Thanks for that. So it was definitely the wrong length sleeve in there. I've put it all back together with the correct sleeve and so far so good......Might be worth checking your games POTC owners.

Does the BP have to be removed to do this fix?

Just picked up my new (to me) JJPOTC LE. Very excited! It's indeed a great game.
The topper screws were missing and I'm not sure what I should use to attach it. Could anyone share with me what screws are used?

Thanks...

Page C-4 and page C-5 item #32 in the manual.

If you need a manual, you can download it from jerseyjackpinball.com under Support under Downloads under Pirates.

LTG : )

I had the same issue. well not the same... my came from the factory like that.

Thanks for mentioning this, I was noticing the same issue. On the back of the play-field there is a U shaped bracket held by 2 screws, I removed and taped both opto's half way as you described and is working much better...

The times I have had the Pearl off I did the same. Always good to check all wires underneath it as well as loose bolts, had one on the bottom of the cabinet and it came from one of the flippers. I'll keep an eye on the orbit, good call.

So there’s no need to remove the BP to do this fix?

I picture of said bracket would be awesome.

To apply the tape fix to the inner loop opto: just remove two screws below the playfield. Apply tape. Done. No need to remove BP.
Found out after I removed the BP.....

image (resized).jpg

Forgot about the inner loop opto made. Loops still don’t register 100%. Here we go again.

Inner loop made?

I guess I got lucky, my inner loops appear to register properly as is. Good to know about the workaround though if I do notice a problem (at really_ fast loop speeds for example.)

So what kind of tape is used for this? Electrical tape? Do you cover the bottom half of the opto? Why does covering half of the opto help it ‘see’ the ball better?

I have had a couple balls end up under the bp. Happened both times from a ball being flipped from the bayou flipper. Only happened twice over a year but maybe I could stop it altogether with a small angle above the map targets?

Or do people find the ball jumps up whilst in the inner loop. I have noticed the ball is stuck to the right of the metal bracket near the wire manifold.

Has anyone Determined how balls get stuck under the black pearl and whether a small angle acting as a shield would stop the ball getting stuck. Of course it has to be large enough to deflect a ball and small enough to fit under the rocking pearl.

B8E3FB09-6BCC-48BE-8C91-6C12C385E4FF (resized).jpeg

I put a few clear cabinet bumpers under the Pearl to stop that. You should consider putting some wire loom on that Pearl harness - one of my machines rubbed raw there and shorted out against the flipper coil.

I guess my problem didn’t get fixed all the way after all. I had a blown fuse J114 (see photo) and just assumed that if I replace the fuse it would fix the problem. I replaced the fuse and it burns immediately, meaning I’ve got a short somewhere. this occurred after I was attempting to fix a stadium light that keeps going off.

Prior to everything going out, I had found that if I wiggle the Lower left stadium light it would turn back on. What confuses the issue is the fact that the pearl has been intermittently stopping its motion even prior to the light issue. So, now I have taken out the LEDS from the stadium lights and inspected, and don’t see anything wrong. I know that that fuse is on the same line as the Spinning barrel pop bumper and the pearl motion. I do not have the pop bumper barrel spinning and I do not have any pearl motion.

Not sure where to start looking from here, and could use some advice before I go to the enormous pains of taking off the pearl to look for a short underneath there.

Also I’ve made a grave mistake and lost LTG’s phone number.

Appreciate.

FFC3A08F-FED3-441F-906E-C407F6912C41 (resized).jpeg

I'd check the bridge rectifier for that fuse to see if it's shorted. Did you mean F714 ? Page D-91 in the manual takes out a bunch of 12 volt stuff.

I'll PM you my number.

LTG : )

Yes, I meant F714.

Thanks. I have put the loom off since mine seemed ok. I will put some of the mesh on as I am concerned the rib stuff may restrict movement (probably doesn’t, but will make me sleep better).

Have you got a pic of where you used the bumpers and their size?

Thanks again.

No, as I’m not sure I have the “final” position yet. I put three of them in a circle around the north side of the hole. Still playing with it.

So you think it skips up under there whilst going around the inner loop rather than a direct hit off the flipper?

I must admit I thought the last time it did that the ball had entered the loop. Problem is it is so rare hard to monitor.

Does the BP always sway at the same speed or does the speed change depending on what’s going on in the game?

It changes per mode

Posted in the owners thread but should probably have posted here.
My audio keeps going out. Any idea of which specific cables to look at possible loose connections?

Make sure the cable is well seated in the green port in the motherboard. Follow it along the right to the square noise filter and make sure it's secure there also.

While installing the chest mod (which is great for those still on the fence about getting it) and cleaning the playfield, I noticed that my map hole cliffy is coming up a bit along with some of the mylar. Any simple remedies on how to get it to stick back down?

IMG_2954 (resized).JPG

The mylar in that area commonly bubbles up. I removed mine and cleaned the playfield prior to installing the cliffy.

I wonder if you could buy just the map hole part and remove, remove mylar, clean and reapply?

Plug seems good. Should I take the silver box cover off and see where that other end of the cable plugs in?

*If the game is sitting idle waiting for ball launch, the sound is fine. It's only until ball is in play and hitting things that the audio blips out.

20200502_074517 (resized).jpg

No need to follow the port, it's soldered into the motherboard. Follow the cable and make sure it's seated well in the ground loop isolator (square box on the right side)

Thanks. I think I'll give that a try soon. When you took the cliffy and mylar off, did it peel any of the artwork with it? Is there a best practice to safely remove mylar?

Mine came off easily. I cleaned the adhesive off with naptha. Don’t stress too much as the cliffy covers all.

All is connected well on that cable. Restated the connections.
No dice.

I had a problem with my audio with pops and crackles. Unplugging the headphone connection on the motherboard fixed it.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjpirates-of-the-caribbean-troubleshooting-tips-issues/page/35#post-5066325

Huh. So it didn't work if you unplugged it by the coin door?
I'll give it a try tomorrow. Too many beers tonight.

Unplugged the headphone cable. Issue is still there.

So the way you described the issue, the sound comes and goes in response to impact and vibration, right?
To me that implies a physical connection issue somewhere.

is the connection to the audio amp secure? (Left board inside the metal box in the backbox)

Also, does bypassing the ground loop isolator change the behavior at all? (Maybe it itself is bad?)

Tried bypassing ground loop and had no audio.

I pulled the blue/black wire out of the headphone jack like the video and same issue.