Needing some tech help. Here’s what happened. I hooked up a pinballbulb led light strip kit to my STTNG and when I turned game on the strip that mounts under the DMD wasn’t working. When I grabbed the two wires that connect to the strip (while game was on) I saw it sparking. The ground wire had come loose from the led strip. Right after I saw the spark at the strip the game began auto ejecting the three balls under the playfield. I immediately turned the pin off and removed the led strips including its connection to power board at J116. When I turned pin back on it did the following: it auto sent three balls back up under playfield (as I would expect) then after a few seconds the gun kicker solenoids fired and pretty much immediately after the three balls auto ejected from the left popper and drained back to ball trough. Then when I hit start button the only thing that happens is left and right gun poppers rotate firing, but otherwise all six balls just remain sitting in trough. Any ideas? Thanks

Check your fuses. Check all voltages

Ok, checking now. Will check all, but is there a certain one you would expect to blow? Thanks for help.

Logic would dictate something connected to J116 which according to page 3-24 (manual) is +12V.
I think 12V also runs the optos which would explain the autolaunch of balls. Maybe F114 or F116... but I'm guessing F116 which is TP1 and LED7. If TP1 does not have 12V and Fuse 116 is good; then you probably have a bad BR5. According to WPC DMD schematics.

You are spot on. F116 is blown. Heading to hardware store this morning to get correct 3A sb fuse. Thanks again.

So have a STTNG I stripped the pf down on and now have it all back together. Only issue I am running into is that the right cannon is not properly aligning up with the wire-form. What am I doing wrong here? I tried looking at the switch alignment as well as unscrewing the cannon under the pf and rotating it both to no avail!

Just loosen the 4 phillips screws holding the canon to the shaft, turn it to line up with the wire-form, tighten it back down, and start playing...you earned it!

These are slotted to give you lots of wiggle room...

Cannon Adjustment (resized).jpg

Thanks for the detailed response! I took these completely apart and put them back together again not realizing thats what needed to be done. Guess on the one I was lucky in the sense that it aligned perfectly. All good now!

Is there a detail about, or a picture of STTNG that you DON'T have on file? Nice work and thanks for your contributions to the community!

Probably not, I took around 1500 pictures when I did my full restoration; I have pictures of every sub assembly as they were disassembled and rebuilt.

I ended up using an inexpensive and pretty quick way to light my Bird of Prey. Matrix 6 SMD pad ($2.50) with a 12" quick connect ($.59) Less then 5 minutes and 5 bucks. Looks great I added an inline dimmer ($1.95). I like it pretty red though .

Low profile, completely removed the two gigantic bulbs and sockets.

https://www.cometpinball.com/MATRIX-6-SMD-5050-6-3V-LIGHTED-PADS-p/mtx6smdpad.htm
https://www.cometpinball.com/MATRIX-Wires-p/mtxconnect.htm
https://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/mtxbriteadj.htm

IMG_4976 (resized).JPGIMG_4969 (resized).JPG

Another question, have the game all back together now and upon putting the balls back in and turning the game on the machine automatically ejected 2 or 3 balls (forget). Didn't pay much attention to it but after turning the game off and fixing some minor things put the balls back in and turned the game on and again it ejected balls. So is the game not to have all 6 balls in the trough?

That's normal. When you start a new game, it launches 3 balls--one at a time--to stage balls under the left cannon, one under the right, and one under the VUK.

Thanks! I never really played this game till now.....pretty fun game! Neighbor asked me to go through it , clean it and wax it for him. The game hasnt been serviced in 10+ years and it was a re-import routed game....... thing turned out really nice. PF looks great!

Nice idea, thanks for sharing. I'm missing the orginal lighting did you happen to take a photo of the underside?

Anyone know where I an get a set of the stainless extended lane guides? Looks like pinbits is out of stock, and I found a european seller but they don't ship to USA. Any ideas?

Pinball.center ?
If so, I can get them with next order

Hey thanks! I emailed them to ask if hey would ship US. Will PM you if not.

If it's pinball.center... They defiantly will not ship to US.
Well documented here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/german-mail-forwarding-workaround-for-pinball-center

I am a distributor for some of their products... and I'm going to be finalizing an order with them in the next few days.
Now is the time if you want me to add some lane guides from them.

