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How to Install the Pin Stadium Neo: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Edition

Cary Hardy·video·28m 29s·analyzed·Sep 1, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

Complete PIN Stadium Neo installation walkthrough on TMNT pinball with app setup.

Summary

Cary Hardy provides a comprehensive installation and feature guide for the PIN Stadium Neo LED lighting system, specifically demonstrating the setup on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pinball machine. The video covers physical installation of the hyperbeams and magnetic strips, wiring connections, cable management, mobile app configuration, and explains the key differences between the Neo and original PIN Stadium product lines.

Key Claims

  • PIN Stadium Neo hyperbeams include a diffuser/blur that prevents light from shining onto wire forms, ramps, and plastics, eliminating the rainbow striping effect present in original PIN Stadium systems

    high confidence · Cary Hardy explains the main product difference in opening segment; this is the primary feature distinction between Neo and original models

  • PIN Stadium Neo systems are brighter and produce less heat compared to original PIN Stadium systems

    high confidence · Stated explicitly in final product comparison segment

  • The product is removable and can be swapped between different machines without permanent modification

    high confidence · Cary describes using orange zip ties to mark non-standard installations so the system can be easily removed and transferred to other games

  • PIN Stadium Neo lighting output synchronizes with in-game code; if a chosen bulb is coded to turn off, the PIN Stadium will also turn off

    high confidence · Cary explains this as a limitation and design constraint in the final comparison section

  • Cord mounting brackets are critical to prevent PIN Stadium strips from falling off the machine over time due to cable weight

    high confidence · Cary emphasizes importance of these adhesive mounts, stating cables will 'weigh down' and eventually cause strips to lift off without them

Notable Quotes

  • “The main difference on the Neo in comparison to the regular Penn Stadiums is that you have your regular hyperbeams with the UV glow, but you also got the blur, also known as a diffuser, that is on these, which keeps the light from shining onto your wire forms and ramps and plastics and stuff like that, giving it that rainbow effect and the stripes that a lot of people didn't care for.”

    Cary Hardy@ 0:43 — Core product differentiation explanation between Neo and original PIN Stadium

  • “These are more important than you think guys. If you don't have these installed, the chances are these cords are going to weigh down and eventually these things will probably lift off and fall off in your machine.”

    Cary Hardy@ 5:18 — Safety/durability recommendation for cord mounting brackets

  • “The joy of this product is that you can make it your own. I have chosen this bulb right here for this game.”

    Cary Hardy@ 10:23 — Highlights customization flexibility of PIN Stadium Neo system

  • “you know I have mine set up that way I know that I can easily remove this whole kit without wondering which one's the right zip tie or whatever or anything like that it's just an easy snap those off if I don't want this kit on this machine anymore”

    Cary Hardy@ 15:31 — Demonstrates removability and modular design philosophy

  • “With no strapping effect the originals will give you. If the strapping is not an issue for you, then use the original Pent Stadiums.”

    Cary Hardy@ 26:41 — Addresses customer decision-making between product versions

  • “This product is designed to mirror what the corresponding bulbs do. This means that if the game is coded to turn off the chosen GI bulb, the Penn Stadiums will also turn off.”

Entities

Cary HardypersonPIN Stadium NeoproductPIN StadiumproductTeenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesgameScottpersonSpike 2product

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Original PIN Stadium strapping/rainbow effect was community point of contention ('a lot of people didn't care for'), motivating Neo design to address this specific feedback

    medium · Cary identifies strapping elimination as primary feature benefit and notes original systems had this limitation that some players disliked

  • ?

    product_strategy: PIN Stadium Neo represents iterative improvement over original PIN Stadium with diffuser technology reducing unwanted light scatter (rainbow striping effect), increased brightness, and reduced heat output

    high · Cary explicitly compares Neo to original model, identifying diffuser/blur feature as primary differentiator and highlighting brightness/heat improvements

  • ?

