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STTNG Unable to find balls....

Paul

Paul

Staff member
10 Years
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
12,220
Location
South Wales
Now from what i recall this was a common fault, however couldn't find that much on a search.

So, STTNG is fired up with a full complement of balls, however immediately goes into ball search mode, seemingly unable to find all the balls..
I seem to remember something muttering about faulty optos in the trough or similar.

Anyone seen this and could point me towards a solution before i crack the iron and meter out and start hacking about aimlessly???

Cheers
Paul
 
Test the trough optos with the camera trick (look at the leds through a phone camera or other digi camera). To see which ones are on or off. Change the ones you dont see on. Also, the big blue resistors can become useless so if your going to rebuild it, i'd do them too whilst there.

The QED123 leds required can be sourced from the usual suppliers, but they are starting to get scarce so if you fancied it, you could buy a load from digikey.com as they ship those perticular leds in bulk.

Or, sod buying the parts and faffing about and just buy a new trough board. I 'think' they are only around £15 (pinmania, pinheaven) for just the one side which will most certainly be the side with the clear leds on it.
 
As well as checking the trough opto's, also check the ones where the balls get loaded too as part of the delivery system. Can't remember if it's 2 or 3 that get sent to the various upkickers but make sure the game knows they're there.
 
I've got a spare opto board Paul. Not sure which side it is nor whether its working correctly but you can have it if you like. Might be alright. If not you can bin it or re use the good optos in it:-)
 
Paul said:
Anyone seen this and could point me towards a solution before i crack the iron and meter out and start hacking about aimlessly???

Cheers
Paul
Click to expand...

Brilliant.

I picture you boozed up, cackling like an idiot, pulling apart anything in reach, solder flying in all directions,meter dial spinning like a catherine wheel sparks flying, wires ripped out ..... a mad pin fixing frenzy.

Then slumped in a spent heap under the machine .....screaming to the heavens " Oh God .... Why ? Why ? Why do you torture me with this stupidly complex playfield design "
 
Gaz Shiells said:
I've got a spare opto board Paul. Not sure which side it is nor whether its working correctly but you can have it if you like. Might be alright. If not you can bin it or re use the good optos in it:-)
Click to expand...

Thats very kind of you Gaz. I'll see if i can finish putting it all together tonight and start the fault finding on it. I remember there being a common problem similar to this.... still suspect the optos tho. I'll take a look later and let you know if thats ok - it may well be a joint that needs reflowing or something similar :D
 
GrizZ said:
Brilliant.

I picture you boozed up, cackling like an idiot, pulling apart anything in reach, solder flying in all directions,meter dial spinning like a catherine wheel sparks flying, wires ripped out ..... a mad pin fixing frenzy.

Then slumped in a spent heap under the machine .....screaming to the heavens " Oh God .... Why ? Why ? Why do you torture me with this stupidly complex playfield design "
Click to expand...

Thats scarily accurate!! :)
 
Paul,

first thing to check is connectors on the trough opto boards - the wires tend to come loose from the connector. Had a similar problem myself some time back and and redoing the connectors sorted it.

STTNG seems particularly bad for this - I've heard of folks directly soldering the wires to the pins on the boards!

Cheers
Geoff
 
This looks like a decent test to check everything out....

Have you run the switch test?


Run test T.18 to clear out all balls.
Run test T.1 (switch edges). Make sure all of column 3, column 4, and
switches 61-67 show up as solid squares with a dot in the middle.
This is closed for normal switches, but the optos work backward.


Drop a ball back down the left canon up-kicker hole -> switch 36
should now change to a dot.
Drop a ball back down the right canon hole -> 37
Dropt a ball in the start mission hole -> 41
Drop a ball in the neutral zone -> 35
Drop another ball in the neutral zone -> 42
Drop a third ball in the neutral zone -> 43


(could be in a different order in your machine, but every ball should
report a closure)


Run T.18 again to get the balls back, then T.1
Drop the balls one at a time in the outhole. Switches should report a
closure in this order -> 66,65,64,63,62,61


Now manually activate the up-kicker solenoid plunger (through the coin
door) and make sure swith 67 reports closure.
Click to expand...
 
Was going to say do a switch test first but you've found that out. Also when doing said switch test, thump the machine to check if there are any intermittant optos when the balls are in place.

Also check you have the correct number of balls in the game as that produces the same result...!
 
Lol. After 30 mins of searching, checking manuals etc i found where the cable went. On the DMD.:loco:

So both cannons are now "unable to find home". Have now stripped the Trough boards out and re-flowed the dry joints (wow there were a lot!). opto tests for the cannons themselves (top) register fine.

I see lots of mutterings about a "home switch" for each of the cannons - Anyone any clues as to where this is located??
 
Hi Paul
underneath each cannon is a micro switch which is pressed and released by a sort of cam. Could be that which needs tinkering. Or likely the harness may be knackered. A common fault on these. I think PH stock them.
 
Cheers Gaz

would it be this one top left do you know?

switch.jpg

It may well be the wiring, however it would be unusual for both to go. Then again they are a common fault, so maybe they have!
 
Yep that's the one. In test mode you can manually adjust the cannons and step them a little bit at a time. That way you can see at which point it opens and closes the switch. They are a royal PITA
 
Those bloody home switches can be very temperamental, had to mess about adjusting them when I put my old STTNG back together....pretty sure they'll be your culprit ;)
 
ronsplooter said:
Those bloody home switches can be very temperamental, had to mess about adjusting them when I put my old STTNG back together....pretty sure they'll be your culprit ;)
Click to expand...

Interesting. Home switches seem to be operating ok (Physically they still switch). However when i put it through the test procedure, whilst the switches physically operate, the machine doesnt register it...

Traced the purple/white wire back to the 8 drive(top right board)....

purple.jpg

Will now follow this through connecting a meter the two ends and see if i get continuity on the cabling via the switches when I activate the cannon and it reaches the "Mark" and "Home" points...
 
Think we've cracked it - Me and my 15Yr old... who said this pinball fixing malarky was difficult??!!!

So - look at this picture...

wpccpu.jpg

So - this was a picture was taken when i picked up the machine... All connectors were labelled up by me when removed so i knew where they went ( I had to remove the head to transport).

So, when i got it back, checked all the connectors, slotted in and all ok.

Went to check the info from the above post, and looked at Connector 209. There wasnt a connector in 209. Checked according to the manual, and there was a 209, and no 208 (as labelled when removed - along with 206 next to it), and no 206, however there was a 207. Looks like someone had been playing in the backbox and put these connectors back on the adjacent ones....

Plugged into the right ports, and surprise surprise both cannons can see their "home" now, and also the balls kick out properly :)

Thanks all for your advise :)

Paul
 
Paul said:
Think we've cracked it - Me and my 15Yr old... who said this pinball fixing malarky was difficult??!!!

So - look at this picture...

View attachment 1668

So - this was a picture was taken when i picked up the machine... All connectors were labelled up by me when removed so i knew where they went ( I had to remove the head to transport).

So, when i got it back, checked all the connectors, slotted in and all ok.

Went to check the info from the above post, and looked at Connector 209. There wasnt a connector in 209. Checked according to the manual, and there was a 209, and no 208 (as labelled when removed - along with 206 next to it), and no 206, however there was a 207. Looks like someone had been playing in the backbox and put these connectors back on the adjacent ones....

Plugged into the right ports, and surprise surprise both cannons can see their "home" now, and also the balls kick out properly :)

Thanks all for your advise :)

Paul
Click to expand...

Doesn't that just Grind your Gears when that happens.
 
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