What exactly do you mean by "Enterprise ship lights"??? The mission lights on the playfield? The blue shield lights? If it's a separate ship(toy) then this is an add-on by the previous owner and not a part of the game. You'll have to figure out the voltage it needs in order to connect it at the right place.

This is the part you are looking for:
$8 in stock, not sure what shipping is going to be:
http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PP&Product_Code=PPS-A-14913&Category_Code=MET

Snap a picture of the loose wiring

I was not sure if it was part of the game or an added mod. I tried G.I. and Flasher circuits but got no lights. I guess there could be a problem with the mod itself. I dont know. I was just asking if anyone else had something similar and how they had it connected.

Well that's pretty scary looking.

That ship is not part of the machine. Its an add-on mod. Without knowing the manufacturer, your stuck.

That is a Hallmark ship that they have likely wired directly to the GI. It is designed to run on both 3.5V or 6V out of the box, but really should have a 81ohm resistor on it if using on the GI or it will overheat and shut off. If you hooked it up to the Flasher circuit (12V) you likely fried the board. These are cheap enough to buy online if you liked how it looked when working.

Yep, throw it in the trash, you don't need a bunch of extra crappy toy ships stuck all over the damn game anyway.

While browsing pinball related websites I came across mention of Ask Uncle Willy articles (answering questions the public sent in to Williams) and consequently found them nicely archived on PPS http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/Williams/archives/index.htm. Anyway in the 2nd issue (actually called Issue #1: June 23, 1995) it addresses the rules for the Neutral Zone lock and I recalled this being queried here on the owner's thread

Question: On Star Trek: the Next Generation, when does the Neutral Zone
"LOCK" light come on?

Answer: Warning, very dry, technical rules discussion ahead. Uncle Willy
says you may want to skip down to the next question.

The standup targets in the Neutral Zone either start one of the
Neutral Zone modes, or light "LOCK". Depending upon the current
percentage of multiballs on a particular ST:tNG, the "LOCK" is
lit on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Neutral Zone sequence. The
"LOCK" is then lit every 4th sequence after that.

I haven't confirmed this yet on my machine but thought people would be interested - enjoy

Never mind already answered better!

Hi,
First and foremost I want to thank all of you who commented on my post regarding the Enterprise Mod. All points well taken.
I really do not need it but am undecided if I want it in the game or not.
I tried 6.3v, 12v, 20v with no lights from any. Maybe this was why it was disconnected. Regardless as mentioned it is probably toast by now.
I think I will rip it apart and investigate but when I decide on replacement or not I will move on from there.
It is a huge help to have a place I can go to ask these questions and receive well thought out and experienced replies.
I really appreciate it.
Art

Who makes the best slingshot plastic replacement? Even better if there's some NOS ones around somewhere (the left one, specifically)

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/31-1803-SS

I’m ecstatic to have a STTNG back in my lineup!

88C912F5-D4DB-484A-A6DF-D0C27FC6B41B (resized).jpeg

I’d never had played it, I wasn’t a Trekkie at all growing up, it’s now one of my favorites, and I probably wouldn’t have known it’s greatness if one didn’t land in my lap recently, such an awesome game

I love this in color

FFBE9118-2835-49FB-9E16-A01A14935D86 (resized).jpeg

Did you go for the straight or the three of a kind?

I don’t remember, I was more concerned with getting the pic before time ran out. Am I correct in thinking the Breakout round does not score any points?

020D110B-E00A-4A70-B8DE-7B52436934D7 (resized).jpeg

Finishing up a friends STTNG. game all shopped looking great cleaned up with leds. Boards serviced and back in the game. Game boots and looks awesome all lights cycling, ready for first game, press start, ball 1 ready to play and .....no coils. Go into test mode and none of the coils fire. (yes coin door closed All the flashers are working and the cannons work but I cant get any coils to fire. Weird that none of them work. Check fuse F112 and is tested good....I am looking over all my connections thinking I am missing something stupid. Any ideas?

