Hey, Outpost Kodelia here. We're the other half of the team that co-developed the TPU scoop protector for Rush along with NinjaCamp. I think the acrylic washer is a great idea and certainly wouldn't hurt, but we've had good results just making sure the post is held steady as the nut is tightened by using socket wrenches on both sides of the playfield at the same time. The one on top should be a deep socket right over the top of the post and you can use that to hold it steady, or even spin it backwards a bit if your protector starts to bunch up on one side or the other.

We're all so happy to hear the positive responses from the folks that have started installing them. Just to throw our own testimony into the ring, we have a Rush LE here and we have had one of these installed on it from practically day one - as fast as we could design the part! - and both the playfield around the scoop and the protector still look brand new and there's no detectable impact on the shots. We're continuing to crank them out and we should be all caught up on the initial deluge of orders we received very soon so everyone that wants to can share in our peace of mind!

Just an FYI on the VUK protector, we have a design that we've developed and installed in our LE that is very promising and seems to be working well, but is somewhat difficult to install. We're trying to work out a different variation that's much easier to install but we're just not sure where we're going to land on this yet. Development and testing on this (and a few other ideas as well!) continues, so stay tuned!

NGL, this made my day!

We set ours aside, but there's no reason you couldn't keep the forks over the top of the protector. Just that much more secure. But if you want the ultimate in low profile, leave them out.

As Aniraf mentioned, we've been testing our replacement for this for a few days now. We have to print it in a softer TPU than we're using for the scoop protector and other in-the-works bits and bobs, that stuff was just too rigid here, almost like a semi-hard plastic when printed in that density. But printed with the 85A hardness TPU they feel just about right and have about the right play. They're still a little more firm than the factory blue rubber, but that's probably a very good thing since those blue ones (ours included) only seem to hold up to a few weeks of play. More to come soon... Seriously, though, we're working up several really good things, including a proper (and nearly invisible) fix for the inner loop shot detection problem (testing so far is going amazingly well), a really good VUK protector that also nearly eliminates rejected shots, and a couple other items. For now, our production is still focused on getting these critical scoop protectors out to folks, but we're super excited to get the rest of our ideas out, too.

Meantime, if you're looking to replace those blue ramp guards, someone was asking about the process to do so... To replace those, the ramp has to come completely out. You have to remove the three screws holding the ramp mech onto the main plate under the playfield (they all have rubber gaskets under them). Then the whole ramp drops out in one piece along with the stepper motor (be careful with the optos on the way out). From there you can unplug the six or so wires connected to it, then take the whole thing to a table where you can remove the front two and one middle screw on each side. Then you just rotate the outer metal plate up a bit and gently flex it out to remove/reinstall the rubber parts. Good luck!

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I don't disagree... I want to start experimenting with this at some point, for sure. I actually have all the stuff on hand to do some experimenting with silicone mold casting, it's just been on the back burner for a while. Circumstances may dictate a change to that priority though.

Okay, we're finally catching our breath over here, so it's finally time to share what else we've been working on. Check it all out over on the NinjaCamp-Mods thread and let us know what you think!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ninjacamp-mods/page/2#post-6866174

Personally, I'm a fan of the black. I like the way it blends into the outline on the art. And it still has some sparkly shine to it so it catches the light. But others are loving the gray/silver look. It's all personal taste!

Sorry to hear you were caught off guard. The listing specifically refers to TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) and the videos in the listing show its rubbery nature. That said, we think you'll still be quite pleased with it! Enjoy!

Did you try a different coil sleeve when you swapped the coil? They often deform before the coil itself does and in my experience they account for 90% of weak mechs/flippers. If the plunger motion through the coil is anything short of buttery smooth, you're going to get weak action.

If you have the operator for that local Rush reach out to us, we have created a variant on the pro scoop protector we call the "fat lip" that has about 5mm more lip coverage all the way around to help hide and halt existing damage. We made it up special for someone that requested it, but I don't see why we can't make it available to anyone that needs it. They can ask for it in the order comments or by direct messaging. We may ultimately add a listing for it directly, but for now this is how they can get it.

