My first Pin - stellar wars.. advice/help ?

Leinhit

New member
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
5,212
Reaction score
7
Location
Michigan
Got this yesterday at "pinball at the zoo"..

got it put back together and most looks good.. a couple of issues that I'm sure are easy fixes if I knew how..

1. When coining up and hitting the start button.. it puts two balls into the chute.. when you lose the balls, it counts them one at a time each and makes for a short game... What do I need to do to get it to put only one ball at a time into the chute? Is the 2nd ball for a "capture" type play? Or is there ONLY supposed to be one ball in the whole game?

2. the #1 and #2 player LED displays, as well as the credits display and the ball number display do NOT display any of the very lower LED's.. (like the bottom segment of a zero). odd that its on all 6 digits on both players one and two as well as the credit and ball number ...

Bad LED displays? or some kind of weird clitch?

Advice? games is pretty decent.. back of display box has some slight damage... back of back glass is flaking some and I will spray some of that clear coat spray on it soon..

Tks in advance..

Steve
 
That is a one ball game. The other ball should go in the left upper playfield. You may have to remove plastic to get it in place. As far as your displays you may have an open resistor or one that gets very hot and liquifies the solder to it. On your display that has ball count and credits there will be a row of resistors near the top right. Check the solder on the two at the very end. If they are open, you probrably have a display that is the cause. It may not be the displays with bottom segments out, that may be a result of the resistors opening if that is what is causing it. I would resolder those resistors. I would turn the game on and feel the resistors and see if they are hot, if they are. Turn the game off, unplug each display turn the game on, plug them in one by one until you feel the resistors getting hot. It may take some time but it is an easy way to eliminate the bad one. Again, if that is what is causing it. I have seen this many times so I hope it gets you on the right track. Displays are available everywhere on-line or someone on hear may have one. The resisors will be very hot, enough to burn your finger tips so be carefull. If you do locate the bad display leave it un-hooked to avoid further damage. You can still play the game. If it happens to be player one just move another display to that spot. Hope this helps. It is an awesome game I had one for a while but sold to change it up. There are many backround sounds you can choose from if you have the manual.
 
Last edited:
ok.. sounds like a good place to start..

I'll print it off and I'm sure it will make sense when I open it and start looking at your directions..

thanks much...

I did consider moving one of the good displays to one of the bad spots to see if it corrects it or not... didn't know if the LED displays are known to go out... but since they are all the very bottom segment, seemed too odd.

thanks.. and I'll post results soon..

Steve
oh, and I'll look for a manual to check on those sounds you mentioned.. good to know.. I was thinking the sounds on now were a little disappointing...
 
Congrats on winning your new pin!!!

I don't remember it having any issues when I played it on Saturday. The machine seemed to be very clean and I think you got one of the best deals of the day. It was the only Pin that I would have bid on, if I did not have a five an hour trip in a small Rav 4.
 
Awesome pin! Love the widebodies-pinball that is;) The extra ball is the captive ball on the left side.

How is the playfield on yours? I see a common problem on these older Williams are raised inserts.....
 
Thanks guys... kastaway.. good to hear

goes back to where we should have hats or T shirts so we will know each other and can introduce ourselves..

yeah,,I didn't check it out very close.. but the bidding was slow.. and it was the very first of the sale... so I jumped in on impulse... got a back glass too for no reason..

then I was fooling w/ it for so long to get the back off, I missed the 2nd half of the sale..

that revolution X went for only $100 it played nice!

any way.. here are a few pics of my problem.. I "think" I got the 2nd ball in the right slot/space in the upper left as I was told..

now, on to the display..

I plugged the wire from player 4 (working good) into player 2, and player 2 displayed worked fine.. so I figures its not the display..

I look at the resisters on the board by the credit display as I was instructed.. on the left side bank of resisters.. I find #3 blown to heck...

so, I'll replace that one.. any one know the value of it?

Also.. on the right bank, the far right one looks a little burnt brown on the back side... dunno if you can see it ok in this picture...

look ok enough ? and ALL got pretty hot after a minute and touching them... didn't really narrow down which , if any, were hotter.. well.. that blown one on the left did feel hotter than the rest...