Ok. This weekend was my birthday weekend... I spent it making my own version of the Hallmark Romulan Bird of Prey for my personal STNG.
I went and looked at the pre-modded, supposedly plug-in installable in my machine and quickly realized it wasn't up to snuff. The other guys' mod was basically a single LED heatshrinked to each nacelle. That wasn't up to my quality.

Using PinGuy's posts (above) as a reference... I went all out. Early last month; I designed a Romulan WingLED PCB which would take 6.3VAC GI in... and the flashlamp ground to provide interactive gameplay. Basically; the nacelles stay dimly lit when the romulan flasher is off. But, when the flasher comes on; the nacelles go to full 20mA brightness (two per nacelle) and the white LED comes on to give a physical implementation like this screen grab from Memory Alpha:
D'deridex Class rBOP

Remember; the Romulan Bird of Prey looks like this as stock from Hallmark:
Hallmark Romulan BOP - stock

After taking my BOP completely apart and installing the WingLEDs; I made the executive decision that I was going to paint mine as a nod to the original series with an actual Bird of Prey paint job. I painted all surfaces of the BOP while it was apart. Here's a Sneak peak:
paint - In Progress

Once I had the BOP paintjob complete; I reassembled it. I then realized that I wanted the BOP more "green" than perl-green (as stock from Hallmark) so I mixed my own airbrush transparent green-black cover to seal the bop paint and give it more of a Romulan feel. No; I didn't use any photo's as an idea for what looked good... I just kinda went all out which my own color scheme. Here's the final comparison:
Stock vs Zitt's Paint

Another view:
Subtle BOP markings

One final view to match the original reference shot:
Money Shot
https://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/42798112860/sizes/l/ (<--- Click me for high rez picture)

I still need to order a new flasher dome from PBL... and probably a Green flasher from CometPinball... then I'll be ready to install it in my machine.

So; what does everyone think? Worth the extra effort? Would ya'll like to see a blog write up documenting how I painted the ship? suggestions?

LOOKS GREAT!

I would have been VERY disappointed with that, no way it would have went in my machine either.

Anyone who have added the convolux mod?
Pinside thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/convoluxcom
Store options: http://www.shop.freddys-pinball-paradise.de/index.php?f=3&q=convolux%206613
It looks REALLY nice on other machines I have seen and want to add to my STTNG...
Any experience and color advice - the store has pictures of red and yellow both looking great

I finally got to install my custom Painted personal Romulan bird of Prey with prototype Romulan WingLEDs...

Before (stock rBOP)

Zitt's custom rBOP
In this picture I wasn't able to capture the green flash bulb going off... but you can see the white LED lit. I'll have to try to do some fancy tripod shots to capture the flash sequence.

More high rez pictures at my Flickr feed:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/sets/72157604320572388/page2
at the bottom of the page.

The WingLED circuit leaves the nacelles dimly lit (powered from GI) when the flash isn't active.
Nacelles dimly lit - custom paint - in game

When the romulan flash goes off; the nacelles go to full brightness and the white LED comes on and stays on for about 400mS after flash turns off.

I've put the Pinball-Decal's romulan ship up for sale in my shop:
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1122-pinball-modscom/01982-star-trekthe-next-generation-romulan-ship
if anyone is interested in it.

My wife found a STTNG she liked so we're finally in the club!
pasted_image (resized).png

Might have to swap out some of those LEDs for her though...
pasted_image (resized).png

Smart woman. Welcome to the club!

And yes; I ship to Australia.
http://pinball-mods.com/url/STNGMods?utm_content=p2425

I think the previous owner took advantage of that in the past.

Sorry; not high enough rez picture... does the machine have those awesome popcaps? if not; it might not be a good idea to show the wife...

Oh; and my advice... don't start getting autographs on the translate... that can be expensive.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/what-is-the-most-you-have-paid-for-an-autograph/page/2#post-4391973
worth it; only if you are a fan who enjoys conventions.

I haven't looked too closely, but I don't think it has your popcaps, but it does have the decals for the chutes/flippers/etc and it might be one of your ships too, I haven't looked that closely.

As for signatures, the machine was already ridiculous Australian prices, I can't imagine how much it'd cost to acquire signature from here.

Hey guys, been an owner for a few years now. I finally got around to doing the battery mod so that it now takes a 3v lithium. After this mod, I'm getting extra ball lit after 8x multiplyer. It used to be 10x for extra ball, which I definitely prefer. I can't find anything in the adjustments to change this setting. Anyone have any ideas why it would drop to 8x?

