Look at here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alien-pinball-official-game-thread/page/521#post-5455878

So when I have Revive lights lit in the Hypersleep Chamber and the ball goes down a lit lane, the ball is not always recognized and the light stays lit and the ball drains. Any suggestions?

Thanks

If you go into Switch Test and roll a ball over the Revive switches, do they register? There shouldn't be anything magical about that... if a Revive lane is lit and the corresponding switch registers, you should get the ball back.

One possible point of confusion is that the switches are located just below the tips of the "Revive" inserts... so it's possible for the ball to roll over a lit Revive insert but then bounce to the other (un-lit) side before passing over the switch, which would not result in a ball save. If that's the case, it's working correctly, but is certainly a bit confusing.

So I would say about 25% of the balls that go down the right Revive Lane are not registering. Is there any adjustment?

The balls are detected using inductive sensors placed in drill holes below the playfield. The PCB with the inductive switch is plugged with long pins (2 x 3) into female header strips on the playfield boards. Unfortunately (Heighway technology) the sensors are not fixed in these header connectors and can move down (away from the playfield). So shift them as close as possible to the playfield, every mm counts! I could solve my ball detection issues doing so.
I already thought about fixing them in the outmost position e.g. with a piece of plastic foam, but they work now without doing so.
GetImage (resized).png

Thanks for the help. I am confused as to what I am trying to raise towards the playfield though. The pins (2x3) that attach to the board or raise the black disk on top of the 2x3 pins. I don't want to screw anything up obviously.

Thanks

The pins are fixed / soldered to the sensor board (the "black disc") but can be moved together with the sensor board as they are just plugged into the female connectors above them (in the picture).
Here is a foto of the complete board itself: https://www.free-play.se/en/playfield-parts/switches/group-1707858/alien-full-throttle-inductive-switch.html
The little black tower is the sensor (a coil) and this should be as close to the ball (on the other side of the playfield) as possible.

So after the mini beacons, I have installed the open egg and strobe lights. Still cool! Would like to play the ambush MB fully with only the strobes leds!

In the open egg video, there is a lot of background white noise. Is that your Alien machine making the white noise? That's loud.

This game was so much fun. Shame such few were made. Fortunately I was able to play it a few times. My Alien money is now going to Rick and Morty.

Sorry to hear you’re taking a step down

There’s an Alien for sale NIB. Get it!

Don’t know what means « white noise », but took this video glass off, and then you can hear louder the system noise, just normal.
It doesn’t bother me, specially when you are in play, flippers and others mechs are more noisy than other manufacturer imho

The gear drive is really loud but the rest is the same like other machines.

I have such a 3D printed hypersleepchamber but the cover I made ... uhmmm .. looks pretty cheap and is .. lausy.

Someone has a nicer idea ?!

IMG_7178 (resized).JPG

Some Alien mods need a +5V or +12V power supply close to the playfield. In the following image I marked some suitable connectors on the PCBs under the playfield:

+5 Volt is available at JST PH type connectors (3 or 4 pin) for optional LEDs. This voltage is created on the I/O boards using DC/DC power converters (connection "5V LED"), do not overload or short them! If you need more than a few 10 mA, you should look for other solutions...

+12 Volt is also delivered at 3 places using Molex KK 254 2 way connectors. They are connected to the "12V Out" pins of the I/O boards which are over-current protected (in theory).

I also marked the pin assignments in the zoomed areas with colored rectangles: Red means +5V, green +12V and ground is blue. Don't forget to check the power after attaching cables...
Power Sources (resized).jpg

Thanks Per. I tried moving the sensor board closer to the playfield, but it seemed all the way up already. I might have gotten a tiny bit of movement from one side, and it seems to be registering better so far. Only a couple games but it has registered the two times I had the right side lit. Fingers crossed. Thanks again!

Chamber looks great! I've wondered how folks would make a clear lid for that sleep chamber bed...i have seen some videos of people making there 3-D objects, so cool....seems they do make different colored plastics/resins though...do they make a clear plastic/resin? If so, you could make it separate and then glue the two together...if not, maybe a darker grey color to at least visually separate the two pieces (chamber and lid).
Anyway, looks real cool!

Hey all,

I'm installing a new airlock screen and the new one has an extra cable coming out of it. Can anyone point me to the PCB location theirs is using? Attached is a picture and thanks for the help!

