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Stranger Things Pinball UV Kit Installation and Projector Adjustment

Straight Down the Middle·video·35m 40s·analyzed·Mar 31, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Complete UV kit installation guide for Stranger Things pinball with hidden UV-reactive artwork reveal.

Summary

Zach Sharpe from Flip N Out Pinball provides a comprehensive step-by-step installation guide for Stern's newly released UV lighting kit for Stranger Things pinball machines. The kit includes UV-reactive plastics, LED brackets for both ramps, a new apron with integrated lighting, and a PCB control board. The guide covers playfield glass removal, plastic replacement, ramp removal, apron swap, projector refocusing, LED bracket mounting, PCB installation, and wiring harness connections, concluding with successful UV lighting test.

Key Claims

  • The UV lighting kit is available directly from Stern at sternpinball.com

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe states this at beginning and end of video as official sales channel

  • Stranger Things pinball contains UV-reactive artwork on the playfield that is invisible under normal lighting

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe explains that hidden artwork becomes visible only when UV lights activate during specific game modes and the Upside Down mode

  • The UV kit includes eight UV-reactive replacement plastics

    high confidence · Zach counts out all eight plastics during installation: in-lane plastics, slingshot plastics, numbered target plastics, and rail-mounted plastics

  • Pro and Premium/LE models have different apron mounting hardware configurations

    high confidence · Zach explicitly states that Pro models have two screws under apron cards while Premium/LE models have nuts with screws underneath the playfield and two front screws

  • The UV kit includes LED brackets for both left and right ramps with integrated wiring

    high confidence · Zach demonstrates mounting metal LED brackets to both ramps with three screw positions each and routes wiring harness through bracket holes

  • The installation takes approximately 20 minutes according to someone named Mike Vinicore

    medium confidence · Zach references 'Mike Vinicore said 20 minutes' but expresses skepticism about this timeframe

  • The new apron has two mounting pins that can scratch the playfield if not handled carefully

    high confidence · Zach specifically warns about the two pins on the apron during removal and reinstallation

  • The projector has an adjustable focus wheel that can be fine-tuned while the game is powered on

    high confidence · Zach demonstrates removing the projector lock nut, adjusting the focus wheel left/right to sharpen the image, then reinstalling without moving the wheel

Notable Quotes

  • “Stranger Things has a secret. A little secret that many of you may or may not know. But on the playfield of every single Stranger Things pinball machine is artwork that you can't see with the naked eye.”

    Zach Sharpe@ 1:59 — Introduces the unique feature of UV-reactive hidden artwork as a major selling point of the kit

  • “It's unlike anything you've ever seen before.”

    Zach Sharpe@ 1:05 — Establishes the novelty and significance of the UV lighting kit feature

  • “Do not over tighten them or you risk breaking this plastic. One of the biggest mistakes new people make is they over tighten these plastics and they break them.”

    Zach Sharpe@ 5:22 — Critical safety/quality guidance repeated throughout video; major installation pitfall

  • “Remember, this bottom one down here does not need to have a screw and a washer because we already have an existing screw and washer for this post here.”

    Zach Sharpe@ 21:14 — Important technical detail about LED bracket mounting efficiency

  • “You pull it out towards you, and you're in the test situation.”

    Zach Sharpe@ 32:47 — Describes accessing test mode via coin door interlock switch bypass for UV kit testing

  • “If you guys don't want to buy one I'm going to warn you right now you probably should turn the video off because you're going to want one.”

    Zach Sharpe@ 23:48 — Promotional enthusiasm indicating the visual impact is compelling

Entities

Zach SharpepersonStern PinballcompanyFlip N Out PinballcompanyStranger ThingsgameStraight Down the MiddleorganizationMike VinicorepersonSam SternpersonPinball Networkorganization

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern providing aftermarket upgrade kit distribution through official channels (sternpinball.com) and authorized dealers, enabling customization and post-sale enhancement

    high · Kit available directly from Stern and through dealer network like Flip N Out Pinball; instructions provided; test mode added to latest game code to validate installation

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Stranger Things incorporates hidden UV-reactive artwork as intentional secret feature, suggesting Stern strategy to include discovery elements and long-term visual engagement for players

    high · Zach explains: 'on the playfield of every single Stranger Things pinball machine is artwork that you can't see with the naked eye' and plastics have hidden elements visible only with UV activation

