I think the company that makes them also sells a US plug. I bought mine from UK EL wire company, same one sunking used. You can choose either UK or US plug.

It takes lots of work initially to "fine tune", but once things are done, it works fine.

Looking is good but sometimes reading is required...

"Most of the Inverters have a choice of power input. This can be mains electricity (UK, US or Euro plugs) or 12V input."

I don't see "Australian" listed (240vac @ 50hz), but that isn't a major problem either since I can simply cut off the non-compatible UK plug (still UK has essentially the same Mains Supply specs), and wire directly to fused AC mains power inside the machine.

I appreciate your reply, however on that site, for that inverter, US plug is not an option, only UK main, that's why I asked

Alot of these (most) have an input range of 110-250v and 50-60hz, making them universal.

There is a better than average chance you'd still be able to cut the plug off and hard wired to the game.

Do you have the specs of the particular inverter, or model number?

Eh, I debate that tbh. Upgrading this has been a headache, which is part of why its been such a slow process. Fixing my leds alone was 12 hours of work between two people, one who is a professional tech where as I have a decade of repair experience. For the ones who upgraded an early game while having a second grade on hand I am sure its been much easier. Most of it hasn't been that its hard, just that the information is not easy to find.

Blowing up one of the new computers because they changed the input voltage 350 loss. One brand new io board dying randomly 300 dollar loss. Fighting with the drop target opto board because the wiring was different. 20 dollar loss.

The leds on the upper pcb randomly failing after fixing them with less than an hour of the machine being one. So far does not look to be an led issue which means board issue and might be money.

Once I get the game finished it might be a different story, but I have seriously debated throwing it up for trade once its done just because I am tired of working on it and hate the led/pcb setup with a passion. Lotta cussing at this game and wishing death upon the ones who designed the electronics.

ChipScott PM'd a link for the correct EL Panel supply

really painful and I can't imagine how hard it could be for you. At the same time, If I remember well, you have been warned before buying an early prod that it's gonna be a mess... I really hope you will be able to make it work as it should, because after all this pain, you should give it a chance.

Thank you all for your replies. Looking back at the recommended inverter that SunKing used and posted, that particular recommended inverter only has UK plug, although it may be able to be hardwired. That said, there appears to be some other options out there to evaluate. I have an SE, and would love to get some EL lights on those panels. Such a great look. Looks like I have some new direction and will keep you all posted.

Make sure you dont do what I almost did and put a screw threw the EL blade. Make sure you put the blades so its just below where the screws go in to hold the panel back into the cabniet .
And be careful with those panels. One piece of wrongly placed tape can actually take off the art work.

I’ve only had my machine a short time and replaced an LED and a coil and that’s it. Didn’t even need to replace the coil once I learned you can adjust their strength I think for home use it’s probably good. Mine is a late model production. Most of the current stuff before they closed. I’ve had more trouble with my stern pinball machines than Alien.

It wasn’t that bad. Take the balls out and then tilt the playfield all the way up on its side. Unscrew the screws that hold on the LED PCB board but don’t disconnect any of the wiring. Once the screws are loosened, you can move the board around and just pull out the LED and put a new one in. You can still test it while in the upright position. Took me about 45 minutes to do 8 different LEDs before I hit the right one but it really makes a difference when they are all working properly. Simple project really.

I can’t find the post, but does anyone recall the person that put miniature rotating beacons on his playfield? I’m building a topper and I want to use those but I don’t know where to find any. The Internet is pretty sparse on availability. Thx

Amazon. Rather cheap and simple to install.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0747JKR4X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title

I’m going to try to run a batch of these over the weekend. I’ll post here when they are ready.

I am him. I was the origin and designer of that mod before many others jumped in. I am almost finished with my final design of it to make it look more in line with the game and not so out of place of just simply tacking sirens here and there with tape. You can get the sirens in many places, but my design and mod was attached to a custom board I made to allow it to only turn on during certain modes and allow for the sirens to be individually customized to rotate a certain way or any of the 8 kinds of siren modes since in the movies the sirens were different in each movie and also rotated certain directions.

