Pinball Life sells the power supply CN6 to three-pin cable for $5. That would be the better approach to drive 12v mods or a simple converter to 5v

https://www.pinballlife.com/spike-12-volt-backbox-power-adapter-cable.html?Category_Code=

pbl-600-0046-00-1 (resized).jpg

One of the difficulties and awkwardness in these discussions is when we use common words very loosely, and in some cases can/must be re-interpreted. Example: Stern also uses the term "Ethernet" to describe the connections to the node boards, which as far as I can tell by looking at the schematics, is NOT Ethernet and instead is actually an RS485 connection, driven by SN65HVD485ED RS485 driver chips. Stern seems to be using the term "Ethernet" to incorrectly describe the connector and cables. The term "Ethernet" itself is technically supposed to describe the a totally different frame-oriented signalling standard setup by the IEEE802 committees. RS485 is a completely different 2-wire communications scheme that has been around for 50 years and is a great way to connect auxillary controller devices at a low cost... and can be used on any kind of cables, even those used by Stern!

That's a long around answer to help set the stage that Stern can do anything they see fit on their machines, since they do not advertise or even support anything in an 'open' fashion.

These are all good discussions...