Jack was probably drunk, don't do this.

Slight nudge is all you need.

Same for a ball coming out of the right orbit. It it has speed it will hit the post and come to the left flipper. If it is slow, I nudge to avoid a middle drain.

Just added this mod, love it.

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Hey everyone, it seems this has been asked before but I can't figure it out. Sometimes when doing a super skill shot on my DP Prem the ball hits the left sling coming out of the left orbit. I've talked with the distributor and we can't figure out why it's happening. It's at 7 degrees and completely level. We even tried a slight adjustment on the left guide rail but it's still happening.

It seems I only get feedback when I have two newer Sterns hooked up to the subwoofer, until they both power up. Once powered up, it's fine. However, I can't just turn on 1 game and not have constant feedback. I've tried all four connections with no change. Which pinnovators pinsub products would you suggest?

Are you using high or low level connections and does your sub isolate the two pins from each other or do you wire them into the same connections?

I'm running newer Sterns, Avengers IQ and Deadpool together on an external sub and can run them on or off in any combination with no problems.

Both are connected to the sub using the high level inputs direct from each cabinet speaker... one to left speaker input, one to the right.
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I also use the exact same arrangement with a Sega ID4 and Bally TZ, also with no issues.

Do you like that location better than the top of the left ramp?

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I use their pin mixer, which allows for 4 pins on one sub and you can adjust volume for each pin.

https://pinnovators.myshopify.com/collections/all/products/pinsmx-passive-subwoofer-mixer

And the pinsub product for each individual game.

https://pinnovators.myshopify.com/collections/all/products/pinsub-sam-stern-kit

OK I've spent a lot of time on my new DP pro and gotten most of my mods done and really loving it. I do admit I have some buyers remorse not getting the premium though. I got the disco ball mod and its a pile of crap. NOT recommended. I really wish I had the nicer chimi truck and the loop shot too. All that said I am enjoying the hell out of my pro. I also do prefer the pro artwork.

I added the movie music and pinwoofer setup and it sounds great! Got the upgraded pop bumper caps and they look really good and super high quality. All titan rubbers. I did the anti-tilt post for the snikt shot after having to already adjust it twice. Flipper toppers from Mr Tantrum and gave everything a nice waxing. I put the washers under the katana guides, turned down the ball eject power, and all the other little tweaks that were recommended too. Game plays excellent and is a ton of fun.

Take a look at the ball guide on the entrance to the left orbit. You can give it the slightest bend. This will allow the ball coming around from the right side to head to the flipper rather than the sling. It doesn't take much at all. Try it and then test, rinse repeat.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, mine is hooked up to the top left and right side. The only thing I'm unsure of is, the black and red connections corresponding with the speakers black and red. I have the wires connected to the pinball machine cabinet speaker with alligator clips. However, I've switched the black and red with no changes.

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In the picture you have the wires hooked up to the outputs...they should be going to the inputs.

Yes, this is a new issue that started happening to me as well with the newer Spike 2 games.

When I connect two spike to games to the same Polk Audio SN10 powered sub, each on their own high-level input, and turn one of them off there is a popping sound that comes through either the sub, or the speakers on the game that is off. Switching the wires around changes the tone of the popping sound, but doesn't make it go away.

The sound goes away as soon as the "off" game is turned back on and has booted up.

Same thing happens on my DP, which shares a sub with my R&M, if R&M is off, then popping sound plays through the sub. If DP is off, no popping sound anywhere.

I also found that if I connected an older SAM game with a Spike 2 game there was no popping sounds.

So Stern has changed something in the newer Spike 2 boards that is causing this interference. I have no idea what the Polk subs circuitry is, but I never had an issue like this with any other games sharing a sub until now.

In any case, I just ignore it since it goes away in a few seconds once the games are booted.

Maybe I'm wrong... but it looks like you are wired into the 'outputs' and not the 'inputs'?

Not sure if those are connected together internally to act like a passthrough back out to speakers, so may not have any impact?

If the positive/negatives are reversed, you would get less bass, so switching those to find the most bass should work, you could also confirm from the pinball board or schematic which is supposed to be which.

I will change the output to input and try again later today. Also, good information on the black and red connections
Thank you

Interesting.