:)

I suppose if I replace it and it all works.. I still need to know WHY it blew...

Thoughts ?
DSCI0259.jpg
DSCI0260.jpg
DSCI0261.jpg
 
Last edited:
I suppose if I replace it and it all works.. I still need to know WHY it blew...

I will help you all day long with that attitude. Love it.

Those displays are famous for underrated resistors. It's possible something could be shorted to cause that resistor to burn but I suspect it just burned over time due to being underrated.

Here's some info on display problems:
http://www.pinrepair.com/sys37/index3.htm#display

I'm not sure of the values. You can find them with this:
http://www.elexp.com/t_resist.htm

I would use 1/2 watt or even 1 watt resistors as replacements. Those look like 1/4 watt. I'm sure it's all covered on pinrepair.com.

I actually have a Stellar Wars but it's been in storage since I bought it and probably will be for quite a while. Cool game though. Similar to Flash in many ways. Steve Ritchie's second game with Williams (IIRC).
 
cool.. thanks buddy for the help...

was in meeting, stopped at home for lunch... and heading to work.. will check those links out tonight on break...

maybe I'll just put all new resisters in those two banks then if a bit age related and under rated...

pretty excited to have my first new pin... and have to say the Stellar War is pretty cool.. seems like a winner for my first :)
 
It has been in my expirience that a display is probrably causing the resistors to cook.

Changing them is needed of course. After that I would leave all 4 displays un-hooked and plug them in 1 at a time feeling the resistors for a few minutes at a time. The bad display should show itself.

Be carefull not to burn your fingertips.
 
I've only played on SW, but the lockdown bar was brutal, with really sharp edges. Not sure if it was a replacement, but you might need gloves to play that one!

Congrats on the game all the same!
 
All great advice and I'm excited that I'm sure its an easy fix..

question: I know Lindsey gave the link to the resistor values...

Looking at the left and right bank of resisters... is it safe to assume they are all the same value?

On the left bank.. the first 3 obviously are not, and appear not to be meant to be the same as the rest..

on the right bank, you can see there appears to be one, 2nd to the last that is different...

Any one with a schematic can tell me if I should be ordering all the same , or if indeed there are some different ones mixed in ?

tks... Steve
DSCI0262.jpg
DSCI0263.jpg
[/IMG]

** Looks like if my research is correct.. I have a system 4 ? and the resisters are 10k 1/2 watts... and I found a picture of the same problem I got... so.. unless I hear otherwise here... I ll order some ( 10 k full 1 watt?) and start replacing.. I tested all of them and found one out of spec... the burnt one of course.. shows over 12k..
 

Attachments

  • DSCI0262.jpg
    DSCI0262.jpg
    92.1 KB · Views: 3
  • DSCI0263.jpg
    DSCI0263.jpg
    94.3 KB · Views: 1
Last edited:
OK !

The only resistors in my area was radio shack.. and they only had 5 of the 10k 1/2 watt.. nothing w/ more wattage..

so I replaced the one that was obviously blown.. unplugged all the displays..

the credit / ball count worked perfect..

then I turned off and started to plug in displays.. #1 immediately did not work correctly.. and damn yes those resistors get hot checking them w/ my finger...

so, I unplugged #1 and tried the other 3.. all worked fine..

so.. #1 display is bad... I took it out to replace it..

the left bank of resistors are fairly hot now running 30 minutes.. the right bank is not..

but nothing blowing.. so far..

Big thanks to all and that link Lindsey posted helped alot...

tks... :) now to find a display ...

hey.. I sorta like these pinball machines.. ! hmmm

Steve
 
Led On Stellar wars

Your problem could be eather the display or the master display board.unplug one display at a time and see if the other bad one is ok.make sure you plug it back before moveing to the next one.If that did't show anything check the resistors on the upper part of the master display board,you will probley fine one or more burned.Their are 7 in a row on both sides 10K@1/4 watt,replace any burned ones useing 1/2 watt,if all that fails you probley have a bad 7180 chip,they are hard to find and are a little pricey.good luck. Ken
 
Back
Top Bottom