Dialed In
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New DI owner! Family loves it!
One thing I've noticed...is that the QED guy movement and especially the mechanic's arm are both squeaky. I've searched but "squeaky" didn't show up. I know I'm supposed to keep oil away from the machine but what else can I do to help alleviate some of the noise?
Quoted from LTG:Metal to metal joints, a tiny bit is okay.
LTG : )
Ok, so the squeaking/creaking is happening only when Betty is raising the diverter, because the wheel is rotating up and pushing against the circular plate above it. There is more metal against metal pressure when going up than down, hence...only squeaking when going up.
It looks like there is originally maybe some grease on the rotating wheel? I do have oil/gun-oil that I could use but it seems maybe some kind of grease might be more appropriate here? I am definitely not a mechanic though.
Sanity check: So, if my right ramp shot has enough speed, sometimes its turning into a right orbit shot. I'm not positive on what happens, but perhaps the ball is getting slightly airborne and then hitting and going over the left orbit "wall" and then down the left orbit? Or do I need to adjust something like the metal flap in front of the right ramp or something?
Quoted from fnosm:https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/26#post-4048873
For those like me that don't want to go searching.
Thanks for sharing this Nokoro and originally Cooked71 . The rejects are driving me crazy and it is great to have this easy fix.
Thank you! 128 pages is a lot to go through. Will definitely get this installed asap. I was also getting rejects sometimes on right ramp, I believe from the ball hitting the corner of the left loop opening (corner closest to flippers) and coming back down so this should solve both problems.
Quoted from FatPanda:If you have superlube, I would probably put the thinnest of coats on it. I'll have to do this as well since mine squeaks also.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! A little bit of cleaning, and the tiniest amount of superlube grease made the squeak completely disappear. It was really irritating before!
Any other ideas? So I tried some Velcro tape on the ball trail for the right ramp, but on fast shots it bounces back quite often.
In this pic, you can see a vertical "ball trail" on the left of the left orbit exit ->
Which tells me that the ball is getting airborne from the ramp leading up to it. The metal flap in front of the front is ever so slightly raised a bit, which could be a problem though I don't know how to make flush since its riveted into the ramp...
Quoted from Nokoro:Try lowering the power on the left flipper slightly.
Yeah, unfortunately I already have done that (to make things like the theater shot easier). Hopefully there is some other thing I can try before I resign to just accept fast right ramp shots have a high possibility of backfiring.
Also...got the crazy bob thingverse holder installed today! Big thanks to a local friend for 3d printing it for me ->
Only thing I needed to do was drill a hole on the bottom for the screw. I'll still need to go to Ace and pick up a slightly longer screw, though the original can hold it but its just half threaded into the nut.
I also needed to Dremel out the hole for the LED cables. I'll use double sided tape near the bottom to make sure it doesn't move from its position. If I ever see a ball catch at the top I'll just add a tiny bit of foam to prevent it from happening again.
Quoted from Nokoro:Hmmm. Maybe a longer strip of Velcro tape. The trick is to slow it down enough so it doesn’t jump or bounce back.
Wouldn't that also negatively affect every other shot too like slower shots now not making it because it slows down too much, or the auto plunger now not making it, etc?
Quoted from snaroff:Here's my analysis/solution...has been working great for nearly 1-year now
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-right-orbitramp-ball-rejects
snaroff
I like it! Two questions:
1. Any reason why I would need to buy the vinyl electrical tape vs just normal black electrical tape? Is the vinyl stickier, or thicker or ?
2. A bit hard to tell from your pics on your other thread...but do you have some tape actually on the metal flap or is it entirely just in front of the flap?
Quoted from snaroff:I happen to have vinyl/blue around and it seemed to do the trick. Color doesn't matter, but whatever tape you use should be on the thicker side and slick/smooth (i.e. no texture).
There is no tape on the metal flap...just in front of the flap. The idea is to make a smoother transition so the ball doesn't "skip" on the thick flap. JJP seems to like thick flaps, but they cause problems like this. The "best" solution is to remove the thick flap and install a thin flap. Unfortunately, that would involve more surgery to the ramp and access to a riveting tool (which I don't stock).
Good luck, and let me know how it goes!
snaroff
yes, Yes, YES! Installed some electrical tape in layers, making a "tape ramp", and...so far very successful. I can throw the ball manually up the orbit with as much speed as I want and its not hitting the left orbit exit ramp/getting returned.
I went ahead and took off the Velcro strip on the side wall. It was slowing down other shots up the orbit, and it was also shedding Velcro loops. After removal, I retested the orbit manually and I could still throw it with tons of speed no issue, so I think the real fix is the tape ramp. Thanks again! My right ramp is fixed. Now I just wish the left orbit didn't need as much speed as it does to fully complete the orbit and act like a true orbit. I could increase right flipper power but its already plenty for the left ramp and every other shot...
Next, ...I notice my cliffys are a bit curving upward ->
Anything to be concerned about? I would rather not put tape here since its much more visible. Though...the only way I could think to fix it, I would have to remove the cliffy, rebend, and reinstall. Which I can do...though it would take a while...
Also...for the SIM card shot...I believe I read months ago of someone adding washers underneath the sim card scoop because they thought it was too low. Is this still a thing? Is everyone adding washers?
Lastly...I find this lamp is odd.
Its the only lamp on the PF that is completely exposed. I know its frosted but its still a bit of an eyesore. Is it to light up faces for the camera? I might put a piece of electrical tape on the plastic above it so it blocks it from eye view but still illuminates the area around it. Anybody else think that its odd?
Quoted from koops:For that ramp I would have just used a little bit of Mylar if it’s getting hung up. Would blend in better.
I did put some Mylar on the skill shot cliffy as a ball kept getting hung up on it.
Ok, I might try some mylar on the cliffy to keep it taped down.
Someone else tried some mylar on the ramp but it wouldn't "build up" since its not thick like electrical tape.
Quoted from Tranquilize:If you tape down the Cliffy with mylar, it will just bubble up and look like turds. I'd just leave it. It won't hurt anything. If you must fix it, take out the cliffy and gently bend it back straight.
Yeah....you are right...
The mylar isn't strong enough, at least for this corner, though...it did help on the other corner and the sim card sim. I don't expect it to last long though. I played a few games though afterwards and I do think it helped so I think the cliffy being bent up does cause rejects that otherwise shouldnt' happen. I may just have to bite the bullet and uninstall/bend/reinstall. I probably should keep some mylar in front of the scoop though to prevent wear from the upkick.
Quoted from snaroff:Glad it worked! My phone scoop cliffy was curving up as well (tried a couple). Since I had no damage to the scoop, I switched to a Mantis style protector (https://mantispinball.com/product/dialed-in-phone-scoop-protector/).
I have the LE, and the ramp has a lot of exposed lamps (though they aren't white). Now that you've pointed it out, it *is* odd/annoying"
snaroff
Ok, so a $20 fix isn't that bad. With the mantis, you just have mylar protecting the rest of the wood around the scoop?
Quoted from Gogdog:Lastly...I find this lamp is odd.
Its the only lamp on the PF that is completely exposed. I know its frosted but its still a bit of an eyesore. Is it to light up faces for the camera? I might put a piece of electrical tape on the plastic above it so it blocks it from eye view but still illuminates the area around it. Anybody else think that its odd?
Ok...I went ahead and disconnected this light. After relooking at it...it honestly serves no purpose and its actually quite a detraction from the game.
1. It lights up no PF area. There are metal sheets on both sides of it, and the area its "illuminating" is what I would call...backstage area that you really shouldn't see.
2. It shines right in your eyes
3. Its like the only nonrgb light on the PF besides the slings/outlanes. So when the PF is doing a nice light show its always on and a detraction.
It was a simple non-permanent disconnect.
Quoted from snaroff:Did you leave the light in place, or is there a hole in the PF now?
Thanks for the update.
snaroff
The bulb is still in place....its a simple 2pin molex connecting power to the LED under PF. I simply disconnected it under the PF.
Oh....and since there is no flipper adjustment holes on DI....where is everyone setting their upper right flipper? Do you all have it so it is pretty much touching the metal wall behind it or at least, extremely close to touching it?
Is there an ideal position for that flipper that everyone has found?
Quoted from check_switch_26:Have you installed V1.61 software and checked out the brightness on that lamp? I put in a change to dim the Spider GI, except when used in lamp effects. (I am a bit fond of the "left loop enter" effect myself.)
Also, note that the ball guides have cutouts on the bottom, so that lamp does provide some light to the left loop and left ramp.
--Ted
I have not installed 1.61 (still running 1.57), due to the reported issues. My ball guides on both sides of the lamp are pretty much flush with the PF so there is extremely little light if the lamp is on. Unlike...the opposite side of the left orbit ball guide that does have cutouts so light does bleed through. I wasn't aware of a left loop enter effect that I noticed.....I assume it blinks or something on left loop enter?
Its a festivus miracle!
JJP sent replacement cliffies and I got them installed today. I didn't have double sided tape (strong stuff that like mezel mods uses...) so I went ahead and did overlap some mylar. I have noticed balls going in the scoops easier now. I'm not convinced that they won't curl up again (especially phone scoop), but if the phone scoop does, then I'll replace with mantis. After install I can see one corner not 100% flush already.
I can tell you though...that the cliffies are doing their job! I have an April 2018 build date so they were installed from factory and have about 8000 plays on it now. No damage to either scoop.
20181225_123735 (resized).jpg
20181225_115159 (resized).jpg
Anyway...I was having an issue with the phone scoop VUK sending the ball down at a weird angle, sometimes SDTM. I originally thought it was because of the bent cliffy, but after install, it was still doing it. After closer inspection (which I should have done awhile ago), I noticed the VUK was shooting the ball fairly high and it was hitting the right ramp wireframe. I show that the VUK was at default power 17.....changed it to 12 and now its perfect! Feeds to the right bottom flipper just fine and doesn't hit wireframe.
I also adjusted all 3 flippers to be more parallel with the inlane guides, and now my DI feels like a completely different pin! That with the new cliffies, ...shots are easier, scoops are easier to hit, VUK feeds much better, etc. Love it!
Oh yeah, when I went to install the sim shot cliffy, I noticed how hard it was to remove the left ramp because I had the mezelmod lighted station 1/subway sign. The 3 led light strip is taped down so you can't remove it without unscrewing the screws on the ramp. Which....is hard to do without removing the ramp because there are nuts on the underside of the ramp.
Easy solution....is to instead make the led strip attached via Velcro.
By the way....MezelMods changed the station 1 design.
This is what it looks like on the site ->
Notice the nice raised/crisp station 1 letters.
And now....notice this pic ->
Notice the station 1 letters are flat against the sign and actually look a bit worse in real life than this picture.
I immediately noticed this and emailed mezel….they said they changed the design for cost reasons. Which is fine. Doesn't excuse them from not changing the picture on their site though.
Quoted from delt31:I was never a fan of the original mod but that new version is def worse. I would ask for my money back
They did offer to let me return and get a refund. But...after the time I spent installing it, and then to uninstall it and ship it back seems like just making the situation worse.
So...when my trapdoor opens, it hits the wireframe above it, then falls and catches on the latch so its open half way (enough for balls to go in, that's not an issue).
The problem is hitting the wireframe above it. JJP sent out a replacement because my metal flap snapped off, but I don't want the replacement to get ruined.
I see that there is a leaf switch, which I assume shuts off coil power as the trap door opens.
Right now...the leaf switch seems to click open fairly soon after the trap door opens, but...is this the only adjustment for the trap door "opening" height? Or...maybe is there a coil power setting that I should use so the coil receives less power?
Quoted from Fortytwo:I would assume the switch just notifies the game the door is open and doesn’t control the stop. The coil firing is a pretty sudden thing. Lowering the power would learn the damage but not control the throw. Does the coil and stop have any adjustment. Aka Lodoen it and move the coil and coil stop left? Or is the stop removable possibile to replace with a longer stop?
I would also ensure the coil bracket screws are not loosened.
Ok..so, correct me if I'm wrong. I believe a coil stop is when you press like..the flipper, and an arm swings over and pushes on a leaf blade and cuts power to the coil? For example...here is the flipper on DI ->
There is no such mechanism on the trapdoor coil. And...there is no adjustment to position of the coil. I.e., I can't move it up/down, vertically, horizontally, etc. Its screwed down in one location.
I also looked through the menu. There is no option to change the coil power of the trapdoor coil (unless its buried somewhere else besides the settings -> coils menu).
Ok, you are JJP support, right? So....what am I supposed to do to make the trapdoor not hit the wireframe? It can't be designed to hit the wireframe..it would snap the metal flap over a short time...
Quoted from LTG:Assuming the metal above isn't bent down a little.
I would either bend the bracket forward a little in the direction of the arrow pointing up. Or the arrow pointing to the bottom of the bracket, I'd remove the coil, and drop an 8/32nds locknut in the bottom of the coil, limiting the amount of travel the plunger travels.
LTG : )[quoted image]
I can throw a locknut in there no problem. Would doing that have no repercussions on the coil or plunger over time?
Quoted from LTG:No more than the plunger hitting the coil stop over time.
LTG : )
Ok...and...yeah, I made a mistake. The coil stop is this thing ->
Not...whatever thing I pointed to in the flipper assembly I posted above. I feel dumb about that.
Anyway...just want to make sure about the nut in the coil option. You said locknut, but I think you meant maybe a normal nut? A locknut with the plastic in the middle might eventually break down because of the pounding and get plastic bits in the coil sleeve. And...even with a normal nut, it might fall over in the coil sleeve which seems like could be a problem too.
I don't know...I might be over thinking it. I'm fairly new to this.
Thanks everyone. Ok, I'll try the nut in the coil.
And...yes, the tab on the latch mechanism is bent. I don't really see how adjusting it would help the initial throw of the door hitting the wireframe though. It seems you would need to adjust the tab if:
1. Door can't open because the latch is too high so it never clears it.
2. Door can't stay open because the latch is too low so never catches.
Basically, doesn't the adjustment tab control how much travel the latch has? (that's what I understood from a video I saw about it yesterday). If so....I don't think it can control how far the vault door travels vertically on initial launch...