    product_concern: PIN Stadium mounting relies on adhesive cord brackets that are critical for durability; improperly installed brackets result in cable sag and eventual LED strip detachment

    high · Cary emphasizes bracket criticality multiple times, warning that without proper installation 'these cords are going to weigh down and eventually these things will probably lift off and fall off in your machine'

  • ?

    technology_signal: PIN Stadium Neo uses improved LED hyperbeam design with addressable RGB color control via mobile app, enabling full customization of lighting color and brightness at user discretion

    high · Installation walkthrough demonstrates Wi-Fi connectivity, app-based color wheel interface, RGB/white device mode selection, and real-time brightness adjustment

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.085

0:00
What's up guys? Welcome back to my channel where I talk and do everything pinball. So if that sounds interesting to you then hit that subscribe button down below. In this video I'm going to be showing you how to install your brand new set of Penn Stadium Neo. Let's get started.
0:30
Now, I know there's a few out there that are like me. When Scott releases a new product in his lineup, it's always like, what is the difference between this product and that product? To answer your question, the main difference on the Neo in comparison to the regular Penn Stadiums is that you have your regular hyperbeams with the UV glow, but you also got the blur, also known as a diffuser, that is on these, which keeps the light from shining onto your wire forms and ramps and plastics and stuff like that, giving it that rainbow effect and the stripes that a lot of people didn't care for. This eliminates that. So with that, this game has a lot of wire forms and plastic ramps that I believe would really benefit from this product. Now what I'm going to do here is show you how easy this is to install on particularly this game. This system is Spike 2, so this would work for any Spike 2 system the same way I'm going to be doing this. There may be little deviations depending on what kind of machine year and all that kind of stuff. A lot of variables, but I'm just going to show you what this kit can do particularly for this game. First things first, make sure your machine is completely powered off. If you want to go the extra mile, then by all means unplug your machine. That is up to you, but bare minimum is your machine needs to be off. And then we're going to get in here.
2:07
These things require power. So you're going to be using the plug that comes with your unit and use the outlet that is right here in your stern service outlet. That's where you're going to plug this unit into right here. And then all we're going to do is just feed it down. and honestly that's all that is for back here everything else is down there let's do that

Cary Hardy@ 27:05 — Explains functional limitation and operational constraint of the system

  • “the one with the alligator clips on. Unzip tie them, get rid of that, and get them all extended out. Now if you want to, you can actually pull these apart all the way down so you have one separate strand for GI and one for flasher.”

