Help patching up the old Playmates toys

[Matt4511]

Hi everyone. I've had kind of a cool experience this weekend. My children are 2.5 and 4.5, and my wife and me were packing some of the stuff they've outgrown away. (Most we just sell, but we keep some for sentimental reasons.) My parents did the same, and I found a bunch of my quarter-century old Playmates Trek toys.

The action figures never go bad, of course. Some of the battery powered ones have given up the ghost, but most still work just fine. Just needed a few new AAs popped in. My two-year-old wasn't interested, but my four-year-old (who occassionaly watches "that space show" with her dad) was into my TNG tricorder (worked fine) and my phaser-2 (sounds worked but no light).

So, well, does anyone here happen to know what kind of light bulb a 1992 Playmates 6151 TNG phaser type-2 would take?

There's a ton for sale online for a few bucks, so I can easily just buy another one. But if this is something as simple as a bulb I can pick one up tomorrow and give it a shot. We had a lot of fun playing space today in the basement, and it's kinda cool to think these toys that I got for Christmas when I was 11 are getting a second life with my kids. The older one, anyway.

Long odds anyone here will just happen to remember offhand, but I wonder if anyone happens to be enough of a hobbyist to know? Or can anyone steer me in the right direction?

 

[TheSublimeGoose]

Hi everyone. I've had kind of a cool experience this weekend. My children are 2.5 and 4.5, and my wife and me were packing some of the stuff they've outgrown away. (Most we just sell, but we keep some for sentimental reasons.) My parents did the same, and I found a bunch of my quarter-century old Playmates Trek toys.

The action figures never go bad, of course. Some of the battery powered ones have given up the ghost, but most still work just fine. Just needed a few new AAs popped in. My two-year-old wasn't interested, but my four-year-old (who occassionaly watches "that space show" with her dad) was into my TNG tricorder (worked fine) and my phaser-2 (sounds worked but no light).

So, well, does anyone here happen to know what kind of light bulb a 1992 Playmates 6151 TNG phaser type-2 would take?

There's a ton for sale online for a few bucks, so I can easily just buy another one. But if this is something as simple as a bulb I can pick one up tomorrow and give it a shot. We had a lot of fun playing space today in the basement, and it's kinda cool to think these toys that I got for Christmas when I was 11 are getting a second life with my kids. The older one, anyway.

Long odds anyone here will just happen to remember offhand, but I wonder if anyone happens to be enough of a hobbyist to know? Or can anyone steer me in the right direction?

I'm assuming you've already done plenty of Googling, but I have it a whirl too, as I recently purchased one off EBay as a collectible. Couldn't find anything

 

[Albertese]

I'm pretty sure all the lights in those toys are LEDs meaning they are soldered to the PCB inside. I bet if you disassemble it and know a little about electronics you could figure out what's what.

I doubt the LED "burned out" but they *can* die. I would think it more likely to be a loose wire connection.

That said, if you're not comfortable with solder you might just want to get a "new" one from eBay or wherever.

--Alex