I just joined the club and am trying to get her running. Does anyone know where these two wires in front of the z connector go? I'm hoping they are for the left flipper opto as that's one of the things not working. Also the z connector isn't connected to anything but I assume it should be. Thanks for any help!

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Thanks for the welcome and the help. That was an easy fix and my Romulan flasher is now working! Do you perhaps know the part number for the flipper optos? I need to replace two of them and I can't find it in the manual. Thanks again!

I did swap them and the flipper works so I think the two u-shaped opts are bad. Thanks for the link but I wanted to know the part number for the just the u-shaped optos so I could replace those. I'll probably order the whole board though. Thanks Pin_Guy!

I think I just found it. Part #5490-12451-00.

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/5490-12451-00

I'm getting high voltage readings on my flipper coils of 65V and the rest of the coils are reading 85V. Is this normal? My machine is a Japanese re-import and I think I have the butterfly connector configured correctly. Can anyone confirm that this is acceptable?

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Thanks for the picture. It seems mine is correct. I still wonder why I'm getting high voltage? I'm making my way through the pinwiki and it says very little could cause high voltage to the solenoids. I wonder what those few things could be although I am sure transformer problems is one of them. Speaking of which, mine hums more than I'm used to with my other pins.

I giggled.

Thanks for your input. I did go through the ground braid when I got this machine and it was broken in a spot so I jumped it with alligator clips and now I get continuity throughout. I checked J102 5&9 last night and if I remember correctly I was getting about 33V-34V A/C coming in. I also tested TP5 again and was getting about 83VDC. What reading do you get on TP5?

I just rebuilt the lower flippers and now a left flip up the Alpha ramp causes the ball come screaming down and smack in to the wireform at the ball drop area and bounce out onto the playfield or bounce out and get stuck on the base of the left cannon. Anyone else have this problem?

Thanks for the input but everything is snug.

I reused the FL-11629 coils. It seems to have calmed down somewhat but a clean hit up the Alpha ramp will still cause the issue and I haven't even replaced the crappy ramps yet. Although unrelated, I also put Titan post sleeves on and man, the ball is hopping and airballing all over the place. I don't know if its supposed to be like this.

I'm still getting ~65V at the flippers and ~85V at the rest of the coils. I believe that my butterfly connector that I posted above is correct. Is there some other way to adjust the AC voltage?

I'll check it out. Would that cause higher than normal voltages at the coils?

I have them in my other games as well but don't get the crazy airballs that I'm seeing with this machine.

So, I'm reassembling after a loooong shop job and the brackets on two of my new ramps don't fit the wireforms. I'm beyond frustrated to have to deal with this again as my Taxi ramps had the same issue and I should have checked before getting this far in. Has anyone had a similar problem with the repro ramps?

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I just danced that dance a few days ago after I installed a ColorDMD. I ended up replacing BR5 and C30 and F116 no longer blows. My voltages are much better too (+-15.25V at TP1). Onward to my other issues!

Quick question for the group: During Final Frontier the advance in rank hole emblem is flashing but never awards the bonus but does register as a shot and shows the shuttle animation. Also, the start mission hole sometimes doesn't start a mission when it should but registers as a shot and also will show the shuttle animation as well. I've tested all optos and they all register normally so I'm perplexed as to what the issue could be. It exhibits this behavior with the original CPU as well as a Rottendog CPU. Any help is appreciated and thanks.

Thanks for your reply. That's the weird thing about it. When it doesn't register at the start mission hole it just travels down the subway with no other award or trigger from any of the the other optos as it travels past them but it is always ejected from the VUK. I can't manually recreate the issue so I'm still left scratching my head.

I put in a new subway with Mantis protectors. I checked many times to make sure the protector isn't obstructing the opto. Maybe I'll pull it out to rule out a blockage from it.

Can anyone confirm that during Final Frontier the rank hole definitely
scores a bonus?

They can be removed. I just broke one of the attachment points. The bottom is die-cast and the top and nacelles are plastic.

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Thanks for the tip ClarkKent. It is smaller but it looks much better than my original.

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Just to follow up on my issue: I repinned connectors, replaced the LM339, replaced the optos, replaced diodes and removed the mantis protector but still the under borg hole would intermittently not register a shot. Then I figured it had to be that the ball was somehow hopping over the opto. And then I remembered I didn't install the metal guard at the hole under the playfield as I thought it was redundant with the Mantis protectors in place. I was wrong; it is there to avoid this very situation Once I put it back all is as it should be. Live and learn!

PM sent!