Hey neth,
Are making them? I’ll buy for sure

Bart

i realize how lucky I am to get one of the last one made. I cross fingers, touch some wood or whatever to be spared from issues. But I must say i do not feel serene each time I turn on the game.

I got you down, I have changed my design a bit from my first couple attempts as I felt I could do "more" for it. No longer am I just doing individual pieces and am instead doing a full "kit" style.

Ill put you down for a set and let you guys know when I get a prototype done and will show everyone when its all said and done.

That’s awesome. I’d buy some if you want to make me a set!

Might be the first alien topper but this is it. Just need to do a little bit more with the lighting.

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thanks so much!

Can’t wait!

I’d like to be a list for this as well.

Thing is, look at what ive owned. Plenty of rare, obscure, and frankly games others don't want to deal with maintaining. The physical assemblies on alien aren't bad. Electronics are the biggest steaming pile of shit.

The issues i have with the machine going forward have nothing to do with it being an early game. The led design and pcb board setup is idiotic. One led goes bad, disables the rest of tbe column, and requires a fair bit of time to fix. The ability for leds or proximity switches to wiggle loose also adds to this. The use of usb for io boards means they will come loose randomly. The pc and power supply in the bottom is a risk in and of itself. The wiring job is crap as well but might be better on later games. Frankly the way it was designed is why i believe it will never get remade. Its a ahitshow under the playfield.

Compare it to say jolly park. That has no parts support and very little posted on it. But once working its easy to maintain. It doesnt blow 300 dollar io boards for fun. It is logically laid out and small issues like bulbs are easy to get to, wont wiggle out, wont take out a column if they burn out. It doesnt have connectors that will come loose disabling a 3rd of the game. The same could be said of cosmic carnival, usa football, etc.

It seems you have a lot of experience on rare pins which I don't. I do share your view on the IO board. My USB connector has broke at some point and it needs to be resolder... but it's tricky. I've bought an extra one but I don't think it's normal so it was that fragile.
Mine is late prod with the late computer and so on. No issue so far, I can't say for the future. The biggest concern with this pin is the USB plugs which was the most terrible idea... Maybe someday, one Applejuice's like guy will come up with an alternate I/O board with a RJ45 or something really solid, same as JJP WOZ . There are some dime to make for any courageaous guy... there are 4 I/O boards for each Alien after all....

And a new metal Apron would be great as well !

Apron is fine to me. I'd rather it than America's Most Haunted. It is flimsy and can bend if you lift the playfield with it. This causes you to have to bend it back so the ball will go down the outlanes. It also would gouge the playfield so a common mod is to cut the outside corners near the out-lanes.

Alien's electronics look less like a production machine and more like an amateur's later prototype iteration. The fact that it was their second game is just baffling to me. AMH to Rob Zombie saw changes to the electronics and AMH electronically speaking is a much better designed game. It still however has a great theme, art, pf layout, and toys (when working).

Don't mind me, I'm just the designer over here wondering if/when I'm going to get paid for the (apparent) remake and what the status of it really is. Everyone else seems to know more than I do right now.

Hi buddy,
A remake of the heighway alien machine is in the pipes?

That's the point. All this gossip is flying around and I STILL DON'T KNOW.

I’ve asked other people from the team and it seems that it’s all BS...
One thing is sure, if there is a remake, it’s not CGC. Between us, with this major crisis flying around, i don’t see any boutique company take the risk releasing a pin like that... But it’s my opinion. For me, now, we could say it was all BS and some guys, on this forum, Had really good times. Maybe it was a play with the value of the game.
I could be wrong, but we could play like this for years...

I'd much rather not given how much of my life was an utter waste on that thing. I went in with nothing, came away with a lot less than nothing.

