Star Trek (Pro)
Stern, 2013I´ve got the Stern Star Trek Pro and am learning to play it. I watched Bowen Kerins tutorial on Youtube and saw that he got the ball to loop around from right to left - check this video at 9:10 for what I mean:
The thing is that when I play the ball always bounce down to the pop bumpers, it never goes around to the left flipper like on the video. Why is that? Is there something wrong with my pin? Or is it only at some situations it does that?
Only in certain modes. There's a post that can raise up to block the ball from going all the way around. As a simple test, try to do a super skill shot by holding the left flipper while plunging the ball, that should send the ball all the way around instead of stopping it for the bumpers.
Quoted from zacaj:Only in certain modes. There's a post that can raise up to block the ball from going all the way around. As a simple test, try to do a super skill shot by holding the left flipper while plunging the ball, that should send the ball all the way around instead of stopping it for the bumpers.
That doesn´t seem to work. Should it open both with autoplunger and full plunge or is it only full plunge?
EDIT: Meant full plunge
Quoted from JayLar:That doesn´t seem to work. Should it open both with autoplunger and soft or is it only soft plunge?
Do a full plunge and it should whip the ball around the orbit to the left flipper. When my game autoplunges, the ball always gets caught in the bumpers.
Quoted from pipes:Do a full plunge and it should whip the ball around the orbit to the left flipper. When my game autoplunges, the ball always gets caught in the bumpers.
Yeah, as long as you hold the left flipper the post should be down allowing the ball to pass. Depending on the game, sometimes the auto launcher doesn't make it all the way around, but if you full plunge it should go around and not hit the post
Quoted from zacaj:Yeah, as long as you hold the left flipper the post should be down allowing the ball to pass. Depending on the game, sometimes the auto launcher doesn't make it all the way around, but if you full plunge it should go around and not hit the post
It doesn't work, with autoplunger or plunger. My plunger is also very weak so the ball never goes that far, anyone know why that is? See photo - the plunger is pushed all the way in. I´ve checked the autoplunger and it seem to be all the way back. There is some black padding on the autoplunger, but that just raises the ball a tiny bit.
I would guess that your plunger assembly is not lined up on the center of your lane. I found that having just one of those forks bent a little on one of my games caused the same problem. Yours is way off compared to mine. If so, you simply are not getting a good hit on the center of the ball....wasted energy.
Those black pads you have on there are not helping things either...
I just checked my ST and everything is centered (the plunger rod and forks). You gotta get that assembly moved over.
OK, so I removed the padding (which I had put on there to minimize noise and wear on the balls). The plunger rod now makes the ball go all the way up. However, holding the left flipper doesn´t make the ball continue past the post, the ball just bounces back down to the pop bumpers. I also have never got the ball go around on top during play. So - is there a way to verify if there is actually something wrong with the post and is there a way to fix it? I tried holding the left flipper at start of a game and pressing with my finger on the post and it is dead stuck. I really feel this is a bit limiting on my game experience as I really like the flow when the ball goes around as on the video in my original post.
Quoted from JayLar:So - is there a way to verify if there is actually something wrong with the post and is there a way to fix it? I tried holding the left flipper at start of a game and pressing with my finger on the post and it is dead stuck.
Go into diagnostics, coil test, #51 Orbit Control Gate (Left), activate, remember to hold coin door switch in. At the back of the playfield, you should see and hear the flap come up, clearing the orbit path.
I wouldn't worry about the wear on the ball from the auto plunger, the balls get way more battered by smacking into metal rails etc on the playfield. Just replace them every few months. Sorted.
Quoted from HighVoltage:Go into diagnostics, coil test, #51 Orbit Control Gate (Left), activate, remember to hold coin door switch in. At the back of the playfield, you should see and hear the flap come up, clearing the orbit path.
Thanks a million. There we have, it doesn´t move (the right one #52 works, so I am doing it right). So what do I have to do to fix this?
Quoted from JayLar:Thanks a million. There we have, it doesn´t move. So what do I have to do to fix this?
There's a pair of wires black/red coming from the flap down back of playfield to 3-pin molex, the relevant connector it plus into is with 3 yellow wires. Examine that connector, unplug/replug, see if there's anything lose, and pins look right. Hopefully just a poor connection somewhere. Maybe also the black/red wire could be lose, could gently pull on those by the flap to make sure they are attached.
Also, test the flap manually with your finger too, make sure it flips up freely and nothing is blocking its movement.
Quoted from HighVoltage:Also, test the flap manually with your finger too, make sure it flips up freely and nothing is blocking its movement.
No, nothing is blocking it. I´ve checked the connectors under the playfield, nothing wrong there. Guess the coil needs to be replaced?
It might also be the control circuitry on the board. You can check with DMM that triggering it actually produces voltage at that molex connector. If it does, the board is alright. Then it's likely the electromagnet at the flap. Or you can test the electromagnet/flap directly, and if it works, then it points to a board or continuity problem.
Quoted from HighVoltage:It might also be the control circuitry on the board. You can check with DMM that triggering it actually produces voltage at that molex connector. If it does, the board is alright. Then it's likely the electromagnet at the flap. Or you can test the electromagnet/flap directly, and if it works, then it points to a board or continuity problem.
Thanks for all help. I connected it to the right one and that worked so it´s a bad coil for sure. Found a place to buy it so I will exchange it. Again thanks, I´ll let you know how things turned out when done.
Quoted from JayLar:No, nothing is blocking it. I´ve checked the connectors under the playfield, nothing wrong there. Guess the coil needs to be replaced?
In my experience, (5 years in the hobby so limited of course), coils rarely fail. It's usually something other than the coil, like a stuck transistor. Does the actuator arm move freely to pop the post up?
I had my orbit coil fail after about a year, from NIB. I thought it was very odd that a coil could fail, but I've read of others that it happened to as well. It's difficult to replace just the coil (I couldn't figure out how to do it) so it's better if you can get the entire assembly with the gate.
Quoted from Richthofen:In my experience, (5 years in the hobby so limited of course), coils rarely fail. It's usually something other than the coil,
Disconnect the connector and take a meter resistance reading across the 2 wires going to the coil. What ohms do you read?
Perhaps one of the 2 wires is no longer connected to the coil?
OK, so now I´m done and the problem is solved! It was the mini coil that was defective. I´m not sure if it was from factory since I´m not the first owner, but the game is fairly new with not that many games played so it´s a bit strange that the coil failed so soon. As stated above there was nothing blocking the post and the coil didn´t react in the coil test (but it worked when connecting the right orbit coil to the same connector).
So I ordered a new mini coil, [511-7510-00] from www.marcospec.com and installed it. It was indeed a bit tricky to install into the assembly, or rather it was hard to remove the old one from the assembly since the pin that holds the stop gate needed to be removed and when bending the end of the pin it broke. Thankfully the remaining part was long enough to bend back when the new coil was installed.
So now everything works flawlessly and I love the way the game plays now - much more flow and fluid play. I feel I did find it annoying before when the ball always ended up in the pop bumpers slowing down the game. Now I can enjoy fast orbit balls and it´s much more fun!
Thanks to everyone who gave their ideas on this issue.
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