the other one set on J123 then this helps spread the load?