1103 replies to this topic

[Onevox]

Ready to go. Any recommendations on a process to add components? Start in center and work to edges? Start at one edge and work in one direction? Or an order: sockets, transistors, resistors, caps, connectors? Never done this just replaced caps and diodes. So trying to avoid getting half the parts on and realizing I didn't leave enough room for a connector, etc. thanks for advice


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[roar]

Before you start... I'd make sure you have sockets for the IC's... they aren't on the shopping list but I'd use them if you have them.

 

I'd like to be more help as far as order of operations but for the life of me I can't remember the order, I'm guessing if you go back to the start of this thread it outlines the order I did it in and I suspect if you choose the exact opposite order you'll be fine! 

[mjr]

I'll second what Roar said about the sockets.  They save a ton of time and trouble if you ever have to replace one of the larger chips.  (And the need does sometimes arise.  I've heard from a couple of people who had DOA TLC5940 chips that they had to replace - and in cases like that you can't even tell you received a bad chip until you install it and try it out.)

 

As for order of operations, it really shouldn't matter too much.  I like to start with the smallest components (like the resistors) and do the larger components (like the chips) later.  If you install the larger components earlier, they can get in the way a little bit as you install the smaller parts.  Nothing will completely block anything else, though, so there's no required magic order.  I don't think it's possible to get stuck by installing things in the "wrong" order - it's just that if you have a small part nestled in among a bunch of tall capacitors or chips, it can take a little extra dexterity to fit the last parts.

[mjr]

SUCCESS!

 

That's great!

 

 

So, to sum up, somehow,  when I initially setup pinscape in the configuration the ports being mapped to were about 16 ports higher than they should have been, starting at #34 for the first solenoid.  I wonder if it thought it detected 2 external Pinscape Power boards or something and got the port numbering mixed up?

 

The software actually can't detect anything about what you have installed - this particular hardware doesn't have any sensing capability, which is why the config tool has all of the manual settings where you have to tell it which chips/boards you have attached.  So it's very gullible and believes whatever you tell it.  You might have just accidentally clicked the up arrow on the "power board" counter at some point, or maybe the count changed by itself due to a software glitch.  At least we know exactly what the issue was now, so it should be easier to fix if it ever comes back.  If you ever do see the board count mysteriously change by itself, let me know, since that's probably some new bug I haven't seen.

Edited by mjr, 08 July 2017 - 07:56 PM.

[kiwiBri]

So remember I had a .net error when I when from klz25/pinscape by itself to using them with the power board? I remember it throwing a few . Net errors at first. I restarted the configuration. Exe and it worked ok, but probably got the pwr board count screwed up or something.
I was out at the bar last night and came home and fixed it so pleased I didn't make it worse. Beer can be wonderful at times     

 

Edited by kiwiBri, 08 July 2017 - 11:59 PM.

[DDH69]

Ready to go. Any recommendations on a process to add components? Start in center and work to edges? Start at one edge and work in one direction? Or an order: sockets, transistors, resistors, caps, connectors? Never done this just replaced caps and diodes. So trying to avoid getting half the parts on and realizing I didn't leave enough room for a connector, etc. thanks for advice

 

Really its all about your technique.  Those experienced with soldering circuit boards can do it in any order.  When starting out, the technique I was taught, was to protect the more sensitive components from heat.  So the order is connectors, passive components, active components.  Expanding on that, connectors, IC sockets, header pins, wires, resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, then after the soldering is done, insert the ICs into the sockets.

 

Best of luck.

[kiwiBri]

Ready to go. Any recommendations on a process to add components? Start in center and work to edges? Start at one edge and work in one direction? Or an order: sockets, transistors, resistors, caps, connectors? Never done this just replaced caps and diodes. So trying to avoid getting half the parts on and realizing I didn't leave enough room for a connector, etc. thanks for advice
 

 

 

Man, I wish my workstation looked as clean as yours!  

[Onevox]

All good advice! I ordered the sockets. Thanks all.


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[roar]

All good advice! I ordered the sockets. Thanks all.


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Just read through the start of the post to see if I could find anything on my order of operations and I did run into a post indicating that the ribbon cable the goes between the boards isn't on the shopping list either so make sure you have some of that on hand. The headers are included but not the cable. If I'm not mistaken I believe I had an old IDE cable lying around so I preformed surgery on it and reused it

[Onevox]

Well, I got my sockets on beautifully. But remembered the notch indicating direction afterwards, and all but one are reversed. So I put a 1 mm square of red tape on the correct end, per the PCB, to remind me to put the chip in correctly. (What's the electronics version of measure twice, cut once).

 

Question: I had a bit of an issue with C1 solder beading and then as I tried to fix, the solder coming very close or barely touching the solder on the adjacent socket's pin 21 and 22 on the non-component side. Since the C1 runs between those pins on the IC, do I need to fix this or will it not matter?

 

Thanks.

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[kiwiBri]

 

Question: I had a bit of an issue with C1 solder beading and then as I tried to fix, the solder coming very close or barely touching the solder on the adjacent socket's pin 21 and 22 on the non-component side. Since the C1 runs between those pins on the IC, do I need to fix this or will it not matter?

 

 

 

 

Is that just the resin flowing over?

[Onevox]

I'll clean with qtip and alcohol and see what I find.


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[mjr]

Question: I had a bit of an issue with C1 solder beading and then as I tried to fix, the solder coming very close or barely touching the solder on the adjacent socket's pin 21 and 22 on the non-component side. Since the C1 runs between those pins on the IC, do I need to fix this or will it not matter?

