Thanks for the tips! I moved the eject VUK up and now it's too strong. Going to do some fine tuning and it will be 100%.

Did the flipper rebuilds. 1 hour for the first one, 30 minutes for the second, and 15 minutes for the third. Just takes a little practice. WOW! I had no idea how dirty those things were, and it's like having new flippers! The ball screams up the ramp now. I now know how to fix weak flippers, and will be rebuilding flippers on a few games going forward.

Thanks again for the tips!

One would think that there would be an adjustment for the ball save timer (Return to Duty), yet, I see none. I assume it’s not there, or am I somehow overlooking it?

Here's a link to an online manual. Return to Duty settings are described on pages 1-20 and 1-28. Looks like only on/off setting and no ability to change the timer.

https://www.ipdb.org/files/2357/Williams_1993_Star_Trek_The_Next_Generation_Operations_Manual_with_OCR.pdf

Does anyone know the part # for this switch under the cannon?

19ACDFF3-DC29-400A-9EDF-D685891C2463 (resized).jpeg

Technically I think they were Cherry DA3C-B1AA, which are NLA.

I have been using DB3C-B1AA switches, which require more force to actuate. I have them on all of my STTNG ramps and so far they've been fine. More details are in the post below.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cherry-microswitches-in-wms-games#post-4941787

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/zf-electronics/db3c-b1aa/?qs=Z9t1pRjfOcyNm7XI%2Fy9Iqw%3D%3D&countrycode=US&currencycode=USD

Edited post since my pic wasn't working...

Perfect, thanks!

I know I’m missing a hex post here, but I think I may also be missing the post below it.

19ACA8A9-E129-4332-8CCF-052EE9150045 (resized).jpeg

I can’t claim that my above pic is totally stock, but the spacer most likely is. It was taken pre-restore, it’s much shinier now with new screws, washers and a lot of elbow grease.

Here's mine:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4dtq6vR6MJ8D7yGR7

I would use this one ... the switch with a roller actuator arm was added during the original production of this machine.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-12953

pasted_image (resized).png

I believe my game has these posts:
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/02-4934
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/02-4659-1

What could cause the flipper coils to lock on for a few seconds when you turn the game on?

It’s blown F103, F112 and F11 in the past, but I’m not sure if it’s related. I put new LED’s in today and it looks like a lot of my flashers are not working. I just tested the fuses and they all appear to be good at the moment.

Edit: flashers are working in attract mode

I'd be checking the flipper transistors if your flippers are locking on. Check the manual for fuse lines if they are blowing. Sounds like you have some board work ahead.

It has a new MPU, new aux driver board, and transistors checked out ok on the FlipTronics ii.

Are you thinking there could be an issue with the FlipTronics besides the transistors?

Has anyone seen an issue where a shot to the Neutral Zone will register as if you shot the holodeck/lock hole? It happens on occasion on my machine. Worth noting is that I recently replaced all of the subway optos. Also worth nothing is that I also replaced the center (large) Neutral Zone target, and it's not dialed in. So sometimes a ball will go into the Neutral Zone hole without registering a hit on any of the Neutral Zone targets.

I *think* there's an opto between the holodeck hole and the Neutral Zone hole - I suppose a shot to the Neutral Zone could be rolling backwards up the subway and triggering that opto. It's my only explanation, just wondered if anyone has this issue.

I could be wrong, but the first thing I think of in this scenario is:
1) Bad drive transistor on the fliptronics board (energized til fuse blows) - this would not be a power on only issue
2) Failure of the blanking circuit to hold the Fliptronics board in a reset state at power on; most likely cause is a bad ribbon cable.

Thanks! Fliptronics and ribbon cables ordered. Hopefully I’ll throw enough new parts at it to fix it.

This is likely a connection issue or a broken wire on the bottom side of the playfield.

The same thing happens on my machine and others I've played. I just assumed that was the standard behavior if you don't hit any targets when entering. If not...boy do a lot of machines need adjusted!