Alien never had a company to work through the design flaws (remember, WOZ had the PC in the bottom too in the first run. Took a lot to get those solid, but it had JJP behind it). The biggest problem w the game is not it's electronics, it's the plastics. The game is coded and plays amazing....far from an amateur effort. I'd take it any day over the titles above ( and most any other, actually)

The "company" only managed 1 true final run, and even those had design (and acrylic) issues. Once worked out, the machine is quite solid. If Heighway could have crossed the finish line, who knows.....

An owner has to sort:
a) Which "version" they have. Early ones just aren't going to make it.
b) Are they willing to do what it takes to get the game reliable?
c) Can you get the key parts?

I don't think a remake will come, but who knows? Would be interesting to see for sure.

(and yes, the apron is a piece of crap and needs to go)

th software is fantastic. It's not something coming from a newbye or any small companies: it's really polished.
I would NEVER have a bought an early version. Dung has been well warned, so be it.
At least the quotation of the pin would make OK for a resale without losing too much...

On my side, I knew from the beginning that there was money to invest in it because I want it to keep it in the long run. Anyone has the choice, early prototype is just WAY too risky for this pin. You don't want to leave the hobby or divorce your wife for a pin...

I heard it was Pinball Bro’s doing the Alien remake.

Gossip flying around? Where?

Ah come on, not the same discussion about a remake again!

Freakin Kanada and the typical few are at it again on facebook, trying to stir the pot and fan the flames because they have nothing else better to do to get people to listen to them. Tons of people want the pin still but cannot afford and are pissed at the going rates of them, so they're jumping on these wagons in the hopes to damage the values to pick one up. When I sold my SE to go LE, I had several hesitant because they started to drink this koolaid and backed out due to believing the recent chatter for fear the pin would loose its value and in the hopes they could pick one up cheaper later. Sucks for them as they all lost out hahahaha.

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"Nowhereland" Is that a word....

Wow! Not sure about all that, pinball is good, more pinball is better!

Disagree, this is tbeir second game, not their first. Cosmic carnival was more thought out than alien.
As for all the "dung was warned" bs. Early vs late does not fix the terrible led design. Does not fix the io boarda fragility. The use of usb in lieu of something with a locking connection. It does not fix their use of an under powered power supply.

I like the game but comparing it to anyone other conpanies first machine from the last 30 years, electrically its trash. Hands down, the worst. And anyone pulling g the you were warned dung go look at my collection history. I've got plenty to compare it to.

I will get this running at some point. I might keep it, might not, doesn't change the terrible design under the playfield. if it wasn't a dumpster fire the game most likely would have been remade by now.

I don't know anything about the " dung was warned" stuff, so can't comment on that.

Heighway hit a brick wall IMHO fiscally w Full Throttle, so Alien never got the full turn at bat.

Actually think they would have been better starting w Alien....Andrew had no idea how hard pinball was, or the massive interest the title would generate.

Your points are valid, except the "trash" part. It does seem your game was particularly brutal...don't know what rev you have, but serial lighting and weak power supplies are nothing new...hope it works out...

Alien smokes any other game you mentioned by miles...have to agree to disagree on that point..some genius minds and talent on this game...

Alien is a GREAT game. Sound, callouts and immersion are second to none. David Thiel nailed it and coding team did a phenomenal job. My late run LE has had no issues other than tweaking the alien tongue stepper motor.

And yes, Aliens are coming in a standard body......at some point.

appreciate the insight...

I bought an Alien Plastic from faust in February. I figure as we were at the start of Covid and the fact he is over seas it might take awhile to get. Hell, I thought it might not even make it due to what was going on in the world. I forgot to ask for a tracking number but from what I recall the plastic was sent by regular mail so there was no tracking number on the envelope. It did indeed take a couple of months to get here but it made it just fine. Over seas mail delivery is nothing like USPS. You mail something with USPS and it get to you in a couple of days. Amazingly fast. After 37 days I doubt the guy rowing the mail boat from Europe to the US is even half way across the ocean.

I think you might have to just be patient, it'll show up eventually.

QSS

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LOL just like 7 months ago...”very soon” lol, don’t bother stirring the pot when there’s nothing in there.

Did anyone come up with a solution for evacuating the excessive interior cabinet heat?