  • $

    market_signal: Release of $200-400+ official aftermarket lighting kit suggests Stern capturing upgrade/customization market segment and extending monetization beyond base game sale

    medium · Kit sold as separate product through official channels; requires dealer installation or customer DIY; represents potential recurring revenue from installed base

  • ?

    product_strategy: Pro and Premium/LE editions of Stranger Things have different mechanical architectures requiring model-specific kit versions, indicating deliberate hardware differentiation at manufacturing level

    high · Zach emphasizes: 'make sure to designate which model that you have' due to different apron mounting hardware; Pro has two screws under apron cards, Premium/LE has nuts with screws underneath playfield

  • ?

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.107

0:30
Oh, this thing is pretty, isn't it? You ain't seen nothing yet. I'm Zach Minney with Flippin' Out Pinball Distribution, your favorite pinball dealer, am I right? As well as Straight Down the Middle of Pinball Show and the Pinball Network. You're in for a treat today. We've got Stern Pinball's newest, hottest, most innovative pinball machine in Stranger Things. And we're going to dial it up to about an 11 today with the help of their newly announced UV lighting kit mod. It's unlike anything you've ever seen before. It's available right now direct at sternpinball.com. It comes in the Pro, the Premium, the LE Edition. Just make sure to designate which model that you have at your favorite family entertainment center or even in your own game room. But I'm going to walk you through the step-by-step instruction process on how to install your UV lighting kit for Stranger Things Pinball. Now, essentially, what's in the box? It comes with two brackets, one for each ramp. It's hidden. It's nice and discreet. And a new apron. The new apron and the brackets all have these UV lights, and they react based on what is going on in the game, a certain mode, a certain moment, the upside down. And once that turns on, you see UV, beautiful bluish purple light, shine throughout the whole pinball machine. Again, you've not seen anything like this. But the coolest thing about this game, Stranger Things has a secret. A little secret that many of you may or may not know. But on the play field of every single Stranger Things pinball machine is artwork that you can't see with the naked eye. If you can't see it in normal gameplay, heck, right now you're looking and you can't see it because it's UV reactive. This UV lighting kit during those modes will shine that UV, and you're going to see artwork that you cannot see otherwise. In the kit is also included plastics, plastics that are UV reactive. You're going to see things on plastics that we can't see with the naked eye either. So come, follow along, join me as I walk you through the installation process. It's not too hard. It's easy. We'll do it together. Let's go right now. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you guys. during the installation process we have to pull up the apron to put in that new apron that has the lights in it but it is a great time to refocus and calibrate that projector i'm going to show you guys how to do that as well now this is going to be a lot of fun so without further ado let's see what's in the box all right so here's everything we've got the apron here the hardware the pcb board we also have the eight plastics they have a protective film that will take off as well as the metal lighting brackets on here and remember we've got lighting throughout this model as well this is why it's important to make sure you get the right set based on whether you have the pro or the premium le model because the premium le has a metal apron or arch assembly and it's not going to mount on the pro and vice versa the pro will not mount on the premium le so make sure you get that right first things first you're going to want to take out the playfield glass you do so with the latches right under the lockdown bar. There's one over there. There's one over there. You lift this up. Always make sure that your glass doesn't slide out from under you. Close that up. Pull the glass out. Keep it level and don't break it. Now that the glass is out, we're going to use this as our handle. Lift up, pull out, and let it rest on the support brackets. Another good idea is to always have a towel in place handy whether it's on a side machine or a table or on the pinball playing field itself so that you can have tools and it's not scraping up your play field. All right step number one is to take the new plastics and replace these older in-lane plastics. The new plastics have a protective film on them that we're going to have to take off. There's that and we're going to reinstall the new ones on here. Always make sure to take your old ones wrap them up in a nice place maybe put them in the coin box so that you don't lose them. Whenever you're tightening down these screws you need them to be snug but do not over tighten them or you risk breaking this plastic. Go back and forth left to right to get you evenly distributed and snug without over tightening. One of the biggest mistakes new people make is they over tighten these plastics and they break them. You have to buy another set. In the next step we're going to remove this left ramp and we're going to set it to the side. This is done by removing four screws. They're all on post so it's not too not too difficult. Again make sure whenever you're taking these off that you put these pieces where you're going to find them. Maybe if anything take pictures as you're taking all of these pieces off so that you know how to return them.