Thank you so much for the ongoing support for our NinjaCamp scoop protectors. We're happy to announce that we have four new items added to our shop: VUK protector, scoop sleeves, ramp guards, and the inner loop fix. Check 'em out!

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1326-ninjacamp-mods

It isn't! It's just taking its sweet time to get there... PM sent.

IMHO, this is the best way to replace the ramp bumpers. This is how we're recommending people who upgrade to our bumpers go about it. It's a little extra work, but it makes everything easier and you can do it on a table instead of leaning over a pinball cab.

http://mjf.me/Pinball/Rush_TPU_Ramp_Guard_Installation.pdf

Happy to be of service!

We're working with NinjaCamp to release our own solution for this very soon. We're just down to fine tuning. No doubt about it though, some people are gonna love it, some are gonna hate it. But if you're interested, keep an eye the NinjaCamp thread.

Outpost Kodelia, in ongoing partnership with NinjaCamp, has just announced our latest mod for Rush, and this time it's less about protection or correction and more about cosmetics and extending playability. Currently assessing interest, then we'll open preorders. Check it out: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ninjacamp-mods/page/4#post-6889765

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In case you missed it on our thread, the first batch of our "Exit... Stage Left" loop light replicator mod is now available for preorder on our store! There are 13 left in our first discounted preorder run, but we'll be making more after that.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1326-ninjacamp-mods/06755-rush-exit-stage-left-loop-light-replicator

(Note: we got the 2 and 3 backwards in the render, but it'll be correct in the mod, as you can see in the prototype photo.)

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In case you missed it on our thread, the first batch of our "Exit... Stage Left" loop light replicator mod is now available for preorder on our store! There are 13 left in our first discounted preorder run, but we'll be making more after that.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1326-ninjacamp-mods/06755-rush-exit-stage-left-loop-light-replicator

(Note: we got the 2 and 3 backwards in the render, but it'll be correct in the mod, as you can see in the prototype photo.)

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The prototype said "Inner Loop" temporarily until we could figure out a better label. Some kind folks on this forum chipped in the idea for the final label. There are a few more pictures of the item in the shop listing, but it's all the prototype. I'll be making up housings for the final version very soon and I can post an updated photo then, but I won't have the updated PCBs to go with it and show it powered up for another week or two.

This has happened on a few machines. Though we're not 100% sure why this happens on a few while it works fine on the rest, we adjusted the design to address this... this is what the newer version was designed to prevent. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we're happy to replace yours with the new version at no cost. PM sent!

If anyone else has this issue, please message us and we'll take care of you as well. Because this has happened so rarely, we're not actively replacing working protectors, but if yours fails, we'll make it right.

We're now including washers with the new version.

For a while now we've been including extra spacers with every order. That way if someone loses one or if they're moving from the blinders to our protector they're already covered. We started doing that the moment we learned that the blinders subtracted a spacer.

Unfortunately, your order was processed before we made the change. If you need spacers, we can mail you a set (send PM) or, if you have access to a 3D printer, you can download and print them yourself:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5332649
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5384702

We put out an updated Ninja fix a little while back. So far the results have been very good from folks who have installed it, though the feedback is admittedly light so far. But what we have heard has been very positive. Haven't heard anything official from Stern, though.

Yeah, I mean, obviously I'm invested here, so I realize my bias, but it felt really dismissive hearing him talk about our (and Cliffy's) work like that, as we attempted to step in to fill a need they were failing to fill. Ugh, and their clear intent to lift it - er, "learn from it" - if it passes their tests... would those be the same tests that passed the initial protector, if so, bring it on! Oh well... I'm going to keep doing what I do and it's up to you, the public, to decide what brings you the most value.

Oh also, that shot is totally backhandable without the blinders. Just sayin'...

That is the standard way we intended it to be run. When you're playing the game it's hardly noticeable, we felt. But it's long enough you can optionally run it around behind the VUK wireform and under the back of the plastic. We didn't like this approach because it could potentially interfere with the loop path, but if you secure it right, it should work fine that way too.

