Looks amazing. Wow! It really carries on the imagery of night sky from the cabinet art to the top of the machine. Beautiful. Great choice!!!

Aside from Cliffys and LEDs what are some must have mods? Any other protection or upgrades that solve original game issues? I assume there are power board reset issues with this game, like other WPC games of the era? Do I need to look at any board fixes (replacing molex connectors, etc)? Code updates?

I have a new to me, great shape TOTAN in the back of my car and I'm itching to order some stuff for it. Already ordered with Cliffy a week ago but it's like a 2 month wait.

I sold my Totan about a year ago but as far as mods...I really liked the genie and cobra mod from Biglaw here on Pinside. If you like them, send him a pm.

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I recommend mirror blades, ColorDMD and the interactive sword topper. All are easy to install and look great.

Is anything wrong with the gate in this picture?

The ball is getting stuck on the top side (towards backboard) of the gate and just sits there. Can't even get it to move by moving the cabinet. Right now the gate swings out (towards the backbox), does it swing the other way?

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Your ball gate needs to rest on top of the ball guide tab not below it. This allows balls to enter from the top, but trapped from below. It's the tab to the left of your finger.

Hi all, just recently picked up a TOTAN and as I expected, I really love this game. There isn't anything that really compares to the theme of this game and it plays so fast and smooth. While my cab could have used a little less banging around, it isn't faded at all. And the playfield looks like someone must have swapped it out, as non of the scoops have any damage on them at all.

First upgrade: Brass. Seen so many pictures in this thread and it really makes the game pop. Any thoughts on this?

Looking at also spending the money on the gem lamp.. yes it's expensive, but so damn cool.

Anyway, not sure what else to do, perhaps that snake that is posted above?

Thank you, makes sense.

Welcome, I just picked up one too. Love the mods available for this game. I also saw someone post a black powder coated game with gold fleck in it, looked mean. Brass is expensive and takes a pro to do it right but also looks slick. That gem lamp is trick. The snake is out of stock but maybe if you PM biglaw https://pinside.com/pinball/community/pinsiders/biglaw he might be able to help you out. I'm definitely doing the snake and light up genie. Also went for the sword topper, hopefully, from a user here. ColorDMD seems like a great upgrade on this game. Make sure you put some tubing on the skill shot (search this) to protect the ball.

Before you buy the sword topper, check out Planetary on a Laserrific topper. Same interactive lights,looks much better,imo. I got it, very nice.

The one I got is very similar (interactive) without the background.

"Ramp Magnet Broken" or something like that in the test report. I checked all of the solenoids in the test and they all seem to fire (I think I heard a magnet fire for each one) and as far as I can tell all of the magnets are working. I could surely be unfamiliar with all aspects of the game, is this referring to the large ring magnet above the ramps on the left? It definitely works.

Edit - yeah, confirmed that is probably the magnet it is referring to. I know for sure it works... however, WHEN should it work? If I recall from playing in the past the magnet only comes in to play after several ramp shots, no? Mine seems to pick it up a lot, comparatively. But it is definitely working.

shock_me Is there something which keeps the gate from flipping around? I see what is happening. If you spin it the wrong direction if flips around and is then facing backwards. There is a "tab" on the metal ball guide that keeps it from going one direction (it's what the arm of the wire form hits) but there isn't anything which keeps it spinning around the other way. I can take a video if this doesn't make sense.

*Edit.. ah ha... it's the plastic itself. Mine was not screwed down, missing two screws and cracked to heck. I have a brand new set of plastics so it will get replaced and with protection. For now it's held with washers.

Sorry, one more from a TOTAN n00b. The right cage I assume works just like the magna save on TOM, right? Eddy sensor? What would cause the cage to raise and lower several times every once in a while. It seems maybe related to something gameplay but definitely not the ball being near. It had an issue raising (the bracket seemed a bit bent, put it back straight and it raises and lowers fine in the test now) but it freaks out every so often and goes up and down. It did it exceedingly a lot with multiball. I am going to look at the eddy sensors tomorrow, I assume they have adjustment like TOM.