Just installed new ribbon cables and FlipTronics board. The board fixed the initial solenoid locking issue, but now it doesn’t boot up. It only displays a few dots on the DMD.

I’ve went over my connections a few times and I don’t see anything. Any suggestions? Or does someone see something I missed?
6BA98D8E-E1E6-47D3-87B7-F3ED01C0FB1B (resized).jpeg

Edit-found a ribbon cable not seated correctly. All is well. A STTNG is officially back from being dead 10+ years!

Thanks Pinside!

It played 1 game flawlessly and then proceeded to blow F103, F104 and F105. I think I jinxed it.

52636AD2-0578-4FCD-8973-21A4575CD5BF (resized).jpeg

Hey that my avatar! LOL

But you now know one of the reasons I chose it

There is literally no single point of failure that can cause all three of these fuses to blow at the same time (with no other malfunctions), due to segregation of the continuous duty 50V drive control to the 8-Driver board.

My only recommendation at this point is to pull your CPU board, put it on your bench and ensure the ASIC is seated firmly in its socket.

It’s the perfect avatar for an owner of this game trying to diagnose multiple issues.

I’m at this level of frustration now:

C4BC9F0B-6FA6-48B4-9C87-C2E12426E063 (resized).png

I got another round of fuses and it immediately blew F103 upon turning the power on.

Where should I start checking?

The CPU chip appears to be seated. Coils look ok.

I’m pretty sure I just bought the last 3A slow blow fuses witching a 30 mile radius

I should add the following items are new:
MPU board
Aux board
FlipTronics board
All diverter coils including the drop/up target coil
Diverters/cannons are clean and free of gunk
Ribbon cables

I played 10+ games, then installed the FlipTronics and ribbon cables. The FlipTronics fixed the initial coil locking issue. Played 1 game and now it zaps f103 immediately upon power up.

This could be bad as you may have a broken tieback wire, if you don't know what this is please look here .... actually look here anyways.
http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation

The issue with a broken tieback wire is that you can repair/replace your 8 driver PCB, but if this wire is broken the drive transistors will blow immediately after your repair due to the excessive flyback voltage from the games coils hitting the transistor like a sledge hammer when their field collapses.

This is what F103 Powers:
pasted_image (resized).png

With no tieback voltage to dissipate the coils flyback voltage all of the 4 transistors highlight in the image below are suspected failures:
pasted_image (resized).png

NOTE, this may also cause the coils to melt.

If you want to confirm this is the problem, simply remove J4 from the 8-Driver board and turn the machine on; F103 should not blow.

I have 1 10ga wire soldered to the coil lug and the 3 violet wires soldered to the other end and covered with heat shrink to avoid the tie back issue.

Once my fuses show up on Thursday, I’ll be able to begin troubleshooting again. Thanks again for the assistance

Damn game. I finished dialing mine in tonight and it’s an #@;$,! kicker. I think the wife and I both prefer it over WOZ. Perhaps it’s the relative simplicity. Dunno, but STTNG holds its own against most any game out there, including TZ which is my favorite.

Is it just me, or do modern games consistently fall short of STTNG? Maybe I just need to spend more time on one, but I’ve yet to find anything modern that felt comparable...

Did you address the optos in the vuks that feed the cannon and left wireform / flipper inlane? Are you sure the ball trough doesn't have divets that are preventing the balls from rolling down as soon as a ball is fed out to the shooter lane? Any of these can cause the problem you are seeing as can the IDC connectors on the trough and opto board.

I feel that most of them fall short and JJP Hobbit and PotC as well as Sterns LOTR are exceptions to this.

If all your optos read closed with no balls in the machine, you probably a bad connection or broken wire.

I replaced my stock sub with this today:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EFMPCW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00

In short, it was an easy add. The mounting holes lined up and the spade connectors matched the original. But, it added virtually nothing in terms of bass, which I guess is to be expected. I supposed one needs to alter the back box to cabinet volume, which isn’t the clearest thing to do on DCS with stock backbox speakers.

Given that, I hooked my 10” Polk sub up to the game. Man, it really adds some bass. But even it that, it seems like mids are missing.