I've used 26ga wire for this kind of thing before and I found that crimping it for headers led to a fairly high failure rate at the crimp. 22ga was more reliable, especially considering the bend you have to do to get it to go through the playfield opening and plastics successfully.

For what it's worth, the ESL only draws from 0-160mA (depending on which lights are on at any point in time, probably an average of around 30-50mA at any given moment) from the 5V on the light system, which is pretty trivial. If that was causing crashing, then the power system would be incredibly frail or overtaxed right out of the box. I would speculate that it's pretty unlikely that any small light-based mod would be causing any crashing issues.

If you've gone through the instructions linked just above, and you still have any questions, don't hesitate to PM me.

Hey everyone, here at Outpost Kodelia we may have nailed a fix for the bad short plunges for skill shots (where it rattles around at the upper flipper and rolls back). The best news is that many of you may already have the fix... Check out our detailed post here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ninjacamp-mods/page/10#post-6978209

Introducing our latest innovation, something completely new to the pinball industry... The Spinner Shield! Currently available only for Rush (the Rush spinner is slightly wider than most), but common sizes for other games coming soon, in addition to other colors!

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1326-ninjacamp-mods/06979-rush-spinner-shield

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Removing the Stern v3 protector prior to installing our Ninja Camp scoop protectors is no more difficult than installing the scoop protectors if the Stern v3 wasn't there. The process is virtually identical. That said, if you're handy with your tools and know your way around a playfield, installation should take around 30m. I can do it in about 15m now that I've done it so many times that it's practically muscle memory. But for some folks, it can take an hour or more.

Thank you so much for being willing to try this out! I suspect we may have a round of revisions to work through... I've responded to your PM about that. But it is our hope to be able to offer this, or something very similar, as an official option because we totally agree that antique gold is just... *chef's kiss*... perfect!

Thank you so much for the great feedback! As to the story, well...

oliviarium had the brainstorm that spawned the idea based purely on her frustration with not being able to find the 7th shot for La Villa Strangiato. Once she realized where the shot was, she told me she had an idea for a mod that would replicate the lights up to where you could see what's going on. I took it from there.

I analyzed the light boards under those shot lights and confirmed that they were straightforward RGB lights (already deserialized by a larger board in the middle of the playfield). That meant I could intercept those signals and just pass them along to additional parallelly connected LEDs. Next I had to figure out where it could mount and how it would sit. From there, I designed PCBs in KiCAD for both the interconnect board and the new display PCB, ensuring I used parts that were in stock at JCLPCB, since they're the manufacturer we're accustomed to using. Oliviarium (our JCLPCB ordering expert) ordered a minimum order size of five PCBs for test purposes.

With the electrical bits resolved, I dug into designing the plastic parts. The whole mod was designed in Fusion 360. I had a gold metallic filament I already knew was perfect, but I dug around and found a sweet metallic dark purple for the body. The whole thing was printed, mated with the freshly arrived PCBs, wired up, and tested. And it worked! There were a few fitment issues I had to work out, which led to several design changes to both the plastic parts and the PCBs. This is where my favorite part happened...

Initially, I had named the part the "Inner Loop Status" and that's what it said on the body. What can I say... I'm a good designer, but not the most creative name-maker-upper. So we put it to the public in our NinjaCamp thread on the forum... what do we call this thing??? "Exit... Stage Left" was born, the name of one of their live albums, and conveniently descriptive of what the lights represented.

Smitten with the new name, that change and other updates based on our trial with the prototype were made to both the plastic parts and PCBs. We put in a full order of PCBs and started pumping out plastic parts on all three of our printers. We took over the kitchen table and turned it into a wire harness manufacturing hub and started cranking those out as well (by far the most time consuming part of the whole thing). A couple weeks later, ESLs started shipping out, and we started chipping away at our 50 order backlog. Then we did our second 50 presale and repeated the whole process. Now we're just making them slightly ahead of demand.

And that's the story of how the ESL was made! Thank you again to to all who have purchased it, installed it, and shared it. It has really made us happy to be able to provide a mod that isn't just cosmetic, but makes a functional difference in playability for 90% of the population.