Ok....haven't really been able to test the nut fix theory. Basically...the nut is just going to fall over, and then make it so the coil stop barely moves because its taking too much space in the coil sleeve.
It falls over immediately even when trying to install the plunger back in the coil, and....its going to fall over during normal operation after a hit, or anytime you raise the PF....or basically, you can't ensure that its going to stay in position.
I guess I could solder the nut to the coil stop...but would rather not do that until its at least tested. Maybe...super glue it first?
I could try and get a longer coil stop...though not even sure how to remove the old one?
Another option is to get a longer plunger though I don't have any laying around. I only see 2 options on pinballlife (slingshot/ballshooter plunger) that have the same shaped plastic piece. A 2" and a 2 1/8".
Any thoughts? Do most of your trapdoors not hit the wireframe when opening?
Quoted from LTG:Roll a piece of tape. Stick to nut, stick it in there. Press down. Should stay put long enough to reassemble everything.
LTG : )
Yeah....I can do that for a short term test but...that's not going to last long term. The nut will still move around eventually. I can do that to test though to see if the nut is even viable to fix the issue...
Ok....so initial results are promising, though still needs improvement.
I'm surprised at how little the plunger actually moves inside the coil...there isn't actually a lot to work with.
Basically....a locknut is way too thick. That's about...4 washers thick.
I went ahead and superglued (I can easily take it off later with a razor) a normal nut, which is 2 washers thick and tested it.
The nut definitely limits vertical movement and the trapdoor will not hit the wireframe for sure. Also...its just thick enough where it moves vertically sufficiently to catch on the latch. Though...just barely. Its hard to see in this picture, but here is the door just catching on the latch ->
It should look more like this ->
But...it does work to open/close the door.
However...there is no vertical play. Which....you need the door to move upward when its resting on the latch so when the ball hits the trapdoor, the trapdoor moves up..."gives"...so the ball goes in. Technically if the ball has enough force it can go in the trapdoor when its resting on the latch, but...you'll get too many rejects.
So now I'm off to ACE to get a smaller nut, or a few washers that have small enough diameters to fit in the coil sleeve.
Ok...now I'm getting somewhere.
A single #8 flat washer. 3 #8 washers are the same thickness as a single 8-32 nut, and also just fit the interior diameter of the coil sleeve.
Now, the trapdoor doesn't hit the wireframe, and...still has enough vertical play for balls to go in easily.
Its possible.....that I will have to add a second #8 washer once my replacement trap door comes in. The metal flap might touch the wireframe. And HOPEFULLY, the second washer still allows enough vertical play to allow balls to enter the trap. I'm imagining its going to be close though. There isn't a lot of wiggle room between too much vertical movement and not enough.
But right now...what a difference this makes! When the trapdoor opened before, it was loud because It was hitting the wireframe and caused the whole station 3 building to shake. Now its much more muted when it opens.
Oh, and the washer is only attached with superglue. When I removed the #8 nut, it was surprisingly stuck to the coil stop, but I was still able to get it off. I would imagine the superglue is going to fail in the future after getting pounded by the plunger. I'm thinking solder would hold up to the abuse no problem?
Quoted from Tranquilize:Find out the depth needed with nuts/washers. Take an old flipper plunger and hacksaw of the desired size. The chunk will not flip in the coil as it is exact size. I've done this with great results on other pins.
That would be nice, though I don't have an old flipper plunger. I would have to be exact with the cut though....a washer is only a mm or 2? I wouldn't trust my hacksaw skills with that. I think I would go the solder route instead if I find the washer moves on me.
Or...next I'll try bending the bracket like LTG also suggested and see if that actually does anything.
Quoted from Tranquilize:Find out the depth needed with nuts/washers. Take an old flipper plunger and hacksaw of the desired size. The chunk will not flip in the coil as it is exact size. I've done this with great results on other pins.
Oh wait...after rereading your post...you are suggesting basically making a washer out of an old flipper plunger. I was thinking you were saying...taking that flipper plunger, cutting it to exact size to be used as the new coil plunger.
Anyway....the chunk you are talking about would still be able to 'fall over' in a coil sleeve. The #8 washers are a very close fit to the coil sleeve. In fact..probably tighter than a flipper plunger. Like this ->
However...after thinking about it...I believe this washer really is a good solution. When I put in a nut, it wasn't near as tight, so it could fall over and then when the plunger hit it, it wouldn't flip back over, also due to its hexagonal shape.
With the washer...its a tight fit so when it falls over, it stays in the center of the coil sleeve, and...I dont' think it can even fall completely on its side because the plunger will hit it. Plus...I just tested it by dropping the washer into this coil sleeve vertically...it always falls flat on its face.
Thus, anytime I move the PF vertically, yeah...the washer might turn...but as soon as I put the PF back down, the coil goes in a vertical position, the washer will then rest flat against the coil stop no problem.
With my outlane kickback, it seems to be fairly variable with how hard it gets hit back/trajectory. I can totally understand it being variable due to how fast the ball is going in the outlane, or where the kickback exactly hits the ball, etc.
Just making sure its not something I need to adjust though. Are most people's outlane kickback variable or does it go about the same trajectory every time?
Does anybody have some tips on adjusting the switches on the loop wireframes? I adjusted several of them in the past because some shots were not registering when the ball was moving with decently high speed. What I did:
1. Made sure the screws were not overly tight. If overly tight, the switch just wouldn't work well.
2. I bent the leaf switch at this bend here ->
to make it more towards 90°.
However...my right ramp 'made' switch is giving me a harder time than the other ones. Now that I fixed the right ramp rejects with the electrical tape fix (see https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/132#post-4742656), and waxed the PF, there can be some decent speed on a well placed right ramp shot.
I've tried bending more towards 90° to get to 100% switch acceptance, but I'm finding I hit the critical "too much" bending point where the switch leaf now pushes the ball off the wireframe because the leaf hits the switch too soon.
Basically....maybe there is something else I can try with these switches that I haven't tried yet? Or bending them somewhere else, etc?
OK...kept playing with the trapdoor. I got in the replacement trapdoor and....with the 1 washer, it was hitting the wireframe above it still. You do definitely want a fixed trapdoor with the metal flap....orbit shots are smoother. Without the flap, even on a decent left orbit shot sometimes it wouldn't make it all the way up the ramp in the back (because it would hit the rough trapdoor opening and lose speed).
I went ahead and added a second washer, which...did help with the metal flap hitting, though...it still was. I don't think with enough force that it will cause long term damage but....I'm not sure. However, I was noticing it was a bit harder to get the ball in the trapdoor. Some slow shots were getting rejected. Or...sometimes getting a ball stuck ->
I went ahead and tried two things:
1. I wanted the trapdoor to stay open in a higher position. So, I took off and bent the latch just slightly which will cause the resting open position of the trapdoor to be higher. You can't go too much though or it can't catch.
It took several tries to get the right bend, but...I am happy to say that the trapdoor rests open higher and not even the slowest ball will get rejected when open.
2. Instead of trying to bend the coil bracket upward, I added washers to the bottom two bolts. #8 washers. Technically they both can't fit next to each other so one is just sandwiched in.
I believe it does reduce the travel of the coil plunger, similar to adding another washer, though maybe not quite as much. Adding 1 washer width is the maximum you can do here before the coil hits the switch above it.
Anyway....so there are only two ways I can think of to make the trapdoor function better.
1. Simply reducing the length of the metal flap. I don't see a reason why it would need to be the length it is. Even half inch less would probably reduce the possibility of hitting the wireframe above it.
2. OK, so...one of the problems is that there is simply "slop" in the trapdoor. Basically, this arm post ->
When its inside the trapdoor "door", there is space above and below it. Like...in the open position, you can move the door up still. Maybe...1/2" of vertical movement? I'm not positive that the space is necessary to have the door open and close smoothly. If its not necessary...then if like a smooth plastic sleeve were fitted over it, then you could really gain a lot more ability to adjust the door.
Basically...when the door opens, the arm moves upward till it hits the coil stop. However...the trapdoor will still move 1/2" more than that, hit the wireframe, come down and then be in the open position. In the open position, the door is now resting on top of the arm post. If the door rests too low, then slow balls can get hung up.
However, if we can remove that 1/2" of movement...then when the door opens, ...less possibility of hitting the wireframe and the exact same thing happens when in the open position....it now rests higher up so balls can more easily enter.
I was thinking of using something like duct tape to wrap around the arm post but it probably isn't smooth enough to move along inside the trapdoor.
Quoted from Fortytwo:How about a nyliner? Pending on how small the gap is I could turn one out of delrin if nothing is commercially avalible. I would be afrade tape would deteierote quickly and also can make it sticky.
Sure....nyliner, Delrin....I'm not knowledgeable about those keywords but sounds good to me. But you are right....tape would just be a temporary solution because it would get sticky and not slide well. I might go ahead and try it anyway just to see if my theory is correct about adding something to the arm post.
Ok...this is actually really promising.
I went ahead and got access to the arm post ->
And added the smoothest tape I had at the house, which is some flex duct tape.
It didn't take much...just 4-5 small strips of tape.
I added a bit of super lube, and ….I am impressed!
The first thing I was worried about was if it was going to rest flush with the PF, which it has no problems with doing. (the arm post must rest naturally lower than the trapdoor rests, even with the tape on it).
And...honestly, it still is hard to tell if its actually hitting the wireframe or not. I mean, when the trapdoor opens the area around it (like the station 3) can still shake whether it hits or not just because of the force of the coil in that area. But....it seems like it should definitely help because there is much less vertical play when open. Like, before the tape, when trapdoor open, I could still push the trapdoor up, but now its much less.
Second...I don't think I needed to bend the latch to have the trapdoor rest open in a higher position. Like what I did before ->
Now that the tape is in...that takes care of that issue. So I bent it back, which....makes it easier for the latch to catch the trapdoor. (if you bend it, you risk over bending and not being able to catch).
So at the moment....doing all 3 things has, in my mind...solved the issue. (added 1 #8 washer inside the coil, added 2 washers sandwiched under the bracket to "raise" the bracket, adding tape to the arm post).
Ideally.....we would have someone create an arm post "sleeve", or ...even like a cap that we can fit over post (the cap probably wouldn't need to fit the entire length of the post as long as its even), that is smooth enough.
Quoted from Fortytwo:How about a nyliner? Pending on how small the gap is I could turn one out of delrin if nothing is commercially avalible. I would be afrade tape would deteierote quickly and also can make it sticky.
Oh...and I really doubt something would need to be specially made. I'm sure that there is a readily available, 20 cents by the foot piece of tubing or pipe at Lowes that everyone could go get that has the right interior/outer diameter. One tiny cut and a little bit of super glue and you would be in business.
That would...require taking out the arm and bringing it to Lowes and trying things out for a while. Hopefully someone that has to take the arm out for whatever reason would be willing to go the extra mile and do that bit of trial and error research...
So tonight I got my drones working. I had to replace a motor in each drone, and got to practice my soldering skills! (new skill for me). This DI is new to me, so this was the first time I really got to see how they work (code 1.57). Its actually a pretty cool gameplay flare when they are working, though definitely not necessary.
Of course...now that I replaced the bad motor in each drone and they are working again, its just a matter of time till the next motor goes out on each.
Though....here is a slight idea. I've been adding these Comet LED control dimmers to some lights (like..I just added a trough light to DI (a comet 7 smd strip)). ->
https://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/mtxbriteadj.htm
It says it works on 6.3V ac/dc or 12V. What about splicing in one of these to each drone? I could possibly lessen the power going to the drones so the motors are not spinning as fast, and thus...prolong the life of each drone? I'm not an electrician so I can't test how much power is going to the drones or anything...
MTXBRITEADJ-2T (resized).jpgQuoted from imagamejunky:I plugged mine into the motherboard. The error went away
That did also work for me, though...the Bluetooth connection was much weaker so I couldn't connect my phone anymore since it was behind the monitor. Turns out it was just a faulty USB extension cable.
Quoted from FatPanda:Has anyone replaced the USB extension cable? I'm assuming a 3 meter USB2.0 extension would work without issue?
I did recently, though it was replaced under warranty from JJP. In the invoice, its called ->
USB Extension Cable, 2.0 A to A, M-F, 10ft, Shielded
So yeah, looks like you are right on the money with a 3 meter one.
Quoted from flx:All my drones also died after a few months of usage, but I didn't notice it until recently when another Dialed In owner asked me, if my drones are broken too. Replacement drones from the european distributor are way too expensive, and getting a warranty exchange is a struggle too, so I simply ordered new motors from AliExpress in China. 12 replacement motors incl. shipping will cost just 11 USD. that's a fraction of the cost to ship the broken drones back to the distributor, and I don't have to argue with those guys anymore
There's a discussion about broken drones burried somewhere deep in a very long "general dialed in discussion" thread of a german pinball forum, where someone recommends to add resistors. The motors are connected in series, so if one motor fails, the other 3 motors will stop working as well. It's possible that the voltage supplied to the drones, or voltage spikes, cause damage to the motors. Or maybe those dirt cheap toy motors are just not built for durability and will die regardless of voltage anyway.
A solution could be to simply add a resistor in series to reduce the voltage, as pictured in the photo. When you have to open the drones to replace the motors, it's pretty simple to add an additional resistor. The only drawback is, that the LEDs of the drones will stop working (or barely visible), because the voltage is too low for operation. But that's not an issue for me, as I didn't even notice the existence of those small LEDs until I opened the drones
I'm not sure if that "Matrix brightness adjuster" will work, because if it's intended to dim LED lights, it's probably not a resistor, but a controller which adjusts the pulse width, as you cannot dim LEDs by simply lowering the voltage.
I have replaced all my motors and added resistors. Although time will tell if this is a permanent fix, or if they will break again.[quoted image]
Ok, I'll send a quick email to comet and confirm what you are saying. I guess adding a resistor would probably be about the same amount of work as splicing in their product anyway.