THX

Sounds like your missing your 50V. If your flippers work, I would looks at BR3/C8 if these were worked on; if your flippers don't work either, make sure J102 is connected, if it is you will want to take a look at your interlock switch to make sure its wired correctly.

Good luck.

Having an issue on my machine that's probably straightforward but I can't figure out what the culprit is. It's only happening when lock is lit. Here's a sequence of events that summarizes the issue:

- Holodeck is lit, ball shot in the hole, holodeck runs as normal and a ball comes back into play
- Lock is lit (Lock 1), ball shot in the hole and a ball comes back into play
- Holodeck is lit, ball shot in the hole, holodeck runs, and a ball comes back into play
- Lock is lit again (Lock 2), ball shot in the hole, no ball comes back into play. Ball lock animation runs and then the game cuts into the theme song with score showing on display. Ball search starts and runs once but then ends quickly as the game delcares that ball over. A ball is sent to the launch lane to begin the next ball.
- Lock is lit again (Lock 3). Ball shot in hole and Borg multiball runs.
- Holodeck is lit. Ball shot in hole, holodeck runs as normal and ball comes back into play.
- Lock is lit (Lock 1). Ball shot in the hole, no ball comes back into play. Ball lock animation runs and then the game cuts into the theme song with score showing on display. Ball search starts and runs once but then ends quickly as the game delcares that ball over. A ball is sent to the launch lane to begin the next ball.

I took all the balls out and compared the switch test with all balls out and then all balls staged to what they should look like as shown in this post and my switches seemed to match that setup:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/sttng-owners-club/page/41#post-4146886

Also worth noting is that when I clear out the balls (Switch Test 18) only 5 are coming out (the two cannons and the 3 from the trough). Any ideas on what I should be looking for?

This is the key.

The left VUK(not the left gun but the vuk)has 4 optos. One or more isn’t working. Switches 35,41,42,43.

Go in switch test with the playfield up and block the beams. See which is not operating correctly. Could be a loose connections on the opto board near the VUK.

Is this normal behaviour?

Lock is lit, shoot left ramp.
Ball almost makes it to the Borg ship but comes back down the wireform back into play.
Ball is locked anyway.

Does the ball not need to make it all the way to the Borg ship to be locked?

No. Check the borg entry and borg lock switches for proper function. Switches 31 and 48. They are optos.

Hmm, both switches checked and both of them appear to be working normally.

I've done some testing with the glass off and shooting the borg lock with my finger blocking the borg hole. What appears to be happening is that the ball isn't getting as far as 31 or 48 and rolling back down the wireform, triggering switch 83 (made left ramp) and giving the lock.

If I trigger switches 88 (enter left ramp) followed by 83 (made left ramp) with my finger, I get a ball lock with the ball still in play, every time.

I don’t understand how it can go down the wireform. When you don’t make the borg lock the ball should come back down the ramp and not the wireform. Is your diverter set up correctly and working?

The software probably assumes the diverter is not working and that’s why it awards the lock.

Thanks for the response. I appreciate it. Unfortunately I took the off assembly under the playfield for the VUK, tested tripping the optos, and all 4 are registering. So it doesn’t seem to be them.

I just ran through it again forcing the error on two ball locks. After the game ends two balls come out of the VUK to stage in the trough.

Any other ideas? Thanks again.

EaglePin, you need to find that 6th ball before proceeding.

Intermittent optos in the ball trough will cause oddball behaviour too. I have similar issues occasionally. I wiggle the opto board connectors on the ball trough and it usually fixes it for some time. I am due for connector re-pinning. Check the switches in test mode. Shake the machine a bit. See if it causes intermittent switch closures or openings in the ball trough. Try with all balls out and also 6 balls in the trough (don’t close the interlock).

Thanks for the help, the diverter tests fine too. When lock is lit on the ramp the diverter stays open to allow the ball into the borg ship. What appears to be happening is that the ball is getting up the ramp just enough to fall down the wireform, not making it to the borg ship, this gives the lock when it hits the left ramp made switch. Even with the diverter in the open position if the ball has just the right momentum it will come down the wireform.