100%. But that said, we put one in at a local barcade that gets well over 500 plays a week. It's been there for a month and it still looks and works great.

VERY nice diagram. I was having a hard time telling from the slow-mo exactly what motion was sending the ball backwards through the gate. If it's what you're diagram indicates, I can immediately see three possible approaches to addressing this. The trick is going to be not interfering with the ball as it follows other natural paths through this area, which is pushing me towards one particular solution (which would also be the easiest to install... as in slip on). <rolls up sleeves, spits in palm, rubs hands together> Hold my beer... Give me a day or two to prototype and test this out, then I'll report back!

That's Aniraf. This is Kaydee.

I just had to repair a failure in the ramp opto receiver wires on a location game with probably a couple thousand games on it. Definitely a point of failure for Prem/LE games with the ramp going up and down. I expect we'll see more of this as time passes. Perhaps you could preemptively give it a few wraps of electrical tape so it takes the wear instead of the wire. But in the one I fixed, the jacketing seemed fine, the broken wire was inside the jacket, so it seems to have broken internally from flexing, not from abrasion.

We created these because the right side of the front scoop wasn't protected from ball impacts. Ball impacts against the smooth front aren't an issue, but against the angled edge... there was concern that this would aggressively damage the ball, and thus the rest of the game. So we developed these as a solution. The upper scoop probably doesn't strictly need it, but covering both creates a more consistent look and feel. We used to offer the front only or the whole set, but the front only was almost never purchased so we just sell it as a set now to simplify things.

Also, these were introduced before the blinders from Stern existed (they cover the side of the scoop, so you wouldn't really need these if you have the blinders on). So for those who don't use the blinders, we continue to offer the scoop sleeves. Also we offer them in various colors, so it opens the door to cosmetic customization for those that prefer to do so.

I've looked at that architecture pretty closely... I'd bet good money they're functionally identical. And looking at the pics of the LZ kit, it looks identical to what's in Rush (except for the very different artwork), though if the pic is accurate, it doesn't include the ferrite chokes for the light wires, nor the node to node cables, but that may have just been left out of the marketing pic to make it look cleaner.

The expression light part numbers and Node2 part numbers are identical in the two manuals, so that would surprise me. Still, I suppose it's possible, but I can't imagine why.

Interesting, then maybe the manual for Rush is wrong because it also says 520-8511-00. While I've looked at the physical part from Rush quite closely, I never bothered to check the part number while I had it out. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out...

@h3xag0n, aamauzy I wanted to circle back on the spinner shot issue you two were digging into. I think I have a fix for it. It's a simple snap in part. It slightly extends and rounds down the metal guide arc just after the spinner gate, sending the ball in a more downward direction so it doesn't rattle back out. The ball can still get a little crazy and rattle around, but it now does it further down the exit lane, where it doesn't make it back out of the spinner gate, and properly returns at the upper right flipper.

If you're interested, send me your shipping info in a PM and we'll send a prototype out to both of you for testing purposes. We wanted to thank you two in particular for digging into this deeply enough that we could see what we needed to to do fix it, so we're going to totally comp this for you if you want to be our beta testers!

You can see the part in the attached pics. It's in black to make it more visible, but the part we send out will be in clear to minimize visibility. I'm also including a couple renders to better show what it does (one shows how it alters the curve, the other shows how it uses the rail behind the ball guide to snap in and hold it in place). We also tested to make sure it has zero impact on the loop shots coming around behind it. This seems to be working well for us but we admittedly have very little play/test time on it so far... Still not a single bounce back in our testing, and we can definitely see how it alters the trajectory down, so... fingers crossed!

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We ship USPS first class parcel mail. It can take up to 5 days in the US, but usually takes less. I'll PM you your tracking info right now.

Responded to your PM a little while back, should be in your inbox.

We went with purple, really happy with the result. I've seen light blue done as well. It's not bad, but we liked the purple better.

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So glad to hear it! Keep us informed on how the rest of the testing goes!