I know its lame of me...but...what kind of resistor did you use and how did you figure out that is where you needed to solder it in? Did you also source it from aliexpress or somewhere like digikey?
Well...fun. Fixed the drones yesterday and...1 is already failing. Makes sense though. Once one motor fails, the other motors on that drone were probably 90%+ close on failing too. I probably should have changed all 12 when I had the drones off, though...I only bought 4 motors from aliexpress. Will need to place another order and wait the 1-2 months to get them.
Quoted from flx:All my drones also died after a few months of usage, but I didn't notice it until recently when another Dialed In owner asked me, if my drones are broken too. Replacement drones from the european distributor are way too expensive, and getting a warranty exchange is a struggle too, so I simply ordered new motors from AliExpress in China. 12 replacement motors incl. shipping will cost just 11 USD. that's a fraction of the cost to ship the broken drones back to the distributor, and I don't have to argue with those guys anymore
There's a discussion about broken drones burried somewhere deep in a very long "general dialed in discussion" thread of a german pinball forum, where someone recommends to add resistors. The motors are connected in series, so if one motor fails, the other 3 motors will stop working as well. It's possible that the voltage supplied to the drones, or voltage spikes, cause damage to the motors. Or maybe those dirt cheap toy motors are just not built for durability and will die regardless of voltage anyway.
A solution could be to simply add a resistor in series to reduce the voltage, as pictured in the photo. When you have to open the drones to replace the motors, it's pretty simple to add an additional resistor. The only drawback is, that the LEDs of the drones will stop working (or barely visible), because the voltage is too low for operation. But that's not an issue for me, as I didn't even notice the existence of those small LEDs until I opened the drones
I'm not sure if that "Matrix brightness adjuster" will work, because if it's intended to dim LED lights, it's probably not a resistor, but a controller which adjusts the pulse width, as you cannot dim LEDs by simply lowering the voltage.
I have replaced all my motors and added resistors. Although time will tell if this is a permanent fix, or if they will break again.[quoted image]
Thanks for this. OK, so....do these look fine for resistors? ->
Quoted from Fortytwo:oh and if you need 4 buy 10 or more, 100 ohm is a really useful value. Last time i needed some i get them from mouser and just got 100, dirt cheap.
Thanks for all the input guys. I don't mind waiting for an aliexpress order because....I have to wait for the drone motors anyway. Actually, I think I ordered the drone motors from amazon but it was still from China so it still took forever. Basically, most stuff on aliexpress you can find on amazon but if its still shipping from china its the same waiting time/price.
Quoted from pb_lawww:Yep, that's me...
I saw others have resistors in the power supply wires that feed the drones. This made the motors much more durable, but the lower voltage turned off the LEDs. So I examined the drones itself. As the motors and LEDs are in two different circuits you can just add the resistor in the motor circuit without changing the voltage of the LED circuit. Only the motors will be affected. This worked perfectly for my drones.
Before I had motors dying all the time. One or two motors a week. After I added the resistors, no motor died for several months. So this is my suggestion for everybody having problems with the drone motors.
50 - 100 Ohm are working great. The 1/4w resistor can fit in the drone under the plastic as you showed in your picture. just cut off a little of the plastic where the screw sits and let this one screw out.
Regards,
Lars
Just to be clear....since I don't really care about the LEDs either way (too small too see while playing), does putting the resistor in the power supply line make the motors more durable than placing the resistor in the motor line in the drone?
I ask because....it still seems like it would be quite a bit easier to add the resistor to the power supply line than getting it situated correctly in the drone. I know placing it in the drone can be done no problem but.....power supply line still seems easier. If it also makes the drone motors last longer it would be no brainer for me to place in power supply line.
Also...I assume 50ohm makes the drone motors spin slower than the 100ohm? (I could be wrong..maybe that's reversed?).
I do like hearing the drone motors run so you have that audio cue that they turned on, plus the drones turning on in sequence when you do the "light drone" in lane is cool. So....turning down the speed enough to make the motors last but still enough to be heard would be optimal.
Quoted from pb_lawww:the higher the resistor value, the lower the rpm of the motors will be (as the resistor "takes" more voltage off the motors). The wire without the resistor has 0 ohm (almost), a too high ohm value will prevent the motors from spinning at all. At 50 Ohms you can hardly hear the motors. But try by yourself... Maybe 10 Ohm are enough to save the motors... I just tried only 50 and 100 Ohm, both working fine.
Placing the resistor in the power supply line looks easier. But I did not want to cut a wire, so for me the resistor inside of the drone is more convenient.
If you have the resistor in the supply line, all electrics of the drone get less power. So there might be higher collateral. One example is the LEDs not working any more, as the voltage drops too low to light them up. I do not know, if anything else might stop working, I do not expect it, as the drones are quite simple. Nevertheless, I like the LEDs to light up, too.
The resistor in the motor circuit has really only impact on the motors. So this is my solution and I would not recommend anything else...
Thanks. Ok, I was wrong with my assumption of the ohm ratings. Alright, the resistors are so cheap I'll just get a variety of different ohm ratings and see what I like best. I appreciate your feedback!
OK, so....I've been having an issue with my left flipper recently, where it will lose power for half a second while I'm holding or flipping it. Its not all the time, maybe...once every 30 seconds. I just don't have the troubleshooting expertise to know exactly where to look for the problem.
So, my right bottom flipper was doing it a bit a week or so ago, so I took a piece of construction paper and pinched it between the leafs of the flipper button switch and pulled it out a few times. Basically....seems to work like a very light sandpaper to clean the contacts there. Seemed to fixed it. Also tried that on the left flipper but still happening.
Next, a month ago I had taken the flippers apart, replaced the coil sleeves, cleaned everything, used the flipper gap tool to properly set the flipper bat, etc. Everything seemed fine.
I was next thinking it could be a coil stop leaf switch problem. Here is what its currently like ->
So...not sure if its too early, too late...hard to tell. (again, inexperience). I was thinking that...maybe if the flipper is losing power for a second that its because its overheating or something but after I play for 10 minutes the flipper coil doesn't seem hot...certainly not hotter than the right flipper coil.
The main thing I'm worried about...is that the left flipper exclusively has these metal shavings on it. It could be a telltale sign of X type of problem (just not sure what could be causing it). I clean off the shavings, and it comes back fairly quickly.
Here is what it looks like on the left flipper ->
In contrast to the right lower flipper ->
and right upper flipper ->
Is this a sign that the coil needs to be replaced? A full flipper rebuild? Something else?
Quoted from LTG:No.
Yes. New plunger assembly, new coil sleeve, new coil stop, nylon bushing doesn't come with kits, but may as well do it too.
When you get the left one out, remove the pawl from the link and marvel at the wear.
LTG : )
Ok...so...you are thinking these metal shards are mainly coming from either the plunger itself or coil stop?
And...that wear itself is leading to the flipper losing power occasionally? I can see why excessive wear could be causing the metal shards...i.e., some grinding metal parts or whatever...but I don't see how that would make the flipper lose power...
Quoted from LTG:Coming from the top of the plunger. See wear spot circled in red.
Plunger is likely mushroomed or has a sharp edge and is dragging in the coil. Judging the wear on the top side of your plunger, that plastic link has enlarged or elongated holes causing slop in power to the flipper. And you'll find everything is dirty or has those metal flakes hampering the flipper action.
LTG : )
[quoted image]
Ok...just to be clear....I'm not talking about losing power to the flippers as in...how hard it hits the ball. I'm talking about...I'm holding the flipper button down and the flipper releases momentarily and goes back down, then back up. Was that clear in my initial explanation?
I mean...I totally can understand where a bad plunger can create slop and rob "power" from the flipper but I'm talking about...its like the coil releases the plunger momentarily then grabs it again...all while I'm holding the flipper button.
Quoted from LTG:Coming from the top of the plunger. See wear spot circled in red.
Plunger is likely mushroomed or has a sharp edge and is dragging in the coil. Judging the wear on the top side of your plunger, that plastic link has enlarged or elongated holes causing slop in power to the flipper. And you'll find everything is dirty or has those metal flakes hampering the flipper action.
LTG : )
[quoted image]
Also...that's not really a wear spot that you circled on that plunger. That's supposed to be there and doesn't make contact with anything anyway. All of the plungers have that.
And....I might take back what I said about the coil not getting hot. Just played again for...20 minutes and the coil seemed fairly hot on the left but not on the right flipper. I want to say that the longer I played the more times the left flipper would "reflip" like I was describing above.
Now...is a hot coil a sign of anything? LIke...coil needs to be replaced or...the EOS leaf switch needs to be closer together so it triggers sooner?
Quoted from LTG:They have a little one when they are new.
His is worn. A lot. See the mushroomed edge on the left side of his spot ?
LTG : )
[quoted image]
Thank for the correction....you are right, the other ones are bit smaller.
OK, so...anyway to confirm the right flipper parts if I don't want to pay the high shipping from JJP? Like a normal order from PinballLIfe. The manual only shows like this ->
I'm assuming the flipper assemblies are the Williams/Bally style like these? ->
https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-left-flipper-plunger-and-crank-assembly.html
https://www.pinballlife.com/williams-flipper-coil-stop-a-10821.html
As for flipper bushing....not sure which one of these it would use? ->
https://www.pinballlife.com/search.html?Search=nylon%20flipper%20bushing
Quoted from Fortytwo:My 2 cents. The op stated he cleaned the eos contacts with sand paper. From what I see those are not high voltage. And sanding them actually ruined them. Same for flipper switches if they are not high voltage. Should be cleaned with paper and maybe alcohol. Like rubbing a business card through while lightly pinching them together. I would guess the op may have a non closing or registering eos and the coil is getting hot because of it. Then getting weaker through a game.
I didn't use sandpaper....I used construction paper because its just what I had here. I thought it would be as effective as a business card (and not abrasive). I just pinched the leafs together with my fingers and pull the piece of paper through it.
And.....I did some more testing today. The EOS is getting activated because I just look at the switch history in the menu. Every time the flipper is firing the EOS switch registers in the history....so...I don't think that's it.
Quoted from Fortytwo:Oops. My bad. ya that should be fine for cleaning. I guess my brain got hung up on the sanded words. Sorry man.
My thoughts. Loose connection somewhere. If the eos is getting activated when flip that’s not the issue then. What about a failed solder joint on the coil. Try tugging on wires while testing.
I forget is it only the one flipper with issues or both? Might not even hurt justbto dissassemble everything. Clean it all real good and reassemble. Ohm our connections wile shaking wires etc.
You said "Ohm our connections wile shaking wires etc.". You mean use like a voltimeter attached to the soldered coil leads and shake the wires? I really need to get a voltimeter and learn how to use one...
Quoted from ralphs007:Thank you,I'll have to take a look. I think I know which post your talking about.It involves, bending the bracket,which controls how high the door opens,when activated.
Thanks again for the help.
If he is referring to my write-up....it was adding a washer inside the coil, adding washers to the bracket to get it raised up, plus adding tape to the arm post.
Quoted from Gogdog:Thank for the correction....you are right, the other ones are bit smaller.
OK, so...anyway to confirm the right flipper parts if I don't want to pay the high shipping from JJP? Like a normal order from PinballLIfe. The manual only shows like this ->
[quoted image]
I'm assuming the flipper assemblies are the Williams/Bally style like these? ->
https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-left-flipper-plunger-and-crank-assembly.html
https://www.pinballlife.com/williams-flipper-coil-stop-a-10821.html
As for flipper bushing....not sure which one of these it would use? ->
https://www.pinballlife.com/search.html?Search=nylon%20flipper%20bushing
Sorry to repost this, but didn't get an answer and was hoping to order. Basically....how can I ensure that I'm buying the right part?
I think I already made a mistake and was supposed to be these coil stops ->
https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-flipper-coil-stop-a-12390.html
and I think this flipper bushing ->
https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-nylon-flipper-bushing.html
Actually..was hoping to also change out some of the microswitches on the ramps....this is the only one that looks close?
https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-sub-microswitch-5647-12693-13.html
Quoted from DinoBob:Ok, getting the game dialed-in (oof) and notice that on occasion my ball is getting stuck inside the open trap-door. The trap-door is raising and lowering as it should, it seems to be simply that the ball gets stuck in the mechanism and doesn't fully drop into the subway. It's easy to clear, but requires raising the playfield and kills any game I have going. Any tips or pointers are appreciated.
I had the same issue when adjusting my trap door. It sounds like your trap door is resting in too low of a position. Fast balls going up the left orbit will still go in the trapdoor, but a slower ball might hit the trap door and not have enough "oompf" to raise the trap door higher to allow the ball to enter. If the resting position is just a hair higher, then even slow balls have enough clearance to go in.
Quoted from bigd1979:How wld one raise the resting position of the trap door
Read my two posts starting here ->
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/138#post-4773987
OK...got 9 drone motors switched out (old ones that were probably on the brink of death), and added a resistor to each drone.
I added the resistor to the power line (so...not in the drone itself) which was much easier.
I first added a 75Ω resistor, which was fairly quiet when I tested it with the glass off, though leds didn't work. Then I tried 50Ω which the LEDs kind of worked (sometimes fully flashed sometimes dimly), and a bit louder.
However...I wish I added 100+Ω resistors. Once the game was on and glass on, the drones were silent when operating. So I should have just put in the larger resistor since I wasn't going to hear them anyway.
Hopefully....these drone motors will last a long time now! If they fail again, I might just buy new drones since these aren't the most robust machines so constantly messing around with them stuff just keeps slightly twisting/breaking on them.
Quoted from Gogdog:Does anybody have some tips on adjusting the switches on the loop wireframes? I adjusted several of them in the past because some shots were not registering when the ball was moving with decently high speed. What I did:
1. Made sure the screws were not overly tight. If overly tight, the switch just wouldn't work well.
2. I bent the leaf switch at this bend here ->
[quoted image]
to make it more towards 90°.
