Star Trek: The Next Generation
| Manufacturer | System | Year | Model | Produced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Williams | WPC-DCS | 1993 | 50023 | 11,738 |
1 Rule Sheets
Several rule sheets or strategy guides can be found at these links.
http://www.ipdb.org/rulesheets/2357/sttng.htm
http://www.ipdb.org/rulesheets/2357/STTNGBOW.TXT
http://www.ipdb.org/rulesheets/2357/TREKHINT.TXT
2 Shop Out Guide
Robert Winter has captured some teardown pics here
3 Game-Specific Issues
3.1 Diode "Tie Back" missing causes 8-Driver Board transistor to fail
The "diode tieback" connection to the 8-Driver Board is critical for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Without this "diode tieback", transistors on the 8-Driver board WILL be damaged and the associated coil is likely to become locked on and melt. The diode tie-back wire is purple/green and connects from the coil power side of one of the drop target assembly coil lugs (either coil is fine) to J4 pin 1 on the 8-Driver board. If the solder connection at the coil lug is solid, suspect the wire connection at the IDC connector. Repinning this connection with good a quality crimp-on TriFurcon pin is advised.
Another very reliable way to ensure that the diode tieback never loses connectivity, is to connect an additional wire, as pictured at left. Jumper a wire (preferably purple/green) from the 8 Driver Board (J4, pin 1) to the Power/Driver board (J107, pin 1). The original purple/green wire can be extracted from the wire bundle and used for this purpose or you can simply leave it connected as it originally was as "insurance". The end result is functionally and electrically identical, but has the advantage of moving the diode tieback connection away from the high vibration/shock environment at the single drop target coils.
Another, simplified illustration of the same modification suggested above is pictured at left.
Yet another solution is to add clamping diodes onto each of the 4 coils affected, in the same way that Williams System 11/11A and earlier platforms where diodes are used. The 11B/C and WPC systems moved all coil diodes (except flippers) onto the aux. power driver board and power/driver board respectively. This eliminated any possibility of wiring a coil "backwards". Attaching diodes to coils can still be done, but the proper polarity of the connections is very important. The non-banded side of the diode connects to the path to ground (usually a skinny wire). The banded side of the diode connects to the power source (usually a fatter wire, not that there is anything wrong with being a little fat...all wires matter...). Caution is warranted as connecting the diode backwards will blow the diode and the drive transistor immediately.
PinSider Inkochnito offered the following technique to further bullet-proof the 8-driver board. The mod adds a "pull down" resistor to each of the data signals to the 74ALS576 which prevents those signals from "floating" in the event that the ribbon cable fails or has been disconnected (either on purpose or by accident).
In the PinSide post, Peter shows the 8 Driver Board, a 10k resistor SIP, and a single 10k resistor. Tie the CLK signal of U1 (pin 11 of the 74ALS576) high via the single 10k resistor.
This 9 pin bussed resistor SIP connects all 8 data pins to logic ground. Bourns part number 4609X-101-103.
Sources for this part:
Partial schematics showing the two modifications.
The image at left shows an alternate, but electrically identical implementation, on the solder side of the board.
3.2 Missing Balls or Extra Multi-Ball
A common problem is broken wire leads on the trough opto board resistors and even the LEDs. One way to test is to put the machine in switch edge test mode and bang on the playfield just above the flippers to see if any switch edges register. No switches should register. Replacement boards are available with shock mounts or you can alter your own boards by drilling out the holes and adding grommets.
3.3 Gun Cannot Find Home Error
On power on one (or both) of the launcher guns seem to oscillate back and forth for no good reason, then coming to a stop at 45 degrees across the playfield. If the launcher test shows that both the home and mark switches are working, then problem is that the "ball in cannon" detect opto has failed. This can be quickly verified in switch test. Most likely a dry joint on either the send or receive opto PCB, or a broken wire on the wiring loom. Quick test is if the cannon moves slowly and firing the cannon plunger repeatedly its the ball detect opto.
3.4 Replacing the OEM Starships with Hallmark Ornaments
This article originally published by Jesse Wilson on RGP. Added to PinWiki by Chris Hibler.
Hopefully these DIY’s will save you a few bucks over the pre-assembled
mods which can run from $50-$100 each. Probably won’t garner me any love
with the mod sellers but who cares. The processes are very simple and
even if you aren’t that skilled with wiring/electronics you can complete
these mods without a problem so don’t be scared!
If you have any questions during the process please feel free to drop me an email.