 

You're fine if there's some solder overlap between the C1 pins and the adjacent IC1 pins, since those are indeed electrically connected on the circuit board anyway.  You don't want the two C1 pads shorted together, of course.  C1 is intentionally really close to the IC1 pins because that's what the chip's manufacturer recommends - it's there to help even out the power supply voltage on the chip, and it helps with that to have as little wire as possible between the cap and the chip.

[Onevox]

 

All good advice! I ordered the sockets. Thanks all.


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Just read through the start of the post to see if I could find anything on my order of operations and I did run into a post indicating that the ribbon cable the goes between the boards isn't on the shopping list either so make sure you have some of that on hand. The headers are included but not the cable. If I'm not mistaken I believe I had an old IDE cable lying around so I preformed surgery on it and reused it

 

I"m only doing the main board, so no ribbon cables needed. But thanks for thinking about it. I'm planning on running my button lights (LED) off the main board flashers, and using Rusty's PMD tactile feedback via audio. Now that 7.1 surround is being incorporated into VPX for mech sound positioning, I'm glad with my decision to go that route.

[marie]

I finally finished soldering my expansion board .

 

With the very convenient pinscapeconfigtool (thanks!)I did some testing and the buttons, plunger and small leds leds seem to work.

 

{EDIT and DELETE}

 

I had some problems but after restarting my PC everything works like a charm! Coming closer to finalizing my cabinet...

Edited by marie, 13 July 2017 - 07:50 PM.

[mjr]

I finally finished soldering my expansion board .

 

With the very convenient pinscapeconfigtool (thanks!)I did some testing and the buttons, plunger and small leds leds seem to work.

 

{EDIT and DELETE}

 

I had some problems but after restarting my PC everything works like a charm! Coming closer to finalizing my cabinet...

 

That's great!  Glad you were able to get past the initial problems!

[Onevox]

I've read a lot about this but still uncertain in my case. I'm going to only use the Interface board and use it to power and control cabinet buttons, nudge and ccd plunger. No flashers, contactors, knockers, shakers, fans, or cymbal banging monkeys (which would be a cool feedback toy).

 

Do I need two power supplies if I'm only powering LED button lights via "small LED" ports? If not, do I connect JP7 and JP10 to my secondary power supply? Does it hurt of the second PSU is powering the coin door lights and fans, and also powering the interface board using a distribution block ... i.e. noise or interference.

 

If, one day, I decide to use flashers, I guess I can see separating the power.

 

One other thing: I got my LED button lights and can't find info on the amps. Is there a way to test or tell? I'm hoping my 2.2 K resistor is OK.

[mjr]

Do I need two power supplies if I'm only powering LED button lights via "small LED" ports?

 

If, one day, I decide to use flashers, I guess I can see separating the power.

 

The main PC power supply will definitely be fine for powering the small LED ports.  It should even be okay if you eventually add flashers - those aren't that big a power draw, and they're not inductive (like coils or motors).  If you add more toys beyond that, I would recommend adding a second power supply to make sure you're not overtaxing the main one.

 

 

[If using two power supplies], do I connect JP7 and JP10 to my secondary power supply?

 

JP7 always connects to the primary PC power supply, whether you have one power supply or two.

 

JP10 connects to the secondary power supply if you have one.  If you don't, connect it to the main PC power supply instead.

 

 

Does it hurt of the second PSU is powering the coin door lights and fans, and also powering the interface board using a distribution block ... i.e. noise or interference.

 

Nope, that's fine.  One of the major reasons to have a secondary power supply in the first place is to reduce the amount of electrical noise routed through the main PC power supply.  The secondary power supply is exactly the place we *want* to put all of the noisy stuff.  So connecting your case fans to the secondary PSU is totally fine.

 

 

One other thing: I got my LED button lights and can't find info on the amps. Is there a way to test or tell? I'm hoping my 2.2 K resistor is OK.

 

Are these the type of LED that fits into the light bulb socket on the button?  The type that's designed to replace incandescent #555 bulbs?  Something like this?:  http://www.pinballli...product&id=1175

 

If so, they'll have built-in resistors, so you shouldn't need anything external.

[Onevox]

Thanks for the info. I guess I was hoping to not tap into my Seasonic which I'm keeping in the tower, not comfortable with myself putting components outside the tower. But will need to see what cables are available. The power portion is starting to click now...

 

I think the LEDs are more along the lines of this, a shrouded type of bulb: https://www.amazon.c...h/dp/B00ZWVR834

I haven't tried pulling it, because I thought it the housing and bulb were not separate. They came together when I bought. But I see where these are 12V and I thought they'd be 5V. It's hard to find good info on LED bulb ratings.

 

I'm going to tack on this question:  I have some infrared emitters from a work project that was discontinued, it stock on the IR window and was used to switch the volume on and off with a little controller. Will this sort of device work with Interface board?

 

 

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Edited by Onevox, 19 July 2017 - 02:10 PM.

[marie]

For my 5 flashers to connect to JP11 I was planning to use per flasher: two segments consisting of  3 x 5050 RGB leds, making it in total 40mA per pin (if I am correct). 

 

Do I understand correctly from MJR's answer to Onefox that I can connect them directly to my PC PSU instead of using a secondary PSU?

 

And furthermore, should I use any resistors (if so which and where?) or can I leave them out as with my flipper rgb-led (which are working great btw )