I installed the water torture mod. Took a few pictures to help. One confusing thing was instructions said red wire, but both wires on the mod were black. If you followed the black wire, you could see underneath it was red. I took a few pictures of where the 9 pin molex is. After connecting up, and turned game on, the blue light for the mod stays on. However, during the water torture mode, it starts to blink several times during the mode. Pretty cool!

Heres a link to pictures I took including a short video of the water torture mod "blinking" when the mode is in play:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0r5VaUrzZ7DMA

Awesome!

Last weekend, and again this weekend, AP is having a pretty good sale at their store. $50 off PF plastic set, 50% off backglass, art blades are $69 - some items 10% off, some 50%. Everything from coils to computer boards to invisiglass. Last weekend I put a topper in my cart, waited a few hours and the sale ended [I asked AP about the sale, but never heard back... I guess things are moving fast], this weekend with the sale active again, I went to put it in my cart and, boo hoo, it was sold out. He who hesitates is lost. So don't wait. It seems they might be purging.

And the sale prices disappeared again.
Really, I’m not crazy. Here is a photo of my cart.

5D7054C8-D68D-443D-8238-995690C69A70 (resized).jpeg

I saw your original post and jumped on this morning and ordered at the discounted prices maybe an hour ago ...

What do mean they disappeared? Looks like the sale price

For me, and a fellow Pinsider who emailed me, the sale prices are now gone.

Thanks zahner for the heads up. I wasted a hour fighting this.
I just placed an sale order with AP. The web site was terrible.
No where on the site do they mention the sale.
Each time you added something to the cart if you wanted to continue shopping you had to scroll through each page starting from page 1 and page through each one..

Sometimes the sale prices would kick in once in the cart after a delay.
Sometimes not.
If you modified your cart you would have to start over etc..
Not everything is on sale, the discounts ranged from 2-3% to 40%.
Stocked up on some coils and plastics and stage driver motor.

So, add the items to the cart, update, refresh, start over, maybe it will work.
Good luck!

Yeah, I’m sorry I found it or mentioned it. I get the sale stuff, then it disappears, then it reappears. Put it in the cart, discount, then no discount. I’m only after a few small items since I was aced out on the topper, so no biggie, but it’s definitely weird.
I really like AP. The people are the best, so even though this is a bit of a cluster, they get a pass in my book for their aggregate awesomeness.

So installed my DIY Coil inprovement upgrade and it works pretty good but now i have trouble with the ball tracking on houdini.

I'm on 19.12.23B - and have following issue.

When i shoot the Trunk shot and the lower catapult brings the ball to the trunk it falls through the diverter to the upper catapult. In this moment when the ball is ready to get shoot up the right habitrail from the upper catapult. The ball is not properly tracked. So after a few seconds the ball search starts and the ball got shooting by the upper catapult. When the ball goes down the right habitrail and rolls over a switch the game works. But when the ball drains the game hangs up (freeze) while music is playin in loop at the "view for the round points".

So i tested all switches and in Testmode they work also when the got activated by a ball.

Also i noticed "rattling sounds" when i pressed the flipper buttons and the flipper is in up position. It sound like a small sewing machine. You only hear it when you play without glass and music volume at 3. Don't know what it comes from

Hope you can help me guys.

Thank you.

Try reinstalling the code?

Not yet - is there a new Beta around? Or is the 19.12.23B the way to go?

Id just reinstall and see if anything changes, or gets worse.

Just curious (and not that it makes any difference)...do you have the EOS switches installed?

Try taking the DIY coil mod out and see if it goes away.

Yes EOS Kit installed and i will disamble my diy cool improvement kit and try it.

On your capacitor kit you made, did you use the same size capacitor (uF, not the dimensions) and voltage rating as the AP kit? Too large of a uF cap might cause the power supply some grief since it is a switching supply (it can cause issues with the level control loop stability...sorry for the techie talk) and obliviously too low of a voltage rating is a big 'no-no' too.

I recall looking for the max capacitive load the Meanwell power supply could support, but I didn't see it. Saw it for the smaller Meanwell version, but not for the one used in Houdini.

I bought these cap : https://de.rs-online.com/web/p/aluminium-elektrolytkondensatoren/1802093?cm_mmc=DE-PLA-DS3A

Vishay 56, THT Alu Kondensator, Elko 10000μF ±20%, 63Vdc, Ø 35mm, –40 → +85 °C

cause the one AP uses i couldn't find.

The capacitance value is the same as the AP part, 63V is fine. I think the best bet (and simplest) is to unhook it and make sure everything else is OK.

Just from a 70K foot level...I did notice yours is unpolarized, which I can't say I've used - I've only used polarized in my applications. But assuming the specs are similar, I wouldn't think it is an issue.

I would buy a Houdini coil improvement kit but shipping to germany is 50$ and a way to high for a 30$ product...

