How I Install Mezel Mods Underglow Kit on my Pinball Machines

Cary Hardy·video·11m 17s·analyzed·Feb 16, 2022

Analysis

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TL;DR

Cary Hardy installs Mezel Mods underglow kits on pinball machines with power isolation techniques.

Summary

Cary Hardy demonstrates how to install Mezel Mods underglow LED light kits on pinball machines, covering placement of three light bars (two playfield, one backbox), wiring methods, power isolation strategy using external arcade power supplies, wire splicing techniques with heat shrink, and mounting options. He shares his preference for isolating peripherals on separate power supplies to troubleshoot intermittent issues independently from the main game.

Key Claims

Mezel Mods light bars no longer include screw-in portions; they now rely on 3M tape adhesive
high confidence · Direct observation during installation; Cary compares current version to previous screw-in version he used on Getaway
Cary isolates all peripherals (underglow, flipper buttons, etc.) on a separate arcade power supply rather than using the game's 12-volt line
high confidence · Explicit preference stated and demonstrated; rationale is troubleshooting intermittent issues
Heat shrink wire connections made with twisted and folded wire are adequate for stationary cabinet applications but not designed for movement or tension
high confidence · Cary demonstrates the method, acknowledges limitation, and explicitly states it works for their use case
Blue underglow is significantly brighter than red and overpowers on camera
high confidence · Direct comparison observation between Getaway (red) and Johnny the Mnemonic (blue) installations
Mezel Mods light bars come with wires all the same length, requiring splitter connection to a single 12-volt source
high confidence · Direct observation of kit components and assembly instructions

Notable Quotes

“I have never been a fan of utilizing the game's 12 volt. I like to isolate that.”
Cary Hardy@ 1:51 — Core philosophy on power management for peripheral mods; demonstrates technical best practice
“if you start getting any kind of intermittent issues I can definitely rule out the possibility of my peripherals being a cause of that”
Cary Hardy@ 2:32 — Rationale for isolation strategy; troubleshooting methodology
“this isn't going to be the best way to go about doing this. This is just a simple, cheap way to combine two wires”
Cary Hardy@ 6:54 — Honest acknowledgment of method limitations while defending it for stationary use
“it's not designed to be moved around or stretched or pulled or anything like that”
Cary Hardy@ 7:09 — Clear disclosure of heat shrink twist-splice vulnerability; establishes context for method suitability
“The blue is much brighter than the red. I believe I'm going to have to separate my red getaway from my blue Johnny the Monarch.”
Cary Hardy@ 10:20 — Practical product observation; color variant performance comparison

Entities

Cary HardypersonMezel ModscompanyGetawaygameJohnny the Mnemonicgame

Signals

?
community_signal: Cary Hardy producing detailed DIY modification tutorial content for community; demonstrates educational support and knowledge-sharing within pinball enthusiast ecosystem
high · Full-length video walkthrough with problem-solving (poor video quality acknowledged, recreated wire-splicing demo), tool recommendations (Harbor Freight heat shrink), and linked product availability
?
product_strategy: Mezel Mods underglow kits represent post-market aesthetic and functional enhancement for pinball machines; design evolution from screw-in to adhesive-only mounting suggests manufacturing/usability iteration
medium · Cary notes design change: 'on this version they no longer have the screw-in portions to where you can screw it into the actual wood it's like they just want you to use the 3m tape now'

Transcript

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0:00

Alright guys, I'm here lying on my floor under my getaway just trying to get a good idea of how I'm going to be installing the same light kit that I've got underneath this machine, but I'm going to be doing the blue version of said mod for Johnny the Monik. so after seeing what I've done with this machine you know some time has passed and I'm like you know I think I'm gonna do it a little bit differently on my Johnny Mnemonic and we're gonna see how things go