However...my right ramp 'made' switch is giving me a harder time than the other ones. Now that I fixed the right ramp rejects with the electrical tape fix (see https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/132#post-4742656), and waxed the PF, there can be some decent speed on a well placed right ramp shot.
I've tried bending more towards 90° to get to 100% switch acceptance, but I'm finding I hit the critical "too much" bending point where the switch leaf now pushes the ball off the wireframe because the leaf hits the switch too soon.
Basically....maybe there is something else I can try with these switches that I haven't tried yet? Or bending them somewhere else, etc?
Ok....I went ahead and bought a replacement switch and installed it today. And....still the same problem (though maybe slightly better success %). If the ball has enough speed, the right ramp success switch doesn't register 100%.
I'm now thinking....that with enough speed, the ball comes up the metal ramp and goes slightly airborne and then doesn't hit the switch wire correctly. And if that's the case...I just don't know if there is a fix I could do. I think if the switch was further down the wireform that might work but I don't see an easy way to change its location.
Quoted from snaroff:I actually raised the switch on the left ramp when I was fixing some issues 1 year ago. Here is a link.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-le-left-ramp-shot-results-in-lost-ball#post-4076676
snaroff
Ok, so you are thinking if I raise the switch vertically it would improve switch hit success?
From your posts a year ago, it looks like your ball issue was mainly fixed by moving the wireframe.
My current theory is that its a problem with the fast moving balls going airborne off the ramp but of course I could be wrong.
If I am wrong...and it is just the ball is moving too fast for the switch to get compressed enough to register...if I move it up vertically it would hit more of the ball surface, though also increase the chance of pushing the ball out of the wireframe...
Quoted from Thunderbird:Take a slomo video and you’ll see that the ball is hitting the first corner where it enters the wireform after leaving the ramp. That’s where it becomes slightly airborne. Had same issue and fixed mine where it’s smooth as silk and switch works fine too, no matter ball speed.
Steps:
1. Remove switches from wire form.
2. Remove wireform from PF
3. Use taped plier teeth, then bend betty switch mounting tab downward 5 degrees.
4. Remount wire form and screw switches back on.
5. Loosen station 1 top most mounting screw, by 2-3 full turns.
Trick is to make sure ball doesn’t snag on the corners of the top switch arm. Make sure switch arm is perfectly aligned, so ball glides along the flat surface of the switch arm and not catch on the corners. [quoted image]
Appreciate your post, though the switch I'm talking about is the right ramp switch, not the left ramp switch (betty switch).
Though...I like your idea of just bending the switching mounting tab a bit to get the switch arm higher vertically.
Quoted from snaroff:Correct...the wireframe was my main problem (found using slo-mo video). Tweaking/raising the switch was still useful to avoid the switch hitting the lock nut.
If you can capture the ball jumping the switch with video, you can determine the root cause. In your case, my gut says the plastic ramp leading to the wireform needs to be adjusted.
Ok, here we go.
Here are two vids of a normal moving shot up the right orbit/ramp.
Side view:
Straight on:
And...a really fast moving ball.
Side view Fast moving ball:
Straight on Fast Moving ball:
Basically...yeah, the ball is getting airborne and actually bouncing a bit when it hits the ramp then going OVER the switch.
In the past...I was having an issue with a fast moving ball going into the left orbit lane....because it was hitting the metal flap in front of the ramp, getting airborne, and going into the left orbit. I fixed that by making a smooth transition with electrical tape. ->
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/132#post-4742656
Its possible that the ramp is still not smooth enough so its still getting airborne a bit from the ramp entry. Not sure of another solution.
This slight issue isn't a dealbreaker….90+% of right ramp shots are still registering correctly. Its just those balls that have some speed on them already, get hit by the flipper, go up the ramp perfectly so its nice and smooth....those are the problem ones. Which is unfortunate...because the smoothest/fastest/most satisfying shots up the ramp don't register 100%.
Quoted from Nokoro:Have you tried adding a piece of felt tape to the side entrance of the ramp? I did, and it slows down the ball just enough. Somewhere in this thread someone posted pictures of where to put it. It is probably a key post.
(Apologies if you already mentioned that you tried this. I get lost in these lengthy threads sometimes.)
Yeah, I know...this is a large thread. I did mention this in my post ->
In the past...I was having an issue with a fast moving ball going into the left orbit lane....because it was hitting the metal flap in front of the ramp, getting airborne, and going into the left orbit. I fixed that by making a smooth transition with electrical tape. ->
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/132#post-4742656
But yes, I did do the felt, and switched to the tape since it seemed to fix the airball problem more than the felt. Looks like I'm still getting lift on the ball with very fast balls and now its just manifesting in a different way (bouncing over the switch instead of going into the left orbit).
Quoted from snaroff:Great job capturing the ball hopping over the switch! Trust me, I know how difficult those videos can be
Have you seen this post? https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-right-orbitramp-ball-rejects
Your problem looks like a variation of the problem in my post. Your ball is likely tripping over the thick metal flap and going airborne. In my case it was smacking the edge of the guide (as shown in the post above). In your case, it looks like it's clearing the edge and just following the guide without any contact with the ramp.
Yeah, but I already did the vinyl fix (I was previously getting a worse problem with the ball going airborne from hitting the metal flap and then either going into the left orbit or getting bounced back when hitting the wall (like in the thread you linked to)).
Its possible I just need to redo my vinyl ramp....make it longer, or smoother or ...just try again and see if I get less ball "loft" on fast balls.
Quoted from snaroff:Correct...I believe you need to fiddle with the vinyl ramp. Took me a few tries before I had it dialed in...
Alright... I think you are correct. I'll try again and see if I can't make my transition a bit smoother and see if that helps.
I also joined the mantis club!
I also put some mylar pieces in front of it. I can already tell a big difference with my scoop rejects....much more satisfying to aim for now!
I believe you had previously said the hardest part of the mantis install was getting the old cliffy off. But for me...removing the phone scoop mechanism was the hardest. It was just so awkward with the wire bundle behind it, even after removing the wire bundle from the wire holders and disconnecting a few wires. Just really tight. Actually...the hardest part was trying to get the phone scoop back in place, not removing it.
But, I got it in. And...look what I found in the scoop!
Its the trapdoor flap that broke off from the original trapdoor. It had made its way around all the way to sit in the scoop!
Finally got up to 6 letters yesterday! A personal high for me.
I think around...letter 5 or 6 the special outlane light lit up.
First thing....I'm not sure how it was switching from left to right outlane, as I don't think it was moving via flipper flips (I was "in the zone" at the time so could be wrong).
Second...I did actually drain and have it rollover the lit lane, but...nothing really happened? I thought I would get an extra ball or something. The wiki doesn't have any mention of the special lights either ->
http://tiltforums.com/t/dialed-in-rulesheet-wiki/2855
Anyone know if these are actually used?
Ok, when I replaced the right ramp success switch, I had no problem with removing the wires from the original soldering, but the diode was a big pain to remove. I should have bought diodes with my pbl order, but I wrongfully assumed buying the switch would come with one.
Anyway, how do you know which one is the correct diode for a switch? The only diode that looks similar is this one ->
https://www.pinballlife.com/diode-1n4004.html
Is that the right diode?
Quoted from pinstyle:I finally got a chance to tip my theater down a little so I can better see the lower portion of the animations. Its not perfect but its better than it was, anymore and would start to lose the top portion. I ended up raising the rear almost 3/8".
I changed out the plunger for my trap door a few weeks ago. I ended up using a flipper plunger which is a little longer. This shortens the stroke of the trap door opening so it does not hit the wireform above it. I changed out the linkage to an arrow head type.
One thing I didn't see mentioned anywhere (or I missed it somewhere) was the lower pop bumper grinding on the neighboring ball guide. The same issue WOZ had. I needed to grind off some to give a little clearance. Unfortunately I didn't notice this until I had metal shavings all over the playfield. The ball moves fast in the game so it spread pretty quickly. A little late but hopefully this will save someone some trouble.
Oooh...nice about the plunger. So...which plunger did you end up using? Was it hard to switch out the linkage? (like...requiring a rivet gun or something) or did you just disassemble and reassemble with the new plunger link on. Pics? Also.....lengthening the plunger will definitely lower the "upper limit" of trapdoor travel...but can also lower the resting position of the trapdoor. Basically...are you having issues with the opening now not being large enough so a slow moving ball can't easily roll in?
I'll also have to take a look at the lower pop bumper and see if any grinding is happening. Thanks for the headsup.
Quoted from RipleYYY:DIY
easy & quick, a small piece of plastic, cutted/folded to block that space, attach it with double tape face or directly with the original protec plastic screw there, as mine... (done right the same on the left plastic for tha BOB sign that i replaced myself too... )
now, if you want to make it more "professional", simply drill a hole on the lexan plate, and put a starpost, sure it will look great & as it was from factory...
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
Thanks for the reply. Usually when I do a mod...I do prefer it to be completely removable, but...in this case it should be a permanent fix and I'm not sure I trust double sided tape. I'm thinking like this maybe? ->
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/550-5052-01
I have to do a marco order anyway so this seems like a cheap but effective, and near factory look hopefully.
Actually...just looked again. Looks like JJP uses a metal post and rubber sleeve as a ball stop on the lexan plastic ->
20190407_121901 (resized).jpg
20190407_122354 (resized).jpg
They should have just added one in this location from factory. Its just a 1/4" x 1" #6-32 Hex spacer, with 2 screws, a washer and a rubber sleeve.
Quoted from ccbiggsoo7:mine got stuck there today, not sure what they were thinking here.
Fortunately..its an easy fix. A quick drill and done. Upper playfield is easy to remove too.
So, I got both choices.
The smaller plastic post would work just as well as the full sized post, but I think looks a little wimpy. To keep everything consistent with the other post on the upper playfield, I went with that one.
And finished product!
Quoted from koops:What sort of rejects are you getting? soft ones or metal clanging?
Double check that your scoop is far enough back. pics here : https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/121#post-4670653
I have a fairly early production le and my scoop was waaaay forward so that the metal edges were past the rubbers. This caused no end of rejects.
I moved it and no more rejects and im using a cliffy on that hole.
Do you still have enough space behind the scoop to remove the phone? The phone has a rather large plastic wire connector under the PF.
Quoted from FatPanda:I haven't any issues with the Manits protector. If you are seen frequent bounce outs, I would check flipper coil strength (not too strong or it'll bounce out) or push the scoop bend down a little. It may have bent upwards slightly over time.
Why would an upwards bend of the scoop affect the bouce back rate?
Quoted from PinLen83:I have a Mantis on mine. Zero rejects.
Could you take a pic of yours? I want to see if the sides of the scoop (vertical walls on both sides of the scoop) are less forward than mine are in relation to the rubber posts...
Quoted from skyrex:Loving my game and have a quite a few plays. I didn’t see this in the key posts but I am sure there is a brilliant solution to the ball ending up behind the phone. It has happened to me twice so far. What is the fix? Thanks in advance from a new owner.
You talking about this? ->
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/152#post-4940308
Quoted from RoyF:I haven't done the upgrade yet, and once I do I don't really want to go back. So for $40 I'll have the i3 chip on hand to install if necessary.
Yep, that was pretty much my line of thinking as well.
I just bought a i5-4670 on ebay for $57....101% faster than the G3260 dual core Pentium that was in it. I would have gone with a slower cpu maybe.....but thought JJP might continue updating the software a bit and require faster and faster cpus so wanted to hedge against that a bit.
Any thoughts about this? I read on a different thread....of using e6000 glue underneath cliffys that were starting to come up. And they said it was completely removable with acetone nail polish remover or naphtha spirits (though I'm not sure which one of those is safe for PFs). My sim card cliffy has an edge thats up that I have mylar tape over but its still not fully flush so was thinking of glueing it down.
I am incredibly lucky. My i5-4670 came in today, but I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon. Came home to this update...which...after installing...seems to have fixed video lag, and I don't have inconsistent phone scoop coil either. AND...the ebay seller allows free returns within 30 days!
I like the added animations (I'm coming from 1.57), like the rocket ship in the theater, and a lot of QOL changes too like...displaying quantum theater MB progress during the game. Excited to see all that has changed during my next few games!
Quoted from koops:I spent some time tonight looking at why shots were bricking. It was consistently the scoop vertical reenforcements.
Lifted the pf and looked at the mech. Mine had been installed with a fair bit of slack space behind it for the cables etc. So my guess is that the mech is waaay forward in my machine.
As a test I unscrewed the entire mech and moved it around by hand. It didn’t hit anything else so I moved it as far back as I could go and put in a screw.
This instantly made the phone scoop so much better. I did have to realign the subway from the sim card. It had enough play to only require one end to be moved.
Measurements between old and new position is 7.5mm.
Old
[quoted image]
New
[quoted image][quoted image]
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Also...a bit ago I went ahead and moved the phone scoop back. I had previously changed to using a mantis scoop protector but I kept getting what I call "clanking" rejects. Shots that look like they should go in just fine but don't. I know many have already moved the phone scoop, and for some its not necessary, but for me it was really aggravating. You can't get many points in DI if you can't start modes!
It was actually pretty easy to move back. I don't think I needed to try and move it back as much as possible, just a little would be enough. If you try to go back to far you run the risk of changing the horizontal angle of the scoop.
Before:
20190828_193621 (resized).jpg
After:
20190918_154438 (resized).jpg
Be careful to maintain the same angle!
20190918_154413 (resized).jpg
Unlike some others, I did not have to move the subway in anyway. There is a small overhang from the opening of the scoop, but not enough to stop balls.
20190918_154402 (resized).jpg
Now...its like a completely different playing machine!
I feel dumb...at first I thought the rocket animation didn't quite fit with the theme. Why is there a 1940s sci-fi movie rocket ship doing in quantum city?
Then later I realized...that's the twilight zone rocket! DI already has a ton of Lawlor callbacks...looks like they added a few more!