AirlockScreenCable (resized).jpg

So for all the late to the party club members who missed out on a lot of the parts that have now dried up, I would love to get a set of TimeBandit's slingshot lights and other goodies he made. I haven't seen TB around here in a while. I sent him a message a couple weeks ago, but have not heard from him. So if you bought more TB products than you could ever use and could spare some, please message me.

Thanks

You can see the connector on my Xeno Flasher Mod installation picture in the lower left PCB corner (when the playfield is raised), marked with "Mini Screen".
I suppose any of the 3 connectors can be used - it is a 5V power supply (hm, I should add this to my power supply connectors poster above).
DSC07973 (resized).JPG

Awesome, thank you!

I’m still around. Just trying to catch up after a break. Sling lights, normal lights and passive switches will be available.

Awesome TimeBandit. Thanks for responding.

Awesome!

I finally got my drop targets working. Next big step will be replacing the alien head with the later style, but I am going to need to find out what the wiring looks like. Have not found it yet. If anyone is willing to help let me know. This would be the last major hurdle to making this one run the current code.

Are you talking about the two wiring harnesses that connect to the jaw board and the upper PCB, if I remember correctly, that is under the playfield? I performed an upgrade on my machine and I recall being able to reuse one of the wiring harnesses from the old head. I might have just needed to attach a different molex connector to it but I can't remember. I had to make the other one from scratch based on research from various pictures, etc. If what I said is accurate I can probably post some pictures of my setup, unless someone else already has that info.

That is what i am after. If you could post id appreciate it. If i can build that and figure out why my leds on the upper board went out (leds test fine in a different board) then this would be done.

No problem, I will paste pictures of both wiring harnesses in the near future. From my experience when performing my upgrade all of my LED issues were related to faulty LEDs needing a better soldering job. So was typically my fault. Going back and desoldering/soldering fixed the issue. Using shielded USB cables also helps although it looks like all of my issues were related to individual LEDs that needed a better soldering job.

So I’m looking for some advice. I have the opportunity to pick up a Heighway Alien that I LOVE! Two concerns:

1. ITS EXPENSIVE. It is what they go for because they are rare but I’m saying that because my second concern is...

2. If I spend a ton of money on this machine and can’t find parts if it breaks, then what?

Are they feasibly maintainable? Am I done and wasted all my money if something major breaks? Can I even find any parts? Boards and the cpu seem to be holy grails if you can find them. I know some of the answers i will hear are going to be “there’s forums for those machines”. But quite frankly, I’ve been looking for the forums and there are like one or two only that I can find. They don’t seem to be very active. Or maybe I just don’t know how to find them? Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions or want to tell me something that’s going to make me feel better if I buy it? Thx!

You don’t really have to worry about the “expensive” bit. The money’s just tied up, not gone. If the experience doesn’t work for you just sell it. I doubt you would ever be stuck with it.

I don't consider the CPU a huge issue. In this forum there is a link to where you can buy the correct mobo/cpu combo that the Alien machine uses. When you have that it's trivial to buy the memory and the SSD drive. There are posts in this same thread that also list the amount of memory and the size of the hard drive. I believe it's 4gb of memory and around a 30-40 gb hard drive but can't remember. After that it's a matter of installing the Alien software snapshot on the hard drive which is also available. I have not done that for Alien but I have done it for regular computers and it's usually pretty straightforward. The IO boards can be tricky to find these days but you do see them pop up on occasion. Depending on what breaks you can potentially just fix that part on the PCB rather than getting a whole new board. It really comes down to how comfortable you are in getting your hands dirty if something breaks or goes wrong. This site and the Alien owner community is a great resource of knowledge in finding fixes for problems though.

Is this one of the prototypes that you will need to upgrade or a production one? If it's a prototype that you will need to upgrade I would be more hesitant to buy unless it's a pretty good deal and you don't mind jumping in to do the upgrade. Also, as TimeBandit said, the money is just tied up and not gone. If the experience is not working for you it can be sold. If it's for HUO I find it unlikely you will run into any huge issues. Mine was a prototype that was upgraded and I have had minimal problems so far.

a) The machine is expensive ( but you know that )
b) There is very little documentation that exists, so you have to be willing to work on it ( as with all pins). No factory manual on anything to my knowledge.
c) Probably the biggest thing is knowing which version you've found. I haven't seen a single ad stating " early build, cobbled together, good luck". They all say " works perfectly". I'd certainly play the game, pop the top and see what you're buying.
d) Like Mike said, you can always move it if you don't like it, or have issues. They didn't make many...around 200 total, including the early revs.