Outpost Kodelia and NinjaCamp have just released the preview for our next big product, check it out!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ninjacamp-mods/page/12#post-7054754

Agreed... recently installed ours and I was blown away. Not cheap, but well worth it.

Honestly, the more I learn about it, the more I think it'll work fine. All I see different on the LZ kit is some extra current carrying capacity from the extra 5v and ground wires. They added a header for that and shuffled things around, maybe some other tweaks but I'd bet they're interchangeable. Honestly it struck me as odd that they didn't have more significant 5v/gnd wiring on the Rush board given the potential current draw of 96 RGB LEDs (nearly 6A). I bet they decided to improve that and maybe the voltage converter on the node 2 to make it more robust and not much else. I'll be digging into an LZ soon and testing our new light kit, which will confirm it for sure one way or another... I'll report back on what I find.

So glad to hear it! When my life goes back to normal, I'll definitely get these "on the menu"! Thanks for the feedback!

Agreed, it should have that slight up and down play if it doesn't already. Likewise, the bushing could be broken if the flipper has full on wobble in it when you manipulate it by hand. Gotta say though... In my experience coil sleeve is my goto first check, though only 87 games in seems too early, but anything's possible.

Hey everyone! We're gearing our production engine back up here at the Outpost now that our lives are starting the long road back to normalcy. All delayed orders **should** be shipping out in the coming week. We're also officially launching our Spinner Exit Adjust mod. Thank you so much to H3XAG0N and aamauzy for being our guinea pigs and testing this for us. We now know that this part is working everywhere it's been deployed, so we're ready to make it available to everyone.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1326-ninjacamp-mods/07067-rush-spinner-exit-adjuster

Thank you for your patience on everything as we have worked through having our lives flipped upside down. It's been a trying couple of weeks here, but we're ready to get back to business!

-Kaydee

Your wait is over! See above!

I don't want to come off as a Stern apologist, because I'm definitely not, but they're using a standard Mean-Well RSP-500-48 power supply and that's the fan that runs loud. It's almost certainly the fan Mean-Well ships them with. If Stern was to swap out the fan, it would probably void the warranty on the power supply and I doubt they'd want to be shipping out thousands of power supplies that they can't get their supplier and/or Mean-Well to replace if they fail at a young age. Also, I have other Mean-Well power supplies with forced air cooling and they're ALL loud. I think this is really a Mean-Well problem. That said, Stern could definitely try to find a different power supply that is quieter out of the box, so they're not totally innocent here. They've consciously moved forward with this power supply despite the complaints from home users.

I've posted an update on our upcoming Expressive Speaker Lights Kits, including updated videos. Check it out:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ninjacamp-mods/page/13#post-7078923

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I wonder if you have some sort of deformity in or around the circled area that's deflecting the ball into the rail. I think you just didn't see the rail in the previous photo because of the angle and low lighting, but it's there and you can see it here. The only other thing I could think of is that the rail may be "leaning" to the right, causing it to interfere, but it doesn't look to be in your photo. That rail isn't bolted under the playfield like the metal ball guide in front of it, so the loosen-and-scoot trick won't work here. If it's bent right, you'll need to bend it to the left with physical pressure directly on the rail in the leftward direction, but that'll be a really tricky spot to work in.

But yeah, this isn't something our shooter lane fix will resolve. That part was intended to address the ball rattling in the lane as it goes past the upper flipper gap, which messes up your skill shot.

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When you say "the rail"... which rail are you referring to? When I compare your pic to mine, things look pretty similar. Getting the slow-mo will definitely help.

Ooooh, you're talking about this...

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Yeah, that's definitely different than mine... yours being pushed to the left a little more, which could in turn be pushing the ball into that rail to the left of the lane. You *could* try loosening up the nut under the rail bolt at the bottom of that image, along with the one further up from it, as well as the screws holding the black side rail and see if they can be scooted over slightly and resecured, but I'm skeptical if it'll make much difference. Still, it's something you can try... Meantime, I'll ponder what else might help.