Quoted from Tranquilize:Just trying to update from 1.57 to 1.60. I have the ISO on the thumb drive, but when I boot, it flashes "Missing Operating System" then boots 1.57. I have an 8gb USB stick that I've used for other full and Delta updates, so the drive has worked before. I've also downloaded the file three times, upacking it each time with no success. I've also tried two different USB ports (the extended and one directly on the computer). Any thoughts?
Wait, did you just copy the .ISO file directly onto the usb drive or did you unpack it with unetbootin?
Ok...played a few more games. Definitely everything is just about perfect in 1.73...though it could just be my pin but I have seen some slowdown. Its definitely not often, and hard to reproduce. I have seen it with multiball and alien running at the same time...twice now. But the slowdown is different than before.
Before...with a slowdown the animation would lag behind the voice, so the animation would continue after the voice ended.
Now...its like the game is forcing the video to be in sync with the voice, but it drops frames to do it. Like the mouth isn't moving as fast as it would normally.
Let me know if anybody else sees at least some slowdown at times. Its definitely not enough to worry about though. I probably will go ahead and put in my new CPU and play some more games to see if I can notice any difference.
Quoted from SilverWings:Another data point for CPU upgrade: i5-4590 just installed running 1.71
The Celeron was obviously choking on the job, while the i5 doesn't miss a beat. Considering the CPU is responsible for so much of what goes on - it affects everything going on in the pin (not saying it fully directly controls everything. Saying it AFFECTS everything). That means graphics, lights, coils - everything.
Should it PLAY better as a result?
Right away, the immediate improvement in graphics performance was evident. Coils seem to be more consistent. Flippers too? Not sure, but the game absolutely positively DOES play different. And I'll say "better" to describe what "different" means.
This was without a doubt the best 60 bucks I've spent on DI so far. That's less than 1% of the price of this thing. Fair deal.
Ok, but why are you still running 1.71 though?
Quoted from SilverWings:1.73 Change Log dated 25 Sep - just 2 days ago.
Because if I upgraded the CPU first, I knew that would alert Dialed In Electronics (DIE) to do an update to fix the problem that would make my CPU upgrade worthless. I ordered the CPU about 10 days ago.
See? They ARE watching us.
Yep...I'm with you. My CPU came in on the same day as the update.
Quoted from DrDQ:Ok who has SIM Card carryover on?
I still haven’t given in, but getting close. Have had the machine for well over 1 year.
I spelled DIALED once. But normally have 2-4 SIM upgrades at best.
Very often a drain right after a SIM card is lit.
I have it on. I'm not a great (not even good) player and my best is only 5 letters in the past 10 months. That means showdown is still a long ways away. Until I start consistently getting 4-5 letters most games (which means...actually getting to showdown sometimes) am I going to change it.
Combine it with the fact that I have kids in the house and guests that come over that play...I don't see why I would make the game harder with it off.
Its just another difficulty setting for the game...just like moving the outlane posts. No one throws a fit about exactly where your posts are so why should letter carryover be any different.
Quoted from SilverWings:I have SIM card carry-over turned ON. But also, I'd like to know how y'all rate the different disaster modes:
Which modes do you like to do first? Which do you think are the most difficult? Do you save the Big Bang to complete modes that are more difficult?
Here's my list - in order of difficulty for me. (and disclaimer: I probably have some of the rules wrong here. Rules link posted below)
11) Meteor Storm - easiest mode for me. If available, its the first I will get done. High success rate with this one.
10) EMP Pulse - I can get this one done as long as the ball doesn't get tossed STDM or directly into an outlane.
9) Acid Rain - Shot into the jets, then hitting the left ramp 3x is "doable" for me, but difficult within the time frame.
8.) Flash Fires - Left ramp / Bob targets. I can do it if its a day where I'm making the Bob shot.
7) Tidal Wave - One left ramp shot to complete the mode. Maybe a tie with Acid Rain for difficulty.
6) Eruption - Theater / right ramp / theater / right ramp. Can do maybe 1 in 5 attempts.
5) Singularity - left orbit / left ramp / theater / right ramp (?). Hard. Its those orbit shots that kill me.
4) Sink Holes - shoot either orbit 3 times to complete. Again, orbits for me are hard.
3) Earth Shaker - shoot either lit target not sure how many times... never done it yet.
2) WhirlWind - Left ramp / right ramp / left orbit / side ramp. Yeah, right. Done it once.
1) Alien Invasion - I LOVE how the saucers look when they blow up! But damn its hard to make all those shots. Completed this maybe 2 times ever. Fun to watch!
Link to DI rules:
http://tiltforums.com/t/dialed-in-rulesheet-wiki/2855
So, what modes do you like the best and what ones are the hardest for you? What's your strategy?
I try not to do the modes in a particular order...simply because I don't want games to play out the same each time. Same with LOTR...I know that doing war of the ents first would be best but I just don't want to do it every game.
If I was at a tournament though....you want to do the easier ones first (like meteor storm) so you can start collecting those DI letters to multiply your later mode scores.
The only mode I might plan for...is Eruption. This mode gets SIGNIFICANTLY easier if you qualify MB before it. Auto plunger shots trigger the right ramp success switch (the switch on the habit trail). So, it turns into hit the theater, then you get to aim just in the general direction of "right"...you can either hit the right ramp naturally, or...hit the phone scoop, which starts MB and will trigger right ramp. Afterwards...hit the theater (easiest shot in the game), then if in MB...drain a ball during the ball save! Which triggers another auto plunger. You can get this mode done very quickly with MB queued up. Helps in modes requiring right ramp too, just not as much (singularity, whirlwind).
Edit: Sorry, forgot to mention. On your first MB lock, I always go for the trap door for the virtual ball lock so the first MB always does an auto plunger on launch. On other MB...you can just use the ball save trick. Also...if you have a ball lock ready on side ramp...and you are doing Eruption, you can hit the theater shot and combo into side ramp for a ball lock. Then the auto plunger will trigger your right ramp success when shooting your next ball in play.
Sink Holes is actually a bit different. Its right orbit success...not right ramp. The success trigger is the right orbit entrance switch, so auto plunger shots generally don't trigger it. It also means....it should be a bit easier to make those shots, b/c a slow shot up the right orbit that has no chance of making it all the way up the right ramp, will trigger success.
As for my ratings:
11. Meteor storm - easy peasy
10. EMP Pulse - on 1.57 I think this used to be MUCH harder and ball drain dangerous. Maybe in 1.73 (or sometime earlier) they turned down how often the PF magnets triggered, or their strength. (or maybe its just my imagination)
9. Eruption - Move this up in difficulty if you don't have MB qualified. With MB qualified its a lot easier.
8. Tidal Wave - technically its only a one shot mode. With nothing else running its fairly easy. I get tripped up sometimes on this if there is a theater mode running that traps the ball there with the magnet. No way to cancel those theater modes so you have to start going for left orbit and sometimes it wont' make it all the way around to right flipper.
7. Earth Shaker - I find this easier than your ranking. There are 2 shots always lit, and usually one of the shots is easy (theater, left ramp). Just keep shots flowing/combos going and I find it easy going. Especially since you only need 4 shots to finish. (other modes require 5-6 shots).
6. Flash Fires - left ramp is easy, but bob targets are a bit harder on my machine...maybe I have flippers set a tad too high.
5. Whirlwind - only 4 shots and the shots do setup for the next shot in sequence so you can technically combo this in one go.
4. Sinkholes
3. Acid Rain - I don't know...I just find shooting consistently into the pops is hard on my machine...just seems really tight. Even if I do get it in there, sometimes it doesn't bounce around much and requires a second shot. Or betty is blocking the shot first or ...whatever. If I can get the pops quick...then its no problem because left ramp is easy.
2. Singularity - More shots than whirlwind, and the shots don't setup for the next shot so you have to get back in control of the ball each time.
1. Alien invasion - I also agree its the hardest. Its manageable if I can trap the ball on right flipper from the phone scoop VUK and get the left ramp quick. Otherwise I have to wait for the theater shot and hope betty isn't blocking me. Otherwise...I'm going for big bang because I've lost too much time if I have to wait for another shot cycle to come around.
I also added an additional 4gigs of ram that a good friend gave me from his DI.
Just so you know....when changing RAM/CPU, you don't have to connect a keyboard to the system. First time you boot up it says push F2 to accept the default settings and continue, but if you just turn the pin off and back on, it boots up like normal.
Quoted from Shredso:What are the specs on the RAM? There is some sitting in my drawer, I wonder if it will work. I have 2 sticks 4GB DDR4 2400mhz.
The ram that came with my 2018 DI is 4gig 1333 Mhz ddr3, slimline.
As long as you add ram in either a single stick or in pairs that are identical, you should be fine. That ram you have there is certainly faster than the stock ram.
Quoted from altan:Why add ram? 1.73 seems great on stock hardware.
You are right...there is probably little to no need to add ram. CPU? a very slight ~maybe now that 1.73 is here.
Quoted from holminone:1.73 is fantastic! Love Mandys slightly faster/more urgent cadence in some scenarios (shoot the theater) and the little light show improvements. What is the big kick sneak in rule added in 1.71?
Where are you all finding the code update changelogs? I can't find them at the JJP site.
Quoted from Wanderers:Can any one point me in the right direction, to where I can buy a set of
drones for my dialed in.?
Quick google search "site:pinside.com dialed in drones aliexpress".
Search for Cheerson CX-10 on aliexpress.
Quoted from Gogdog:Quick google search "site:pinside.com dialed in drones aliexpress".
Search for Cheerson CX-10 on aliexpress.
Oh, and if you get them, go ahead and add a resistor to the drones and you'll probably never have a problem again. (also detailed in this thread)
Quoted from branlon8:I like that mod, too, but I decided against it because it blocks the view of the ball when it‘s making it‘s 180° turn. I would like something similiar, but more in 2D which only covers that blank spot on the backboard. I‘d try to make something myself, but I‘m not completely sure how to wire LEDs together and hook it up and be sure I won‘t damage the game.
It doesn't block view of the ball though...I have it on mine and really like it. Its a lot of transparent film (windows) that lets you see through it...plus when combined with the light from the mod that illuminates that whole area, and the shininess of the ball lets you see the ball going around the ramp.
Here is an attempted pic for you ->
I really like the mod...especially on a standard since it illuminates that whole corner. Also...I think it adds immersion by making it look more like a city scape, plus visually I think that area needs something "vertical" to help balance out the heights of betty, station 3, phone, theater, etc.
The one thing I didn't like with the mod...is the gray mounting tabs. If they could have been clear, ...that would have been best.
One tab is mostly hidden by the high voltage signs, but the one on the left is always visible ->
When I was taking the pictures...I decided to go ahead and do something about it. I added some electric tape around the tabs like this ->
What an improvement for a 10 second fix!
Oh....and...when I was back there I noticed that there is a notch in the back panel...which looks like the ramp plastic should "rest" in that notch. But mine doesn't....my ramp plastic lip is just below it, but its not tight to the back panel...still has a tiny bit of play. But no vertical play since the metal mounts for the ramp lock it in place.
Does anybody else's DI have the ramp lip resting in this groove?
Quoted from Coindropper:It’s a little off, but close enough I think. Had to darken it a bit for the text. Posted a few different ones that can be printed:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/custom-apron-cards-printable-versions-only/page/12#post-5267214
I think it looks great...I'm definitely printing some of them. I do like the understated (almost classy) looking original silver cards from JJP but it might be nice to spice it up a bit with these.
Could someone do me a quick favor? This doesn't look right to me...its the skill shot kickout switch wire ->
Today the wire got bent back (or at least....over time) and eventually when the ball was resting ready to be kicked out, the wire actually got in front of the ball, trapping it there (and getting further bent up because it got pushed when the ball attempted to be kicked).
I bent it back down fine...but maybe the wire end was broken off at some point? Does everyone's wire just end like this?
Its odd because most switch wires go back down ...like..the shooter lane switch ->
Quoted from LTG:Yours broke off.
LTG : )
Thankfully...at least its still works...but if I do another pinball order I guess I'll replace it. The thing is...the part number in the manual is 18-003016-00...but that doesn't pull up on any of the sites...
Quoted from Rob_G:Nope, not crazy. The flippers are definitely not strong like on a Stern game, but they should be adequate to make the shots on the game. There are 2 things that really affect how the flippers act on this game (aside from mechanical issues):
- EOS switch gap so it closes just as the flipper reaches full stroke.
- Flipper angle set correctly.
On my game, from a ball trap on the right flipper, that flipper could not make a full left orbit shot. It could barely make the left ramp shot. I added a little more droop to the flippers so it compared equally to pictures I saw of other DI games. I adjusted the EOS switches to close later and it was a lot better after that. Before, it would have been a miserable playing experience not being able to reliably make orbit or ramp shots.
The only problem with the flipper angle is that the left inlane theater hurry up is harder to make.
I turned down the left flipper strength (from stock) otherwise the ball hits something in the back of the right orbit and stops.
Right flipper is still mushy trying to shoot BOB and left orbit. Ramp shot is good now. The power setting is stock.
Rob
Sounds like if the ball has too much speed going up the right orbit...you are hitting the 'left orbit" exit wall, and its getting returned. I fixed it by adding electrical tape to the ramp...you can read here (and a few posts behind that I guess) ->
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/132#post-4742656
OK, I'm adding an RGB undercab lighting strip to my AFMr...and I have extra length of the LED strip so might as well add it to DI as well.
I already have the mezelmods pop bumper building, which connects to the RGBs of the popbumpers. I'll connect the under cabinet lighting to another pop bumper...or some other GI RGB light.
I'm doing a Digikey order tomorrow for some parts...but I can't find/identify the parts that JJP (and mezel) uses for their 4 pin rgb cables? It looks like this ->
Can anybody help me identify these connector housings?
Quoted from imagamejunky:I would give Kristin at mezel a call. She's very friendly and helpful.
Yeah, no go. Kristin replied back and was treating the identification of the connector as a trade secret basically. Maybe I'll take a few better pics and ask on a different thread what those motherboard connectors are called....
