416 replies to this topic

[PinKitty]

Kris,

The way I wired my 12V and 5V and ground came right off my computer power supply to the dot matrix power driver board at J606.  1 & 3 were the grounds, 4 & 5 were the 5 V, and 6 & 7 were the 12 V, #2 was key. 

 

As far as the 100V and 80V, those two wires each went to J605.  1 & 2 both being 80VAC from transformer.  3 & 5 both being 100VAC from tranformer.  #4 is key.  So at one time, you had yours wired exactly the way mine is.  The difference I see, I'm using the old pinDMD board from russdx, not the new one. 

 

Russdx, I don't know if there's a difference between old design and new design that would make this happen.

 

The other difference is our power driver boards.  I have a Bally/Williams.  I would have thought the rotten dog should work.  In your previous post, you said that you had it all powered up until you hooked up russdx pinDMD2 board and then it blew the fuse.  You can use your power source and get a signal from your Monster Bash and plug the 14-pin into the Vishay DMD display, to see if the DMD is working without blowing a fuse.  This will determine if the pinDMD2 board is working or not. 

 

It also works the other direction.  If you have your Vishay display being powered by the pinball machine, you can hook up russdx pinDMD board, and it will get the signal to run the game you have going on visual pinball.  Unless you don't have the dll file, then you'll only see the pinDMD logo with a boarder around it. 

 

I have done this both ways to test out boards.

 

Hope this helps, PinKitty

 

 

[antropus]

Thank you SO much PinKitty! You are right. That's exactly like I had it at some point. I'll cross test it with my pinball tonight.

Thanks again!
-Kris

[antropus]

pinDMD2 seems fine. I fed the new Vishay DMD using the pinball high voltages and the pinDMD2 connected to the pinCab.

 

Here:

 

Is that normal that the pinDMD2 gets really hot? After this video I left it on for a little while and it got really hot and the display lost the logo and started showing a weird line at the bottom.

 

Also, this time around I made 100% sure that the low voltages+GND are coming from the very same PSU that feeds the motherboard/pinDMD2 USB.

 

What happened is basically more of the same:

 

1) connect only the high voltages to the rottendog and all numbers look great;

2) connect only the low voltages to the rottendog and all numbers look correct as well;

3) now, connect both low and high voltages and the fuse blows. No need to plug the pinDMD2. High voltage + low voltage, in the EXACT way PinKitty mentioned just doesn't work. Maybe the Williams/Bally power board is doing the magic, but it's hard to tell. I think I'll contact the guys from rottendog and ask for some help with this. Maybe they know something we don't.

 

Still need to check on what Zeb mentioned before, but going by PinKitty's experience, I cannot say I did anything completely wrong so far. I just got bad luck getting the piggy producing the wrong 100's and now this mistery about the low + high voltages blowing the fuse, even though it's connected exactly like PinKitty has his :-/

 

-Kris

Edited by antropus, 03 April 2013 - 07:17 AM.

[russdx]

when you say lost the logo? do you mean the pinDMD2 stopped outputting dmd data? 

 

how hot is really hot? the pinDMD2 runs a little bit hot as in you can keep your thumb on the arm chip and it will feel a bit hot but wont hurt. was it getting very hot to the point you couldn't touch it?

 

iv left em running for 3 days straight to sort of testing how long they last runnin 24/7 and they seamed to be ok. hopefully this one is still ok hehe?

[antropus]

when you say lost the logo? do you mean the pinDMD2 stopped outputting dmd data?

Exactly. It gets hot to a point where it's hard to hold it longer than 2-3 seconds and I think that when it gets that hot, the USB seems to kinda "unplug" itself, so the data gets lost.
Is there any problem having only the USB cable connected without the 14pin cable being connected? I ask this because with only the USB connected it still gets pretty hot and misses the signal from the USB, like when you unplug the cable.
Probably just another busted part, you know

-Kris

[zebulon]

Kris, can you post a diagram of the circuit you've created or list which connections you've made to which plugs?

 

Somewhere in your circuit you've got a short and it would be much easier to diagnose if I have a diagram.....even a couple of good pics of it wired up would help.

 

Thanks

[antropus]

You are TOO generous, Zeb! You're getting some vacation time. I'll be in LA this weekend teaching a class (no, not about plasma DMDs! ). When we both come back I will restart this project. Meanwhile, maybe Rocco will have his up and running, just to make me even more mad!

Thanks again, Steve!

-Kris

[russdx]

hmm it sounds a bit damaged doh, should only get warm never to the point you cant touch, its not actually using usb to send the image to the DMD the logo is produced by the firmware and does not need the usb, (you could plug it into a usb charger and it would create the logo) running it without the dmd will not damage it, the dmd header is just connected to 6 gpio ports on the arm chip.

 

if its frying its self within 15min some thing is not right!!! haven't heard of a any pinDMD2's frying themselves yet. i cant see how any of the tests could of hurt it though? the high voltage shouldn't go any where near the dmd data lines.

 

sounds like when it over heats the firmware just crashes and it loses its usb connection, the logo will disappear because the firmware has stopped running. 

not sure what to suggest as it sounds a bit fecked. and these new ones are so simple its just one chip, so thats basically the only thing that can go wrong on it.

