Do you know if it is a part you can buy vs a LED strip? I have not been able to find on PinballLife, Marcos or Comet.

You won't find this exact same part. JJP had them made specifically for pirates. It is just a led strip. Go online and buy a led strip that I believe has 9 led lights (usually used in car interiors) or a strip that you can cut. Then simply splice it in. It looks and acts like the original

Thanks, I appreciate it. I’m getting more comfortable with boards, mods and bulbs. Just now getting into switches and splicing. Soldering is next. Thanks again.

Please post your experience with how you resolve/repair this. I and I am sure others will be very interested in following your lead.

Well here is the part and the problem. When I get it fixed, I’ll let you know the solution.

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I didn't even know this was there.

You have already done most of the work. Look at how the wires are attached to the led strip and note the location. When you cut them, just solder them in the same order. Feed the connector back into the playfield (If it is a tight fit, you may need to solder it back while it is underneath). Don't be afraid to give yourself extra wire and bunch it up afterwards. PM me if you run into any problems. Good luck.

Ok. Solder iron dug out of garage. Heat wrap and LED strip on Amazon truck. (Finally ID’d the strip —12v RGB LED 10mm (width)).

Next update will be a working part and on the ramp! Arrrg!

I had a few problems on playing today's game:

1) More than one ball goes into the Black Pearl VUK. Not enough power to push them up to the Black Pearl. Today I had three balls in there. I got them out by going into the solenoid test.

2) Left loop ball pops up at the top and ends up stuck under the plastic of the Black Pearl. I had to take off the glass and knock the ball off.

If you can help me with those, I will appreciate it.

I know that this has been addressed, but once again, the Jack Sparrow ball lock is dropping the ball down the throat. I rotated the rings, it seems, recently to stop that. I am not looking forward to replacing the rings as it looks like a lot has to be taken off, including the Black Pearl. Any suggestions? Or just suck it up and do it?
The original clear silicon rings are still on there, just rotated.

Thanks.

Has anyone installed the full backglass lighting kit from Lermods in their POTC?

I am debating whether I should get the warm or the cool option. If anyone can post pics of what it looks like with the "cool white" option, I would appreciate it.

In Settings - Coils - make it stronger.

LTG : )

Like LTG says, check and see if the problem is solved by raising the power to the coil for the VUK. If not, you may want to check and make sure the wire gate inside the VUK is swinging freely and not getting caught.

The complaint about the SDTM from the map area has been made since the game was released. Some say hit both flippers before the post drops once the chapter has been selected tends to help as it prevents the ball from staging on the left of the post where it happens the most. The map will do one final magnet pull when the post drops but if you can keep it moving, it helps. There was a guy who made a moving wire gate that tried to force the ball to the right. I thought it worked for me at first, but then noticed there wasn't much difference. As a last resort, get your back ready to nudge a 350lb game when you see the ball falling straight down!!

Last but not least, get used to pulling the pearl off. Things get stuck, bands break and you are going to want to clean up there. It is very intimidating at first, but once you do it a few times, it is no big deal. I highly recommend numbering the plugs on the wires and where they go (I believe there are 7) but don't quote me on that. Be sure to get a small piece of plastic flex tubing (about 2-3 inches and use to to cover the wires that lead from the pearl down thru the playfield. Not only does it protect them from rubbing, but also makes it easier when pushing the wires thru the hole. Also, be sure to set the pearl on a soft towel to protect all the solder points underneath.

It can get frustrating when you slide the pearl back on. It helps to study the underneath and have a clear understanding on how it goes back on. There are videos on how to remove it, but if you are patient, you don't need to remove the VUK or the ramps. Good luck!

I just ordered one from them with dimmer for my GnR in cool white. I’ll try to install it in the new few days. I get my potc next week. I assume I’ll order the same!

Cheers!
Richard

I had the SDTM from the starmap like 100 times. I bought the gate fix from a guy and it solved my problem. Found him on Etsy.

Not sure he is making them anymore but you can message him.

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Okay, I am losing my mind with the open chest mod. Several issues:

1) The videos on the install don't match what was sent. Parts are completely different.
2) Ordered the "lighting option" and they talk about a fob that you need to plug into the bracket. No fob now. Do I need that?
3) The rod is very different than the vids, so now I am wondering if there are a whole different set of install vids? Or maybe no vids and no instructions for the new version?
4) The older vids show the rod just dropping through a hole on the bracket that attached to the lid. The new bracket only has horizontal holes (see pic attached). So how does one attach the rod to the lid now? The only thought I had was bending the rod 90 degrees at the top, but then would the rod be long enough?