Check the switch metric for odd connections - I once replaced my ramp standup target and accidentally wired it backwards, which caused the left ball save to fire at weird times. Have you replaced any parts or re-wired anything recently?

The TOTAN ball saves run on an opto switch, so it might be wax or dust on the playfield setting it off. Make sure the clear inserts and the lenses under the shooting star plastics are unobstructed.

AHHH it's an opto. Ok, that makes sense. I bet it is messed up or dirty. Thanks, I did notice one dangling wire (going to a flasher) and another repair that was just a soldered wire (blue/orange) joined in the middle and left dangling without any protection. I'm going to clean that stuff up and I'll run the switch matrix tests. Thanks!

Another question while I'm at it. What is the maintenance need for the lamp? Mine seems to spin a bit slow. Clearance on the switch seems to be fine (although you can clearly hear the "tink tink" when it is spinning and hitting the switch) and it seems to spin without much force. Is it simply some lubrication on the shaft? Maybe dissasembly and cleaning? The switch and "flaps" are black and dirty.

Edit - Looks like in the Marco listing for the lamp assembly the "flap" is plastic. In mine it seems to be metal. Was there a change? Seems like plastic would be better.

O your magnet ramp question, is there a steel add-on lift added to help get the ball to the magnet? On a Totan, if switches aren’t hit for a while, it will show it is broke. The add- on clip helps a lot to get the magnet. Also,if you don’t get multi ball for a couple of games, it will show “ vanishing magnet broken “.

I'll check on the lift, I saw that offered on some parts site. I had mutiball and the magnet does work. I wonder how often the magnet should pickup the ball. Mine seems to pick it up often, almost every time. I thought it took a few/various shots to activate. Could this be related?

The only times my magnet picks it up is when the Genie yells. You have to earn them from hitting him.

Yah, I just played a few games and the Genie picked up the ball WAY too often. I was trying to pay attention to game play mechanics and I think I noticed that the left loop diverter occasionally triggered when nothing was causing it. Not sure if related, just one thing I noticed. I also took note that the ramp magnet caused the left cage to go a bit crazy. It isn't the only time the cage went nuts, it did also during multiball. It will go up and down repeatedly, quickly. I had to open the coin door to get it to stop one time.

I tested the optos and every other switch I could get to and they all seemed just fine. Not sure if there is a specific test for the opto sensitivity. It doesn't seem like an opto triggering issue. The cage actually seems to work mostly fine for normal operation (it senses the ball and traps it) but is only the occasional freakout that is the problem. Swap optos (is that easy enough)?

I poked around under the playfield. I don't see any frayed or stray wires but there are a TON of unused male molex connectors under the left back side of the playfield. I assume that is normal, there is no way that much stuff could be unplugged.

What is a good place to get the full playfield plastic set from? Marcos is sold out and not getting it back. I believe the full set is a 31 piece

Boom.. saved ya some cash: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/77944

Awesome! Thanks, hittin them up now

Pinball Decal also has hem. Clear protectors,too. I got mine there. Good stuff.

I saw the PDI set and it doesn’t look complete. Did you get the key chain pieces with the PDI set? How many pieces total?

Which flipper coil part numbers or colors do you have installed? The TOTAN I just got has WAY hard flippers and the manual seems to indicate FL-11629 which looks to be Blue which Marco lists as for long shots and high ramps, assume that is the strongest coil. When I hit the ramp and it coils around to the right it's SCREAMING fast.

Thats right. This is a game that is very dependent on playfield pitch. All about the leg levelers. Finding that right angle and pitch.

Got it. What are you at, 6.5?

FYI-I am looking to join the club, I've got a nice player condition Twilight Zone I would trade for a player TOTAN if you are interested.

Yes, it was complete,2 large keychain pieces. I got the protectors, too. It has been a while, though.