OK...just in the off chance that someone new is looking at this...here are some better pictures of the connectors I'm looking for. I just need the family name for them or anything about them so I can find them online. They are used on the board for the pop bumper flashers.
Pop bumper board...which powers 2 pop bumpers. The 3rd pop bumper is powered by a different board and connector.
20191119_140815 (resized).jpg
Male 4pin connector ->
20191119_141138 (resized).jpg
Female 4pin connector ->
20191119_141259 (resized).jpg
Really...these look just like 4 pin versions of the 2 pin connectors used nearly everywhere else for the GI LED boards ->
20191119_141014 (resized).jpg
My goal with this? I was going to create a wiring harness to connect a 12V RGB LED strip to be used as undercabinet lighting.
Another big question I have...is that using a multimeter on these 4 pins...each R G B pin measures at 3.87V. Am I correct that a 12V led strip would work with this connection? As in...if you add up each pin, its close to 12V (11.61V), or should each individual pin measure at 12V?
Quoted from TOLLS:I think acid rain mode requires left ramp to pops for 5 hits? Bumping required.
You don't have to hit the left ramp though...a direct shot into the pops works too for acid rain's initial phase, then its left ramps to complete.
Quoted from BigT:I know I have said this before but it was a while back. The upper playfield is important when you are going for multiball the second time and you have to lock them in the train station. When the diverter is down, a fast shot up the left ramp will usually have the ball fall out the back of the playfield and into the skill shot. It will then feed the upper right flipper for a shot on the train station lock. Very clever and extremely useful.
Your mileage may vary on that though...I don't think no matter how hard it goes up the left ramp on mine, with the diverter down it almost always goes to upper playfield for me, instead of "bouncing back" towards the skill shot kicker...
Quoted from the_zap:From my understanding: The RGB LEDs in the bumpers - as all other RGB LEDs in DI - are driven by a PCU9656 LED driver. The RGB LEDs are a common anode type. They are connected to 4V on one pin (three actually) and the other three (R, G, B) are connected to GND by the driver when the CPU tells it to light up the according color channel. (See http://marketing.jerseyjackpinball.com/di/DI_Manual%203_3%20November%202018.pdf , section D-47). Now if you had an RGB LED strip that was common anode, connecting the strip anode to 12V and the color channels to the bumper LED driver channels might in theory work. HOWEVER the PCU9656 can only drive up to 100mA per channel, which your LED-strip probably exceeds if it's longer than a couple of inches.
In other words:No, please don't do this!
Well...you are absolutely right about the voltage. The manual does clearly show that the pop bumper flashers are powered with 4V, which is why I was reading 3.87 on my multimeter.
I have a 12V accessory power splitter from mezelmods, so I could get 12V power to the led strip. But if you don't think that those pop bumper pins provide enough amperage to drive the color channels...then I guess this DIY mod is dead in the water. It would only cost like...$6 in parts too.
I have the mezelmods popbumper building...which connects directly to a popbumper flasher...but its only 2 LED boards that they have at the top of the building, not a 4' 12V LED strip. Rock custom pinball's interactive LED strip for DI "interacts with the game flashers and shots...and connects via piggyback connection to the games boards.". So...they found 12V somewhere and then tied in RGB to interact with some shots and flashers.
Maybe they piggybacked to J102...page D-73, D-74...which would give them access to a popbumper, left ramp shot, and even crazy mode (though I doubt they would use the crazy mode). Still wouldn't give them 12V though so not sure how they are getting that.
Well....I'm not an electrical engineer so there goes my chance of a cheap interactive mod.
Quoted from BC_Gambit:FWIW I had some phone issues with my Dialed in; it would intermittently turn off.
It turned out to be the phone screen power connector underneath the playfield; manipulating this connector while the game was on consistently turned the phone off.
Upon investigation, one of the female pins inside the connector was not inserted fully (I think it was inserted backwards, as I was easily able to extract the pin by tugging on it gently, then to reinsert it I had to spin it 180 degrees and it finally clicked/locked into place.
After this, the connection seems solid.
FWIW, add that to the list of phone fixes! I always suspect connectors for intermmittent stuff like this.
Lately I've been getting more phone power cutting off during games...sometimes it comes back on in a few seconds, sometimes requires a restart. Last night was the first time I got to Armageddon..and I couldn't see what happens on the phone since it was off! Unfortunately...it looks like my power cables don't have that same issue you found. It would have been nice to "find" the issue and fix it!
Right now...phone power almost always gets cut off after a ball hits the phone scoop hard...so its probably some internal connection in the phone, or maybe the LED screen really just doesn't like a hard shock from the balls.
One idea...is to try and keep the phone more isolated from shocks from the playfield. Like maybe having some soft rubber ..something...under the black metal bracket. I don't mind if the phone "jiggles" a tiny bit as long as the phone stays on all the time. Like under these two screw locations (but under the bracket) ->
I'm assuming it would be easier to add shock absorbers in the above pic...instead of at the other bracket location here ->
Any ideas here? Opinions if stupid idea or not?
Until then...I'm liking this option ->
Quoted from Mageek:I had numerous problems with the phone, Yellow Tint, Red Tint, Blank.... to the point where I put a switch in-line with the phone power so I could reset it without powering off the game. Since 1.7x I have had ZERO phone issues and have removed my reset switch.
@Mageek I know your phone issues were different than ours..but do you mind showing a pic of your switch solution? For me...ideally I would create a wire harness that is completely removable using the same power connectors for the phone ->
I know JJP uses molex .93 connectors for a lot of spots...but these connectors seem a bit smaller so I'm not sure exactly what size they are or what they are called?
Anyway, then I would run the wire to the switch through the bottom of the pin (using the mesh speaker panels on the bottom), then tape mount a switch right by the power switch ->
A nice flat type switch would be ideal. I would love to see what you had made for some ideas!
Quoted from BC_Gambit:I probably need to upload some pics, but I *think* I may have sorted out my last (knock on wood) phone issue.
I went around the playfield seeing what made the phone vibrate (e.g. flippers, slings etc...). With one hand on the phone I activated the other items one by one, even dropping a ball into the scoop etc (in service mode and with the coil power still turned on this is easy).
Nothing really registered vibration wise except the lower most pop bumper; you could really feel that in the phone.
I turns out a cable or two going into the phone was touching the pop bumper cap.
I used a velcro strap to "cinch" the cables a few mm away from the lowest pop bumper cap. I also made a small plastic shim to further decrase the phone vibration (inserted between the metal bracket and the plastic back of the phone, as that was another source of vibration and leaving less wiggle room here seemed good).
I think moving the wires away from the pop bumper was the more important fix. But I did both at the same time. I had gone in expecting to use my shim (I used my spare phone to cut it out even before opening the game). But ended up finding maybe the real problem.
Anyways, I have not put even dozens of plays in, BUT I have played it a bunch, including a long game where I managed to get all SIM cards and win Showdown. There was so much multiball in that game and the phone took it like a champ.
I hope this helps some others out!
Thanks for this idea. I didn't have a wire touching the lower pop bumper cap..but I did have the video cord from the phone touching the upper playfield plastic. And...since that is directly screwed into the pop bumpers, I'm sure its transferring vibrations right to the phone. You can see it here ->
So I went ahead and bent the phone bracket a bit to give the cable some more space. I might later insert a piece of foam or something between the upper playfield and that cable if it continues to touch.
Next, like you...I also added some spacers to the back of the phone. However, I used some rubber bike tube that I had laying around. Very easy to cut out the rubber. The worst part..by far...is just taking apart the phone. You have to take apart the phone to get access to the screws that are holding the main bracket and the video cord bracket to the phone.
Easy to make a template and cut them out.
I used two layers of rubber...which is just thick enough that the lock nuts still have enough bite. I could have used 3 layers if I went to the hardware store and bought low profile locknuts.
Looks really clean once installed.
I did go ahead and play for an hour or so tonight after I did these two changes and the phone did not turn off once. But an hour is not a big enough sample size so for right now...I'm only cautiously optimistic about the fix. If it does keep turning off in the future, then I'll go the route of creating an external power switch for the phone to restart the phone during a game easily.
Quoted from Gogdog:Thanks for this idea. I didn't have a wire touching the lower pop bumper cap..but I did have the video cord from the phone touching the upper playfield plastic. And...since that is directly screwed into the pop bumpers, I'm sure its transferring vibrations right to the phone. You can see it here ->
[quoted image]
So I went ahead and bent the phone bracket a bit to give the cable some more space. I might later insert a piece of foam or something between the upper playfield and that cable if it continues to touch.
Next, like you...I also added some spacers to the back of the phone. However, I used some rubber bike tube that I had laying around. Very easy to cut out the rubber. The worst part..by far...is just taking apart the phone. You have to take apart the phone to get access to the screws that are holding the main bracket and the video cord bracket to the phone.
[quoted image]
Easy to make a template and cut them out.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
I used two layers of rubber...which is just thick enough that the lock nuts still have enough bite. I could have used 3 layers if I went to the hardware store and bought low profile locknuts.
Looks really clean once installed.
[quoted image]
I did go ahead and play for an hour or so tonight after I did these two changes and the phone did not turn off once. But an hour is not a big enough sample size so for right now...I'm only cautiously optimistic about the fix. If it does keep turning off in the future, then I'll go the route of creating an external power switch for the phone to restart the phone during a game easily.
Ok...I'm still getting phone turning off issues...so...my remedy wasn't a remedy after all.
I'm going to PM @mageek and ask him about his reset switch ->
Quoted from Mageek:I had numerous problems with the phone, Yellow Tint, Red Tint, Blank.... to the point where I put a switch in-line with the phone power so I could reset it without powering off the game. Since 1.7x I have had ZERO phone issues and have removed my reset switch.
Quoted from Nokoro:I've discovered what appears to be a software bug in the code. It has happened to me twice now during play, and I just repeated it with the glass off. I am running the latest software. Here is what happens:
1. Start a mode, don't finish. Drain.
2. Start a second mode, don't finish. Drain.
3. Start a third mode. Finish. Sim card lit.
4. Send ball up side ramp into lock.
5. Now with Sim card shot lit and extra ball shot lit, put next ball into phone scoop to start multiball.
This is supposed to be a 2 ball multiball but the game kicks out all 5 balls.
As I said, I have now repeated this a few times. All other times I trigger MB, it plays as it should -- a 2 ball MB. I am not sure yet whether every step is necessary to trigger this apparent bug.
Can someone else try with the glass off and report back?
I followed those exact steps with glass off...and still got 2 ball MB. I'm running latest version.
OK, all of the credit goes to @mageek for this one and for basically hand holding me through this process.
Here is how you create a power switch for the phone screen, so if it blanks on you, you can turn it off without turning the whole pin off.
First, remove the yellow (hot) wires from the phone power molex connectors. You can leave the black (ground) ones in. You can confirm which is hot with a multimeter. My multimeter read 24V going to the phone.
I didn't have a molex removal tool...but 2 sets of bent paper clips (I used 2 together to make it stronger) make an easy and cheap replacement tool.
Then...I took a pair of wires (I used 20AWG door bell wire), and on one end, I attached a set of molex connectors (male and female). On the other end, I attached an extra playfield microswitch that I had laying around. You want to solder one wire to the common on the switch, and the other to the Normally closed (NC) blade.
Next, insert your molex connectors into the yellow wire molex connectors from the phone power. Test to make sure your switch works.
Once verified...then heat shrink your molex connectors.
I went ahead and took my wire to the underside of my pin near the main power switch. I used foam tape and gorilla tape to attach the wire. It looks ugly, but I'm sure someone else could come up with a cleaner looking attachment method. I wanted it on the outside, so I could just trap up a ball, reach down and flip the phone power. @mageek had his switch on the inside of the coin door, which is probably safer (keeping all power inside the pin), but you would have to wait to launch a ball so you could take the time to open the door (killing flipper power) and activate the switch.
This mod is completely reversible. When you want to remove it, just cut the heat shrink off and put the original molex connectors back into the original power connector.
Seems to work great so far. Only concern I have is if this little microswitch has no problem with 24V power in the long run.
Quoted from drained:So I just replaced my bob's trapdoor, the flap broke off awhile back.. Is there anytips or adjustments to make this not break off again?
Looks like the stress comes from the trap door opening and the tip of the flap hitting the wireform above when the coil makes it full stroke before resting on the latch.
I could be wrong.. anytips?
I have a 3 prong approach to fixing trapdoor issues. You can start here ->
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/135#post-4758833
then https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/138#post-4773987
then https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/138#post-4775986
Quoted from BC_Gambit:If it is slamming into the wireform then closing you should adjust things to stop it from slamming into the wireform. There are multiple posts in this thread (use thread search function if needed) on how to do this.
I ended up using a black post sleeve and shaving a very small section of it off, then putting it near the coil stop for the coil that fires the trap door upwards. Like maybe 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch or something; very small but it made a huge difference to the trap door travel. And unlike washers it wedged in place in the coil sleeve so the did not get stuck vertical when raising or lowering the playfield.
Just my 2 cents; I tried many things that actually made it worse like trying to adjust the "catch" for the mechanism. It took me hours to just keep it simple .
Do you mind posting a pic?
Quoted from DudeRegular:This sounds interesting. Is this process listed anywhere?
Yeah...here in the thread.
Here is where I did it ->
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/183#post-5223687
and the post I quoted ->
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/121#post-4670653
Quoted from DudeRegular:When the shaker goes heavy say in multiball i get some crazy flipper shaking. Is that supposed to happen?
There are "attacks" that happen in multiball….where if the attack hits your flipper (like...from qed, or theater, mechanic), then the flipper yes...goes crazy and shakes. Its an awesome gameplay feature.
Quoted from Edster:I used to be able to make a great goofy face when I enter my initials but it seems the latest update takes a shot earlier and not when the camera clicks when you enter your initials. Now I have live with an even goofier picture of me taken while i am playing ;-P
These are tricky. The camera has face recognition software, so if you make too big of a goofy picture when you hit "end" on the initials screen it won't register, and it will just use one that was taken during gameplay.