Shot an email as well to the seller, but was hoping maybe someone else here may have insight to this. This is not a cheap mod and don't want to mess it up guessing. Probably not something to do towards the end of the day maybe?

Dave

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It has been a number of years since I installed this mod, but I recall having to view various videos and figure things out somewhat as its design had evolved over the course of a few months. Your best bet is your email to the seller as he has been helpful in the past.

Hang in there and you'll get it right. It's a fabulous mod and will be well worth your efforts!

I have been playing around with it. Initially, I set the VUK weaker. It was coming up so hard that it was damaging the top of the VUK area in the ship (it was a while back and I don't remember all of the details). Does it have to be set hard enough to kick up three balls?

Thanks for this. I had read up on the issue and thought that it was wear on the rubber rings. Sure enough, I found that the existing ring on the left was badly worn. A simple rotation fixed the problem, but I am surprised how short of a time it lasted. Rotating the right ring was more difficult to do. Until I did that, I did the two flipper trick. I would hope that the software would eventually catch on that if the ball is released and it does not hit a switch, that the ball should be returned to the playfield.

And, sigh, I guess I need to take the Black Pearl off and get used to it. 7 plugs. Nice! I got very good at taking the upper left playfield on WOZ off. So I guess this is on my list.

How do you put the plastic flex tubing on the wires? One end has the plug and the other end is attached. Slit the tubing? I have shrink tubing, but nothing else on hand. Suggestions for the tubing?

I will have to check that gate. Is it designed to keep more than one ball out of the VUK?

I cannot find anything on Etsy searching for 'Pinball Pirates of the Caribbean'. Thanks for the suggestion, though. I have never looked for pinball parts on Etsy.

There's a cheap fix I have been using to prevent STDM from the starmap. I cut a black zip tie down to about 1" and pushed it down between the rubber ring and the left post of the starmap. Then I bent the zip tie out slightly at the bottom, towards the up-post. It doesn't interfere with shots and you can't really see it, but it pushes the ball ever so slightly to the right when it exits on that side.

It's just like this. It's split down the side already. You only need a few inches so shop around

https://www.amazon.com/Alex-Tech-25ft-Tubing-Conduit/dp/B07TDGMDW4/ref=asc_df_B07TDGMDW4/

Etsy has the worst worst search. I found out he made it through some pinside thread. You need to search his name on google and I reached out to him through secured messenger on Etsy and then he made me one. It was not a live item. TBD if he is still doing it or not.

It's an absolute bitch to get working correctly. Mine was an early version too where the install video had nothing to do with the parts I had. I had mine for years before I finally hunkered down and got it working right. It is absolutely worth it though, so don't give up. I wish I could be of more help, but it really was a guess and check type of install for me. What worked for others, didn't work for me.

I did. Expensive for what it is, but it is absolutely worth it. Night and day difference and pics don't do it justice. Go warm white, cool white looks more out of place on Pirates.

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Here is cool white

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Yeh, atm I am not getting any answers from Pinball Mod Co. I have sent them a couple emails, but maybe they are on summer vacation this week?

The biggest hangup right now is how to attach the rod to the chest. Nothing seems obvious atm. That bracket they gave has me at a loss.

There are a few install videos on YouTube. It was a long time ago, but that’s what I used to install mine.

Here is one, you should be able to find the others as well.

I'm interested to see what they tell you. I got the same mod for Christmas and I had the same problem with outdated videos and different parts. I finally got the rod on and the electronics hooked up. Now it opens/closes upon bootup but doesn't work when the balls lock. I got frustrated and gave up on it figuring it out for the time being.

It has been a long time since I installed mine. I went with the early version and had a few issues. I did the upgrade and don't recall any problems, so that part, I am not much of a help.

But, if you say that it opens and closes upon bootup, but does not when the ball locks, AND the forks move up and the ball locks in the chest easily, then you have a switch issue with the mod (all going on my memory).

Go into the test menu for the solenoids. Try running the test for forks up. Your chest should open. If it does not, take a look underneath and see if the moving of the forks up and down activates the switch for the mod. If it does not, adjust the setup so that the solenoid popping the forks up activates the switch.

If it looks like the switch is moving, try closing the switch manually with your finger - with the power on. Be careful of the solenoid voltage. If it still does not activate the motor, try shorting the switch / check the connections & wires to the board. It could be a bad switch, wires or board.

I usually take 8,000 photos of everything. I have pics of running the connector to the lid. But I believe the switch is located in the 3D section that is attached to the fork lift. But if you want photos of the activating wire from the motor to the lid, I have those.

If you need photos of the switch and lift mech, LMK and I will pull out the playfield and see if I can get a good photo.

