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Thanks, I figured that cutting that harness loose allows for mounting over there, really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences as this is not a "follow the bouncing ball" ordeal even for someone really used to being under the playfield!

Nice! I just finished the last of my wiring and fired it up to test with coin door open, two wireforms not re-installed etc. and at when I went into LED test they weren't even close to corresponding to the screen. Then I remembered I hadn't gone from 6.60 to 6.61, quick upgrade, two wires switched and everything looks to be great! Have to finish some clean-up and waxing the top-side, re-install the two wireforms, deploy a crap-ton of cable-ties to the under-side and then start play-testing it. I have Pin Stadiums so it's no issue for me but I do think the GI may indeed be darker now, just really happy I don't have to worry about 1/2 - 3/4 of the LEDs going crazy on us for league kick-off next month!

To add my thoughts suggestions to the already great advice in this thread:

If I were to do this again I think I would do a couple things differently. After replacing all the large boards I would not go replace all the individual boards in order as the instructions have you do it. Instead I would first install the BAG and interface boards in the middle then use the 2.0 wiring diagram in the manual and work from one large board to the next, plugging in the "satellite" cables and replace the individual boards with those cables in place so I could see exactly where to mount the boards, how to route the cable, etc. I'd work from each board in the order the cable progresses, I think that would be simpler and a little cleaner personally.

I'll also add that my kit did not have enough #4-1/2 inch screws and that screws from Home Depot are complete crap, they strip out incredibly easy! There was a bag of smaller #4s but those were never listed as being used in the instructions. The mounting hardware for my power supply was not #8 as the manual lists but rather M4 as PinMonk stated, the #8s won't tighten down properly. Lastly I think they should include a new rubber mount for the Rainbow plastic that keeps that light pipe in place, mine very nearly ripped in two while I was taking it apart even though I was trying to be very careful with it.

So, I'm on the fence about this 2.0 system. my WOZ has 7.5 buffered boards and (knock on wood) I haven't had any issues.

The thought of paying $800 plus the time... potential install pitfalls.. of 2.0.... phew. I don't know. Is it really a necessary swap?

It's not necessary. Until it is. :p Seems that once a board does fail, they'll keep failing, but before then never a problem! Something to keep in mind, the price of the 2.0 board kit will be going up at some point in the near future.

How long have you had your game? Mine also had the 7.5 buffered boards but after about a year, maybe slightly less, I started having problems. My game is in home but it gets played a lot. My problems started with the GI boards that are closest to the flippers, but as has been noted the biggest issue with this system is that problems with one board can knock out an entire section(s) of the game and that's what was happening with mine. I managed to reflow solder on some of them but it was temporary fix and the problems came back. Then I started losing single colors (usually blue) on individual GI boards so they could no longer produce white, again I was able to temporarily fix them but the problems came back so replaced 5-6 of them. Then last year during my league hosting date I had one fail and send half the inserts into seizure mode, I managed to bypass it long enough to get through the day but that was pretty much the final straw for me. I almost didn't order it even still but then two weeks ago I was about as close to SWOTR as I've been and again the whole thing went bonkers so I shut off the game, grabbed my laptop and ordered the kit.

If you've never had problems you may get lucky and not have to do the swap, but if you plan to keep the game long-term like I do I think it's just a matter of time before you start having problems. At a minimum I'd suggest you buy some spare individual GI boards to keep on hand, I'd over to sell you some of mine but based on my experiences above I'd doubt you'd want them. My large boards have never had a problem so I do plan to sell some of those to recoup the cost of the upgrade.

For me it was easy: either sell or get used to playing with half the lights out. And selling means you stick a buyer with this problem and take a hit on price. For those not having problems, I understand the concern with not making the fix -- "if it ain't broke, why fix it?" My guess is I would not have made the switch if my lights had been even close to reliable. But assuming your luck continues, you will address the issue at the time you sell the game because buyers will ask for the 2.0 kit, assuming it's still available. It's nice to turn on your game knowing all the lights will turn on. And if one does go, knowing it will only result in a single board failure and not half the game.