Over-tightening plastic screws is a common mistake that breaks the plastics and requires replacement

high confidence · Zach repeatedly emphasizes this warning throughout the installation, noting plastics should be snug but not over-torqued

  • The PCB control board mounts to four dimples on the underside of the playfield and connects via four color-coded wiring harnesses

    high confidence · Zach demonstrates locating the four dimples, mounting with wood screws, and connecting violet, red, black, and additional connectors

  • “Thank you Sam Stern look how simple told you all you could do it.”

    Zach Sharpe@ 22:13 — Credits Stern designer for simplifying the LED bracket mounting mechanism

  • “Just like you test coils in a game, the coils are not going to run like this, even if we go through the test mode using these buttons over here.”

    Zach Sharpe@ 32:39 — Explains why coin door interlock bypass is necessary for high-power UV testing

    • product_strategy: Stern releases official UV lighting kit for Stranger Things Premium Edition with hidden UV-reactive artwork on playfield and plastics, representing significant post-release enhancement with new lighting hardware and electronic control board

    high · Zach demonstrates complete kit contents including LED brackets, PCB board, eight UV-reactive plastics, and apron with integrated lighting; explains artwork invisible under normal light becomes visible only with UV activation

  • ?

    product_concern: Installation guide emphasizes repeated warnings about over-torquing plastic fasteners breaking components, suggesting manufacturing tolerance or plastic quality constraints requiring user care

    medium · Zach states: 'One of the biggest mistakes new people make is they over tighten these plastics and they break them. You have to buy another set.' Warning repeated throughout video

  • ?

    technology_signal: Introduction of integrated UV LED lighting system for pinball machines, suggesting Stern exploring spectral/environmental lighting modes beyond traditional backbox and insert illumination

    high · Kit includes apron with integrated UV lights, LED brackets on ramps, PCB control board, and syncs with game code to activate during specific modes including Upside Down; represents new lighting technology category for pinball

