3.) cold solder on trough opto board?

1. What is the volume at? What is the music attenuation at? Speech Attenuation level? Sounds like you're clipping the on-board amp.
2. Are you saying that it goes out of adjustment when you play it? And is it the hits with or without the captive ball?
3. Check the ball trough for all positions registering in switch test mode. Use "clear ball trough" in the diagnostics and watch the trough sensors on-screen as it cycles through balls.

Can't help on the first one, but I can on the third.

Stern's ball trough rollover switches can sometimes not register due to a sticky or stiff switch. Generally, a simple adjustment to the rollover leaf will allow the pressure of the ball to make more constant contact. This can show all the time, or more typically in a scenario where the ball slowly falls in the trough and doesn't have the inertia to activate the rollover. I would bet it is the last switch to the left in the trough. It is simple to get to. Worst case scenario, you could put in a new switch. Some of them just inherently have more resistance and require some adjustment. I had this same issue with my Walking Dead and it now functions just fine. Best of luck.

That's pretty loud. If you want to rock out, I'd suggest using the line-level L/R output on the Spike2 board into an external mini-amplifier that can handle the sound at that level without breaking a sweat. You don't have to break the bank. One of the $30 ones like in Houdini would work fine.

Amazon has it here for $26.30:
https://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PFA300-90-Watt-Amplifier-Adapter/dp/B0071HZ5LE

Your #2 issue is happening to me. This unusual switch mechanism is just poorly designed. It has to be very tightly gapped to work, if it is slightly too loose or slightly too tight, it doesn’t register. I have had to adjust mine several times. Even if you have it correctly gapped, with a second ball present, sometimes direct hits don’t register. You need to hit it with a glancing blow to consistently register hits. I suspect Stern will need to come up with a fix for this. Or perhaps someone in the community will come up with something.

I think the newest sterns use optos. At least my SW does.

In the first picture, it looks like you have a ball stuck on the plastic to the right of the center ramp. I’ve had balls stick there also.

If you clear the captive ball, does that take the alert away?

Horribly designed switch. I think I have mine finally tweaked just right for now but man that thing is flaky

This sounds like a great solution for you, RVDV. I mean, reading the Amazon description, this line alone makes it awesome and perfect for you:

"Party Machine

Create a karaoke session and let the fun begin. Use the mic and aux inputs to add life to the party."

ADD A CLIP ON MICROPHONE AND SING ALONG WITH YOUR IRON MAIDEN AS YOU PLAY!!

Hmm. Knowing what you LE owners know, what version would you recommend to those of us considering Pro or Premium?

Helped unbox a friend's LE and the sarcophagus mech was misadjusted out of the box. One of the switches wouldn't register, and it's nearly impossible to access. That whole mech concerns me, and the code couldn't compensate for any of the issues that came up with it.

The initial plan for the route was get a Pro, then replace it with a Premium, but the LE/Prem playfield upgrades are underwhelming and the mechs seem fussy and not really "cool", so the Pro is staying and the Premium was cancelled.

If they had kept the varitarget and the lower scoop/subway, it would be a different story. Much more "cool factor" in a vari-target.

Yeah Vari would have been kick ass.

Happens on every IMDN I've played sad enough.

I see that too now that you pointed it out ....... sure does look like a stuck ball there

Well that's just great. Never happened on mine, but now that I'm aware of it it's going to happen all the time...like losing a ball down the sewer drain!

Honestly, I think the rational answer is a pro.

I like the extra features but I could live without them.

Lots of complaints about the switch used for the Mummy captive ball.

I brought the bad design up first and got ridiculed by Chambahz and Flynn because it's 'a design used for poppers for 60 years' or whatever

Great, maybe they should only use them on the poppers then because they don't work well on this game

To top it off, my motorized ramp flap took a shit again after rebuilding it.

Now Stern has to send me an entirely new ramp assembly... Awesome. Fun game but super unreliable thus far. Every game I play I wonder what will go out of adjustment or just stop working.

I’ve had a ball get trapped behind Sarc a few times if it travels at a certain speed I think

Goes into ball search. Have to poke it out of there.

Good news is you have time to replace the glass and lockdown bar before you lose it!

I assume the Mummy switch is similar to Orb switch?

Haven’t had an issue with that one yet

Yeah, its the same one. I got it to work, but there are times it doesn't register. Not as bad as the ramp flap getting stuck in the open position though. Hopefully I can get that fixed quickly.

Is the ball supposed to stop at the clear window before dropping into sarcophagus? I think it is. Mine is fine until, of course, the third ball drops. And misses. On a good game.
Guess I'll have to try again. Woe is me.

What !!! Can't you call Stern and have them send out a tech and fix it.

IMG_0100 (resized).JPG

At the moment it's possible to buy 2 pro's for the same price as an LE!!

So it's not on the right plastic like 10 people have been saying?

That looks like the spotlight hood to me.

Check:
Under the ramp?
Behind the backboard (stuck in wiring)?
Between the left ramp exit and the sarcophagus entry?
Behind the rubber inside the slingshots?

I'm willing to bet it's in the sarcophagus mech.

I was thinking that too, but then I saw what I think they are talking about:

EDITED: My guess was wrong....and I now see what I was looking at was the opto on the outside of the ramp.

ball (resized).jpg

Are you sure you don't have Houdini??

I already suggested that in post 11. The fact that it's still lost seems to indicate it's not stuck there.

Haha. Could have saved 26 posts by checking it earlier!

So, likely the switch in there is not registering properly so it doesn't know the ball is in there.

Come on man!

But if the switch in there is registering, it will know where the ball is and not report it as missing.

Wasn’t visible there in the initial pics...? Glad you tracked it down.

LOLLL

Glad you found it !!!

Sometimes my game seems to lose count of the number of balls. Typically, it will be in Mummy MB, when the second-to-last ball drains, it kills the flipper and counts bonus. I need to pay closer attention to the precise scenario when this happens, but has anyone else experienced this?

Actually I’ll change my opinion

I would want all of the features of this pin it’s that good

It’s addictive like TWD. Maybe more so

Get the premium

So....what is the fix on the crackling sound ? My pro does that along with my AS pro. My GB prem does that at high volumes as well , what gives man ? Does Stern build there games that they cant handle their own power at high volumes and causes the amp to get overloaded and start clipping on and off ?

I'm not sure your first opinion isn't correct as the Premium doesn't pencil out $$ wise for the added features and it has the least appealing artwork, imo. That being said, if I liked the art I'd still buy a Premium because this game is so cool.