I have small kids, and when I get to take my picture and they notice, they want to be in the picture too. So if we are trying to take a picture with two of us, it rarely works. The face recognition software will zoom in and crop on usually the bigger face (mine) instead of taking a picture of both of us. If I want the picture to be just of the kid, I have to make sure and hold them up at the normal player position and duck my head down.
Interestingly....I have a friend that owns a JJPOTC, and he says the high score picture can be taken by the pin at any time during the high score entering, so he has to hold a funny face the entire time he enters his initials. Sounds like a big pain. I wonder why JJP changed the software for that.
Quoted from BC_Gambit:I think the short answer is they didn't. I have both and both seem to work similarly at least with the code versions I am running.
Ok...I'll have to try that out on his machine...maybe he is misunderstanding how the picture taking works on the initials screen.
Quoted from bigd1979:White gi on this game... inserts and all other controlled lights are rgb..
As an aside...I really don't like that spider GI light. Its the only GI that is completely exposed and shining in your eye. I just disconnected it under the PF.
Quoted from Audioenslaved:On further inspection the trap door is actually missing the flap! So off to buy a new one. I’m guessing the trap door is meant to sit proud of the playfield and the flap takes up the slack. I can see why the flaps would continue to break toowitb the ramp sitting too close to the playfield
The flaps break because when the trapdoor springs open, it hits the wireframe above it. Start reading my posts from here -> https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/138#post-4773987
Quoted from bigd1979:What's the issue with the camera everyone is talking about? I'm confused? Mine takes the picture as soon as I hit the start button after putting my name in every time ?
If you try and make too funny of a face, your face becomes distorted enough that the software's face recognition software won't use the picture when you hit the start button, and will use a previous picture from during the game.
And yes...if there was an option to always take a picture no matter what when you hit the start button, that would be great. For home use. Out in public, the face recognition requirement is good because you might have people taking crude pictures where its just their hand giving you the bird (or worse).
Quoted from dirtbag66:It's bizarre because some games it's fine. Bright as can be. Other games it takes one hard shot to the side of the scoop and boom, the screen is off. Then a few vibrations from the pop bumpers and its back. I've tried unplugging it, switching it with the QT screen, everything.
I'm pretty sure it's on its way out, but I don't want to invest any $$$ into it since I'm thinking of selling.
If you don't want to put any money in it, you could put a microswitch to restart just the phone when it goes off and won't come on during gameplay:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/194#post-5369688
Of course....in the month after I've put it in, I think I've only used it once or twice. (though the phone has blanked for 1-2 seconds several times).
Here is a small code change that I wouldn't mind.
During multiball, hitting 3 scoop shots 'adds a ball'.
After multiball ends, there is a few seconds where shots still register for the MB...scoop included.
Its great when you were already at 2 scoop shots, so you can re-enter MB with a late 3rd scoop shot.
But if you were at 0 or 1 scoop shots, then have the code not register it as a late scoop shot. Just have it continue with gameplay. Like after the MB ends, many times my phone will already be ready to start a mode, I hit the scoop ready to start a new mode, and it will just spit the ball back out because its registering the first or second scoop shot. Now that I'm thinking about it...the code might also be accepting a 4th, 5th, etc scoop shot too which wouldn't do anything either.
It would just help with gameplay flow.
Quoted from Boat:Hey guys, I tried searching but couldn’t find anything, my game has a decently loud speaker hum / buzz in attract mode.
It’s not a huge deal but definitely noticeable
Any suggestions?
Sounds like you need the noise isolator that you can get from JJP support.
Quoted from rockrand:I agree about the sim shot,I also removed my protector and installed some Mylar and raised the rear deflector on the sim shot with some washers,like I did on my first di a few years ago,helps lot on this very important shot,phone shot is a gimme with protector on so I leave it.
OK, I would love to raise the deflector with washers...but how are you doing it? Right now, the left side of the deflector is either touching or just about touching the ramp, so I don't see how it could possibly be raised? Basically...maybe it can be raised but its going to scratch the ramp sticker/paint for sure...
Quoted from Crile1:Debating the pop building, but I like watching the ball going around that turn. Will likely be getting the Bob sign upgrade so it faces me. Then mirror or art blades and I'm done. This game has so much, really doesn't need much more.
I have the popbumper building (which I really like). The building doesn't hide the ball going around the curve...the mod itself is lots of "glass" (just plastic) that you can see right through.
Well...my monitor died on my DI. First the video looks like this ->
Then eventually turns to this ->
First I thought it was video card, though the two playfield screens were still working. I unplugged the DVI cable and the LED monitor still has lines on it ->
Then....to make absolutely sure...plugged in an outside monitor and video works fine ->
Anybody have any ideas for a replacement monitor? Looks like they are now Micro-Ray LEDs ->
Maybe the video monitor has a different warranty period than other JJP pinball parts? My DI has a build date of April 6 2018.
Quoted from pacman11:Yeah that’s what I was thinking too. Maybe someone will develop a mod to replace them with something else down the road.
There are posts about adding a resistor to each drone, which is easy (and only costs a $1 or $2 for like 300 resistors from china), which greatly reduces the speed (and thus drone life).
Quoted from Gogdog:Well...my monitor died on my DI. First the video looks like this ->
Then eventually turns to this ->
[quoted image]
First I thought it was video card, though the two playfield screens were still working. I unplugged the DVI cable and the LED monitor still has lines on it ->
[quoted image]
Then....to make absolutely sure...plugged in an outside monitor and video works fine ->
[quoted image]
Anybody have any ideas for a replacement monitor? Looks like they are now Micro-Ray LEDs ->
[quoted image]
Maybe the video monitor has a different warranty period than other JJP pinball parts? My DI has a build date of April 6 2018.
Ok, as an update...no, the monitor is not under warranty. After talking to JJP, they wanted $600 for a new monitor replacement. What is odd...is that when I first called, I was quoted $900 for the monitor, but was quoted $600 when they replied to an email I sent.
Thankfully...my monitor was still marked with the "micro-ray" power supply, so I was able to contact them. Evidently...JJP has now required new monitor suppliers to remove the "make" of the monitors, I suppose to potentially force replacements to be bought (with a markup) through them.
Anyway, right now Micro Ray has about 40 led monitors that JJP sent back to them due to single pixel errors. Its not even a dead pixel (black) its an "always on" type pixel, which should hardly be seen when there is a bright screen (which is about always on Dialed In).
And these are $198...you can find them here -> https://micro-ray.com/27-inch-internal-monitor-for-gaming-machines/
You'll need to take off the steel mounting plate from the top of the back of the monitor and reuse that.
I did find the monitor only itself here ->
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/27-inch-lcd-computer-spare-parts_62433045843.html?spm=a2700.galleryofferlist.0.0.433670976l3JZs
You are buying it direct from China, but they still want $138 plus shipping, and it doesn't come with the black power supply and controls, black side mounting plates, etc.
Since I'm not positive that my monitor was caused by a failing LED or a failing power supply issue, I think $198 is a fair price for a product that includes both monitor and power supply, even with a bad pixel.
Quoted from yaksplat:I actually wonder how many standard 27" monitors would work fine in this application.
I don't think many....I mean, it would need to fit all of the tight constraints inside the backbox, and would need to match up with the mounting bracket. The monitors are open frame, so its just a thin sheet of metal around the led screen.
Currently its also just a DC thin power cord, where most residential use monitors use a standard computer plug.
Don't get me wrong...I bet that there is some random specific monitor that you can buy that might work...but I don't think it would cost much less than the $200 for the micro ray ones. If the $600 replacements from JJP were your only choice...yeah...I would investigate much harder to find a replacement....and I would most likely just buy the replacement LED direct from china via Alibaba and reuse the power supply.
Quoted from NeilMcRae:Suspect the screen may have lost its config. Unfortunately the only way to fix it is to get a new screen and use the buttons that come with it to re-programme it.
I had the same problem happen to mine. Swap the screen then use the buttons that come with the new screen to fix the old one.
Neil.
Whoa...what buttons are you referring to with the phone screen?
For the past few weeks, my phone screen has its pixels shifted upwards. When the phone turns on...full blue "VGA" screen comes up, so the pixels are still good at the bottom. But when it gets a video signal...everything is just shifted upwards.
No issue with the video feed itself. Full screen video when switched to the theater ->
And when theater feed is to the phone, the exact same shifting upwards:
So yeah...if there are some buttons internal on the phone's motherboard (i.e. take the case off and then access some buttons on the motherboard) that can control moving the video feed up or down...that would be great.
Are you referring to some buttons like that?
Quoted from NeilMcRae:yes but the game doest come with the buttons - the replacement screen does...
Ok, so if you buy a replacement screen, it comes with a separate attachment with buttons. How does that connect to the phone? Is it plugged in somewhere or is it a remote control or ?
I guess my only option is to ask JJP and see if they have a bunch of extras of these button peripherals so I can fix my screen?
Quoted from javagrind888:I had a screw fall out of my trap door and I fixed it, no problems for a few weeks then gave a device error. Nothing seems wrong and it started working again after pushing it up and down a couple times.
The door swings all the way to the ramp though and then falls back to a low angle. Is this normal? Ball goes through ok. Seems like it would hold a little higher though.
[quoted image]
So the whole mechanism for opening/holding the door needs occasional adjustment. Things get loose, and you need to sometimes bend brackets back.
There is a sticky about it ->
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/26#post-4049572
Quoted from Gogdog:Ok, so if you buy a replacement screen, it comes with a separate attachment with buttons. How does that connect to the phone? Is it plugged in somewhere or is it a remote control or ?
I guess my only option is to ask JJP and see if they have a bunch of extras of these button peripherals so I can fix my screen?
Ok....luckily JJP has an extra "menu board" that attaches to the phone monitor that they are sending to me. I assume I'll need to open up the phone and directly connect it somehow (which is a pain), though not sure how it attaches.
Quoted from LTG:LTG : )[quoted image]
Ok...so that is the menu board...and I see the board with the buttons. I also see a VGA connector...is that the connector I'll be using? So all I would need to do is hookup the VGA connector to the back of the phone? And its able to access the phone menu by the video input stream?
or...do I need to open up the phone and connect a ribbon cable from this board to a board in the phone?
Quoted from ClarkKent:Just to be clear - where to get the extra board with the adjustment buttons? Just in case, good to know.
I asked JJP if they had an extra one and they sent me one out, but it sounded like they didn't have a bunch just laying around.
Another member here bought a replacement phone from JJP, and it came with one.
Quoted from LTG:LTG : )[quoted image]
Ok, now I see where I was getting confused. In your pic, you have the phone there with the ribbon to the vga connector.
The menu board and ribbon (which was sent to me) are connected to the phone at the open slot at the bottom right of the phone motherboard.
Of course...connecting it to the phone while still connected to the VGA and power cables from the pin, is still a big pain. If you have never opened up the phone and put it back together again...you are lucky! One tip...while putting it back together, use a little bit of blue Loctite on the metal screws. I've had some screws come off before.
Anyway, at first I was worried because there was not an option to move the image vertically or horizontally. Thankfully...the "auto config" option in the menu correctly moved the image down to make full use of the screen.
Quoted from KingBW:DI needs some votes in round 2 of the greatest pinball popularity tournament thread. It's losing to Stern Star Trek
Here's the link
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/round-2-greatest-pinball-game-of-all-time-tournament-edition
Yeah too bad DI is losing. Its a tough match up though. Both are flowy games with great shots. Theme, sounds, music goes to star trek probably. Gameplay goes to DI though. The thing that is a let down for Star Trek though is that the 6 modes essentially all feel the same. I know the rules are different for each one...plus each level of each model (level 1,2,3) but usually just amounts to shooting whatever is flashing. DI modes feel fundamentally more different.
Ok...got the micro-ray monitor in and ...looks great!
It wasn't a single pixel, but a vertical small line of 3 pixels. 90% of the time its essentially invisible on the cityscape scenes, so I can definitely live with it, knowing I saved $400.
Quoted from waldo34:Getting close 8 votes behind.
Yeah looks like we lost. Very close though. The only 2nd column (underdog column) that gave an upset was STTNG vs TOTAN, and the DI vs ST was actually the closest votes out of the whole bracket.
Quoted from FatPanda:JJP flippers feel very different than Stern flippers. You need to get used to them. Otherwise, I would suggest maybe a stronger return spring to get that snappiness.
I was just working on my flippers last night. They feel fine...but all the sudden I lost the ability to do flipper post passes. I tried messing with everything....EOS switches, flipper button switches, swapped out extension springs, swapped out flipper rubber. I just can't figure out what the exact variable is to be able to get flipper passes working vs not.
It might be a flipper angle problem....I just wish the playfield had alignment holes like nearly all pins. Right now I'm just guessing at what angle is "right".
Quoted from Joniano:Hey all, I joined the club about a month ago with an LE. Plays great, but has phone issues. From what I've read it's the phone/display itself. Here's what it does: It randomly will get darker, then brighter then completely black, then back on. It seems to be changing whenever anything jars it. I've swapped out the cables from the backbox with the theater and it still does the same thing. I've unplugged and replugged the vga cable and even wiggled it around with the glass off and that doesn't seem to change it. Any solutions? Do I just need a new phone?
Sounds like you need a new phone. But not the whole assembly, probably just the screen/board with it. I just got a quote from JJP for $35 plus shipping. (so not super expensive).
There is another member here that just found a way to get it cheaper...but I'll leave it to him to reveal it since he did the work to find it.
Quoted from fnosm:Report back on if you see it everytime you play. That is so small.
During gameplay? Absolutely not...its way too small for the brief moments you are looking up from the playfield/action. Only time I see it is when I'm in the full settings menus because its a dark gray and flat background.
Quoted from CUJO:Had my cell phone in Dialed In do this during game play tonight. Phone stayed that way until I rebooted the pin after the game.
Phone came up ok after cycling power. Running latest code offered on JJP site. Anyone else have the DI phone do this with latest code mid game?[quoted image]
Phone wigs out in all kinds of different ways. Usually a reboot fixes it.