I haven’t messed with mine for years, but it works perfectly. It took a lot of fiddling to get it installed and adjusted properly, but when it works, it’s awesome! I snapped a few pictures for you that might help. Don’t ask me what goes where as it was too long ago. Hope it helps!

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Both look great! I like the warm better maybe on Pirates.

I just installed a cool white with dimmer on GnR. Set the light at 2 of 8 intensity.
Love it! Dimmer was a good choice. Otherwise it would be to bright!

Richard

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Hi Betelgeuse Betelgeuse
Thank you for sharing.
Do you mind to share a picture of your fix please? I have a hard time to picture how to tie the zip tie. Thanks so much, those SDTM from the starmap are frustrating especially on your last ball LoL

Your first pic of the back of the chest is my current challenge. The only thing on the end of the rod he gave is a maybe two inch threaded piece of metal. I now get that I simply need to put a screw from left to right and then have to find something to put on that thread. What would be ideal is an eye hook that has a threaded bottom? I think I have at least for now have figured everything else out with the exception of that light mod FOB that needs to be plugged in. Not sure there is any solution for that until the boys at pinballmodco respond to my emails/web contact requests.

Update. Parts that were missing in the kit are being sent by the Pinballmodco. I will update you guys when I get them. This probably was the main issue. Will update when I get them. Thanks for your help so far.

Trouble shoot assistance needed. Black pearl does not register when I load the cannon. Then the pin goes into a ball search and the green arrow on the pearl is still blinking like I did not make the shot. Ball search kicks it out of the cannon like a dribble and I don’t get a chance to shoot the cannon and sink the ship.

Do you think this is a bad switch or opto problem or other. I just updated to .992 but was happening on .99 Currently I am not getting any errors or issues from tests.

Tests - Switches - Matrixed - throw a ball in and see if the switch is working. If not fix it. Hopefully not a broken wire under the rocking playfield. A bit of work getting it out to check.

LTG : )

....

That game looks like it needs shopped.

Not sure that 'fix' is needed. Just rotate that rubber ring around to a surface that has not been worn. It worked for me for a while. Was disappointed it it not last as long as I hoped.

Great pics. Now I want to open mine up and look.

I do not recall the magnetic switch, which I think is what you have. But I would not bet that mine does not have it.

What surprised me is that it opens and closes on startup, but not during game play. I think it goes through a calibration when turned on - guessing here. But activation during game play occurs when the fork solenoid locks in the up position.

I will be interested to find out what parts you are missing.

For what it is worth, here are my pics.

In the original style mech, that nut and rod hit the clear plastic shield in the back of the chest. So I filed down the edge for clearance.

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yay, pinside.

I did matrixed and the full menu. I think it is switch 066, and it does not show as bad but nothing I can do by dropping a ball, moving the gate or trying to hit an opto registers. I guess it’s time to call JPP for a part or a tech to replace it.

Thanks LTG

Here is what the piece looks like. 1 way Wireform gate and 3D print holder.

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It looks like the Wonka gate?!?

Page C-111 in the manual. An opto. Clean it, see if it's still on both sides. Check for broken wires. You probably have to remove the mini playfield for that. Or at least lift up and set on it's side, so you don't have to undo the connectors below the playfield. Just the metal arm that swings it ( big metal clip holds it on ) and allen head screw between ship playfield and back wall of the playfield.

LTG : )

I saw a guy made one like it for the hobbit so I prototyped it and then he produced it. It really works!

Gracias @ltg. I’ve gotten pretty good at mods, swapping out boards and minor electrical. Switches and taking apart the playfield are new.

And apparently I’m a natural when it comes to evaporating solder/flux. I pretty much can ensure it sticks to nothing.

Youtube has plenty of short videos on how to heat a joint and flow solder. Use a lead solder to make it easy on yourself. Practice at a table with scrap wire. 5 or 10 minutes and you'll be good at it. then move onto the machine.

LTG : )

mine has a separate microswitch on the side, nothing to do with the jjp switches. there is an actuator on the side of the forks that hits the switch and opens the lid. If your forks are not lifting or the actuator has come off, it wont work.
Can't take pics as I sold it this week and its on the way to the new owner.

Yes, the switch on the 3D printed part goes to the computer module that comes with this upgrade (again, sketchy memory). It is completely self-contained, except for the power it uses and is not wired into the switch matrix nor communicates with the game CPU or drivers. It is the physical action of the fork lifting that activates the chest lift mechanism.

That is why, when he said that the mech opens and closes at start up, that I think the problem is with the switch.

Betelgeuse thank you for having shared the pic.