Quick question for the group: I just got my Rock undercab LED kit and J125 pin 3 is keyed on his connector but the board is keyed at pin 4. Am I doing something wrong or is the connector keyed incorrectly? Thanks!

I did and he made a mistake in the instructions and its supposed to connect to J122 not J125. Thanks!

Sounds like the tie back issue here: http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation

When does it do it? During Final Frontier? Mine shoots normally except during FF when it just dribbles out as you describe.

Your machine started a ball search at around the 12 minute mark. I wonder why? What ROM version are you running?

F116 blew for the second time. Is it normal for F116 itself to to be too hot to touch for long with a Color DMD and Pinsound installed? I already replaced BR5 and C30 to fix the slow cannons but I'm wondering what else I could do? Thanks!

I can pull out my HP 4670 scanner over the weekend to get you a decent scan.

play_pinball Here you go. You don't realize how bad your cab is until you scan it and zoom to 100% So it could use some touch up. PM me with your email address so I can send the full scan. I also scanned it in 600 DPI which may be overkill but I wanted to see my dings in even higher resolution

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Yes and a 1" rubber ring.

Mine was the same way when I got it. You can have it re-welded or buy the improved version. I went with the Mantis scoop

https://mantispinball.com/product/star-trek-the-next-generation-mission-start-scoop/

From what I remember the spot welded points are above the playfield.

Mine does this too and the fact that you can bang it to make it reset means it a mechanical issue. The plunger is binding somewhere and I tried many times to readjust and I also replaced the plunger but it still happens intermittently.

Here https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/star-trek-the-next-generation-pinball-machine#post-4743512

Zitt's product looks great but I put two of these on my BOP with some colored gels over them (picture is without gels) but I did have to put a resistor in-line because I'm using GI OCDLED. I liked the cost effectiveness and the ability to try different colored gels to suit the game and/or my mood.

https://www.cometpinball.com/6-3-V-Plug-Play-Strips-Comet-Pinball-p/6.3vsmdstrips.htm

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I had the same problem so I just drilled a hole in the bottom center of the protector and screwed it in to the bottom of the playfield similar to the old protectors. Works great!

Is this metal piece installed? I didn't reinstall this when I finished my teardown and the ball would hop over the opto if this isn't there.

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Pin 5 of J106?

Planetary Pinball has them for $369.95.

http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-PSND-BOARD

You can install a third ring light. I cut one up from Comet Pinball and ran some small jumpers to complete the circuit.

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As MrMikeman said, it's normal. I believe they 'sing' because the software is pulsing the coil on and off rapidly.

No I wouldn’t think so. It’s just the way it is and is louder with the glass off. You won’t notice it during gameplay.

I don't know how accurate my notes are and what the differences between the two are but I have this as the replacement.

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Amphenol-Piher/PT10LV10-103A2020?qs=PZ1ub9NEDaWrX8IHli%2FVDQ%3D%3D

I guess there are different revisions of the board because mine is definitely stamped 10K on the pot but you’re right about the orientation being incorrect in my link.

Did you try to bend the switch bracket forward toward the playfield? They get bent back over time and cause air balls.

PBResource has them http://www.pbresource.com/pfswiwms.html.

Link is no good and I can’t find it on their website. Care to re-share?

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.

Buy it from mantis directly. https://mantispinball.com/product/star-trek-the-next-generation-delta-ramp-protector/

There weren’t fitness issue for me with a Starship ramp once I realized it was better to screw in the little tab into the post first and then bend the protector into position and then secure it to the ramp.

Arrrggghhh ... So I guess I'm another victim of the Tieback issue despite having run an additional wire from J4 pin 1 on the 8 driver to pin 1 of J108 on the MPU. My drop up coil fried along with a locked on Romulan flasher. I pulled the 74ALS576 chip and verified it as bad. I'm still not sure why this happened. Would a bad intermittent ribbon cable cause this even though I the tieback wire is in place at the drop target along with the additional wire? Also, when I ground the replacement coils drive wire to the cabinet the coil won't fire despite having power at the other lug. Why is this or is there more of an issue? Thanks for any help.

Nice video. Your engine GI lights are out.

I had the same issue and tried cleaning the pot by removing it from the board twice and I still had to reset it every few games. What eventually helped me was pulling out the resistor or whatever it is that’s pushed into that connector that’s under the playfield and tinning the ends of the leads and cleaning the connector as best I could and I haven’t had a problem since and it’s been about eight months. I guess it makes sense that connection would wear over time just like a header would. Good luck!