As I mentioned earlier, I have the Monoprice 12" sub and have AIQ and DP connected (both Spike 2), usually playing with only one machine powered on at a time (not always) and I never have had this issue.

.

Added the movie music? Can you change the music on the DP?

Still a bit of a noob - trying to learn. Thanks in advance.

Maybe the monoprice has better isolation circuitry between the two inputs or something. I have multiple SN10s and they all have this issue on Spike 2 games.

I had a similar issue hooking two SPIKE 2 games up to one sub. I finally tracked it down to a ground loop issue. Putting one of the games on a cheater plug eliminated the loop and fixed it. Two SAM machines or one SAM one SPIKE never gave me an issue. It is also possible that some subs are better at isolating the two inputs than others.

That makes sense. I even tried plugging the games into separate electrical circuits, since I have plugs nearby on different ones, didn't help.

FYI "Cheater plugs are also used to break ground loops in audio systems.[5] This practice has been condemned as disregarding electrical safety.[5][6] A safer and more reliable alternative is to use an isolation transformer made specifically for this purpose. "

So basically, you have one game that isn't grounded in this setup, right?

Correct, with a cheater plug, one game is not grounded. That...isn't an odd thing in my basement. I'm guessing my house isn't rare among older houses with inconsistent (or non-existent) grounding.

There is lots of conflicting information out there about the use of cheater plugs. It is really no different than any other electrical device that only uses a two prong plug, including pretty much every EM and early SS machine. Obviously draw your own conclusions about the safety of using them.

Well my understanding (WARNING - I'm self taught) is older pinball machines have fuses that would fail if for some reason the mains power going into them shorted uncontrollably to the internal game ground loop / chassis. So a human touching the lockdown bar could end up as ground for the game, but the fuse would blow and save their life, mostly.

In this case, the audio out cables could become the ground wires and an electrical fire could result. I mean, George Gomez *says* spike 2 systems have tiny invisible circuit breakers on them, so I guess they'd fail (more likely something in the power supply itself) before an actual fire was started, but who knows. Someone should test this... (kidding, please don't test this).

Change of topic....

Is there any ball save timer for hellhouse ejects? Not seeing it anywhere in the adjustments or DP specific menus. Lots of others, but not for the hellhouse.

Every now and then, it's just laughing at me as it ejects SDTM. And you'd better believe it happens exclusively when I'm having a good game going. Even a 1-2 second courtesy ball save would be wonderful.

I don't think there is a ball save for ejects out of the hellhouse scoop. I've never had an eject from there go SDTM. Now I have had and do still get SDTM from Lil' DP, but, luckily, that does have ball save for the various modes (multiball, frenzy, bounce).

I don't ever get drains coming from Hell house. Make sure your bracket is screwed down under the play field. Also, look at the bracket itself and inspect for cracked welds.

I do have all of my pins on outlet strips, pretty sure DP and AIQ are plugged into different strips, but the same gang of wall outlets.

I wouldn't recommend running a pinball without a ground, but probably not as 'risky' with modern pins.

Everything locked down tight, and scoop protector replaced with a cliffy before ball one was even played.

It's exceedingly rare - once every few hundred (if not more) ejects. Just horribly frustrating, as it never happens first thing on ball one. It's always when you want it to happen the least. Riding 2 dangers late into a kick ass ball.

Could probably adjust things to ensure it never happens, but thought I'd verify that there's not a ball save timer adjustment before bothering. For something that happens rarely and at random - it's really frustrating.

You can also see if the top portion of the scoop (above play field) rocks back and forth, by checking it with your hand. This would be an indicator of a cracked weld. Additionally, the welds are supposed to be ground smooth at the middle of the scoop. Last, I think you can adjust the power of the ball being ejected from the scoop in the adjustment settings.

I agree, Stern must have changed something because I never had an issue until now (10+ years of using external powered subs).

I had the same popping sound issue with DP and AIQ sharing my Polk Audio. I switched to using CN5 instead of speaker wires from cabinet sub and the problem resolved...they now happily share the sub without issue. Here is a link to what the cable looks like, I just made my own.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/90670

Music on Deadpool is great, I personally wouldn't want to change it.

There's a program called Pinball Browser that allows you to change audio, video and images on some (most) Stern games and possibly some earlier manufacturers as well.