    • 6:02
    There's one, two. So, so far, right, this isn't bad. All of these screws have washers, so make sure not to lose those as well. one two three one back here four lift up this ramp i set it to the side a bit all right the next step they want us to replace the left slingshot plastic as well as left number five plastic that goes right there i've already taken off the protective filming on there it looks as if they're wanting us to do the left side and then follow up the right side so to take this off take that nut out and that post now there's a washer on there so you got to make sure what I like to do is set these washers by the part itself so that I know a the washer goes on that side now here's a pro tip for you as we're removing that we could replace this with the new plastic but as light is distributed underneath that you're always going to have these metal see these protect the ball from chipping this plastic uh right there and there which is nice to have however life that light does not pass through there so what i like to do is remove these and put clear lexan washers in there so light still emits through and I will do that at a later time.
    7:49
    Again, our washer goes right back there. And on these, honestly, just a hand tighten is actually pretty good.
    8:00
    But on those nuts... Again, cannot stress it enough, do not over tighten there. See? Nice and snug. Number 5 plastic looks like it's got two nuts on it. Stop it. Alright. Two nuts are out. Out with the old. And in with the new.
    8:45
    We're going to stay the left side and replace that long left plastic right up here. The trick on this one is that there is a plastic shield that also needs to come out So we going to take all of that out then take this plastic out and replace it with the new. An all-in-one tool like this is really nice because a lot of your common pinball parts will either need either one of those sockets or a screwdriver in the shape of a Phillips head or a flat head.
    9:26
    Out with the old, in with the new. Remember to guide this wire through that. the stand-ups back in as well as the washers and we'll put that elastic piece back in there come on there we go again wire guide right through there as we'll see in the installation process here. It's not so much that any of this is difficult, it's just taking your time
    10:23
    and doing it the right way. Ta-da! Our next step is to remove the right ramp and lay it to the side. This is done with three screws. For ease of install, I'm doing this on the opposite side so that you guys can see what I'm doing. Otherwise I would probably do this on the same side as I'm on. Alright, there we go. It's kind of out of the way. Now we're going to replace the slingshot plastic next. Next we're going to replace this plastic with the bat on it and the smiley. Alongside here we have two screws, a post and a screw. This particular post has two washers on it so sit it right by your post so you can remember that. These are going to be longer screws here. Really long screws. Oh, because they have studs on them. I'll show you what is different about these. They have plastic standoffs on the bottom side of them. It's going to take a little bit more time to get them out. That washer is on there. We're going to leave it for now. there you go all the double twist technique ladies and gentlemen look at that all right you know I'm a pro pro at this until I'm not makes your finger strong okay now that's that washer I was worried about okay now you're gonna have this this plastic standoff goes kind of into this so I had to kind of pull it slowly same with this right here we're gonna get this washer off of there okay now as a stand-up see so we're going to yes just slightly turn it and it'll come right out now we're gonna put the stand up back in there in the same way give it a slight turn should go right in there same with the one down here oh I put them in the wrong spot come on baby go in there it is then I'll get fingerprints all over these plastics so at the end of all of it you wipe them down lucky lucky who's got a cookie remember this double washer went on the post so I'm gonna do that now and then these long screws with a single washer Now you could use power tools here, but I'd really recommend you don't. May make the job go quicker, but over-torquing and stuff, you guys ever do that on the weekends? Over-torque at the club? It's just, you're setting yourself up for problems. World's longest screw! we're going to replace this last plastic. Only one left. You got one nut here, another that and with the new plastic there's a wire guide right there so you want to Make sure it gets through that.
    15:18
    Replace the two nuts. And just like that, all of our UV reactive plastics, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, have been replaced.
    15:30
    All right gang, our next step is to replace the apron here. Now on the pro model, there's gonna be two screws, one under each of the apron cards. On the premium LE model like this, There are going to be a nut with a screw right here, right here underneath the play field we're going to have to get from the bottom, as well as in front here, the two screws.
    15:53
    All right, guys. Now, down here, we've lifted the play field out. There's two screws, one of them right there, one of them right here. We've got our socket, remember? We're going to remove those.
    16:13
    Now you could lift the whole playfield up, but I find this to be an easier method to do it. Alright, now what's left are these front screws and then your apron will come off.
    16:34
    Alright, now when we're lifting the apron off, there are two pins right there. You just don't want to let those scratch your play field.
    16:48
    All right. Now, I told you we would adjust this projector just to make sure that it is the sharpest that we can get it to. All right. You see right here. Let's see if I can zoom in. So you see this. There's a little nut there. You're going to take this off. And this is basically the lock. there's a little wheel in there that you're going to be able to go left or right in order to focus it we're going to take this off adjust the crispness or the sharpness of the picture then we're going to put this back on lock it into place now this comes out a little sponge on there to hold it into place take my word for it there's a little wheel here that we can go back and forth that will adjust your picture on the screen. Alright now with the game turned on I can adjust this wheel and watch the picture See that way out of focus you turn it it was actually in focus pretty well see dial that in and it can be a little finicky
