The roll over switches in the through and sword are driving me nuts, can't manage to get them perfectly setup.
Is there a trick of some sort?

tht would look good with a 3mm led making it glow from behind!

Way too bright!

Welcome to the club. Ouch 12mil. Need more time playing and less time modding.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH

Seriously that is how you get cancer playing pinball

I think tonight it down will help your neighbors sleep at night
https://images.pinside.com/8/84/8845fe953f0243b04c9534910f63c958cc49d2a6/resized/large/8845fe953f0243b04c9534910f63c958cc49d2a6.jpg

Actually i think the pinstadiums is the problem. Looks like they are on. You can see the zebra stripes on the wireforms and sword. Get rid of the pinstadiums and you should be good.

Hey everyone, if anyone is interested in having a shaker for their game, please let me know. No pal chip or rom upgrade needed, fully customizable, you pick the solenoids or flashers (up to 8 triggers at a time) to trigger the motor. And, it doesn’t draw power from the game, comes with its own power supply that turns on and off with the game. It’s all plug and play and has a nice low rumble, no high pitches vibration like some motors I’ve seen.

Flashing eye mod arrived, and was installed, this morning.

Palantir mod is on it's way

eta

I had to pull the playfield out - dropped screw - and a tiny piece of the corner of the playfield plastic mirror behind Barad-dur got caught. I wasn't even being reckless and have done this many times, but it got caught for some reason this time. Found the two broken pieces, glued them back into place. The decal is good. There is a stress crack that works it's way down from 1 o'clock to 7 o'clock, not quite halfway. It's not really noticeable, but I know it's there. Is that piece replaceable, and by that I mean is it available from somebody or somewhere?

I can live with it, just ticks me off. At least it didn't crack severely.

eta part II

it is a stress crack, similar to what happens on the Arwen piece coming down from the POTD. I have installed the protectors on those so the crack doesn't get worse and actually break through and chip.

I think I have the original flipper coils. The previous owner put stronger flipper coils in mine. Send me a PM if you want to purchase them at a discount to PBL.

update

found the mirror piece at Marco, but I don't think it has the art.

It probably has the art under a protective layer to peel off.

yes, it does

I called them, they said that it did not. I imagine the mirror back for a fix or an upgrade to the art in the form of a mod would be more expensive.

edit to add:

You have to buy the decals separately.

Ok...previous owner put a Star trek VUK switch for the gimli switch..and everything was working great. During cleaning...my microfiber cloth caught the switch arm and bent it up. Now...I can't get a good angle on the switch so it won't register at ball rest.

I went ahead and took out the VUK...now it will be easier to use pliers to bend the switch to shape. (I tried doing it from the upper playfield but ...now I got the switch arm all bent crazy.

There is this thread about the switch, but every picture looks like different angles.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/lotr-gimli-vuk

Basically...the issue right now..is that when the ball is trying to rest, the switch arm is pushing it off/away, instead of letting the ball sit in the VUK hole. The switch needs to stay depressed for a second before the VUK fires.

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I've already worked on this for like 2 hours....any tips here on what the final shape should "look like" to try and get this working?

Sorry...false alarm.

When I compared the switch to an extra VUK switch I had...I noticed that the old one was excessively stiff.

When I bent the arm up while cleaning...I must have messed up the spring inside the switch and made it too stiff to activate.

So I put the new one on, bent the angle down and softened/opened the curve a bit...and it looks like it will work fine now.

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Help!
My NIB lotr le I've only had a month with 400 games on it all of a sudden won't turn on, no light's, nothing, Been working perfectly.
My first ever pinball so not sure what to look for and as you can imagine stressing out.
I pulled the this fuse near the coindoor, is that the main fuse, does it look blown?
Any help appreciated.

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Also I'm in Australia so wanting to ensure I get the correct fuse, assuming that's my issue as it's all black and cloudy.

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OK, that fuse being blown would result in the problem you are having.

It "looks" blown, but the only way to tell is to check with a DMM (digital multi meter) set to "continuity"

Buy a DMM, you should have one for pinball. A decent basic one is about 30-40AUS.

IIRC Australia uses 230VAC 50htz so yes that should be an 8amp fuse.

Take the bad fuse with you to the hardware store and get a duplicate; marking are on the fuse itself

Get a few, because if it blows again you have some issue making it blow that must be sorted

RussM

Thanks RussM, it definitely has a 5a slow blow in it and 99% certain it's blown. According to the manual and the main fuse box though, they both say 5a For international?
My manual shows the green sticker covered for "international" 5amp, and my machine has it plugged in the us one?

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If it had a 5 amp fuse in it and it says on the power supply to use a 5 amp ,it would seem a good idea to replace with the same.

The link you supplied say use an 8 amp but I would be careful with that without an explanation of why to overfuse.

Throw in the 5 amp fuse and get back to playing! If it keeps on blowing there is another issue

We have 120vac at the wall and use an 8A fuse in the US. (120x8=960watts)
You have 230vac at the wall, so a 5A fuse is enough. (230x5=1150watts)

Also, that appears to be a 3/4" long fuse, so make sure you buy one that is the same size.

Grab an inexpensive volt meter from the auto store while your out picking up fuses, in case more troubleshooting is needed.

Congrats on the NIB LotR, that must be an interesting story!

I am always happy when a fuse is the culprit, especially when you replace it and everything is fine

Gratz on the NIB. That's cool.