If anyone can help, would be appreciated
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/totan-left-cage-freaking-out-amp-ramp-magnet-error

The PDI picture doesn’t show the additional pieces, maybe I’ll email them and ask then

You are right, they are not shown. Mine came with a key fob of the genie
bottle and girl. The owner's name is Joey, good people. They got great stuff, kinda pricey,though.

What's the trick to keep the bizarre from shooting STDM? Happens about half of the time. Doesn't look like it can be moved at all (the metal form looks really tight to the hole).

The scoop is a super tight fit. When I installed a Cliffy, I had to manipulate the scoop top to get the ball to even fit down the entrance. But in doing so I adjusted the top of the scoop to stop any SDTM ejects. The metal is stiff and hard to bend, but it doesn’t take much. When looking dead on at the scoop, I torqued the top left of the scoop downward a hair and that changed the eject trajectory just enough.

Easy... Loosen and adjust the coil to the side ( no longer own the game ) I don't remember which side but it works 100%

That's what I was thinking. I assume you removed the scoop to do this? I have cliffys on order but it will take a few months and I have a new CPR playfield to swap in so I probably won't install them on this one.

Really? Interesting, didn't know that would affect the trajectory but I'll take a look.

Yes, had to remove to do this. I used locking pliers with a cloth in-between. I look forward to hearing about the playfield swap! Good luck with it! I was thinking about doing a FT and IJ(if it ever gets approved for Mirco).

It'd be my 3rd-ish... I am doing my JP right now with a playfield I refurbished and I did a CPR on my cyclone. I have my TOM mostly apart to clear the playfield so that's "ish". The TOTAN is in great shape so I'm debating. It's a good amount of work if you want to do it right. I am replacing all wear parts on my JP (all coils, springs, leaf switches, plungers/links) and had to rebuild the pop bumpers, slings, etc. Might as well do it while it's easy to do. But I'm also anal about doing it cleanly. I tumbled the metal parts so they look nice, wiped down all of the black metal dust, etc. I didn't go as far as to put the wiring harness in the dishwasher like some but it's pretty "ground up". TOTAN is probably easier than JP.

Colored and white LEDs in the backbox. Took a while to get the right mix or brightness and colors. I think it looks good without looking blown out with color. Added in the topper. I think I got the harem eject aligned.. many of the screws holding the subway were loose or stripped. I also manually pried the left side of the eject as it has been bashed over the years. Seems to hit the right flipper pretty consistently now.

topper looks nice. Enjoy!!

Any thoughts as to why my backbox would be hella hot? I just changed out the backbox lighting to LED so that is a lot less heat. Feeling the grate at the top of the backbox it's noticeably hot, like inside a PC case without a fan hot. I can't see anything that would be necessarily emitting much heat. The game was on for a few hours but was not really played much. I don't recall other WPC games being hot like this. Is this normal? Should I put in a fan?

I noticed your ceiling is low, does the other machine get hot?

None of my other machines have ever been "hot" as far as I know. I was in an odd situation (mounting the topper while the game had been on) so I wouldn't normally be at the top of the backbox like that, but I've certainly opened a backbox while the game had been on for a while and never noticed anywhere near that kind of heat. It's fairly cool in my basement, definitely not an environmental thing.

Ok, maybe I’ll fire mine up and see if it’s the same. I think it currently has bulbs so should get hot. How long does it take to get hot?

Well, I probably had it on for 4-5 hours total but I was pretty sure it was quite hot after a few hours. It's odd, there are physically less boards in it than TOM, for example. I figured it would be cooler. I also figured that backbox of bulbs was surely causing a lot of it, but they were in for at least a few hours and it was still hot. I have an IR thermometer so I'll check it out tomorrow to see if I can find out what is getting so hot.

I'm looking for a front cabinet decal for TOTAN. if anyone has one left over and would like to sell it please let me know. Otherwise I'll be selling a set minus the front decal very soon

That is annoying. Come to think of it, it is 2019 you would think that by now we could just order any decal we wanted without buying the whole set, after all they just press print on the computer and out it pops

Oh I found a vendor who would sell me one at 37% of the cost of a whole set!