    18:04
    that looks pretty clear right there now the trick of it is to reinstall the uh what holds it into place i'm going to reinstall this but here's the trick try to do so without moving that wheel again so i like to go there go straight down not to move it and hold it in place that way when you turn your game back on it will not have adjusted and that's as simple as it is refocusing your projector okay now that we've got the old apron out here's the new apron you're going to see the difference is there are uv lights mounted on the inside as well as cords hanging off this powers the system and sends the signals so what they're going to want you to do is line it up. There's two holes in the play field. You're going to carefully run those wires through on each side.
    19:36
    There we go. Now we're going to remount the two front and the two bottom just like we did when we took off the original. Having fun yet? Whoa, whoa, earthquake. And as you'll see our cords are nicely routed out of the bottom. We'll use those to connect later. those are pretty snug now here's where you're going to learn from my mistake on this you're going to replace these cards put them into the new one anybody see what i did wrong yet huh yeah you're right so on this one this is my le it's got that beautiful brian eddie game designer signature but on this one it doesn't so i'm not gonna i'm gonna spare you guys the time but i'm gonna go in it's just three three nuts i'm gonna go in pull this back out and replace that because i want my my nice le all right our next step is to take the led or the uv led metal bracket and mount it to the side of the ramp now the cool thing is that there's one two three screws that we put in to mount this you're going to get in your hardware kit that comes with that kit a screw and a washer a screw and a washer but remember this bottom one down here does not need to have a screw and a washer because we already have an existing screw and washer for this post here whenever we install the rest an important thing to take notice that there is a wiring bracket that needs to go through this hole over here where this flasher goes. So we're going to route that kind of right now.
    21:44
    All right. That way we don't smash too much of it. We can pull that back through. what I like about this mounting system is that on some pinball parts you'll have uh you'll have like a nut on the other side and it's damn near impossible to hold this and tighten it oh I remember the old bally williams the flashers like even these flashers are kind of like that where you get the nuts that's a pain this isn't this is easy it just goes through one spot thank you stern look how simple told you all you could do it okay now the next step we're actually going to mount we're going to mount this ramp back where it's where it belongs i'm going to show you guys something back here i'm going to move the camera there's an important tab back here that needs to go under the other tab or it's not going to be right let's do that now all right so before you install this last ramp see there's a tab here that needs to go under this other piece of plastic so make sure just like that perfecto that way when the ball rolls it rolls on top rather than getting hung up on that tab just wanted to point that out so we've got again we're installing one two three four screws our existing screws that we took off when we originally pulled up that ramp we'll install that now remember your washers we're almost done that's it now mike vinicore said 20 minutes i don't know about 20 minutes mike but not much more especially as you're going through it with me time flies when you're having fun i can't wait till you guys see this effect so nuts and if you guys don't want to buy one i'm going to warn you right now you probably should turn the video off because you're going to want one You're not going to be able to help it. You're going to want one. Okay, in a very similar manner, we're going to take the LED bracket over here and mount it to this side. Remember to make sure you don't bind this up. This one's going to go right in this hole. Might as well wrap it now. You're going to have three mounting positions. one two three but this one you're not going to use because we already have that post when we return to the original all right this is not going to go on there without just a little bending and that's why these things are a bit flexible so i'd start with the back now just as we did with the left ramp we're going to reinstall the right ramp and on the right side on this incline there there's going to be a metal tab the plastic ramp make sure that goes under the metal tab now this one needs to be bent just a little bit but it's good
    25:23
    the UV LED lighting brackets are now installed our apron is installed we're going to lift the playfield now hook up that PCB board the wiring harness then we're set All right, now we're going to lift the playfield up, lift it up with two handles here, pull back until it stops. Do not keep pulling or that playfield will drop into the cabinet. Also, make sure that the bowls have been taken out.
    25:47
    Land it up and rest it on the back box. There we go. Now, we've got our PCB board unpackaged. You're going to see a bunch of wires here. There are four spots, four screws, wood screws that are supplied in our hardware. we're going to mount it over here where you're going to see the four dimples. I don't know if you can see them on there but there are four over there. That's where we're going to mount this. It's also important that we mount it with C and 1, this connector right here, facing down just like that. Alright once you unravel all the wires here you're going to see there's going to be one, two, three, four plugins. Easy thing is there's one, two apron plugins up there and one, two playfield plugins This is going to be simple Find your four dimples right there We going to mount screws as follows It important to find where those dimples are at because if you don you could be coming up on the playfield somewhere and that is not what you want to do i'm just getting those screws started for right now that way i make sure that each one of them is