I looked for the pictures I had taken the last time I did this and couldn't find them (I probably deleted them already) so I took my last Hallmark Warbird and went to town on it specifically for DIY photos/instructional purposes.
Something I noticed while I was paying much closer attention this time is that the lights in the Romulan Warbird aren't LED's. They are tiny "grain of wheat" incandescent bulbs. You can see one in the picture at left.
There is a reason you can hook up the Klingon Bird of Prey directly to the existing GI bulb sockets and it works 100%.... because that ship only uses LED's to create its lighting effects. If you attempt to hook up the Warbird (or the enterprise for that matter) directly to a GI string, there is virtually no light (if any) emitted at all from the warp nacelles . The current required to run the 4 incandescent bulbs is much more than a circuit already filled with a string of other incandescent bulbs can handle. This realization leaves you with two options and one is more time consuming and complicated than the other.
3.4.1 DIY 1st method
As far as the Romulan Warbird goes, the first and more complicated option is to keep the incandescent bulbs inside the ship and remount the circuit board under the PF. The items required for this install are as follows: 8 wire male and female Molex connectors/terminals (2 rows of 4 work best), 1 ¼” hole saw, some black and red 22ga wire, 1.5mm heat shrink tubing, 5mm heat shrink tubing, zip ties:
Instructions
The first step is to separate the top and bottom halves of the ship. You’ll need a sharp razor blade or Exacto knife and cut along the back of the ship as pictured at left.
Cut on both sides of the back metal screw post until all the plastic/glue has been severed. Once that is done the top and bottom will be somewhat loose in the back and you just need to give it some pressure to separate it. Once the back has been separated you can use it as leverage to separate the warp nacelles on both sides which also have a metal screw post going down the center of each(so be careful). The small front piece may or may not be glued in, if it isn’t glued then it has a hook on the end so just back it out of the hole. If it is glued and it accidentally breaks off not to worry, in all likelihood it won’t be noticeable once you re assemble it as long as it’s a clean break and you don’t mess with it. Now you will need to separate the inner and outer pieces of the bottom half you just removed from the Warbird. This step will allow you access to the circuit board that contains the circuitry to allow the 4 incandescent lights to run on a Christmas tree light string which is usually about 3-5V depending on how many lights are on the string (similar voltage to the GI string you will be tying into). Once you have the leads for all 4 lights and the 2 power wires cut off at the board you will have to carefully remove the circuit board from the ship and set it aside. Remove the green power wires (which is knotted at the grommet so pull it through from the inside) and cut away the green plastic grommet.
Now that the circuit board has been removed you can snap your two pieces of the bottom half back together and cut your flasher hole through the bottom of the ship. Make sure you tuck your yellow lead wires from the incandescent bulbs away or the saw will rip them right off the bulb. You will need a 1 ¼” hole saw (or a spade bit, however I highly recommend the hole saw) and center your hole to the same location the hole is on your original. If you're using a drill press you can just hold the ship by hand but if you’re using a hand drill you will have to be more careful and maybe ask a second person to assist you because holding a drill in one hand a the ship in the other is an accident waiting to happen.
Now that your hole is cut you can take out your soldering iron and heat the contacts on the circuit board that had the power and light leads and remove the old wire remnants. Once that is complete you will need to solder on a few feet of wire (enough to get from the circuit board mounting location to reach the other end of the Molex connector from the ship) to all 8 incandescent bulb leads on the board using 1 red and 1 black for each. Then solder enough wire onto the power leads on the board to reach your desired GI tie in from the board mounting location. You can now use your heat shrink tubing to clean up your under PF install if so desired but obviously make sure you do it before the next step. Next go ahead and crimp on your terminals to the end of your bulb leads coming from the board and insert them into the Molex connector. You can now locate your board under the PF in a convenient location that allows for good access and solder your power leads to the GI lamp you're using. This should be the only soldering you have to do on the pin. Zip tie up your wires and leave the Molex hanging for later.
Back to the disassembled Warbird. You’ll want to separate the two halves of the bottom piece again because you are going to solder a red and black wire from each incandescent bulb wire coming from the lights. Make sure the wire is long enough to reach the other end of your Molex connector under the PF(from the circuit board). Then run the 8 wires out the old power hole you just cleared the grommet out of. You can use your 5mm heat shrink tubing now to tidy up your visible wiring. You'll next want to attach the terminals and the Molex connector to the ends of the wires.