I will do some test later and give feedback.

Ok looks like it was a problem with the DIY Coil upgrade. So I hope i have a chance to buy it in europe. Maybe AP can help here.
At the moment:

Ball tracking issue --> solved
Flipper rattling when in up position --> still exist --> will rebuild the assembly
Mushi flippers (weak, strong) --> still exist --> still waiting to buy the AP Coil improvement kit here in germany or a cheaper shipping solution.

I really doubt the coil improvement kit caused your ball tracking issue unless you somehow managed to disable come coils and / or switches in the process. I had very significant ball tracking issues on that beta code and quit using it after sending multiple logs and bug reports to Josh from it. I had to re-install it multiple times because of really odd behavior like resetting as soon as you started the clear balls utility, the right lock release absolutely not holding down no matter what it was set to, etc. Thankfully the test code has been really good so far with regards to ball tracking.

Yeah you might bei right, but i don't know why ist runs now pretty stable. But i Hope there ist Chance to get the ap coil improvement kit. And then will See. Also Hope the new code will BE great. After a Long Time not playing Houdini i was hooked in the First Seconds when started a Game

I noticed my trunk shot now always ricochets off of the left ramp and misses the trunk. Any idea was caused this? The launcher scoop thing looks perfectly straight and it used to hit the trunk perfectly every single time. I installed a bunch of mods including the coil upgrade capacitor kit, but I don’t see how those items could be related. I’m thinking maybe I need to turn the power down on that launch coil? Any insight would be appreciated.

Yes, normally if the ball is hitting the ramp it's because the coil power needs to be turned down, probably because the coil kit increased it a little.

I just installed the coil improvement kit. the catapult was missing the trunk. dialing down that coil strength three notches was all that was needed.

Thanks a bunch guys, I’ll give that a try.

Agree, not sure how a capacitor upgrade, even if not ours, would impact ball tracking.

If you bought your game through our distributor, you may want to contact them to see if the part can be shipped to them the next next time they are getting something from us, which can obviously reduce shipping cost.

As far the flipper noise, check if you have 'flipper hold boost' enabled, if so, turn that off and see if that goes away.

As a reminder, I am looking for a few testers for a new test version of the code, see my post here . . .

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/american-pinball-houdini-thread/page/228#post-5831805

So made some more test. Also without the improvement kit the pin has still ball tracking issues. It's also repeatable... and starts with locking a ball and this time it goes in the underground and there it is not not properly tracked. The ball search brings the ball back and if it drains i got a loop of the "ball end sound" and the "points for this ball" get shown again and again....

So the rattle is not there if I disable 'flipper hold boost'.

rosh I will contact you for the new beta code and I hope I can get involved and help.

Thank you guys!

Being a DIY Bob made, I thought Bob might have been accidently installed the cap backwards, wrong uF or voltage (loading down the supply). But being non-polarized and the correct values, that wasn't the issue.

It's something with the Code, cause it Happens after shots in a "special order". It happen without ans with the kit.

I'm not sure what his end-result mod turned out to be but I assure you mine does use big electrolytic caps and if you install those backwards very bad things WILL happen in pretty short order.

Thats right - i learned it the hard way with the secoand power supply and a damaged PD-16 Coil board.

But i tested the cap with a Standalone power supply and measured it with a dmm. I would ever go this way before installing something unknown to a pinball machine.

I was thinking more along the lines if the cap was too big (uF), which can cause a switching power supply control loop issues. Maybe not that it would shut down - but it still caused an erratic output. Sometimes people think more capacitance is good, which is not always a good thing if the power supply isn't rated for it.

But, if installed backwards - not a good thing and if there's enough current, turns into a spectacular event!

Just returning to this thread. I've missed the last 10 months worth of messages.

Is there anything important I should know/replace? What is the latest most stable code.

Is there anyway to adjust the stage so the ball doesn't bounce out when hitting the open stage?

Thanks.

Oh man, who wants to tell him?

Lol

Basically you adjust the entire game around it.

When its dialed in, it works well.

I also became a beta tester now - thank you so much rosh.

So my problem with ball tracking is gone. And the game plays stable at the moment. Perfect!

I still have issue with the flipper power without the power coil performace kit. Also with mine DIY-Self kit. The flipperpower is not conconstant. I ordered the AP power performance kit and hope that works better. Maybe it's a problem with the "cheap chinese no name powersupply" the distributor send out for AP as the first fix....

Maybe someone as still issues with cap kit and the powesupply, then it would nice to know which power supply you have.

I have a 60V Powersupply that i will test, with reduced voltage to 58V so that the 63V cap will not get damaged.