Good luck and happy hunting...an amazing game!!!!

If you are not able or willing to work on the machine, order parts around the world and raed a lot in THIS thread you should not buy an ALIEN.
If you want a unbelievable pinball machine with a backgroundstory and a real living community .. than BUY.

So far I think most problems are solved ..... I would sell my car, all other pins but at last .. the Alien. One of a kind, out of competition with other pins.

I agree with Tom here. I will never sell my Alien, or my Stargate . It's an awesome pin.

Thank you. Can you by chance give me a link to the best forum for the software snapshot and a link for where to buy an extra computer or the best place to buy parts? Just looking for a little "insurance". The game is $13,000. Thanks so much for your help!

There are 3 threads that will really help in here. Some of the guys don't post much anymore, but super geeks:

a) Heighway support thread - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/heighway-pinball-support-full-throttle-and-alien
b) This thread, post Andrew - massive read and alot of stuff
c) Resurrection thread - keeping 3 species alive. This was easily the deepest dive of the 3, and depending on which rev of machine you have, could be the most valuable. - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/weyland-yutani-dedicated-to-keeping-3-alien-specimens-alive

Maybe they are bookmarked in here, but I would favorite all 3. Welcome to Alienland!!!

For the computer I recall this being the correct one: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/AMD-A10-Quad-Core-gaming-motherboard_60781335264.html?bypass=true&spm=a2700.8592591.0.0.67e310a9paecj3

I can't remember where the software is located so you might need to do some searching on the forums. From my experience the three forum threads linked by MK6PIN are the main places to search for fixing issues. It's likely the location and directions for installing the software are listed in one of those threads.

Here are some pictures of my setup. Hopefully I have everything marked correctly. Matching numbers show connected points. You can also find some really good info here in regards to upgrading: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/upgrading-the-heighway-alien

AH1 (resized).jpg

AH2 (resized).jpg

Want to custom paint my xenomorph. I got the head off, but what's the trick with the jaw? The screw on the right side seems easy enough, but the left side has a bolt with a nut and the nut just spins and I can't seem to find with bolt head. Can you remove the jaw without taking the whole unit out of the game? If not, how involved is removing the unit?

Thanks

Tried to hunt through this Long thread but figured I could just ask. Where can I purchase some replacement green targets as well as the square clear targets in front of the Alien. Mine are not looking great... Really appreciate any direction. Thanks.

As I rem,ember there are 4 screws for the lower part of the head. Backside of playfield fixed with T-nuts ?! Hold the spining nut with a plier.

The clear target here

https://www.free-play.se/search/alien?twsList-no-slot=g-manual-d-24-4

Seems that the green targets are sold out ... also on

Pinball Life

Thanks So much. Looks like both are out. I have a rivet press and the targets work fine just the plastic is cracked on both. Would a standard target lens work and any idea which one could be used? Game is So perfect hate seeing those broken parts.

I need some quick advice. I found an Alien SE fairly local to me. Has beacons, comes with an extra complete set of plastics and some extra boards. $14k is the least he will take. I feel like that is high. Thoughts? My gut says no, its not worth that yet. Unfortunately I need to act quickly if Im going to get it. Thanks!

How did it go from 13k to 14k?

Is there anything wrong with it? If not, I find that price just fine.

14k seems about right especially with the extras.

One Alien was for sale in French craiglist like new SE for 7000 euros 3 days ago. I saw it in the first, contacted the guy, discussed the price, I told him I though his price really cheap and if I was closer to him I would have bought a second Alien pin. He then raise his price to 8000 euros and the pin sold in one day... I think not a lot of people can really give a price to this pin but if you sell/ buy at the right time, you may found the right buyer / seller.
This pin is a keeper.

It’s going to keep rising, it won’t stay at $14k, plus it has some extra parts that cost some $$$.

I'm in agreement. That is close to the going rate if you look at the marketplace history. It also comes with the extra parts which are either impossible to find, cost a ton, or a bit of both. I am curious as to why the sudden price change from 13-14? Is this a different pin from the previous one?