Great music and the best call outs in the business. Don't fret it.

Thanks for the suggestions. Nothing off with the welds, or scoop protector or anything like that it appears.

Scoop function is simple enough. Ball goes in scoop, microswitch gets pressed in, moment later coil fires and nylon plunger shoots ball out. Tested things manually and mine fires the ball to the right flipper roughly 2/3 of the way up the flipper. Over and over - consistent as can be.

BUT

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Due to the orientation of the scoop and the slope of the playfield (I'm in the 7 degree camp for what it's worth) - the corner circled in blue sits a little lower than the rest of the scoop. Every once in a while, I put the ball in and it would actually settle into that corner and not the circular opening. Switch still pressed in and the coil fires, but now the plunger doesn't hit the ball square. I could slowly lower the ball into that corner to force this to happen, but the resulting eject would then pretty consistently end up hitting the right lane guide an inch or two above the flipper.

What I assume is happening on those rare SDTM ejects is that the ball rattles in the scoop just long enough to trigger the switch, but not settle into the circular opening before the coil fires. End result - some randomness to the path of the eject, and eventually (Again - ONLY WHEN YOU'RE KICKING ASS) - the numbers bite you in the ass. Basically - the pinball Gods are fickle and it's all just a part of the game.

Deadpool callouts awesome! Distant second to R&M though

Get to the garage Morty, Get to the garage Morty, Get to the garage Morty, Get to the garage Morty, Get to the garage Morty, Get to the garage Morty, Get to the garage Morty, Get to the garage Morty, Get to the garage Morty, Get to the garage Morty.

Dunno about that.

That's a tough one. Maybe add a washer to one side of the bracket under the playfied to level it out. However, you may have to adjust the switch, since it barely reaches. I had to adjust mine on day one, because it wouldn't reach.

It's weird, but even just looking at it for a bit and convincing myself of WHY it's happening has made it way less annoying. (He says until the next time it happens at the wrong time.)

Thinking about it further though - most shots to the scoop aren't kicked back out immediately. You either need to choose a battle, wait for a mystery award, collect weapons, etc - giving the ball time to settle in before being kicked out. Whether it comes to rest in the circle or manages to cling to that corner - the ejects are really consistent for me. Mid right flipper, or a bit higher up onto the lane guide.

If I'm right about what causes it - it's really just a perfect storm for the SDTM kickout. Nothing else going on in the game so the ball is ejected fast + rattled shot that takes a moment too long to come to rest + coil plunger happens to hit it just right as it's settling in. Not a whole lot to be done other than being ready if you see the ball rattling a bit when it goes in the scoop. None of the scoop lights lit and it's a rattler? Be ready to shove.

If pitch is a concern, I'm at 6.8 between the slings with no problems.

You must really suck at making the garage shot...

yeah, settle, not really. I hardly hear that call-out anymore.

Only played a couple games on it, couldn't get past that callout and walked away. If i see it again somewhere i'll give it another chance.

Finally earned my chimi! Premium arrived yesterday, but unfortunately with some nasty battle scars on the right panel. Reached out to my distributor, and probably won’t hear back until Monday. Anyone know if the side panel art can be replaced, like by striping the vinyl (or whatever Stern uses) and re-applying another? Hoping this isn’t a full return/replace situation.

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My distro just replied (on a Saturday evening, dang it’s great having a good distributor!). Going to get a replacement graphic. Now just need to find someone who can replace the art professionally. Installing art blades is the furthest I’ll trust my skills.

Hard to tell from the picture but that may need some body work too… the spot worn to the wood… is it smooth or is there a gouge out of the wood? If there is a gouge you’ll need to do some filling and sanding to get the new graphic to lay flat.

There’s a shallow gouge into the wood. Whatever did this, it wore just a bit past the black behind the vinyl.

Wow, sorry to see. That sucks

I switch all the wires to the inputs with no change. Ill probably just deal with back feed for 30 seconds and turn on all the games. This leads me to another question. I thought you could hook 4 pins to the subwoofer. How do you connect them with only 2 inputs?

My first ever home pin, too, lol. At least it’s giving me some good experience with my distributor.

I'd be pissed. I don't think installing new graphics is a walk in the park either. If it's gauged, you may need wood filler. I would try to return it.