A slower playback speed isn't the same thing as a slow motion video. Slow motion video will have a much higher frames per second rate so the details of what's happening can be seen. Also, it should be a close up of the area where it's happening. Anyways, if you can capture that, it should help to pin the problem down.

Yes, our shooter lane fix is for the issue where the ball rattles around when you soft plunge and it gets to the upper flipper gap. It guides the ball to the right so it rolls past the flipper gap smoothly.

I'll try to get something posted by the end of the weekend, but if you look at the instructions for the loop assist mod and the pictures in the loop assist/shooter lane mod product listing, you should be able to figure it out pretty easily. It just snaps on to the rail on the left side of the shooter lane, just below the flipper gap.

It's funny, as many as I've installed, some pop right on, some feel ridiculously difficult until they suddenly magically go on easy as if it was just pulling your leg at first to have a good laugh at you, lol. I think the trick is to start with the short "down" part of the groove, wrap it up around the bend, then push the long groove on. But honestly I'm not sure if that's it or not. I'm just glad that the vast majority of you are finding that the shooter rattle fix is working out well. I found that "feature" to be so very frustrating, especially when they changed the code to kill your skillshot after a failed plunge... insult to injury, but no more.

Like any protector or any other rubber piece on the playfield, this is a wear-and-tear part and won't last forever, but many people have reported hundreds of plays with no noticeable wear, and we have several on location nearby that we check up on regularly, and they're holding up after well over 1000 plays, probably more like 2K+ at one location in particular. As to the potential for damage you're describing, we updated the protector back in April to add little notches where it goes past the scoop to help minimize this, in addition to the tab that screws down underneath to minimize movement. Since then, breakages have been almost nonexistant, but should one fail, just reach out to us and we'll take good care of you.

As to which color... can't help you there.

I'm not saying it's necessary, but some folks have done both our NC scoop protector AND the Stern blinders. You just replace the metal protectors with ours. If you're going to keep the blinders, this gives you the option to add a splash of color around your scoops.

Hey all, our speaker light kits will be going on sale Tuesday September 6 at 10AM PDT! Check out this post for the details:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ninjacamp-mods/page/14#post-7113771

If I understand what you're saying, you have the 4" speakers and plan to stick with them? If so, then know that I'm looking into a possible way to make it work with the smaller 4" speakers, but I wasn't expecting much demand for that since only the LE's have EL kits in them and the Rush EL kits aren't available yet (though the LZ kits work in Rush, for people that want to go that route). But if there is demand for a 4" speaker option, then I can make that a fast-follow priority.

Thank you both for the feedback.

For what it's worth, I didn't set out to exclude 4" speakers. The problem comes down to light count. I have to get 48 LEDs evenly distributed around the speaker. With a 5.25" speaker, the fit was just cosmically aligned with readily available LED products on the market, which allowed me to bring this to fruition much faster if I focused on the 5.25" speakers at first. When it comes to the 4" speakers, there is no way to get those existing LED products to fit properly around a rectangle - or circle - of that size. So there's two options, 1) you'd need to get a 5.25" speaker plate set from speakerlightkits, install our speaker lights, then I'd have to come up with some sort of 5.25" to 4" adapter (which would be easy enough to do) to hold the factory 4" speakers, but that may look goofy (or it may look fine, in fact it might look really nice, but I haven't made a prototype to find out). Or 2) completely design a new product using fewer off-the-shelf parts, which would make it more complex to produce, but would work with the rectangular space of the 4" speakers. I'm certainly open to both, but option 1 was the short path I had been primarily considering. Option 2 would probably have to wait until the initial rush on these kits slows down, so probably a few months out, at least.

If you folks think you'd be interested in the first option, I could whip that up and demo it pretty quickly. Otherwise, I'm happy to go down the longer path, in fact, it'll be a fun project to work on, but it'll be a while before it's available.

160 LEDs is actually far too many. You'd have 64 of them unlit, all on one side, creating a big dead zone. That kit would also have to be totally reworked to do the job. As I said above, I do want to get to this solution... I already know exactly how it would work and what I'd have to do for it... It's just a question of bandwidth right now.