    Cary Hardy@ 8:41 — Technical wiring instruction and customization option

    • 2:56
    Alright, now that our playfield is out, or at least we're attracted far enough for us to reach, we should be able to easily access this power block. And what we're wanting is on the other end of it. This is the power cord portion that connects to this board that connects to the hyperbeams. Now your hyperbeams officially have power. Now if you want to, we can disconnect this for right now. That way you're not worried about power going to these prematurely. And we need to separate these two like so. They're connected via magnets. So you should be able to separate them. White padding on both sides and one bar goes on one side and one bar goes on the other side. We'll go over the orientation. The orientation is as follows. Of course the cord going towards the cabinet this direction. Then the white portion where the magnetic strip is at will be going against the wall. So I know this one is going on this side and that means of course this one goes on that side. So now that we have our orientation in place, now we're going to get out our little bag of goodies that comes with your set of Penn Stadiums and start digging in here and getting out what we need. What we're going to need to get out first is your cleaning towel cloth. Now, we're going to get this opened up and we're going to wipe down where we're going to put the cord mounts. Now all you're going to be doing is wiping down this area right here on the back portion. This is a brand new machine, so I shouldn't have to be too concerned about a lot of dirt or dust or anything like that. But your older machines, I do recommend you of course wipe this down. That way you have good adhesion with the mounts that I'm getting out right now. These are more important than you think guys. If you don't have these installed, the chances are these cords are going to weigh down and eventually these things will probably lift off and fall off in your machine. So you want these to alleviate the weight of the cables from causing your pin stadiums to fall off over time. There is no correct orientation whether or not this one goes on this side or this one goes on this side. As long as you have one of these in place to where these cables can be fed through. I like to put the cables in there first, snap it down a couple of times so that is in place. Give me enough slack and then I'll pull off this backing, toss that aside and then I will place it. Make sure you can see this right here in the back. Make sure it's not going to be getting in the way of the side of the machine or anything. And I'm going to press firmly on there just to make sure I've got good contact. I would hold it in place for a good five to ten seconds really hard to make sure that you've got a good firm grip on that. So I've got this one in place and then we'll get the other one in place. Pull off that backing.
    6:49
    Right about there. Firmly press. You wanna make sure these are on here well because if these fall off, then eventually your cables will fall down and then your pin stadiums will fall down. So you right boys All right that should be good So now we got the Penn Stadiums mounted to the playfield and we going to mount them to the cabinet but I usually save that for last. Now we're going to hook up the correct cables to where we want the lighting to take effect. Take the balls out of your machine before you go making your playfield vertical. this should already be a pretty good practice. You can go into the settings and do this or you can do it manually by actuating the solenoid that ejects the balls out of the trough. Or if you have a magnet stick and you can stick it down in there and pull them out that's another method as well but since I'm going to be trying out new balls anyways I'm definitely taking these out. All right now that the balls have been removed let's get this play field vertical. Try to keep an eye on your pin stadiums to make sure that they don't try to fall in between where they shouldn't. Get the plate filled up right. Alright. Penn Stadium should be able to set right there where they're at. And we can start hooking up the wiring. Now you want to reach down here and get your power back packet out again. So here we are with this. Now it's time to hook up the wiring for our flasher and our UV glow. Inside your Penn Stadium kit you will find these, the one with the alligator clips on. Unzip tie them, get rid of that, and get them all extended out. Now if you want to, you can actually pull these apart all the way down so you have one separate strand for GI and one for flasher. Now some people also want to know is there a difference between which one's which. Because you have blue and white and you have red and green. Does it matter which one of these you use for your GI and flasher? No. used either way when it comes to wires. But when it comes to how you hook it up to your board right here, I always personally remember that the GI, which is the most important thing, is in the middle. Oreo. The best part's in the middle, right? But your GI connects to the middle. I typically use the blue and white cables for GI because blue and white mixture of colors is really good for your GI. So GI is in the middle, flasher is going to be on this portion right here. Now you can go ahead and connect these. I'm going to put GI hooked up, flasher. They should snap into place. That portion is done. Now all I've got to do is find me a good GI bulb and a good flasher bulb to connect these two. Now this is where personal preference is going to come into place because where you put your GI and your flasher is ultimately up to you. That is the joy of this product is that you can make it your own.
    10:30