I may modify the sound board to alter the back box to cabinet volume, to see if I pick up mids.

I understand it’s not a high end sound system, but I think i can make it better...

Have you checked out pinwoofer.com ?

I believe he put together a dual amp kit for WPC games that’s getting good reviews.

I'd recommend starting with the single amp and dual voice coil subwoofer driver included with our sub kit. I have one in my STTNG and wow, what a difference. One of the better WPC titles for bass and this will introduce some low-mids. Includes a plug and play 12V power cable and the install is less than 30 minutes:

https://pinwoofer.com/shop?olsPage=products%2Fxn-pinwoofer-8-powered-subwoofer-kit-dw8t

Tech support included. Thanks

I like the idea of amplified, is it pulling 12vdc from the game or does it have its own power supply?

Our WPC Power Harness has a 4-pin molex that routes to either J116/J117/J118 on the driver board, and a Z-connector to pass-through to whatever was previously occupying that header. Check this out:

https://pinwoofer.com/wpc

My game rebooted mid game tonight. I guess I’ll should have expected it, as it did it fairly often when I bought it. I’ve already replaced the caps and bridges on the driver board. On to headers and connectors I suppose. And maybe some jumpers for the caps and bridges, just to be sure.

Older WPC takes some patience and skill....

I like variety but without a doubt STTNG is absolutely LOADED compared to just about any other game made except maybe TZ. But it's more than that because the theme integration with custom call-outs from so many cast members as well as the great layout and rewarding shots make it pretty special. It amazes me that more people don't appreciate it more but then again I'm happy that someone looking to buy one can do so without paying IJ, TAF, AFM, or MM or even WH20 and SS now, prices.

It gets a bad name because of outlanes and maintenance. The game is really hard for newbs and moderates because the outlanes are crazy unforgiving and require good nudging. Plus, it's almost impossible to find one on route that is playable. They are always set up horribly and often malfunctioning/broken. I'm just lucky I was in the arcade when it came out so that when I started collecting, I knew how good the game is.

I've played around with pin audio quite a bit and have come to the conclusion that the way the older pins are designed is never going to give you the mids that you want. The backbox is poor design for sound, and the speakers are small. The sub doesn't use a crossover, so it always going to muddy. Even if you got rid of the mud, it is angled to toward the floor. I just hook up a powered sub to my older games and adjust it to fit in the best I can. That makes the sound twice as good, which leaves me with little to complain about. Even the newer games lack good audio and are often hacked with amps etc, with the exception of TNA. I'd love to play TNA in a home environment to hear how killer the sound is.

With stock speakers and amp, this is pretty much right on. You need to upgrade to PinSound, and get better speakers

STNG made better with this - https://pinwoofer.com/shop?olsPage=products%2Fxn-pinwoofer-8-powered-subwoofer-kit-dw8t. Huge shout out to Rdoyle1978

Plug and play - join the posse! BASS

I can say from experience - these kits ROCK THE HOUSE

If you haven’t seen these are a must. You just have to add alligator clips. I have a 5amp and a 3amp version.

Blue Sea Systems Push Button Reset Only Quick Connect 3A Circuit Breaker https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MMDLQQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_KunnDb90NHKB8

image (resized).jpg

Nice! I’ve blown through about $30+ dollars in fuses trying to troubleshoot this thing. It would have paid for itself already.

On another note, my Flippers wouldn’t do much on the “hold” test. After I installed the new FlipTronics board, they pass all tests with flying colors.

I’m not sure what that means, but I feel like I fixed something!

Just put my ST:TNG back together after moving it. Everything's working great except the upper right flipper. I went to do some stress testing on it and triggered the FF. At peak crazy, the upper flipper hardly had any power. From what I gather that means I should replace 5 bridge rectifiers and 5 filter caps?

I never recommend that anyone do this; besides, flipper power is generated on the fliptronics board, its only ties to the power board is the AC power from the transformer is fused on the Power Board before it gets to the fliptroncs board.

I would start by cleaning your right flipper optos and go from there.