I have never seen this fuse blow for no reason, usually the reason this blows is from a failed bridge rectifier or a short in the wiring between the transformer and the power board.

update: a new 5a fuse has fixed my issue and pinball back to life
The only thing I can think of is I added a colordmd 2 weeks ago, and this connects to into the auxilary power source off the main box as per instructions, perhaps is drawing more power than a 5a fuse can handle?

Quick story behind my lOTR LE NIB i got a month ago. I've always been a lotr fan was was looking for my first ever pinball.

It was just a right time right place scenario. The original private collector bought brand new and stored for over 9 years. I had an opportunity to get a new le gold so I jumped on it. I can't imagine there would be many nib LEs left. I was a little concerned with things like battery leakage after 9 years in the box but was assured it was stored in a proper storage location. Everything ended up being in perfect cosmetic and working condition. Very happy so far and learning all things about pinball. So far I've just added the original figurines, colordmd and some protectors.
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If you have more unboxing photos, please post!

Picked up an LE last week, couple of issues which I fixed. Plays nicely.

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My balrog has all of a sudden decided not to open, 500 games old machine.
Light's work, balrog test works, all switches open and close correctly when run test. Balrog hit registers aswell.
I see people mentioning a relay board. But my LE has a box there instead?
He just doesn't wanna open (cover the ramp) seems to close okay.
Took the back off and wiring seems to be okay.
What should I check next?

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That is a relay, just in a box.

That gold looks sweet on it.

So I disconnected the relay box and the balrog wiring, checked all connections. Plugged it all back in.
Did the balrog test and it now Opens** and closes in the test
Haven't played a game yet but that's much more promising

I'm confused. You wrote in your first post that the test works. Was that a typo?

Sorry I meant the balrog test "closing only" worked earlier. The test didn't work both ways before but now it does after pulling it all apart and reseating.

ALL HAIL THE UNPLUG-REPLUG FIX

Yup. Although I might have reflowed the solder just in case, because, you know, soldering is fun.

(Disclaimer - no I wouldn't if reseating worked. I guess it's not that hard to take the screws out again in a few thousand games after the shaker and normal use have their way with the machine.)

i have very weird problem on my machine.
during game all solenoids are very low. all up kickers almost not poping the ball out.
but during test mod or during ball search they are very strong and its works great.
i change the settings for coil power but nothing change. any on know maybe why its happen? its very annoying. btw i replace all switches in the all vuk

btw if you saw my post that i made decals for the machines https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-lord-of-the-rings-journey-begins-members-club/page/93#post-5144154

i have a friend who ask me to make a set for him and he installing them right now. so i special print it for him and i must print not less of 15 meters in the company who made for me the prints. so i have few sets for sale.
if someone wants just send me a pm. thanks

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Was working on my le yesterday, fixed a loose lamp or 2 and added the volcano mod with the red led glow which was joined in front of cab.
Turned on and within 30 secs the game froze, turned off and back on. Only lights on no display so open backbox and mpu board totally dead, now this is my first Stern so was sweating a bit! Checking fuses I noticed F11 fuse on power board looked slightly different but not blown looking, metered it and it was gone. Put new 3a fuse in as didn’t have a 4a and it has been ok but I have not plugged the volcano mod back in yet to see how it goes without it.
F11 fuse powers the mpu board I wouldn’t have thought an led or two extra would have caused that but the previous owner has put quite a few mods on it.
Hopefully just a fuse glitch as I have seen this before.

Ugh, power problems are always a pain in the butt. The Volcano mod does not add any significant load on the 12v/5v circuit, but you can add only so many pennies to a to a full cup of water before it overflows

I would make sure you have the proper fuses on hand, then try plugging the Volcano mod in at the front of your cab while the machine is ON so you can see in real time if that is what is causing the fuse to blow.

Do you still have other mods installed?

I had the same problem after a relocation where I disconnected the back box and . when reconnecting everything I missed one connector that had high power for the VUK coils. They were fine in test mode but not in game. I'm not near home now but as I recall it was one of the bottom connectors on the bottom board in the back box.

thank you very much i just check my connectors and its looks like all of them are connected and i still have this problem....

Code version running on mine. Is there another update or is this the most recent?

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Version 10.0 is the latest: http://www.actionpinball.com/parts.php?item=ROMS190

Cool. Thank you.

Hi thanks for the reply.
I plugged the mod in earlier today after having a problem free weekend with it and guess what it went wrong again!
Blew the F11 fuse again so got my meter out and the volcano mod has a short circuit, it came new with the machine but not fitted.
I will leave it unplugged as it looks better than standard anyway. Such a shame.

That’s crazy. I wonder if it was modified by the previous owner?

Send me a PM, if you cover shipping costs I’ll send you a new one free of charge.

I’m curious what is wrong with that one you have...

Hi guys,

Recently got a Shaker Motor kit for my LOTR LE.

So far have installed the motor and mounted the board, haven't yet connected the wiring, two questions so far:

https://www.pinballlife.com/stern-factory-authorized-shaker-motor-kit-rev-b-for-most-stern-sam-system-games.html

- My PCB board with the factory kit I have above only has one fuse (link above) but I've seen pictures with shakers installed with a PCB board that has 2 fuses?

https://www.pinballlife.com/shaker-motor-kit-rev-b-for-most-stern-sam-system-games.html

This other kit above has 2 fuses. It's confusing as both kits say they will work for the LOTR LE, but thought I'd get the "stern factory authorized" version.

- I noticed some people mount the PCB board so the letters are upside down, does this matter? There doesn't seem to be clear direction which orientation to mount the PCB board. Here's an example of someone else with the same kit mounting the PCB board upside down.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-shaker-install-shaker-doesnt-work

Cheers
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