416 replies to this topic

[antropus]

Good point Aurich. Yes, they are being discontinued. On the other hand, people who bought an used, beat-up pinball intending to transform it into a virtuapin and it came with a working plasma DMD, this thread can turn out to be helpful. There are plenty of machines out there with those plasmas, but you're right, they will get more and more rare to find over time (as everything else related to pinball, like the now very rare Williams speaker panel ).

-Kris

[PinKitty]

When I hooked up my plasma DMD, I used a Bally Williams WPC dot matrix power driver board.  I had two transformers:  a 120VAC to 100VAC and a 120VAC to 80VAC and plug the outputs into the appropriate plug locations on the DMD power driver board. I got my 12VDC and 5VDC from the my computer power supply using an unused hard drive power outlet.  Then I used Russdx pinDMD board for the signal to the Vishay plasma display.  It works great.

 

Caution:  In my experience both the high and low voltage Cherry displays do not work with Russdx pinDMD board.  The signal gets garbled.  Thus I recommend Vishay.

 

Note:  As for the availability of plasma DMDs, we still order the Vishay brand by the caseload on a regular basis to refurbish older pinball games.  So I hope Vishay keeps making them.

[russdx]

Would be interesting to know if the pinDMD2 works with those cherry boards as its totally different hardware/firmware

 

pinKitty how did you wire up your transformers? where did you get the transformers from? where they proper transformers or crappy little wall plug switch mode things?

[zebulon]

Here's an overview for the wiring using the piggy back board. I should have mine soon so I can also test it out.

 

Zeb, do you mind just verifying based on your knowledge so we can hope to be smoke free

 

 

 

Yup, that's the right layout.

 

Looking at the board in that light makes me wonder about the trace width. There's not a whole lot of current going through them but the voltage alone as well as those power resistors makes me think there'll be some heat generated there.

 

Mine was going to look like this and I thought it was too light....

 

 DMD HIGH VOLTAGE.png   45.09KB   61 downloads

[antropus]

Zeb, In that case your board would still need the two transformers, right? Basically a display power board similar to the piggy board?
Looks cool!

So, looking at the diagram of the piggy it looks pretty straight forward, but just to confirm and to make this absolutely fool proof, on the j606 we basically feed the ground, 5v and 12v from the computer PSU, only looping the wires as seen on this video, right? https://www.youtube....v=xWKgu3GDRZY#!

Meaning:

J606 - All wires from computer PSU:
Ground wire on pin #1, loop to pin #3
5v wire on pin #4, loop to pin #5
12v wire on pin #6, loop to pin #7

*Pin #2 is not used.

What about j605?
It's indicated 80v on pin #1 and #2
and 100v on pin #3 and #4

Is there any order that should be respected or it doesn't matter what two wires come from each transformer as long we use L and N?

Sorry if I said something too stupid for comprehension. Just trying to make things crystal clear!
-Kris

Btw, here's cookie for you

 

[zebulon]

The ground, 5v and 12v are jumped together on the board and such low amps that you don't need to worry about shunting them over to the other pins.

 

There's no order to the wires from the transformer that you need to worry about as long as the 80v transformer is hooked to pins 1 and 2 and the 100v is on 3 and 4.

[antropus]

Very cool, thanks Zeb! I guess we just have to wait now until I get the 80v step-down delivered so I can burn my DMD before you guys do it!

 

-Kris

[zebulon]

LOL...it's ok.....I smoked my plasma arcing -125v off a 5v logic resistor.

 

Beat you to it...

[antropus]

Damn it! Even at that you are more skilled than me!!!

Edited by antropus, 22 February 2013 - 10:45 PM.

[zebulon]

BTW....thanks for the cookie...just saw that  

[antropus]

Some progress on the DMD side of things.

Behind the speaker panel:

- DMD power board mounted (DMD piggy), 12v, 5v, ground ready, straight from the little standalone power supply used to power the backbox fan.
- DMD interface cable assembled and pinDMD2 waiting as well.

Only things left are the 80v transformer I'm waiting to build the remaining connector with the high voltages and also the wiring from the 100v little transformer. I'll be adding the inline fuses as suggested by Zebulon. Btw Zeb, where exactly should I install the in-line fuses? Between the main 120v and the transformers or between them and the DMD piggy?

I'll be adding an acrylic cover for the DMD power board and some nice stickers about the high voltages, no doubt:




-Kris

[Flying Dutchman]

FanTasTic guys!

 

Cheers,

FD.

[russdx]

Cant wait to see this work

[antropus]

so close now, Russ. Wish me luck ;D

[antropus]

Question to anyone (Zeb?):

The 80v transformer is a 40-0-40, 20mA center tapped. Could you confirm how this works? I'm assuming that if 40-0-40 = A, B and C pins:
1) A and B = 40v
2) B and C = 40v
but
3) A and C = 80v

Is this correct? Can I just run wires from A and C and leave B alone? Is there anything else I need to add (other than a fuse) before I run this to the DMD power board?

Thanks,
-Kris

[zebulon]

As long as the center tap is twisted together your assumptions are correct. If they give you 4 terminals, then you have to connect the center tap together yourself. Sometimes they do that to allow you to run the 2 coils in parallel instead of in series to increase the power handling (A + B in parallel with C+D) in which case you would want to join B and C and run A+D.

 

Fuse the input with roughly twice the output amperage (20ma coil will need roughly 1A) and put it on the black lead (hot). A kill switch on that same line wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

Other than that, my fingers are crossed and may the force be with you.....

[antropus]

Zeb, here are some interesting news:

Based on a question by Russ over the hyperpin forums I sent an email to the company making the 80v transformer, asking if they could make one single transformer that could output all the necessary voltages (5v, 12, 80v and 100v). Here's what they said:

We would need to know the current draw for each voltage.

Soooooo... it's probably very possible!
Do you happen to know the precise numbers for each voltage? As soon as I get the precise info I'll send it straight to them and keep my fingers crossed that the price will not be absurd

-Kris

Edited by antropus, 06 March 2013 - 05:22 PM.

[russdx]

the current on the 5v,12v will be very low, i think most of it will be drawn from the 80v,100v as these are powering the plasma but should be more then 2amp.

 

what do you think zeb?

 

 

ah from the data sheet

 

 

Logic Current Icc — 25 100 mADC (5v)

Anode Current Isp — 200 250 mADC(Fully Lit) (80v)

Cathode Current Isn — 200 250 mADC(Fully Lit) (100v)

 

 

[antropus]

I'm in touch with them right now. I don't think they can make an all-in-one solution, since transformers are only AC and to get it converted to DC a power supply would be necessary anyway.
I think they can make a 80v/100v combo though, but the lower voltages would still have to come from the computer PSU.

-Kris

[zebulon]

A post from some guy named Zeb over on Hyperpin....

 

"You want to keep the 5v separate anyway. If you look at any schematic for these high voltage boards, the 5v logic always comes from outside the circuit. You want the TTL logic signal and the 5v to be from the original source, keeps the signal clean and useable. The 12v is only used by one DMD manufacturer (Babcock) and it is for displaying the Babcock logo on boot up.

Not sure about the board you bought, but the majority of circuits I've seen manufacture the 12v in the high voltage circuit."

 

I can't keep up with these thread changes.....whiplash coming on.......