Mine has always lit the Extraball at 8X. I think that is the default or maybe even unchangable.

I dont know what gain this mod has since you can easily install AA sized lithium batteries in the battery holder

Realised I'm running old ROMs... LX-3. What's the best option to upgrade to?

I don't see that version on IPDB. If I can get a dump of them, is it something people would be interested in?

LX7

Cheaper, smaller to store spares, easier to purchase, ten minutes to complete...

I guess this comes down to a personal decision on which is better. The following information is provided in order to provide everyone reading this thread with more information on this so they can make an informed decision on their own.

Cheaper, maybe; you would have to calculate the cost of the mod in addition to replacing the battery every 3 years instead of every 10 years. Current pricing for a pack of four AA Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries is $6 USD; of course if you buy these in higher quantities for all your machines, remotes, etc, they are much cheaper.

Easier to purchase? I disagree. AA sized Energizer lithium batteries are available everywhere you can buy batteries, and your ease of purchase is as simple as walking into Walmart with cash, check, or credit card, or just ordering them off amazon . Last time I checked, the coin cell mod cannot be purchased nearly as easily, personally I don't even know where to get one as I never considered getting one.

Storage space for spares? Are you serious? Why would you store spare batteries for something that only needs to be replaced once a decade? besides, I automatically assume that if you own a pinball machine, you have adequate space to store a single pack of 4 AA batteries even though you shouldn't?

10 min to complete is actually much longer than it takes to install 3 AA batteries in the existing battery holder...plus you can do it with the machine power on so that you don't loose any high scores, game settings or audits. perhaps I'm not familiar enough with the mod, but the one I saw required pulling the battery holder and replacing it a new coin cell holder, this type mod cannot be performed by everyone.

Two other options:
- NVRAM
- Remote battery holder

The former requires some serious skill, the latter, only a couple of bits of dowel, some wire, a battery holder and some screws - If you're super fancy, some red and black markers. Zero chance of batteries leaking on your boards if located away from them, regardless of hte battery type, and a very low technical bar to get over. This was a system 11, but applies here too I think:
pasted_image (resized).png

Lol. Literally.

I use the AA Energizer Lithiums as well, STTNG and IJ. And 9V lithiums are also perfect for smoke detectors. I used to have those things go off at 3AM. No more. They cost about 6x as much as the alkaline but last 10x as long. But the biggest benefit is not changing them in you entire house every year.

I've been having some odd issues with balls ending before they drain, ball can continue to be played but doesn't score, draining then ends another ball.

E.g. my wife was playing ball 2, end of ball bonus shows mid game, keeps playing for a bit but it isn't scoring, draining ends game.

Looking at the trough boards, c1 is missing from the receiver board:
received_2098854790146112 (resized).jpeg

I assume I should replace that, but does that correlate with the issue outlined above or should I be looking further?

You're on the right track, I would replace the capacitor before performing any further troubleshooting. Should be 25V 100uf aluminum electrolytic

Replace C1, not the board!

That's the plan. $2 part is much easier to find where I live than a trough board.

Working on a TNG right now. It's a reimport with a few tiny issues.
First is the trough is a little slow. Takes a few seconds to see a ball has drained.
Second is the left cannon. It works fine in game but it doesn't rotate on boot sequence. No credit dots or anything.
Third is why is this game so darn good? (Theme integration and fun shots!)

This is a non-issue. Some cannons rotate during boot, some don't. On mine, only the right cannon rotated during boot, but both functioned fine. Don't look for an issue when there isn't one!!

That’s what I figured but I wanted to ask if it was an experience anyone else had. It functions fine in game and test. And the shots are strong!

I believe the game tests only one cannon to check the validity of the column 9 pulse on startup, if more than one cannon is being tested, the game is checking for cannon switch operation prior to flagging a switch error for failure to change states in X games.

Both my cannons test at boot. Could that be related to this issue with the right gun VUK? https://www.twitch.tv/videos/326162655

Possibly, but your issue is going to be a VUK opto or subway issue. Fix this problem, play a few games to start Battle Simulation, then power cycle the game and see if it continues to test both cannons

Both of my cannons have always activated during start up. Occasionally, one will make a few sweeps as the solendoid actuates. But that hasn't happend for some time.

Anyone have a leg protector recommendation to keep this looking clean and fresh? Plastic or felt?

IMG_2115 (resized).jpg