By the way, I have a box of all the 5v boards, many replaced with buffered boards, that I'll gladly sell for $100. It includes all the old cabling.

I've owned my WOZ for over 4 years.

Here's a lazy question (I'm sure this info is somewhere):

If I buy the 2.0 kit just to hold onto... is there a solid parts list somewhere that I can use to check for completeness? It would totally suck to buy it and then find out 2 or 3 years down the road that it was missing parts, etc.

I talked to Butch about year or so ago and he told me JJP was stock piling parts/chips for old boards. But, honestly, there's a part of me that wonders if JJP will stay in business long term. IF they fail (for whatever reason), that could create quite a problem.

I think parts will always be available. Look at any number of pins that no longer have manufacturers around. Look at Alien. Etc and so on.

Good point.

I really struggle with resisting the urge to buy and hold. Grapple with it! At some level, it makes zero sense to fix what isn't broken!

The kit comes with a packing list you check off to make sure everything is there. However there is no guarantee that you couldn't have a bad board or two in there, see previous post about defective BAG board (which runs the whole lighting kit) OOB.

It's $800 out of pocket, but if most or all of your current boards are working, you can likely sell a full set of them (and the jumper cables) for around $300 (I did), bringing the total cost to about $500, which is not much more than a color DMD mod. And this is much more valuable.

I'm convinced that the instructions are wrong and you use the smaller #4s for many of the steps, otherwise you run out of the 1/2 inch ones. I made note of which steps to use the smaller screws in, and I will provide details when I give my notes, hopefully later this weekend.

Would you mind sharing how you sold yours (here, EBay, etc.)? I now have a bunch of boards and cables but I did not save the large wiring harness. All of my large and single RGB boards work perfectly, I have about 4 bad GI boards but also one brand new one and not really sure if I should try to sell them as a set, individual boards, groups of boards, etc. I would really like to get something back out of them though.

I just put it up in the pinside marketplace as a set with a listing of what kind and how many boards and noted that it had all the jumper connectors. Sold it in just a few weeks.

Well, I finished, and it works! (Mostly.) Insert muted clapping and celebration.

It appears I have two bad LEDs -- one on the W7 board which is yellow when it should be a different color, and one of the little GI boards which works in test mode but is purple in actual game play when it should be white. I guess I'll email JJP about replacements unless anyone has any ideas of things to try first. Let me know.

When I finished and first flipped the power switch, absolutely nothing happened. I was worried that somehow I disconnected the main power. I checked the connections, and it looked good, so I flipped the switch again. This time, the main power came on and the game booted, but all of the lights were scrambled. I went through the LED test light by light and each switched on in a different location. I turned off the machine and checked my hook up of all the cables. Everything looked good. So, I switched on the machine again, and I guess third times the charm because that time, everything worked as it should (with the exception of the two faulty boards). Anyone know what was going on there?

(I'll post my detailed notes, timeline and tips a little later.)

Here are some thoughts and notes on the overall process as well as specific steps.

General

• In general, this conversion is very doable. Believe me when I say that I’m not very handy, and I often sweat every time I remove something from the playfield. If I can do this, anyone can, so don’t let fear of your own skill set hold you back. Take your time, follow the instructions, ask for help if you have questions, and you’ll be fine.
• Take breaks. I am a strong believer in frequent breaks. They recharge your energy and renew your concentration. I split this up over 7 days (3 weekends), and I probably never did more than 2-3 hours in one sitting. It helps.
• Use a sheet to catch things that may fall. This is in the instructions, but let me repeat it here. USE A SHEET. I had many a screw or spacer that fell into the cabinet, and the sheet was a real time saver.
• I bought a static wrist band which I hooked up to the ground wire when installing the boards. I’m not sure how necessary this was, but it was only $5 on Amazon, so why not. In order for it to work, the game has to be plugged in to the wall outlet. But, keep the power off (obviously)!