0:43

but just to show you where the placement is at on here let me show you what we've got going on so there we go we've got two bars light bars underneath the machine and one on the back box so here are the three light bars they are the exact same size built the same way only on this version they no longer have the screw-in portions to where you can screw it into the actual wood it's like they just want you to use the 3m tape now which I don't know how I feel about that yet I think the screw-in version of it gave me more reliability but all wires are the same exact length and what they want you to do is connect them all to this splitter and then run it up to your MPU and gather it off the board's 12 volt. Now I have never been a fan of utilizing the game's 12 volt. I like to isolate that. By doing so I utilize if you can see it my probably can't oh my lord all right there we go so now that I got the game turned on you're able to see what's going on here. I've got all my peripherals on all my games. I have an arcade power supply like this wired in through my AC right there so when the game turns on this power supply turns on which therefore turns on my peripherals you know whether it be glow flipper buttons or under glow kit anything like that peripheral wise I like to isolate those on a different system so that way if I start getting any kind of intermittent issues I can definitely rule out the possibility of my peripherals being a cause of that. So that just the way I do it You don have to but this is my preference So I going to be wiring once again this mod into this to get the power port so what I going to be doing is screwing a hole on the far side of this side of the cabinet because I have less room for error due to this being right here I mean I could still make it work I think I've got just enough room right here to make sure I got plenty of clearance without having to like really measure whereas I've got nothing that's resting in the bottom of the side of this cabinet so I'm going to run the wiring through this side and I'm going to have to drill a hole in the cabinet which isn't too big of a big old deal and for those that start freaking out because a lot of times you got holes in the bottom of the cabinet like this one has some right now with t-nuts in there for whatever used to be down here but so I'm gonna have to draw one smaller hole just big enough to get the wires through. Alright so in order for me to get the wiring through there I obviously can't fit the connector through there. That's just not going to work. So I'm going to go about half way through where the first zip tie is at. That's plenty room right there and give it a quick little cut and then I'll run it through alright guys so as I did the recording I noticed that the video quality is quite poor when I'm working on the machine trying to show you how I'm combining these wires together in a you know just a simple matter so I decided to go ahead and just take some spare wire and I'm just gonna recreate what I went about doing so that way you have a better idea on how to perform said task yourself so I'm gonna have two separate wires and we're just gonna imagine like this is a being cut trying to get their stuff on the ends here done okay so let's say I just cut the wires like so and I'm gonna need to recombine these two wires again so that way I've got continuity and it can actually you know work so strip off a little bit of said wire right there on each end of this. So I've got that wire down.

6:42

Then I'll push it in to make sure it's got a nice good grip on everything inside there. There you go and that's a simple way to make two wires connect and you're good to go. The thing is, guys, this isn't going to be the best way to go about doing this. This is just a simple, cheap way to combine two wires, and if the wires are just resting inside of your cabinet, then you don't have anything to worry about, but this isn't designed to be moved around or stretched or pulled or anything like that. I could pull this apart right now if I wanted to. See, with a little bit of effort, a little stronger than I thought it would be it's not designed yeah see it's not going to be like great for rough and tough but for what we're doing this is perfectly fine but that is how i'm going about re-splicing the wires together when i'm performing this task on this upgrade kit and i just rinse and repeat that process right there on every wire that i cut all right so here we are up underneath it and here's the wire that I pulled through. I wiped down the area with IPA and now all I've got to do is remove the 3M tape on the bottom of it and straighten it out and then hopefully this stuff will keep it up and there's no other wires going anywhere else. It just goes straight into the cabinet right there. So when it comes to the rear end of the machine you have these holes that you're going to be able to utilize to put in the power connectors without having to drill anymore so there is that option and the same thing goes in the back of the cabinet you got these holes right here that work the same way so you have access points that way as well kind of like how i got on my getaway all right let walk through what i done so we've got a total of three light bars each light bar has two wires your ground and of course your power and i've got those going you can't really see it down there but i've got to get the vacuum and get the sawdust or the wood dust out from over there but they're all wired all three of them come to right here and then I've got them inside the 12-volt rail of this power supply So now, when I turn the machine on, you get this.