Sold Whitewater - £4500

[waynej4]

Hi All,

For sale is my Whitewater in overall good condition. It has had a lot of work done to it (bought it as a project).

The Good:
Colour DMD
New Decals
Flipper coils and mechs replaced.
All LEDs (Backbox and playfield). I think they look great on this machine.
Boards all had a going over (new Bridge Rectifiers, Caps, Voltage Regulator, etc....)
New MPU board from Pinsound (I have the original, working board so can fit that if you prefer).
All components on the Bigfoot Opto board replaced.
Playfield is overall good - had some wear that was touched up and then a clear PETG overlay placed over both the upper and lower playfield (removable).
Cliffy protectors
Plastics overall in good condition - not perfect! Boulders had some repairs done to them, but I think I did a remarkable job on them!
New side rails
New glass
NVRAM fitted and running the LH6 ROM.
Separate PSU installed in base cabinet with @MadNat 5V/12V Power distribution board (currently runs the DMD, but enough power to add extras if you wish - eg. Speaker Lights, Pinstadium style lights etc).

The Bad:
Twisted Pins topper, not the original unfortunately.
My first attempt at putting decals on, and some flaws (a few bubbles, and 1 tear on the right side where I had to remove the side rail after fitting - Photo's should show this). Overall it's not bad, but the part of the restore I'm least happy with.

More than welcome to have a go/view/kick the tyres if you are in, or can make it to, the Kent area (Medway).

Any questions, criticisms, or thread derailments welcome!

Link to a more comprehensive set of photos, some showing the rebuild:

Whitewater - Google Drive

drive.google.com

 

[waynej4]

Cabinet Photos....

 

[s000m]

Looks good mate, small correction looks like a Pin2DMD rather than ColorDMD. I only point it out as there is a big price difference between them.

 

[waynej4]

Hi - thanks. Worth pointing out. I did deliberately write it as 2 separate words to avoid confusion, but I can see it may not be clear!

So, as mentioned, it is the PIN2DMD Colour display

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

One of my happy place pins - the theme, the sounds, the wild layout … just make me smile Early 90s such a great time for pins and WH20 is a classic.
Glws.

 

[Bobbdobalina]

Definitely on my to play list. GLWTS

 

[DanSeldon]

Arghhhh wtf. I waited for months before eventually bringing in from EU then 3 pop up for sale. I know one other off forum that’s available. As Boris says, thems the breaks GLWS

 

[AlanJ]

great price

 

[Aladeran]

Looks good mate, small correction looks like a Pin2DMD rather than ColorDMD. I only point it out as there is a big price difference between them.

I also noticed the PIN2DMD, because I have one and you cannot use the power from the original DMD board, forcing you to use a separate PSU. Did you spot the difference by looking at the DMD itself or from other clues?

You raised a good point about the cost. I used a PIN2DMD because I could not afford a ColorDMD. Apart from the not so friendly installation, why would someone buy a ColorDMD at twice the price? I personally can't tell the difference, so it's good enough for me.

 

[Arv]

I also noticed the PIN2DMD, because I have one and you cannot use the power from the original DMD board, forcing you to use a separate PSU

You can tap into other place without the need for a separate psu.

 

[waynej4]

Hi,

The 5th photo shows the PIN2DMD board, also I believe the ColorDMD boards are a different shape?

As to why people buy ColorDMD - I'm sure it is because of the simplicity of installation for those who are not very technical with this sort of stuff.
They may also support more machines than PIN2DMD (not really sure), or support a machine that PIN2DMD does not.

 

[astyy]

Apart from the not so friendly installation, why would someone buy a ColorDMD at twice the price?

I think they're perceived as more plug and play with pre-set "quality" colourisations. Personally I enjoy the open and hobby aspects of Pin2DMD, some great community artists colouring games, or colour the game yourself as I did (with added Greggs advert)

 

[Kenny Taylor]

Colour DMD have LCD boards too which depending on game look much better than LED’s. I have a mix of LCD and LED’s. I’ve seen a few Pin2DMD colourisations and they never look quite as good as colour DMD.

 

[Aladeran]

You have a lot of inner peace to casually mention that you messed up some of the decals, and even tore a piece of it. How can you live with yourself?

If that was to happen to me, I would be a wreck, and unable to look at my pinball anymore. The order for another set of decals would be the first thing I do, and I would be £500 poorer.

My TZ could use a fresh set of decals, because one side has significantly faded. I am unable to order it, because I'm simply too scared of making a mistake. You mentioned that it was your first attempt to fit decals. I am raising my hat to you!

Thinking about it, I would gladly pay someone to do a professional job, instead of gambling that I might do it right.

 

[VeeMonroe]

You have a lot of inner peace to casually mention that you messed up some of the decals, and even tore a piece of it. How can you live with yourself?