Breakdown of My Time

Just in case you are interested in generally how long individual steps take, here is a general breakdown of my time:
• Steps 1-3: 1 hour
• Steps 4-5: 35 minutes
• Step 6: 1 hour
• Step 7: 2 hours
• Steps 8-13: 1 hour, 45 minutes
• Steps 14-19: 1 hour, 30 minutes
• Steps 20-23: 1 hour, 30 minutes (though I was pretty confused during step 21, so this could take less time)
• Step 24: 1 hour, 45 minutes
• Step 25: 1 hour, 30 minutes
• Steps 27-28: 1 hour
• GRAND TOTAL: 14 hours, 5 minutes

Notes on Specific Steps

• Step 2: I found access to some of the GI boards to be pretty tight as I was trying to remove the data cables. If you are having difficulty getting the data cables off of a few of them, there is no harm in waiting until you get to the step involving the actual replacement of the GI boards.
• Step 4: You only disconnect one connector during this step. You do not remove the wire. The instructions say this, but for some reason I was confused.
• Step 6 on: This didn’t occur to me until I had passed this step, but I should have cleaned the inserts from the underside while I was removing the boards. I’ve used a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol for this on other games. It is not necessary, but if you have time, you may want to.
• Steps 8, 10-11: Use the 3/8” screws (part number 82-000004-06), not the 1/2” screws called for in the instructions. If you use the 1/2” screws you will run out. The smaller screws are just fine for these steps, and they are in there for a reason and not used otherwise. I’m convinced that the instructions are wrong.
• Step 21: The Y connector that is referred to is a separate connector from the power harness in your kit. I didn’t realize that right away, and it caused a huge amount of confusion on my part. The instructions were less than clear to me on that part.
• Step 24: Disconnect the red white black power connector for the castle playfield off of the main power harness before removing the castle mini-playfield. You will need it, and it is easier to get while you are disconnecting connectors to prepare for this step.
• Step 25: As was just said earlier in this thread, getting the little rubber standoff into the new WOZ10 board is tough. What eventually worked for me was waxing the tip and pressing it in using a constant twisting motion. Also in this step, you will need to feed the red white black power connector through a hole in the bottom of the munchkin playfield to the board. If you attach it to the board first before feeding it through the hole, you will not be able to get the larger connector through the hole. Finally, your kits comes with new snap rivets. I was confused about how to remove the rainbow plastic until I broke a snap rivet. I don’t feel like the new rivets are on very tight for mine. Perhaps someone who is familiar with this can chime in and offer advice about the proper way to handle the removal of the rainbow plastic given those rivets.

Be sure you're running 6.61 and not 6.60.

I am, but thank you for checking.

I definitely have a couple of bad boards. I moved the GI board to a different location and got the same issue. It is that one GI board and WOZ7. Kinda ironic considering that I went through this whole process to avoid any more bad boards. Oh well, at least it isn't a board on the castle or munchkin playfields.

I got my two replacement boards today. Great service by JJP -- I emailed them Sunday about the boards and got replacements Wednesday! (Thank you, Shannon!) Now everything is working as it should. Having a couple of faulty boards took a bit of the wind out of my sails when I finished, but I'm still very happy overall with the process and kind of proud of myself for having done it.

Shannan walks on the ground I worship...

Anyone who has upgraded interested in selling some of the 7.5V little boards? I know I can buy direct from JJP but thought I’d ask here first.

Just PM me if so.

Cheers!

I am working on the woz 2.0 update. To help people in the future, the manual says the part number for the data cable to connect the RGB LED boards on the mini playfields is 19-3096-08 but that is incorrect. The correct part number is 19-3096-09.

