Let's See What EL Wire Can Do In Pinball

Cary Hardy·video·8m 48s·analyzed·Oct 18, 2018

Analysis

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TL;DR

Cary Hardy tests EL Wire lighting mod for pinball ramp customization without drilling.

Summary

Cary Hardy experiments with EL Wire (electroluminescent wire), a lighting modification product commonly used on Tron pinball machines, testing its potential application on Tales of the Arabian Night. He evaluates the product's brightness, power requirements (two AA batteries), and explores mounting solutions that avoid permanently drilling holes into ramps, which he considers tacky. Hardy considers future applications on Back to the Future and explores ways to integrate the wire with the machine's native power system.

Key Claims

EL Wire has been around for years and is most commonly seen on the Tron pinball machine
high confidence · Cary Hardy, opening statement about EL Wire's history and typical application
The EL Wire kit is 15 feet, Ice Blue colored, and powered by two AA batteries
high confidence · Cary Hardy, direct observation and testing of the product specifications
Standard Tron EL Wire installation requires drilling holes in ramps and using transparent zip ties to mount
medium confidence · Cary Hardy, description of typical Tron modding approach; not personally verified but referenced as common knowledge
Drilling holes into ramps for EL Wire installation looks tacky and causes permanent damage to the machine
medium confidence · Cary Hardy, personal opinion expressed multiple times throughout the video
The EL Wire produces a high hum when powered on
high confidence · Cary Hardy, direct observation during product testing

Notable Quotes

“It's 15 feet, and the color is Ice Blue. Now, this is something I want to try out on my Tales of the Arabian Night. In my head, I have this vision of this Ice Blue going around all the plastic ramps on the machine.”
Cary Hardy @ early in video — Establishes Hardy's primary use case and creative vision for the EL Wire modification
“I don't want to do that. I'm not zip tying drilling holes into my ramps just to light it up. One, it looks tacky.”
Cary Hardy @ early-mid video — Core motivation for experimenting with alternative mounting methods rather than standard Tron approach
“On the camera I'll tell you right now it looks a lot brighter than it actually is... it does give off a high luminescence”
Cary Hardy @ mid video — Important caveat about camera representation of EL Wire brightness vs. real-world appearance
“I refuse to be drilling holes into the ramps on this machine to use zip ties. I'm not doing it.”
Cary Hardy @ late video — Emphatic statement of Hardy's design philosophy prioritizing reversible modifications
“I'm gonna see if I could figure out what I can do to get it to at least temporarily stick to the ramp just so I can get a good idea of what it would look like and then I can start probably maybe even 3d printing up some holsters or clamps”
Cary Hardy @ late video — Reveals intent to design custom mounting solutions, potentially 3D-printed clamps as alternative to drilling

Entities

Cary Hardyperson Tales of the Arabian Nightsgame Trongame Back to the FuturegameEL Wireproduct

Signals

?
technology_signal: EL Wire represents an established aftermarket lighting solution for pinball machines with alternative mounting and integration approaches still being explored and innovated
high · Hardy's experimentation with non-destructive mounting methods and consideration of custom 3D-printed clamps
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design_philosophy: Hardy advocates for reversible/non-destructive machine modifications over permanent alterations, contrasting with standard Tron EL Wire installation approach
high · Repeated emphasis on avoiding drilling holes; explicit refusal to use zip-tie mounting; plans for temporary testing and custom clamp design
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content_signal: Hardy producing experimental content around aftermarket pinball modification products, testing applicability and aesthetic impact
medium · Dedicated video testing EL Wire; discussion of potential applications across multiple machines in his collection
?
product_concern: Standard EL Wire installation on Tron requires permanent drilling and zip-tie mounting that Hardy considers aesthetically poor and reversibility-limiting
high · Multiple critical statements about tacky appearance and permanent damage concerns; motivation to develop alternative solutions
?
design_innovation: Hardy exploring custom 3D-printed clamps and holsters as alternative to drilling for EL Wire installation
medium · Explicit statement: 'I can start probably maybe even 3d printing up some holsters or clamps some kind of very sleek design'

Transcript

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0:00

What's up guys? Today we're going to be testing out a product that is not new. It's been around for years but it's new to me and it's most commonly seen on the Tron pinball machine and that is EL Wire. Of course when I first saw it I thought it was L Wire like it was Spanish or something of that nature.