If that was to happen to me, I would be a wreck, and unable to look at my pinball anymore. The order for another set of decals would be the first thing I do, and I would be £500 poorer.

My TZ could use a fresh set of decals, because one side has significantly faded. I am unable to order it, because I'm simply too scared of making a mistake. You mentioned that it was your first attempt to fit decals. I am raising my hat to you!

Thinking about it, I would gladly pay someone to do a professional job, instead of gambling that I might do it right.

It's become obvious to me that, for many hobbyists, gameplay trumps aesthetics and they're happy to have a pin that looks a bit beat up provided that it plays well

Wanting to do aesthetic mods and get everything exactly perfect isn't key to the hobby for many people

Vivienne

 

[Aladeran]

You can tap into other place without the need for a separate psu.

The PSU was required when I followed the instructions. It suggested to get the mains feed from a couple of connectors on the power board.

What would be the alternative, without using a second PSU?

 

[David_Vi]

The PSU was required when I followed the instructions. It suggested to get the mains feed from a couple of connectors on the power board.

What would be the alternative, without using a second PSU?

You tap into a 5v on the power driver board, the same with ground.
There's a few options and sometimes there's a header free so you don't have to tap.

I've got 4 games with pin2dmd and none have a separate power supply.

 

[Fubar]

Generally I would advise using a dedicated power supply rather than risking overloading the game's 5V. Especially for a DMD which requires a fair amount of power. PIN2DMD can also be powered by a 12VDC rail.

 

[VeeMonroe]

Generally I would advise using a dedicated power supply rather than risking overloading the game's 5V. Especially for a DMD which requires a fair amount of power. PIN2DMD can also be powered by a 12VDC rail.

We've installed a dedicated power supply onto our Lord of the Rings for running mods and it is easier than it might appear.

 

[Aladeran]

You tap into a 5v on the power driver board, the same with ground.
There's a few options and sometimes there's a header free so you don't have to tap.

I've got 4 games with pin2dmd and none have a separate power supply.

Would you recommend that PSUless option for all the PIN2DMD pinballs? There was a warning in the instructions about the overloading risk, if I was to connect to the board directly.

 

[David_Vi]

Would you recommend that PSUless option for all the PIN2DMD pinballs? There was a warning in the instructions about the overloading risk, if I was to connect to the board directly.

I don't think I'm informed enough to make that decision.
I known I've not had any issues and it was the advised way on the website when I did mine.

Mine all came from this forum in a group buy with no instructions in the box except a power cable with two power taps on the end

 

[Aladeran]

I don't think I'm informed enough to make that decision.
I known I've not had any issues and it was the advised way on the website when I did mine.

Mine all came from this forum in a group buy with no instructions in the box except a power cable with two power taps on the ends.

Are you referring to the PIN2DMD version that was designed to look more "professional"? In that version, the DMD, the boards and the PSU were streamlined and fitted together as one sleek unit.

It was a large group order for German customers, who opened the offer to other groups. It was a few years ago, and the group order was not repeated unfortunately, from what I found.

 

[Arv]

If only there was a website that actually showed you where to tap in..

Hardware – Pin2Dmd

pin2dmd.com

 

[David_Vi]

Are you referring to the PIN2DMD version that was designed to look more "professional"? In that version, the DMD, the boards and the PSU were streamlined and fitted together as one sleek unit.

It was a large group order for German customers, who opened the offer to other groups. It was a few years ago, and the group order was not repeated unfortunately, from what I found.

No mine looks like yours. It was a groupbuy by @MadNat And he built the displays.


I used the site ARV linked above

 

[Pick Holder]

I have used a lot of pin2dmds in my time - probably 30+
These days I always put an external 5v 10a power supply in the botton of the cab and run up the 5v using some 1.5mm twin mains cable as I do not like 230v in the backbox. I put it next to the power switch box.

Reason for this is the 5v circuit wont take it - eventually you will have issues.
The 12v is a more powerful power supply but I have had issues with sound and dmd boards when taking the 12v supply to feed a pin2dmd.

The long and short of it is, when you do what I do - you do not want call backs after you fit something so I play it safe and using the PSU makes it fail safe.
The WPC boards now are over 30 years old and if you have one with brand new rectifiers, caps, regulators etc then it may be safe to take a pin2dmd.

These Pin2dmds can take a few amps when on higher brightness settings. I used to run mine on about 50% but later panels seem to have to go to 60%. I measured 3.5amps once on the older LED panels.

I used to hook them off the main boards but like I said - no longer. Been caught out.
Sure a lot of replies now will happen with 'I have had no problems for 3 years......'

You have to remember pin2dmd was developed for vpins and the addition of real pin support is a secondary use.

 

[waynej4]

I think if you're making up the PIN2DMD yourself, adding an external PSU is the easiest part of the job!

 

[waynej4]

Now sold. Thank you!

Will donate to site shortly.