Quoted from altan:I've been silent because I wasn't sure my efforts will be rewarded. Please keep in mind that, at the moment, I DO NOT recommend anyone pursue this path. However, I'll share what I know so far.
I was looking for cheaper/cheap phone replacement. I initially found an eBay seller that seemed to sell exactly the same controller board along with a 4.3" display. This display happened to be resistive touch, but that doesn't matter --- except for the cost. It's less than $50 shipped so I decided to give it a try. It arrived and works great (stand alone).
Some have noticed that Dialed In reports the phone as being 1024x768. Every 4.3" LCD I could find was 480x272. How could this be? I figured the controller board had a scaler built in. It turns out it does... The little LCD with the controller is happy to take 1024x768 output from my laptop and display it on the 480x272 screen.
[quoted image]
I haven't tried to put this LCD into the Dialed In case, but I suspect it will fit.
It also came with the screen adjustment board, the VGA cable, an adapter to use it with an external 12V power supply, a Composite input cable (opposed to VGA) and an adaptor to connect it to USB (I assume so you can use the resistive touch).
But once again, I don't recommend anyone buy this because the cost is out of wack. I was told that JJP charges just $35 for the LCD+controller (who'd a thought that! Nothing in pinball is $35). But that was after I ordered this!
However, this effort allowed me to determine more about the manufacturer of the controller board and I've got a line on a $28 (shipped) version with a regular LCD screen. I'll report on that when it arrives... This 2nd one has the potential to be a great alternative.
... Altan
www.aaarpinball.com
Thanks a lot for your work on this Altan. You are the best! Looking forward to when you get the $26-$28 shipped version, though I'm 99% certain that its the exact same product and the ebay seller just overcharged you to make money on the split.
Quoted from Pinphila:Hi,
Finally getting one this week or next. Just waiting for shipper. What are the must haves? Best mods?
Thanks!
I think a must have mod is a way to turn the crazy bob sign ->
https://mezelmods.com/collections/dialed-in-pinball-mods/products/dialed-in-pinball-crazy-bobs-sign-illumination-kit
I would say that's the only "must have" since it should have come like this from factory.
Oh...and maybe the mantis protector for phone scoop...since the factory cliffy can cause some rejects.
Mods I personally like are:
Popbumper building
Stand up target decals
Quoted from DarthFett72:Hello everyone.....just picked up my DI LE last night and need some advice. This is the first JJP I've owned and I'm beyond excited. My first question is.... since this was NOT NIB, do I need to register it with JJP in order to qualify for replacement parts?
I've read some of the thread about the problem with the ball coming down the left habitrail too quickly and bouncing out...which my game does 9 out 10 times. Did I read it correctly that JJP will send a part to correct this free of charge??
Also seem to have issues with the drones not spinning. In test mode, they spin when I touch a blade, but only for a second or so. I'm going to pull them and check for cold solder joint....but was told JJP might replace them since it's a known issue.
So again, do I need to register my used DI LE with JJP to qualify or does it even matter?
Thanks in advance for the help/advice.
I didn't register with them to receive service for my DI that I bought second hand. But yes, there is a plastic cover that JJP will send to fix left ramp popouts. And non-working drones are extremely common. If they spin when you manually push one of the motors, then its not a cold solder joint, its the motor itself. You can buy replacement motors and install them yourself (I did), and I also added a resistor so they spin slower hopefully prolonging the life. If one motor is out...might as well replace all 4 because the other 3 are about to die too.
If JJP replaces yours...what they were doing in the past is just sending you refurb drones where they themselves had replaced the motors in them anyway. So if you are out of warranty period then I would DIY it.
Quoted from DarthFett72:Thanks for the info.....I'll try the DIY replacement. Any particular place I should look for these drone replacement motors? Appreciate the help.
Plenty of posts about it in this thread, though a quick search finds: Search for "CX-10-005" or just "cheerson cx-10a motor".
I bought mine on aliexpress (I think), though look on ebay, etc.
There are posts about adding the resistors too. You can get like 500 resistors of varying sizes for $2 from aliexpress.
Quoted from Rob_G:The flap isn't even necessary. If your trap door sits (mostly) flush with the playfield when closed, that's good enough. I filed the leading bottom edge of the trap door a slight amount so it sits perfectly flush on my game.
Tob
Hmmm...would also have the benefit of not having a loud bang noise from the flap hitting the habit trail above it...
Quoted from altan:While I can see variance across games, I wasn't able to make the left orbit (go all the way around) until I realized the flap was broken and fixed it.
Sorry, fixed it by replacing it with a new trapdoor with flap, or fixed it by filing down the wood to make it flush with the PF?
Quoted from Crile1:My Dad has had a Monopoly for years. The Utility shot is the exact same shot as the Sim card shot. So comes natural to me. I don't get any SIM rejects with factory cliffy. My phone scoop cliffy was bent upward and would cause issues. The foam thing is a good trick, worked wonders on my AMH and TNA when I had those.
Is that stand up backing foam or something else?
Quoted from snaroff:Just removed it...not too bad. Only played a couple games, but definitely notice a difference! Recently, I could get 5 rejects in a row, which makes you want to turn the game off I think the lips of the mantis (which are quite thick and cover the left/right bezel) caused the rejects. Most mantis protectors don't have the lips.
You could move the phone scoop back. I doubt it was the mantis protector causing rejects. As documented in the thread, some phone scoops are a bit too forward so the upright vertical supports of the phone hit the pinball, rejecting it, on shots that really look like they should have gone in. Its not hard to move the phone scoop back, would be easy to do it when you put your mantis back on (which I would...you already bought it and might as well have the protection). You'll eliminate rejects by moving the scoop back.
Quoted from FatPanda:I've had this happen, like you said, after waxing. I just deal with it until the game gets "dirty" enough where it doesn't do it anymore.
I have a video on here that shows a slow-mo of what happens during fast shots. The ball essentially "flies over" the upper ramp switch. For me...I added electrical tape to the beginning of the ramp to help smooth the transition from PF to ramp flap (there was a slight lifting of the ramp flap which helped kick the ball up a bit more which made things worse) and it helped a lot.
Quoted from coz6:Screen went white did a reboot now I got this ummm what do I unplug and replug.
[quoted image]
Well, to be honest...if a restart didn't work, I don't think unplugging the cord to the phone is going to do anything either.
It sounds like you might need to hook up a menu control board to the lcd screen. If you are still under warranty, I bet JJP would send you one. If not.... buy a replacement lcd screen directly from aliexpress, which comes with one. Its not a bad idea to buy a replacement lcd screen anyway in case yours fails (which is common) ->
I have connected a board up to mine (to fix a screen alignment issue), but I don't remember if there was a volume/mute setting or not. I would check for you...but its actually a big pain to hook up the menu control board so I can't do that for you.
Quoted from poup:Leveled up the upper right leg, It happens less. The playfield protector is also one of the reason
Make sure the phone charge target is straight too. Usually the ball will slowly start moving it to the left, creating a bigger "trap" for the ball.
Quoted from Trooper11040:So I picked up a DILE yesterday. It was still running 1.53. I updated it today to 1.73 and now the Bluetooth dongle isn’t working. I can care less about the Bluetooth feature but I get the error every time I boot up. This a known issue? (Yes the bluetooth dongle is plugged in and I used the USB plug for the update so it’s definitely working)
[quoted image]
These just have a history of failing.....and BOTH the dongle itself and the usb cable itself can fail. Thankfully its a unneeded feature and just a slight annoyance at startup.
Quoted from Navystan:I have purchased a DISE, then sold it in hopes of getting an LE. Then, I got a beautiful condition LE and after 5 months sold to a friend. Then, just a few days ago, I bought the DILE back from my friend. He added the nice topper and sideart. All that to say, I have played most of the "A" pins and still keep coming back to DI. I like the overall value, quality, and "playability" of DI.[quoted image][quoted image]
Glad to have you back...but....who is saying DI isn't an "A" pin? It is currently ranked 20 out of 344 pins...
Quoted from JoinTheCirqus:3 drones in DI? Bullshit...how about 8 of them? Yes, the old code had them spinning too much and the motors burning out. Luckily with the updated code the motors are activated once about every 58 hours, so they should be fine
[quoted image][quoted image]
Are all of those actually connected to power?
And yes...you are a madman.
Quoted from bigd1979:Never had this happen on mine .. I can backhand phone scoop very easily.
It definitely happens to me.....you backhand it but if the upper flipper is still energized, it can just touch the ball and send it away from the scoop...
Quoted from Kevlar:Alternatively, if it is broke ( the ramp flap ) don't fix it!. Mine broke off 2 years ago, I have a replacement but have never fitted it, the machine doesn't suffer at all leaving it off.
On mine, with a broken ramp, it will hit the trap door a bit since its not fully flush and make the orbit clunky.
Quoted from ClarkKent:I bought a replacement lcd screen including driver board for 25 Euro via eBay several months ago as a user over at flippermarkt.de recommended it. It’s exact the same board, I checked. So if it happens more often, I‘ll try to replace the monitor. I’m not very good at such things but I don’t think it’s that difficult.
Yeah, you can buy the same LED screen for like $26 via aliexpress.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000497063840.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.48424c4d3uJbuZ
Quoted from PokerJake:What are mom jeans anyway? Never heard that term before but I'm only 35.
I'm 40....but the term has been around forever.
Quoted from Skipnatty:In some cases if your VUK strength is turned up too high (i had to lower mine from default settings), the ball will hit the right ramp habitrail and do some crazy things coming out of the phone....maybe something to try.
I've also had the scoop itself was bent upwards a bit, so when the ball came up, it would actually hit the wireframe in front of the scoop (right ramp wireframe). I simply bent the scoop back down.
Quoted from lschmidlin:Hi guys - I bought a DI LE from a buddy of mine last month and loving it. However, the ball keeps getting stuck behind the phone. I think he added this protector (right?) but the ball still lodges there. Any suggestions?
Sorry if this has been addressed previously (likely! ha ha) but am new to the thread and there are 238 pages!!
Thank you! Larry
[quoted image]
I added a post to prevent this. Here you go ->
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/152#post-4940308
Quoted from lschmidlin:Thanks for the responses guys – I guess I should clarify that the ball isn’t getting stuck where you suggested help (but thanks for that anyway, of course!) It’s getting stuck directly behind the phone sitting in that little cradle where all the electronics are. Looks like the plastic piece that is the designed to avoid that is far too widespread on either side. There’s a huge gap on either side of the phone, which allows the ball to fly right in there. See my white arrows. Any thoughts? Thanks! Larry[quoted image][quoted image]
Oh.....sorry about that. Wow, no...I've never gotten a ball stuck "inside" the plastic barrier before, on either side.....
Though, mine is much closer to the phone on the left side, and seems about the same as yours on the right. Maybe you need to try and bend your left side?
20210526_141851 (resized).jpg20210526_141906 (resized).jpgQuoted from WizardsCastle:I'm back in the club!
Sold my LE are few years ago, and lately I've been itching to play it again, so I found a really nice standard.
Can someone share a pic of their left and right adjustable posts (if you still have them at factory default).
Also, what is this thing on top of the head? I don't recall having this on my LE.
And, in the latest code, are SIM cards held if you drain. I remember when I had my game before that you'd lose your chance at SIMs once you drained. I know you can adjust this in the options, but curious to know if they made this change.
Thanks!
[quoted image]
Sim card carryover is just an option in the settings. I think its been there for a long time. And the thing on top is a flasher when the camera takes pictures. I think the thought process was that most standards would be routed, and in dark places, so they added a camera flasher up there.
Quoted from dug:Newer code basically makes the drones do nothing. They will spin once in a while only for a second or so to keep the motors from burning out.
Which is a shame that its not a software option to control how often they fire. I added resistors to the drones to slow down the motors to keep them from burning up so theoretically could have them be fired much more often now. But, not really a big deal.
Quoted from Had:How can we help to make this happen?
Also out of interest, how much time would you estimate to:
- Cycle bobs targets through pop bumpers (under used shot and conveniently adds randomness and integrates with diverter arm)
- Keep the city destroyed rather than resetting after Armageddon.
- Increase jackpot callout volume
- Add a little something after Showdown
Why do you want -> - Keep the city destroyed rather than resetting after Armageddon.
You go through the modes again after armageddon, so redestroying the city shows your new progress and how well you did on each mode. The whole mode shows you going through a quantum time shift....so keeping it destroyed serves what purpose?
Here is a random question....sterns have a "coindoor ball saver" option, where if you open the coindoor during a game (will drain the ball), when you close it, the game will launch a new ball. Basically makes it so you can fix a ball jam, or answer the door, and still keep your place in the game.
I'm looking through the options but not seeing anything...does jersey jack not have an option like that on their games?
Quoted from PinballTilt:I bought this game to play temporarily until Godzilla arrives. Holy smokes though I freaking love it. Each shot feels good and it's just a joy to play. I want fun games and this fits that bill perfectly. I don't get the hate for the theme, bunch of followers who listened to podcasts saying the theme and game sucks. Needless to say the plan has changed and Godzilla is now leaving when it arrives
Ok, so I own both DI and GZ.....you really need to keep both. Godzilla is also fantastic. Maybe...lose GOTG instead? (like you I also have JP prem and LOTR and wouldn't lose those either)...
Quoted from Had:Hi all,
As indicated in the pictures below, I’m having an issue where occasionally a right ramp shot will hop clean over the switch. Does anyone have a solution that doesn’t involve reducing the flipper power or adding something on the ramp to slow the ball down? (I think I have seen velcro used to solve this issue somewhere)
Ideally, I was hoping that someone had made a ‘Station 2’ mod (refer to the second picture) that would slot into this area that would prevent the balls from missing the switch.
[quoted image][quoted image]
Here you go ->
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/146#post-4840614
I think I did just redo my tape fix...to have more tape, longer, smoother, etc. ->
my previous tape fix
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/132#post-4742656
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Eagle, ID