going exactly where i want it to go where the dimples lie and when you're mounting these they're going into the playfield but they don't i mean they don't have to be there it's not holding much up it's just this board so that the board doesn't come loose so don't go again not a power tool you do not need a power tool here don't go grinding this thing in you're going to be sorry now you remember from when we mounted the metal led brackets that remember we we fed those through and over here we fed that through these are good and then the apron one up here if you can see that and one right here now this is simple all you've got to do brown and violet brown and red brown and black brown and white it tells you exactly where to plug it in to that board and see these two aren't as long so you know this one's going to the close one this one's going to the one over here the two longer ones are going to go up here one short one's long they make this thing so simple but we still want to double check brown violet up to the top left this is brown and red matches up with brown and red up here snap it in brown and black which goes to the brown and black you just want to make these wires as neat as you can when you're routing them and that's what the zip ties the zip ties we're going to come in and zip tie like this one I'm not happy with so I'm going to undo it.
    28:41
    I want to go under this mess so it has more slack. See? Just like so. A lot more slack. I'm happier with that. I could even go under here to prevent it from ever getting caught up in this drop target assembly same with that one right there that's good hey this one's easy look at that
    29:11
    bam all right now i'm going to take zip ties i'm going to come in here zip tie them to clean up this stuff here and see this one i'm not happy with this one i'm not happy all right now we will zip tie it all here in a minute and clean it all up but for now we're going to go back to this board on this board you're going to see I don't know let me zoom in a little bit for you we've got a plug here there's going to be a plug on the other end over here and then a plug down here these are already mounted into your see they're already mounted in here they come existing on your game look at that then you just follow which one goes where based on the manual connect the two pin connectors the one five can connectors boom boom boom boom boom simple so this is basically like the left and right on there let's put them back through here you just want to be careful when you're plugging these in because the pins that are on the board they can be fragile and you you break one of those off you have to get a new board or solder on a new one it's just not fun all right now we're going to get power to go to that one all right now to find that plug in it's hidden up here see and it does have a zip tie so there's no way i'm going to be able to get down there so i'm going to have to cut the zip tie and then pull it back down using a side cut you can do so but when you go to cut just make sure you don't have any other wires or again you're not going to be a happy camper and then you'll see there's three pins a blank and then a pin just on this three pins a blank and then a pin helps you line up how it's supposed to go now let's zip tie this thing up clean it up a little bit before we lower the play field and try it out i don't know if you guys seen on that last shot but basically this plug-in was up in here and I had to zip or cut a zip tie there so I could pull it back in. It's not being used up here so you know that's the only connector not being used. Cut it, feed it back down here, plug it in. All right guys everything is set, everything is installed, everything is wired, everything is cleaned up. We have successfully just installed Stern Pinball's UV lighting kit for Stranger Things. What we're going to do now is lower the play field, go into the test options and we're to test the UV lighting out before we start a game.
    31:57
    Alright, next step, the playfield is down. We're going to open up the coin door and go through a menu. There is on the newest code, I think the last couple codes, the UV kit there is a test setting in there. The one thing you want to remember to do to test that, There's an interlock switch on the inside. Let me show you right now. As we open up the coin door, see that there's a button back here. Now, when the coin door closes, it tells the system, hey, nobody's got access to it, so high power can go on. When the coin door opens, like a refrigerator door, shuts the lights off, i.e. shuts the high power off. Now, we're going to need that high power to test. So just like you test coils in a game, the coils are not going to run like this, even if we go through the test mode using these buttons over here. So we're going to take this, and you pull it out towards you, and you're in the test situation. Now, using these buttons, enter.
    32:57
    All right, we can go into adjustments, feature adjustments, UV kit. It was on no. I put it to yes. Then we can go, whoop, diagnosis. lamp UV test there's the right side it's on and when we're going we're looking that these are these are on as well as the aprons those are correct now we're going to go to the next one the left side left side is firing on as well as the left side apron and it is successfully installed. I want to play!
    33:40
    Alright everybody, let's see the UV lighting kit. Keep in mind it's going to be a little loud because the glass is off. Boom baby! Here we go! Oh yeah! Look at that!
    34:04
    Insane! Ball two locked! Check that out! All right guys, we did it. We made it. We installed the UV lighting kit and I told you how badass it was. Remember, if you want to buy one of those kits yourself, you can buy it direct from Stern at sternpinball.com. And if you're ready to actually buy one of these for yourself, a Stranger Things Pro Premium or Limited Edition Model Pinball Machine, please give us a shot at flipping out pinball. You can call 812-457-9711 or email me directly, Zach, Z-A-C-H, at flipletterinoutpinball.com or just go to flippingoutpinball.com and order one for yourself. You deserve it. Treat yourself. Why not? I know I did.
    35:16
    Right now, we're going to let this play field using the handles. Pull it out until it stops. Don't keep pulling. It will fall into the cabinet. So pull it out, go up with it.
    35:36
    Take the balls out first.