    I have chosen this bulb right here for this game. This bulb is located just underneath where the turtles you choose which one you want I'm choosing this bulb right here this is the white GI bulb so in order to access this I need to remove this heat shrink wrapped material right here if you're lucky it might be able to just slide off but chances are you're gonna end up having to cut this off to access the the stems of the bulb right here how the bulb socket so let's get that chewed off.
    11:22
    Definitely very tricky with one hand guys. I'm trying to give you an idea what I'm doing but yeah I'm cutting this off and then I'm gonna remove it. Very difficult with one hand all right once I loosen this up or cut this portion right here I was able to actually just slide it off of this thing so I cut that part and then it just slid right off of there so if you want to keep that on there you can so that way you can just cover it back up in case you decide not to use that particular bowl that way you're still protected on it all right I'm gonna need both lugs so I'm gonna start getting this one now all right now that I've got both portions available to me I'm going to take my blue and white which is I'm using as my GI and I'm going to be connecting one of my alligator clips to one lug I sure suckers on there good connecting one to the other
    12:32
    so that's on there pretty good that's on there pretty good now if you are savvy enough and you are confident enough that this is the bulb that you're gonna use and you're happy by all means you can remove the alligator clips and solder the wires directly to the bulb lugs if you want to. That is an option. The alligator clips are not a must. That is just a particular option. I like using the alligator clips when I can because it just makes them easy to remove in case I actually need to. So now technically I've got my GI ready to go. Now I need to add the extra cherry on top which is the UV flasher and I am kind of undecided on which flasher I'm going to use just yet. But what I'm going to try out first is one of the flasher bulbs to the pizza disc. This is going to be an experiment, guys. I don't know how well this is going to go over, but this is the joy of the product also to figure out what you like best. There are people that say to use the flasher above the school, not the school bus, but the turtle van in the back. I don't feel like I'm going to get enough of it. That one doesn't really go off as often. this is going to be used quite often and I think it'll give it a nice good effect not to mention I'm putting UV rings on here so that's going to help the the rings glow that one just slid right off without any effort how about that let me see if the other one is the same way looks like that one is gonna be not so much all right well let me get these lugs free all right now that both of my Now the lugs are free I can come in here and use my alligator clips And just like I did with my GI clamped them onto one lug If I can get a good view.
    14:27
    Make sure that's on there. Real good. Get one on the other lug. That one's on there. Real good. All right, there we go guys. The thing is wired up. Now, if you're even more picky like me, you can do better with your wire management by feeding these wires through the areas or even installing extra zip ties just to make it a little bit more cleaner. And then we'll be ready to mount these things to the cabinet. all right i've done my wire management what i've done is use these bright orange ones everywhere you see a bright orange one is where i have mounted something that's not standard to this game that way and i know that in the future if i want to remove this system from this game because that's something that people do guys they can install these on their games and let's say you want to sell the game that you have it on but you don't want to get rid of your Penn Stadiums you want to put them into another game or you just want to keep swap around from game to game you can do that just you know I have mine set up that way I know that I can easily remove this whole kit without wondering which one's the right zip tie or whatever or anything like that it's just an easy snap those off if I don't want this kit on this machine anymore that's what I've done you can by all means come up with your own method let's get this play field lower back down. All right, now that we've got this, I'm going to tuck this behind that middle plank right there. Should be good. And we'll start lowering this thing down. All right, and now that I've got that tucked in, I now have access to this, and I can now give this unit power once again. And then all you've got to do guys is that you can just rest that in the bottom of your cabinet. That's where that can go. If you want to, you can find some way to mount that, but honestly, that's about as easy as it gets. It just sits down there at the bottom of the cabinet. He's got it wrapped up and covered, so you should be good to go. Now, it's time for us to move this playfield back in position and get these bars, also known as the hopper beams, mounted to the cabinet. So, let's get that done.
    17:06
    Something I want to note guys whenever you're lifting and lowering this plate field on this machine, keep an eye on this plastic portion right here where your turtles are at. That is very close to the cabinet and you can end up causing damage to the plastic or the cabinet. And since these bars are going to be in here on the sides, that's going to be a place that you're going to want to look out for also because the magnet strips are going to be on your cabinet at all times. The beams can rest off, but you're still going to have the other side of that strip mounted to the side of your cabinet at all times. Alright. Alright, take your alcohol wipe and wipe down the area where you're going to be mounting these Magna strips. Like I said, this is a brand new machine and these are also brand new art blades. That's another thing also guys, if you plan on installing art blades or side mirrors or anything like that, get those on first because your magnets are going to be stuck