I'm toying with the idea on adding EL wire to my EATPM ramps. Green on the right ramp, red on the upper (long squiggly) left ramp.

Both ramps have a nice curled lip that I could place the wire under then lock it in with clear silicone. Silicone would also allow me to tear it out for whatever reason.

I'm thinking of buying custom length with quick connects, one for each side of the ramp. That way I don't have to loop the wire around the end of the ramps. I can just start at playfield on base of ramp and terminate up behind playfield.

http://www.elwirepros.com/quickconnect-el-wire-32.html

Then using 4 way splitter (4 for wire runs, 1 to the inverter).

http://www.elwirepros.com/quickconnector-splitters-for-el-wire.html

Hooking the 4 wires into an inverter that runs on 12vdc

http://www.elwirepros.com/mini-1039-to-3039-.html

I can peel 12vdc off the playfield (fused of course), but I'd like it to flash with the playfield GI, so I'm thinking I can mount another GI relay in parallel to the existing one. Game uses 25VDC relay to switch the 6VAC GI circuit.

Then wire the fused 12VDC for the inverter onto the NC relay connections so it will toggle power to the inverter when the GI on the playfield toggles...

Ok,,,, now am I missing anything? I think I covered all bases but before I go and start ordering the parts I'm curious if anyone has done this already and got bit.

Just got finished reading all 7 pages of Tron EL project,,

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/project-tron-pro

No opto's on EATPM so this should be clean.

PIG ][ would be a way to not have to deal with installing a relay, but that's not available yet.

Wondering if silicone would work better that scotch tape?

Really not interested in drilling my ramps.

No worries, thanks for the tip, err, tip.

I picked up some cheap EL wire/controllers (~$6 each color) off Amazon to play with, looks good. Once I get a few coins in my pocket I'm going to but some of the 5mm stuff and install it.

I had a suggestion that instead of adding another GI relay in parallel, to see if the original GI relay had spare contacts and use them. I'm going to be checking that out.

I got the materials in today. The 5mm is tight in the ramp rails, enough to hold itself in place while I could snap a few pics. The inverter was nice and small and not much 'whine'. It also included a switch.

Lights on..
DSC00837.JPG

Lights off...
DSC00843.JPG

Inverter and switch...
DSC00849.JPG

Wire lengths I got looking at the pic from left to right, 4ft red, 3ft red, 2 ft green, 2 foot green. The red has more of an orange tint to it, but that is ok as EATPMS 'red' side runs from red at the top down to yellow/orange down toward the slings. The green wire has a blue/green tint to it and looks good.

Next step is to remove the ramps, secure the EL wire underneath. I'm thinking some clear silicone would do the trick and be reversible. As opposed to drilling the ramps and using clear tie wraps.

Then to mount the inverter under the playfield and hook it to a spare 12V via a .5amp slo-blow fuse. All 4 wires together are only drawing about 100ma.

Once that appears to be working good, next trick is to put in a relay so that I can have it switch off with the GI for the 'LIGHTS! ORGAN! Oooo nice organ!' show.

Got the wire mod mostly done.

Hooked the inverter up to pins 1 and 3 on the power connector for the three target opto board to pick up unregulated 12vdc and ground through a 250ma SB fuse. Only puts out about 11.5vdc so it's not quite as bright as I would like yet.

I still need to hook in a relay in parallel with the GI relay so the wire can turn off when GI turns off.

If I were to do it again, I would probably do the 3.2mm wire next time instead of the 5mm as the 5mm is just a tad too fat to fully seat into the ramps 'lip' in all spots.

Silicone appears to work fine, you can pull it off if you try but it looks like it will hold its own.

Before.....
DSC00771.JPG

And after.....
DSC00865.JPG DSC00862.JPG

My wire habitrails are out getting powdercoated green/yellow-ish in case you notice something missing in the pics.

You mean you do 301 pins a year??? Where do you find the time? *ducks the flying beer bottle*

To each his own. I'm not a big fan of putting little Toy-r-Us trinkets all over a playfields like some do, but again to each his own. The EL wire is not over the top bright and accents the color in the area and defines the ramps IMHO.

In another thread someone pointed this out to me, which I just ordered for this mod.

Ccheck out http://www.trainaidsa.com/shop-elektrizmos.shtml awesome faq info, plus that VR2 multivolt converter/regulator at the top looks really useful.

I did the mod on my EATPM that needed 12vdc and I wanted to have it turn on and off with GI lighting (6VAC)..

I currently have it hardwired to unreg 12vdc (actually rms's around 11.5vdc and was going to add a GI relay in parallel with my current GI relay,,, now with that VR2 I can convert 6VAC to 12vdc and the voltage will be regulated AND turn on and off with the GI lights! All in one package for $17 (includes shipping).

Got the VR2 installed... Works awesome. Nice and small and fits on the PF nice and easy. I moved the fuse I had in line with the inverter up to in front of the VR2 and increased the amperage to a 1.5A SB. The 250ma fuse was blowing on inrush when G/I would cycle on/off with the VR2 installed (as was a 1A SB)..

6VAC G/I circuit -> 1.5A SB fuse -> VR2 -> 12VDC -> Inverter -> EL-wire

Works good, letting it cycle for a while to make sure we are still good. Have it all velcro's and screwed until the PF and it turns on and off with G/I.

Brightness is the same as the general brightness of the playfield so it does not jump out at you, only compliments it.