Did you clean the optos while you were in there? Dirty opto sensors can cause this. And yeah, I've seen these have issues in gameplay and show up just fine in the test menu... no idea why that happens, but I've definitely seen it on other games.

As pointed out by SterlingRush, it looks like your fix has worked itself too far forward. Slide it back and tighten that nut down on the plastic if it isn't.

Sounds like the optos in the ramp are dirty, cutting out, or misaligned. With the Prem/LE models, the ramp goes up and down and the wires can take some abuse over time. I had to fix a friend's where the wires to the Opto had just snapped within their plastic jackets an inch or two away from where it attached to the opto board. I had to cut out a couple inches of the wire to one half of the opto (can't remember if it was the emitter or receiver, but I think it was the emitter) and solder in patch wires. If either side is cutting out due to a failing wire, this could register as random hits (since a "hit" is when the receiver can't see the infrared light from the emitter because a ball is in the way, aka a "normally closed" switch). Likewise if either side is dirty, it can register random hits, and a quick cleaning with alcohol and a q tip will resolve that. Finally, if they're misaligned (least likely, IMHO) they may not consistently connect, again registering random hits, and you would have to adjust their alignment until they're looking straight at each other. The switch test menu may help you to pin down what's going on. Hope that gives you something to work with.

I'm biased on which route you should go, so I won't wade into that. What I will say is that with that v1 Stern protector you could develop clearcoat/art damage to the area around the scoop that extends beyond any protectors out there, and it can happen surprisingly fast. If it was mine, I wouldn't be playing it very much (tens of games should be okay, but I wouldn't push into the 100s) until one of the solutions out there is in place, mylar at least.

Based on your purchase date, it looks like you got our v1 protector. We offered free upgrades for those folks to the v2 protector, which fixed a breakage issue (I'm going to guess yours broke on the back right side of the lower scoop, right next to the scoop's metal arc... if so, that's exactly what v2 addresses). Anyways, that offer still stands. We'll happily upgrade you to the new version if you're interested in that. For what it's worth, we also make a version we call the "fat lip", where the lip edge extends a couple mm further out to cover up playfield damage. We could send that one if you like. PM me and let me know how you want to proceed.

PM sent.

OR that's the year they'll release it.

Yep, just go up to 2 1/4".

I thought I saw a while back that someone was suggesting to move to these... Smaller radius = less band tension for the standard 2" band. I'm not necessarily recommending it, just throwing it out as a potentially already existing solution.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-8365-9

Hey there, yeah, I can confirm from your order date with us that it is the old V1 model. The V2 addresses this specific issue and we offered a free upgrade back in April to anyone that had a V1, and we still stand by that. We'll get you a replacement sent out with our next shipments. PM sent with further details.

For what it's worth, I haven't received any messages from you about this. And I apologize, I haven't check in on this thread in a few days, so I'm just catching up. I'm sorry you had problems with your VUK protector. All VUK protectors have been made from the exact same model, so yours shouldn't be taller than any others, and height shouldn't have anything to do with it since the ball should just be dropping through a hole with no bottom surface but the metal of the mech. More likely, there may be some sort of a printing error we didn't catch in the walls of the protector that are overly narrowing the opening and catching the ball before it can settle to the bottom. Anyways, I'll PM you for further resolution.

Thanks for the mention! <3 Yes, if you love our speaker light kit, or if you wanted the speaker light kit but couldn't use it because of the depth of your upgraded speakers, then this is for you!

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1326-ninjacamp-mods/07647-expressive-undercabinet-lights-kit

See it in action here: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/786978529

IMG_2199 (resized).PNG

The undercabinet kit will NOT work on the backbox. The light strips are much too long. That said, we are already planning a backbox kit (with light strips that will fit) because we knew this question was coming! We have some catching up to do with other orders still but, in the near future, a backbox kit will be coming! As to power draw, each kit shouldn't draw more than 1/3 amp from the 48v power. So even with three kits, you're only pulling one amp, and even that is only when every single one of the 96 LEDs is on full bright white, which is almost never, so the draw in use is much less, which SHOULD be fine to drive all three off of the 48v header. However, if you have concerns and/or don't want to take any risk, you can pretty easily wire in a second dedicated 48V power supply and hack the power transformers we supply into that, and all your worries go away.

