Great problem solving!. I used some felt pads, but I do seem to get some gravity-based drop outs from the loop entrances, which seem normal and justified.

Yes, thank you for the clarification. You and bobukcat nailed it. If I push the flipper all the way down, it stays put. If I slap it halfway down, it rebounds quickly and forcefully. So it looks to be working as expected after all. Sorry about all my confused posts.

So i installed the new powersupply ( 60v/20a/1200w) and changed the coil Strings in menu.

My First Impression is that the coils are very powerfull. and the Flipper powersettings Go only down to 15. Hope AP can Change the Options down to 10 for Minimum.

But the main Problem ist still there, the Flippers lost Power during gameplay. In one second they are very Strong and then they Change to extrem weak and you can't Hit anything and Back to Strong.

The new powersupply helps

the cause of the behavior can only be software-related or it ist somewhere between the PD-16 coil board and the flippers.

I Hope that you Guys can help me to fix my lovely Houdini. I live this Game and won't Accept this weak, mushy flippers. Hope WE all can find solutions.

@rosh: IS IT possible to give us more settings options for Flipper coil Power? Down to 10 would be very nice.

It's not just the flippers. The kickout from the right scoop is still very inconsistent. Sometimes the ball dribbles out, other times it rockets out. Has to be something to do with the board set/software.

OK vireland Glad that you think is Something with the Boards or software.

Hope AP will figure Out a solution to make this Game "Playa" great.

Maybe it might be possible that the input voltage (Wallpower) fluctuates and this affects the 5V rail for the p-roc boards? So that the voltage is not constant 5V?
What happens when the boards get not the full 5v but only 3, 95 - 4,75 V or so, owing to wall power fluctuations.

Same to me .. I like gameplay and rulez from Houdini, but technical and from the "play feeling" there is a long way to get to WMS, Stern, JJP ....
For a fast game the pin is fine but we used it on a long evening with some friends and it came up with powerless flippers and problems with the right scoop after an hour or so.
Therfor a nice singleplayer game but nothing for a tournament so far. Hopefully it will still be supported until it is a full playable pinball, same for Oktoberfest and all the pins we, hopefully, see from API !

Very cool that the community works on it and API still supports !

I'm very thankfull for the API-Support ! Hope API can give me some more hints how to fix this behavior with the inconsistent coil power.

So 10 minutes ago I orderd a 5V, 10A Powersupply. I Will install it tomorrow to get consistent 5V for the boards and to find out if something changes.

Aren't the coils 12V?

Coils are actually 47 Volts at least with the new power supply, the original fluctuates based on wall power, not sure by how much. There may be some low voltage coils, haven't ever had to troubleshoot anything to that level on the game. He's talking about a larger 5VDC supply for the control side of things to see if it makes a difference.

It is very strange that some people have real bad powerproblems, others not ...
In Germany is a Houdini for sale for 6500 Euro that is 1000 under NIB price.
Too bad that this game is loosing worth so fast ... I think I willalso get rit of mine due the issues.
Was an very expensive excursion to API , my trip to Heighways Alien was not such expensive

Yes it's Strange but i won't give Up this Game and Hope for AP Support

Ive been reading wishing I could help more.
Which country are you in?
Been thinking about the inline power filter on the other side of the power cord in back of cabinet. You go from wall outlet, right into that filter, then to either transformer or the new power supply.
Is that correct filter for euro power?

Hi Eric,

Living in Niedersachsen (Germany) so i will Check the Inline filter. My I try a 230v Noise Filter.

Thank you for your Help and Input.

Any chance you have a multimeter or an oscilloscope?

My game runs good but I agree it has a lot of idiosyncrasies.

I think its inherent problems with the P-ROC system in general.

Beaglebone is a faster little computer

It was a curious choice, but I imagine it had to do with being expedient more than anything else.

Code work-arounds might be possible.

More headaches for Josh lol.

There are many areas that can be worked on, I hope API doesn't sweep Houdini under a rug and forget about us.

I love my game!

have a multimeter what should I measure?

So here is my config:

- 230V Variac set to 220V - 221V
- Powersupply (60V, 20A, 1200W) @ 54V fixed
- Powersupply (5V, 6A, 25W) @ 5,2V fixed
- Powersupply (old) for 12V
- Installed EOS Switch
- Pitch @ 6,2°

The flippers have power, but the scoop and flippercoils still inconstistent with "power". The new power supply helps to compensate the "low flipper power", but you notice that the flippers loosing force for some seconds and then they are strong.

Maybe I have to check EOS switches.

The Inline Filter is a DELTA 10GEEG3E

https://dtsheet.com/doc/740329/delta-10geeg3e

idiosyncrasies - yes a lot - and I hope Multimorphic and Josh can help us

Mighty,

Rereading thru the posts...wish you had a scope to catch the pulse when the coils fire. I actually posted about that earlier, but didn't realize I had replied to you. Regarding the scoop...is it possible that the ball is catching on something, causing it to fall back in? Perhaps the top of the scoop needs adjusted (maybe the angle is off slightly)? Any chance there's a Cliffy protector installed that the ball occasionally hits?

The line filter shouldn't have any bearing. It simply filters out high frequency trash and has minuscule impact on the line voltage.