to whatever you're mounting to. So you're mounting it to a bare cabinet and you want to install side art, guess what? Those magnet mounts have got to come off. I waited until I got my side art in. Now I'm ready to install the hyper beams. So what you want to typically do is line up the game like so. You want the top of the beams to come up about a half inch from the back plastic where the glass goes and you want it to be the very edge, the tippy top but not cover up where the glass slides in. Once you get a good idea to make sure that you've got nothing in your way you are ready to remove this back adhesive like so. Slow and steady wins the race guys. So I'm going to start from the top to make sure I've got a good enough gap up there. I'm pressing down, but not too hard. I want to make sure that it's sticking, but in case for whatever reason I need to lift it up and reset it because I'm not happy with the location, I can't. Once I pry down and those are set pretty well, I'm going to pull up and take that beam off. You should still have your magnet mount right here. That's when I like to apply a lot more force to make sure that that magnet mount is on there nice and flat. That it's got good adhesion and a good bond and it's not going anywhere. Once I'm satisfied and I believe that thing's on there pretty good, all you got to do is just get it in position and then it magnum outs in place boys and girls. That's one side down. Same thing guys on this side. I'm going to get it lined up here. Something that you got to keep an eye out for is the bolts that they have at the very top up here from the cabinet. You want to make sure that you're not going to be interfering with that. I've got to go a little bit lower on this end and then right about there. But it looks like I'm blocking the light really bad. So you won't be able to see how I do this very well from that angle. So let me try a different angle. I'm going to do it from this method. This will work just to make sure that you're able to see. Alright, should be good to go. Dry off the white protective layer. Line it up.
    21:16
    Alright, let me get on the other side so I can firmly press it. and get over here, should be able to pry those up. And set those down. And then, like I did earlier on the other side, firmly press that magna mount down.
    22:06
    And then you should be able to just line them up again. And the magnet does the rest, boys and girls. That is it. These things are officially installed on my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And, of course, let's power this sucker on. All right, here we go.
    22:28
    Jesus. Now, as you can see, it's all rainbowed color because it hasn't been programmed yet. And that's what we're going to go over next. After downloading and installing your Penn Stadium application for your device, you need to connect to your local Wi-Fi B connection. Once you do that, at the home screen you will see your current or no Penn Stadiums on your list. This is mine. I'm going to add a Penn Stadium in the top right-hand corner. It's going to search for the system. There it is. I'm going to select this system, and it's going to connect. It's going to want to take me to my Wi-Fi. So I said yes take me there. So now it's gonna do my Wi-Fi Connect to that Wi-Fi system that way I'm able to access it Once it connects to my Wi-Fi
    23:23
    It's going to begin connecting After connecting to the wifi I get the option to label this system. I don't want it to be this, I'm going to delete it and I'm going to tag it as TMNT because that's the game. You will notice that your Penn Stadium lights will no longer be flashing. Since this is a NEO system, I need to hold down and click on the TMNT game and select on here to change device to RGB and white. Once you do that, that's when you should have this color wheel and this color wheel. You can set the brightness accordingly using your finger. And set the color wheel accordingly to how you see fit.
    24:19
    Congratulations, your Penn Stadiums are now ready to go. Outro Music Come on. Outro The Penn Stadium Neo. Now this isn't my first rodeo when it comes to showing you guys this product line, so let me try and give you some info to ease some of your questions or concerns. The original Penn Stadium is an excellent mod for any pinball machine. I know what you're thinking. Then why should the Neo product interest me? With an improved design, the Neos have the ability to be much brighter and give off less heat compared to the originals. But the brightest feature is it being able to illuminate your entire game as you see fit. With no strapping effect the originals will give you. If the strapping is not an issue for you, then use the original Pent Stadiums. Like I stated in this video, you can adjust this product as you see fit, meaning you can choose a different bulb and a flasher. You can adjust the brightness to as low or as high as you want. You can make it whatever color you want as well. But the limitations of this product are the same. Meaning, this product is designed to mirror what the corresponding bulbs do. This means that if the game is coded to turn off the chosen GI bulb, the Penn Stadiums will also turn off. So please keep that in mind when choosing which bulb to use. One of the main reasons I support this product line is because of the Grade A customer service. Scott cares deeply about his product and will be more than willing to help you at any time via phone or email. For more information about the Penn Stadium Neo, please visit www.pennstadium.com. And that's going to wrap up this video guys. I hope that was enough information for you to know how to install as well as what this product can do for you. But before you go, one more tip, and that is how to save $35 off of your order with Penn Stadium by entering the product code Hardy at your checkout. That's it, guys. And until next time, peace out.
    28:16
    We'll see you next time.