[RoccoC]

I received my PinDMD2 in the mail today and spent some time tonight wiring things up. I'm happy to report that I was able to get my display up and running with no issues!

 

 

The PinDMD2 is plugged into a PC USB port, the transformer is wired directly to the DMD Piggy's 80V and 100V inputs, and I'm using a separate PSU for the 5 and 12V inputs. I updated the PinDMD2 to the latest firmware and adjusted the intensity and everything looks perfect. Truly awesome - even the girlfriend was impressed. Russ, thanks for building such a cool device!!!

 

Unfortunately it looks like I have a dead pixel right in the center of the display, though.

 

 

This weekend I'll go ahead and measure the current being drawn from the 80V and 100V leads to see if a smaller transformer will do. If so, we should be able to get the cost of the transformer down a bit lower.

 

Kris, thanks for starting this thread and inspiring me to give this a shot! All credit is yours, I'm just happy to be involved. Let me know if I can do anything to help get your setup going!

[russdx]

wow, plasma displays just look so dam good they really are the best lol.

 

two questions

where do i buy the piggy back board

where do i buy the transformer

 

if you could measure the current on the 80v/100v that would be great because im sure we can get away with a smaller transformer

 

i want one now

Edited by russdx, 13 April 2013 - 10:32 AM.

[RoccoC]

The DMD Piggy is available from pinball life.com (http://www.pinballli...product&id=2828). The sample transformer I have is rated at 2A per secondary and runs about $50-60 USD depending on qty ordered, but as soon as I confirm the current requirements I'll request a new quote and I can submit a large order if there's enough interest.

Speaking of, do you have a utility or test software that will light up all DMD pixels at full intensity so I can get a reading of peak current? I think I read somewhere I can drop a text file somewhere to display a custom logo...maybe I can leverage this to do this for me?

Edited by RoccoC, 13 April 2013 - 07:12 PM.

[russdx]

try this little program, it will light/unlight the whole DMD every 10 seconds

 

i don't think it will draw any where near 2am per winding as the datasheet says its like 50w or some thing. so i think we can get away with a much smaller cheaper transformer.

 

if you buy a whole bunch and get them even cheaper then buy a whole bunch of those piggy boards and package in a nice little container or some thing it will be a great little project and we can finally have PLASMA DMD's

 

put the correct connectors on the end of the transformer leads and stuff so they connect direct, be a really nice little package

 

I personally think a nice little transparent vacuum form box would look sweet as with a little high voltage sticker on it or maybe a simple acrylic base with a transparent top on pcb posts could so the job with the transformer sat outside.

 

does this link work? thought id give google drive a go hehe

https://docs.google....dit?usp=sharing

Edited by russdx, 13 April 2013 - 09:26 PM.

[RoccoC]

Thanks, Russ. The pixel tester app worked out great. I measured just under 150mA on each winding with all pixels lit up, so I could probably power 10 of these things with this transformer. I also played a quick game of T2 and it looked like average draw was around 70mA each.

Based on this I'm thinking of pricing out a transformer with 300mA outputs, or maybe even 500mA to be safe.

I like the idea of putting together a package with the board, transformer, enclosure, and wiring. I'm going to have to come up with something for my own build so I will keep this in mind as I do.

Edited by RoccoC, 14 April 2013 - 04:16 AM.

[russdx]

ah cool man, 300ma is more then safe, get a price for 200ma as well if its just drawing 150ma yall be safe with 200ma

 

yeah a little package with all wiring done would be great, whats the input on your transformer i assume its 120v? as your from the states? some other countries are 240v so might be a good idea to get a quote on a 240v primary winding as well for us uk guys

 

be so cool if it was all packaged up so you just have mains wire coming out one end (add plug??) and a DMD power cable with the correct DMD plug on the other end, and a molex socket (2 connect the 12v/5v) to the whole thing becomes plug and play

 

the dmd piggy seams to have been developed by one guy (http://www.videopenny.com/arcades.html who really loves pinball) and i reckon if we had enough orders he would redesign the board for us and place a molex connector where the 5v/12v goes so you can plug your psu directly into it without a little wiring harness adaptor. If we can get the transformer is pcb mount form he might even redesign the board to have the transformer soldered directly onto the pcb making it just one unit

 

so when asking for the new quotes see if they do pcb mount cases as well

 

i guess we need to get some interest now, then shoot the dude an email

Edited by russdx, 14 April 2013 - 10:25 AM.

[zebulon]

Don't just go straight to the mains. At least put a fuse in the hot lead from the wall to the transformer.

[russdx]

ah yes add a fuse if not using a fused plug (im so used 95% of uk plugs being fused lol)

[duffbeerman]

Im def. interested in this whole setup. Love the look of plasma dmd's if you get pricing, please let me know when you are getting ready to place an order as I would like to get in on it.

Edited by duffbeerman, 16 April 2013 - 01:57 AM.

[russdx]

any news on the transformer quotes / getting any in stock?

 

we need more real plasma displays running in cabs!

[Tyson171]

I'm interested as well! I've got PayPal ready for a preorder!

[zebulon]

I'm game as well!!!