Hang in there - it's a great game. AP will help point you in the right direction. Always great service from those guys.

Still loving this game here too! Josh mentioned another code update soon

+1

This game has such a cool vibe to it!

There will be two Houdinis on free play at Pintastic New England this month.

Can someone be so Help full and Post me eine Pics of the correct Dip switches and cablesettings for the coil Driver boards.

Also IT would be interesting which PCs (Hardware) is installed in the Games that Work "perfect" maybe there ist Something wrong with the setup...

I *think* the dip switches are for the board's address. An incorrect switch setting would likely cause the board to not respond correctly to any command.

That's not it.

It's a code problem of something interrupting the coded pulses to the flippers during multiball or events.

Basically when a lot is going on the P-ROC cant handle it with the current code.

Pulses are lost, events dont trigger, shots to the scoop end the ball in play etc...

Events get backlogged and basically forgotten or not logged so they dont happen.

Or there is a long pause while the P-ROC tries to catch up.

I see it all the time. An event wont trigger because the P-ROC is busy doing something else, or just plain busy.

It's not that fast of a computer.

Code optimisation might help.

Smaller or more direct code is easier to implement.

https://nypost.com/2019/06/17/indian-magician-feared-dead-after-attempting-harry-houdini-trick/

^^^ wow. They haven't found his body so it could be a publicity stunt. That would take after Harry Houdini as well!

Actually, they did recover his body, unfortunately.

Yeah....

Seems he'd been a career magician, which just shows how dangerous everything he was attempting, and how insane Houdini was for successfully pulling these things off for decades.

https://www.vintag.es/2019/06/harry-houdini.html

Rosh is working to improve the code and a firmware update to fix these issues..

This promoted ad popped up so I decided to order a set. I think it looks pretty cool and fixes the light bleed. Fingers crossed it is as pictured.

Probably could've done it myself with a little painters tape, ha ha, but for $9 and somebody else's engineering – I'll give it a try!

Anybody else order these or do a home fix? Love the color changing eyes, but the bleed is fairly significant.
IMG_5432 (resized).PNG

I installed these a while back and they worked great. One of the easiest mod's you'll ever install. Find a cylindrical item that's about the same diameter as the hole to set them firmly up against the insert (I used a 1/4" drive socket that was pretty close in diameter).

I used 1/2" rubber grommets post 8417

Same to me ... grabbed a rubber from the big box, cutted in 2 parts . pressed in .. ready ...
Unbelivable what people making money with it here on pinside !!

Would it be possible to use a separate power supply for the flipper coils and not run any of the voltage through the existing boards? The flipper coil strength could be dialed in by simply adjusting voltage output from this power supply. Once set up I would think the coil strength would never varry.

If its plugged into the wall and not a buck/boost supply, it will vary all the time as the wall power changes.

The upgraded supply from API is very good and compensates for low voltages.

What a couple guys are trying to work on are problems in the PROC itself.

Lost pulses, flippers losing power even though power is available etc.

A code work around should help a lot.

Possibly more than powering through with a higher power ceiling.

What if flippers could be set up like old school pins? Just voltage going through coils via path of cabinet flipper buttons, nothing more. Wouldn't that flipper act just like older Bally or Williams pins?

Yes, it's called unregulated power.

But nowadays we like to dial in the adjustments.

Using the computer for this is lightyears ahead of the old days.

Changing out coils, unwinding wire from coils etc. To dial in a game seems crude...

That would be the shaker motor its a factory attachment, you are correct.
Quite a few games have them.

Shaker motor. The game doesn't come with it, you can buy it from American Pinball and easy to install :

https://store.american-pinball.com/collections/frontpage/products/houdini-shaker-motor

LTG : )

Yes. But if game wasn't built for one, you'd need to figure a way to trigger it on and then off. Mod makers in the past have made kits that include a small board that runs it. You hook it to a target or something, and when the ball hits it, the shaker goes off for a few seconds.

Games built for it, have it programmed into the software when it goes off and stops.

LTG : )

You should think about buying one soon. People are selling them at fairly reasonable prices, and this could prove to be a pretty rare game down the line. It’s a great game to boot!

Hello,
do all the owners of the houdini pinball machine have temporary power losses in the drummers, especially in multiballs?

Flippers?

Do you have the upgraded auxillary power supply? EOS switch upgrade?

For loosing power during multiball the "upgrade powersupply" helps alot.

The main problem is the uncontrolled power loss of the flippers during gameplay, and I hope there will be a solution soon!
rosh if you need a "Subject" I hope that i can help.

I have to receive the EOS and the new power supply (AP does it with my supplier in France).
I know these pieces will help a little. Me, all my coils work properly (catapult ...). My only problem is the drummers who lose from time to time and their power temporarily either in multiball or single ball (even if it happens more often in multiballs). Jos is working on the problem. He thinks it comes from the control system. The goal is to help Jos find the problem and the solution. So, if people who have these problems, they can write it.

It would be good if we can find a group of people with this problem which can help Josh. I would help and test things like i did in the past.

So I noticed following things during gameplay:

--> After booting LED-Color is white and blue for the inserts.
--> if the ball goes to the pops and activate them, the light (Spots, GI) is flickering...

If you're ever in the area and want to play let me know!