0:30

Anyways, I haven't even opened the package yet, guys. It's 15 feet, and the color is Ice Blue. Now, this is something I want to try out on my Tales of the Arabian Nights. In my head, I have this vision of this Ice Blue going around all the plastic ramps on the machine. and in my head i think it would look cool but the other part of me thinks it might just be too much or look pretty tacky like you see a lot of people putting all kinds of neon stuff on their you know rinky dink cars that don't and no so uh i want to try this out that's why i just bought one little kit 15 feet you know if anything else i'll use it somewhere i weren't in another whether it be on my machines or hell somewhere on my entertainment center in the living room but um i have a lot of ideas for it but the only thing i'm lacking on ideas right now is how i'm going to mount it to the ramps now on the tron the mod requires you to drill holes in your ramps and use like transparent zip ties and i don't want to do that i'm not zip tying drilling holes into my ramps just to light it up. One, it looks tacky. I'm sorry, Utron users, and you've got zip ties going all over your ramps It looks kind of tacky I mean the visual effect of it don get me wrong it looks cool but there needs to be a better way to mount this without having to drill holes and permanently damage my machine so i want to figure out a way at least for now to temporarily mount this around the ramp just to give me an idea and you an idea as well on what it would look like on tales of the arabian nights or maybe any other machine. I mean, if anything works out pretty good and it looks good, then I might get me like a yellow or an orange to go on my Back to the Future on the ramps because it's got the flux capacitor look of ramps to it. So if I can get it to where it pulses or something, that might look cool. I don't know. We'll have to see how this goes. I haven't opened the package up yet, so I guess that's the first thing I'm going to do is open the package and evidently it's a package that requires scissors and do I my desk is a complete disaster I don't have any scissors do I have tools I've got nothing something sharp I'll use this shitty soldering iron that I bought I should do a review on this piece of shit. Aha!

4:00

and on the other side you've got your power on and power off button and it requires two double-a batteries double-a double-a double-a so now I guess I need to go get some double batteries all right double double a one battery to battery I got a little bit of a flicker whenever I hooked up that second battery and so I haven't turned it on yet so I'm gonna let that to be the visual effect of what it looks like you know to get a better effect we turn that off and we'll see what it looks like all right so on the camera I'll tell you right now it looks a lot brighter than it actually is what I'm liking about it is that it's not too bright I mean that looks like I'm holding like Iron Man's chest in my hand but it is not that bright in person so hopefully I can get some better footage to where it looks the way it looks and it doesn't look too overpowering but it does give off a high luminescence so and then one more click Oh also notice that it beeps so I can do that okay this thing gives off a high hum when you have it on don't know if you can hear in the microphone might be able to get it just enough to where you can hear it and then I take it away you probably won't hear as much but it's there I think it's only for those that have certain anyways so one button click does that another button click it does that and then one more it turns off all right so upon thinking about this one thing I've got to figure out is how I'm gonna wire it to the machine as well I need to figure out what this thing's putting out by itself by using my multimeter and seeing if I can just wire it directly into like the GI We have to do some testing on that I just don like the idea of me having to like power this thing on all right so let get the glass off of toe tan and start running this wire just around the ramps and I'm gonna see if I could figure out what I can do to get it to at least temporarily stick to the ramp just so I can get a good idea of what it would look like and then I can start probably maybe even 3d printing up some holsters or clamps some kind of very sleek design to have it to where it is clamped and held on tightly to the plastic ramps without me having to drill any permanent holes into the machine I refuse I say I refuse to be drilling holes into the ramps on this machine to use zip ties I'm not doing it I mean props to you guys that feel like that you can drill holes into your ramps on Tron to run zip ties But nay says me. All right, let's do this.