As far as mounting the ship, you can use a small wood screw (pre drill the hole first) to attach the back end of the ship to the existing metal bracket from the original ship or if you weren’t too sloppy with your hole saw you should have a very nice snug fit when you slide the ship over the flasher dome. The slight pressure will keep it where you want it even with the playfield raised into the vertical position. I prefer this look to that of having the bracket, it appears to just be floating/flying. You can rout the wires down the hole in the back left of the playfield under the ramps. The top ramp has a slight indention just to the right of the bracket that attaches it to the back board. If you can’t get to it or you used a single row Molex connector you can fish the wires out the diverter cut out in the back board as well. Connect the Molex connector and turn the game on to see your new illuminated Romulan Warbird.
There are many reasons this method is a pain. For one you have to remove
and re solder the very tiny circuit board without damaging anything. You
also have to solder to the wiring practically inside the ship coming
from the incandescent bulbs which only has 7 very small stands and any
significant tension will break the wire from the bulb. There is also the
matter of screwing something that's not supposed to be there to the
bottom of your PF. However I have seen people do it this way so I wanted
to include it in the DIY if that was the way you wanted to go with it.
3.4.2 DIY 2nd method
The second and my preferred method is to replace all four incandescent lights with 3mm clear LED’s. Feel free to use whatever process works best for you, however this is the method I found to work the best after experimenting with three different ships. For this method you’ll need 4 white LED’s, 2 wire male and female Molex connectors/terminals, 1 ¼” hole saw, some black and red 22ga wire, and a 22ohm resistor, 1.5, 3, and/or 5mm heat shrink tubing, zip ties: The LED’s I used are here but you can use almost any kind you want (that being said, if they differ from the specs on mine you may need to recalculate your resistor value): http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?x=0&y=0&lang=en&site=us&KeyWords=350-2318-nd I would highly suggest you use this LED, the 1100mcd looks very nice in the ship and I wouldn’t want it any dimmer/brighter.
Instructions
While this method is similar to the circuit board method you’ll notice
some key differences that make it quite a bit easier. Step one is to
drill your flasher hole. You can drill your hole before or after
separating the top and bottom halves since there is no circuit board to
work around (I have always done it before separation). Drill your 1 ¼”
hole through the bottom piece in the same location that it is in your
original Warbird. Drill right through everything inside until you get
through the other side.
The "before" picture...
...and through the bottom hull.
If you drilled the hole first then separate the bottom and top halves now. You’ll need a sharp razor blade or Exacto knife and cut along the back of the ship as pictured at left.
Cut on both sides of the back metal screw post until all the
plastic/glue has been severed. Once that is done the top and bottom will
be somewhat loose in the back and you just need to give it some pressure
rocking it back and forth to separate it. Once the back has been
separated you can use it as leverage to separate the warp nacelles on
both sides which also have a metal screw post going down the center of
each. The small front piece may or may not be glued in, if it isn’t
glued then it has a hook on the end so just back it out of the hole. If
it is glued and it breaks off not to worry, in all likelihood it won’t
be noticeable once you re assemble it as long as it’s a clean break and
you don’t mess with it.
Broken piece which disappeared when reassembled is shown at left.
Now you should be sitting there with a separated Warbird with a hole in the bottom piece. Pull out any remaining incandescent lights/wiring/circuit board pieces (just give the bulbs a tug and they will come right out). Now you need to prepare your 4 LED’s for installation. Solder on your lengths of red and black wire (about 18” will do fine) to the leads on the LED’s using the red for the positive (which is the longer lead). Cut a strip of 1.5mm heat shrink long enough to go from the very end of the LED lead to the start of the insulation on the wire. Do this on the positive wires only, one wire is all that is necessary and if you do it on both you will have a harder time fishing the wires through the small holes on the bottom of the ship. Now you should have 4 LED’s with red and black wires soldered to the lead ends and the positive leads fully insulated. Take them and fish them FROM THE TOP of the hole where the incandescent bulbs were located and run the wires out the old power hole. The LED’s need to be sitting up a little to fully extend into the warp nacelles when you put the top and bottom back together.
- Detail
LEDs shown in the top of the Warbird. 
The bottom of the Warbird. 
Closeup of Left side LEDs 
Closeup of Right side LEDs
I then used 5mm heat shrink tubing on all the wires leaving the power
hole (which fit all 8 wires if you use 22ga). At the end of the run of
wire lengths you cut you’ll need to solder them all together to a single
black and red wire. I used 20ga for this single run but feel free to
continue to use the 22ga. You can solder the 22ohm resistor between the
4X 22ga positive(red) wires and the 1X 20ga red wire.