So, with lock lit on the left ramp, trigger the left ramp entrance followed by the left ramp made switch, does this give you a lock?

Solved!!! You guys put me on the right track. I took out all six balls. All 6 balls were registering as they entered the trough. I let the game stage it’s three balls, and the trough switches showed three missing as it should. I cleared out balls and only one came out of the trough. Checked switches and 65 was flickering. A home fix I’d done to have the plunger sit a little higher (trying to lessen the kick to prevent balls going up, bouncing off the wall and going back down) was causing an issue with how the balls were sitting in the trough. Removed the “fix” and all’s good now. Thank you!!!

Awesome, glad you solved it. Now may I ask, when you hit the ball up the right side to the drop target, where does the ball go most of the time? Back down the right side to the upper flipper or does it fall thru a lane into the pops? Mine always seems to bounce hard off the drop and retreat back down the right side.

Fuses good. I’ll double check all connectors and ribbon cable to CPU. Anything else to check?

Never had that happen on mine, most of the time it'll go down one of the top lanes but sometimes it'll bounce off the top of the left most lane divider post and go into the top hole (as the drop target has been been pulled down)

Mine used to go through the lanes, but then one day the transformer on the pole behind our house blew. After they repaired it it seemed like my machine had a bit more juice in the flippers. Now it almost always bounces off it hard and back down the lane. The only way I can get it to go through the lane is with a hard forward nudge right as it's hitting the drop target.

Switched from the colored GI mine came with to soft white Comets... So much better! Also threw in a set of plastics protectors after breaking yet another plastic. Longest game in my collection. Thinking about dropping in a set of sttng vuk stickers and some custom pop caps when my other projects are done.

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Nice machine! So much better looking with white GI

Regarding the tie back, I’ve just performed this one as recommended in this thread:

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

The diode that’s currently on the coil, should it be removed now?

It wont hurt anything if you leave it on.

Thanks. Does the diode orientation matter when running the tie back to J108 on PDB? The diode is easy enough for me to remove now if not needed.

Followed how it came to me but wiring vs. how diode should be oriented looks off.

D9E935F4-1F91-46C3-99B6-69A32DC344E2 (resized).jpeg

The diode is in backwards for the way the coil is wired so it should be removed. If your drop target up coil has been commanded on with it wired like that, than its likely the diode may be bad and the drive transistor could be damaged.

Thanks wanted to confirm. No, I don’t even have the boards back yet. So nothing has been turned on.

Would be very grateful if someone could confirm this?

This may be my favorite post in this whole thread. It looks leagues better! Also the VUK dressing kit is an absolute must. It provides a nice finishing polish to the game and really makes the VUKs part of the game instead of in the way. I left the flipper and spinner decals off of mine though.

Is this ship I circled part of a stock sttng or is this a mod? Mine has nothing in back left corner, Thanks

B127192B-7CCA-4499-BBA4-E2C81E11DE78 (resized).jpeg

Thanks! I would also like to add that I really like the look of the plastic protectors in this one. I also added a cheap Comet Trough light and the lighting from the ship down is now so much better. Changing the lights out may have even been a better investment than the Color DMD.

Helpful hint. If you don't want to take the whole game apart just to change the lights, you can get to most of them fairly easy from under the playfield.

Honestly? I don't know. It came with it when I got it from the previous owner. It has a spot in it for an old fashioned flasher bulb, but there is a small LED on the bridge of the Romulan ship so it must be a mod. I don't know if that Klingon ship is stock or not either, it has LED 455 bulbs plugged in under the wings. I know the enterprise and shuttle are not original. They appear to be Christmas ornaments. Every time you start up the machine the Enterprise model says something about boldly going in a miniature really worn out speaker. May take the two ships on the right out someday and replace with a stock shuttle and repaint the shuttle myself.

Mine has the bird of prey, I believe it’s called, but not that other one in back corner

That’s the Romulan Warbird in the back corner, came on every STTNG. Looks like this one may here been modded a bit but it looks good. The Enterprise is an added mod.