Lots of talk of flipper issues, and API just put up a coil enhancement that evens out coil strength. I put it in even though I didn’t think I necessarily needed it. I’m glad I did. Helped with scoop and now I more consistently make the ramp and other shots.
Get the knocker.
I’m guessing new code pretty soon.
Set your game to 6.1-ish degrees not 6.5.
Get a subwoofer.
500 well deserved and absolutely true proclamations that Houdini, API, Josh and the rest of the crew are awesome and I think you are all caught up

Thanks a lot for posting the pictures. They definitely helped. Got the water torture chamber installed and it looks awesome. Also installed the knocker and coil performance kit. The coil performance kit definitely helped but now I need to find a way to get the scoop coil dialed in. Sometimes it takes way too many attempts to eject the ball.

Steve

I think the Cap Board, Houdini Pinball Coil Performance Improvement Kit (KIT0006-00), is one of the most important upgrades you can do to your Houdini. Mine feels like a new game after installation. Flippers are strong and decisive. PLUS my lower catapult works every time now, and it has been consistently missing for a year. I was THIS close to dremeling holes and bending, but I'm glad I didn't. This Cap Upgrade fixed it (my new coil setting for the lower catapult is 26).

https://store.american-pinball.com/collections/frontpage/products/kit0006-00

Make SURE you have the upgraded 48v power supply OR a Metal Box power supply installed before you order this board.

Just to recap what others have said in various posts and my own additions:
1. The included instructions are wrong. When you remove the first wiring harness, it's from J5 (not J2 as indicated) on the existing board.
2. See Jgaltr56's post (#11371) for a picture on where to install your new Cap Board.
3. I cut the wire ties to give a little more slack to the wire harness I pulled from J5.
4. Attach this wire harness to J1 on the new Capacitor Board (and make sure the Capacitor Board is oriented so J1 is on the left; it's backwards in the instructions). Make sure you attach this wire BEFORE you screw the Capacitor Board into the playfield so you make sure you have enough slack.
5. I bought an Irwin 6" Quick Change drill bit extender from Lowes to drill the pilot holes. This is almost necessary to avoid having to completely pull boards out. https://www.lowes.com/pd/IRWIN-1-4-in-Hex-Quick-Connect-6-in-Drill-Bit-Extension/1003019134
6. Hold the Cap board in place and carefully drill shallow pilot holes through the corner holes (make sure the plastic standoffs are on the bottom of the board, so the board "stands off" from the playfield. Some have reported these being on wrong as shipped by AP. Mine were correct).
7. Use the new wiring harness included in the kit to connect J2 on the new Cap Board to J5 on the existing board.

but does it resolve the flipper issue? Forget about helping as the upgraded power supply was supposed to help and not to mention other things but none ever fixed the issue with the flippers giving during multi-ball.

I know someone posted about this previously... but if anyone orders the knocker kit be super careful mine came wired backwards as well.

I think it did. My flippers are more consistent and I had to notch them down after the install. AND I forgot to mention that when I had Bullet stacked with seance and Trunk Multiball I no longer have feeble trunk catapult shots fall short. So, for me flippers and all coils are better.

But how constant ist the Power. My best example iis when i Shot the left Orbit from the right Flipper in a row - it's Like :

1. Shot: super strong and clean around the Orbit
2. Shot: strong but a Bit slower around the orbit
3. Shot: mushy Feeling and ball goes only half way the Orbit and Rolls slowly Back or around the Orbit.

So i Hope you hot a Feeling for what i mean.

I installed the wpc (Blues) coils in my Houdini - maybe that's a problem when i use a 10000uf cap.

Maybe it's possible for the AP Team or some which electonic skills to calculate which Cap should be used for the wpc Blue coils. Or maybe it's better to use more then one Cap?

Also i need to know wwhich type of coils AP uses for the Flippers ( so which is the wpc equivalent) - i want to Go Back to the Stock ones to test my cap.

Thank you guys

How did you connect up your subwoofer?

Directly connect it to the sub out on the amplifier

I cheated. I have a Pinnovator in-door headphone set up - which is actually pretty slick. It came with a subwoofer hook up that was just basically a plug and play. I can tell you that I am pretty certain that you will need a powered sub (mine is a passive with an external amp - same difference) and that the left +/- bottom terminals on the amp in your Houdini right above the monitor in the head are where the sub is wired into for this set up. I don’t know if you need to involve both the left and right if you are directly wiring to a sub. The I’ve attached a photo of the Pinnovator doohickey to show the wiring. The top four are for the speakers in the head and the two on the bottom are for the sub.
So that’s all I know and I know there are people on this thread who are far more knowledgeable on this subject. I hope this helped a little.

4782547E-81E9-44BC-9032-E3FA375DEE4C (resized).png

I wondered about that. If you directly wire, do you need to involve all four terminals, or is it sufficient to just pick the left or right side? My subwoofer only has one set of +/- terminals, so I was never too sure.

The amp has sub out fittings just use those.