I'd also send this information to Butch at JJP. He has updated the instructions based on feedback before, this seems like a changes that definitely needs to be made.

Ok I will send him an email.

A few other thoughts...

Don't hesitate to adjust the zip ties or cut them altogether on the new data/power cables for the 2.0 upgrade. I found that removing the zip ties and occasionally the part # tape allows you to get the leads where they need to go cleanly. Once plugged in, a few new ties on each offshoot keeps the install clean.

To echo the other posters, use the smallest screws (3/8") on the installation of the GI Boards (without spacers) and RGB insert boards. This will leave the correct number of 1/2' screws for the installation of the larger boards on the two mini playfields.

In most cases you don't need to cut the ends of the old data/power cables if you want to preserve them. They work their way out of the harness pretty easily.

To remove the lock nut near castle VUK you will need a 6" 11/32 nut driver or an extension on a socket driver.

Print out a COLOR version of the 2.0 lighting map from the manual. It is essential to see not only the routing of the cabling but the orientation of the boards when mounted to the playfield. I used this page as a guide for installation of each board and I did not have to make a single adjustment when it came time to connect them with the new power/data cables.

Everything else is fairly straight forward or documented in this thread.

I listed mine in the marketplace and on ebay. I don't have the 2.0 kit yet but I've ordered it so timing might be a bit off but I'm open to talking.

Just fitted the 2.0 kit over a weekend and found that they did not include the roll over brackets and the 2ft CAT5 cables were actually 1ft so I had to use the existing GI brkts and some 3M tape to install the roll over leds and also buy 5 2ft CAT5 cables from Amazon to complete the job.

All is working fine however the brightness is no where near the original intensity not sure if this will be addressed in future updates.

But I am not getting any issues so far looks like a good job bar the kit issues!!.

Sounds like there are ongoing QC issues with the 2.0 kit. Missing parts, incorrect directions, low gi light intensity. If this were free I would be inclined to cut jjp some slack, but considering that folks are shelling out $800 plus shipping to correct a design flaw on an already expensive game....

Packing errors maybe - kit is selling and doing great and in fact despite the fact that the kit itself is a new product it just got a nice little upgrade that streamlined it a bit. Don’t worry about it - I’m not saying it’s anything close to a must buy, don’t get me wrong, but as a product so far it is performing overall very well and no one has asked to return one or anything like that. Of course it is not perfect, no argument there, but the directions were just overhauled and expanded with pictures, a minor harness wiring anomaly was corrected and updated and the thing is finally out there for folks to get and work with after quite a long wait.

Should it really have been a "product"? I feel sort of displaced hearing it discussed as something that is measured in sales metrics. Because people HAVE to do something to solve issues they are left with few choices.

Or should it have been a fix that was provided to everyone who ended up with the bad luck of buying an early machine? Sort of like the POTC playfield chipping. Because early adopters got their machine off the line before JJP noticed the issue (or was alerted, we don't know, no one has commented) they now have the bad luck of having blemished machines. Likewise, those with games < 2.0 WOZ lighting boards also got the raw end of a splintery shaft. I'm sure I'll hear that the cost is more than the sales price or something, but that doesn't really feel like the owner's fault.

Just an ongoing conversation that I'm salty about. Maybe I have too high of expectation for a boutique pinball manufacturer. It's a yin yang.. double edged sword kind of thing. A love.. um.. slash disappointing kind of relationship.

You feel how you want to feel that’s fine. By selling well I mean I’m grateful that’s it’s finally here and available for people to get. You weren’t there for the long struggle to get the thing done and released at a price that was much closer to reasonable than what the initial plans being bandied about were and so far the price has held despite the pretty much no profit in each kit that’s sold. My goal is and has always been that people be able to enjoy their machines and not have to sweat over them and in this particular case not have to chase lighting problems. The struggle to get the thing into existence and released to create a solid solution for the numerous WOZ owners out there who loved their games in spite of the LED issues was painstaking and when I say it’s performance has been great I’m not using marketing jargon - I mean that there have been hiccups of course but the word is getting out and the kits are shipping and once installed they have been performing well in that there have been almost no light board failures and each one that gets installed knocks one more of a finite set of games of the virtual list and that pleases me. WOZ is the first and still best selling JJP game and I want people to enjoy it not work on it. Period.