Hey there, sending you a PM. We'll absolutely take care of this for you. The issue you're showing is exactly what the V2 was intended to address.

If you purchased before 4/12/22 you almost certainly have the old one. The easiest way to tell them apart visually is that the V2's have a third L shaped tab that screws down under the playfield. If you have that, you're already set. If not, then PM me.

That's usually the cause. Most people are able to resolve this by loosening the screws that mount the scoops underneath, rotating it as much as you can such that the front of the mech is tweaked slightly more to the right, then resecuring the screws. Playing with the coil power can help too. Also double check that the tab at the front of the protector is sitting flush against the underside of the playfield... sometimes it's out of place and the ball will graze it on the way out.

Those are nice! Say, where can I get one of those speaker light kits you have there? Hehehe... Seriously though folks, we're happy to announce that we're now selling our Outpost Kodelia Expressive Lighting All-In-One kit for Rush! All three of our light kits combined, along with a new dedicated power supply setup that won't tax the game's power board in any way, and at a little bit of a discount from buying them separately. 288 more LEDs tied in and synchronized with the factory Expression Lights light up your speakers, floor, and wall for a fantastic concert-like experience. Check it out!

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1326-ninjacamp-mods/08306-expressive-lights-all-in-one-kit

And stop by our forum thread for chat about installation questions and the like.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ninjacamp-mods

If you have some of our light kits already, no worries, we're still selling the parts individually.

IMG_2630 (resized).jpg

You can find ours here: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1326-ninjacamp-mods/06740-rush-inner-loop-assist-amp-soft-plunge-corrector

Both an additional power and an additional ground were removed in Rush and Foo Fighters, so this seems to be the go forward design, but everything related to the expression lights should be fully intercompatible between all three games. The old 5 wire design just provided for extra current capacity but, if I had to guess, they likely decided that the lights never reached a high enough sustained current to justify the extra 10" of wire, so they cut it down to just one set of +/gnd. We still build our interface board to support all 5 wires but, just like they did with their own distribution board, all +/gnd lines are immediately merged anyways, so it all works out either way.

Answered your PM, but yes, you will need a splitter for CN7 on the power distribution board, NOT the MPU's CN7. If anyone needs one, we sell them here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1326-ninjacamp-mods/07176-48v-power-splitter-for-stern-spike-2-systems

There is an LZ that has been running just fine with that setup and an additional splitter for the topper, so yeah, you should be good. However, if you plan to add the backbox lights, PM us and we can discuss an upgrade to the dedicated power supply and see if that's a direction you want to go.

Not for the topper/light kits, no. That's a 12v accessory splitter. These mods use CN7 which is a bigger plug @ 48v.

If that curved piece of the fix doesn't stay in place (sliding forward), you can slip a little piece of double-sided tape between the backside of the rail and the large flap that goes against it. That way if your plastics don't cinch down on it tightly enough, it will still stay in place.

Hey gang, with the toppers arriving and people being frustrated with the dim lighting situation, I was thinking about using what we're good at and prototyping a light kit for it that would tie into the Expression Lights. If someone is interested in that, PM me. It'll be a collaborative process (since I don't have a topper myself) so plan for that if you decide to PM me. I'll probably take the first person (maybe two) who hits me up, then we'll go from there! -Thanks, Kaydee

Right... I'm speaking specifically to using the EL to illuminate the front of it.

As awesome as that would be, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable taking someone's topper like that, not at that price tag anyways. Though... if you could scan and email me the manual, that could be very helpful and a lot less risky!!

Hopefully it at least shows which node board they're using (I think I know, but confirmation is good) and which connections they're using on it. But thank you so much! You can probably skip boilerplate and text only pages, mostly looking for the details I just mentioned.

Thanks for that! And yeah, you weren't kidding on how little detail that has in it. But I think I know what I need to know to proceed. Now to just pin down the details and work on the prototype!