Add some more 5mm tubing to finish covering the soldering joint and use the 1.5mm to cover the single wires and the resistor to protect it from shorting out on something. You can attach your Molex connectors anywhere on the length of the two single wires. On the other side of the Molex connector, solder the other end of your wires to the lamp socket you plan on using and clean up your install with the wire ties up to the Molex connector.
Next step is to test it before you put the ship back together so attach the Molex connectors and make sure it lights up. If not then check your connections because something is loose, if so then you can button it back up. I only had to pressure fit the ship back together and everything closed up just like it was before when it was glued. I prefer this method because if something goes wrong it is very easy to open back up and fix it. If your ship doesn’t stay together just by giving it some pressure than you can superglue it together.
- Detail
Test Image 1. 
Test Image 2. 
Test Image 3. 
Test Image 4.
As far as mounting the ship, you can use a small wood screw (pre drill
the hole first) to attach the back end of the ship to the existing metal
bracket or if you weren’t too sloppy with your hole saw you should have
a very nice snug fit when you slide the ship over the flasher dome. The
slight pressure will keep it where you want it even with the playfield
raised into the vertical position. I prefer this look to that of having
the bracket, it appears to just be floating/flying. You can rout the
wires down the hole in the back left of the playfield under the ramps.
The top ramp has a slight indention just to the right of the bracket
that attaches it to the back board. If you can’t get to it you can fish
the wires out the diverter cut out in the back board as well. Connect
the Molex connector and turn the game on to see your new illuminated
Romulan Warbird.
3.4.3 Klingon Bird of Prey Mod
Next I will quickly address the Klingon Bird of Prey mod. This mod is fairly simple and straightforward since the ornament already uses LED’s for its lighting. The only parts you will need to complete this mod is one 6.8ohm 1/4 watt resistor, a soldering iron, and a hot glue gun.
WARNING: I have tried directly tying the ornament into the GI string and while it appears to work fine that way, it will over heat and shut off within about 30 minutes. It will actually get hot enough to melt the hot glue holding the bulb sockets and mounting rod, just to give you an idea of how hot it will get. While the ship will eventually cool off and start working again, this is not the way you want your Bird of Prey wired unless you only plan on ever having your pin on for 10 minutes at a time.
The first step is to disconnect the old BOP from under the PF via the two prong Molex connector with the solid green and white/green wires and remove it from the game. Next unscrew the lamp socket from each wing and the metal stand from the center.
Here you will need to pick a design for the lights you like the best. If you want the rear of the ship facing the player and the front pointing up the ramp you can have the bulbs facing the player and put red or white bulbs in them for a thruster effect or you can keep them like they were and face them towards them outer end of the wings. I personally don’t see the sense in doing all the work to replace ships just to stare at the rear end of them but to each his own (I face the shuttle towards the player as well). Once you have decided on the placement of the bulb sockets take out your hot glue gun and glue them to the rear of the center part of the wing. Make sure the glue comes out the old screw mounting hole to give the socket more holding power.
I chose the OEM look but I thought the incandescent 44’s were a little
harsh to my eyes so I replaced them with LED’s. At left is a picture of my
bulb sockets mounted to the wings.
Pinball-Mods.com offers a DIY PCB set which replaces the bulb sockets with SMT LEDs so they are directed down toward the Playfield.
Heat up your soldering iron because you’ll be using it in this next
step. You are now going to cut off the wires coming off of the ornament
and solder them onto the terminals of one of the lamp sockets. Solder
one wire directly onto one of the bulb socket terminals and wire the
other to the resistor and then solder the resistor to the other terminal
of the bulb socket. Once you have this part complete you can take it to
the pin and plug it in to make sure it works before moving onto the next
step. For those who are more visual, here is a picture of the wiring
soldered onto the bulb.
Here is the completed assembly.
After completing the wiring you now need to work on a way to mount it. After trying a few methods I found the way that works the best for me. You need to take the old mounting rod and open up one of the ends. The best way to complete this is to use a larger flat head screwdriver and just shove it in the gap to widen it. The end goal is a “U” shape.
Before...
After...
Once you have the end opened you may have already figured out where it
will be mounting onto the ship but for those who haven’t take a look at
the picture at left.
And the mounting rod attached to the ship.
Re-installation is as simple as feeding the wiring back through the hole under the “Targets Increase Spinner Value” plastic, securing the screws, and connecting the Molex under the playfield. Enjoy your new modified Klingon Bird of Prey!
- Finishing up...
Closeup top view. 
Closeup front view. 
Closeup front view from below the waterline. 
Pinball-Mods.com's DIY PCB set replaces the bulb sockets with SMT LEDs.
Return to Williams WPC page.