I feel ya. That's why it's a double edged sword. My wife was giving me shit for wanting another JJP game knowing how much time I've spent in working on the ones we have. But that tells you the dedication of JJP fans. And, she had a great time playing Wonka at the NWPAS show, so she's a fangirl too.

Hi all can anyone confirm when you buy the WOZ 2.0 light kit if the $800 price tag is all you pay plus postage of course.

I ordered the kit and have it stored for now. Really enjoy my ECLE, it's in perfect shape with Cliffy's so it made it sense to order the kit. Not sure when I'll get around to doing the swap, currently have no light board issues with 7.5 unbuffered boards (knock on wood).

No idea what it is for overseas, it's a pretty big heavy box. But if I remember right (it's been a while since I did it) the price included shipping...

Shipping is not included in the price.

I just completed my 2.0 kit installation last week. I ordered the kit maybe 2 months ago. I must say it was all well packaged. There is a BOM checklist completed at the factory with a second column to be checked off by the end user. After verifying I had all the parts, I proceeded to follow the instructions step-by-step. I was able to remove all of the interconnect wires (red/green) without cutting any of them. I figured it would be best to save them for anyone who may want my complete light-board set. I did cut the majority of the black/purple power wires as there was no easy way to remove them without cutting. All in, I completed the installation over the course of 3 days. I did a full tear-down, cleaning and re-rubbering while I was in there. Total time was around 10-12 man hours. I was not short a single screw and not once did I find the instructions lacking or vague. I know considerable feedback has been given to JJP regarding their instructions and due to that helpful feedback, the instructions now are very good. I used the April 2019 revision of the instructions.

That's good to hear of a smooth, positive experience. Sounds like customer feedback has led to improvements in the process.

Just $800, postage and some blood, sweat and tears. The original kits were missing two machine screws and L-shaped brackets to hold the new power supply in place. I'm not sure if they added those to the more recent kits. Regardless, it is only a couple of dollars at your local hardware store.

Congrats! 10-12 hours is pretty good. It took me 14 hours. However, I was confused at certain points and some steps I had more trouble with than others. I think if they redid the instructions to correct a few errors and inconsistencies and added some more pictures, it could go quicker. I also understand that the newer kits removed the bag board so that can save a bit of time as well.

Just one thing to consider, I had a couple of bad boards in my 2.0 kit. Not a huge deal and JJP was great at swapping them out promptly. But, it may be a reason why you don't want to wait to do it. I would hate for you to wait a year only to find you have some issue with the parts.

I heard they made some changes in the kit. I think it's going to be easier to install. Something about a board change?

Two boards got incorporated into one, more or less, eliminating the need for one board.

I think this is a good move. Such a great game that's here for the long haul.

Wait...

The 2.0 kit isn’t as bright?

Interesting. Explain

I haven’t noticed a difference.

anyone else test the lights in test mode and find different lights are addressed wrong, according to the map?

EX. the right hurry light is on when the horse collect light is supposed to be.
it's all coming off the correct board, just not the correct LED according to test mode.

Nvmd, I reset it and it all started working again.... ughhh.

Well, after 5 solid years of running 7.5 buffered, I had my first board go out.

After communicating with several folks in the know, I’m pulling the trigger on 2.0. Had decided I wouldn’t... but Butch at JJP laid out a few details that pushed me to the edge.

So, new boards are being ordered.

I’m going to have a strong set of 7.5s (minus one) up for sale.

You made the right choice. And by selling your remaining good boards you should get the upgrade cost way down. It's a no-brainer.