1103 replies to this topic

[kruuth]

Will do.  I'm still having issues with it but I will move it there. The senseor seems to jump around.  Like it'll pull back and jump to 90% then drop to 22% then back to 90%....

 

What is the link to the other thread?

Edited by kruuth, 29 March 2016 - 01:25 AM.

[roar]

mjr,

 

Thanks for the thoughts on DOF, somewhat encouraging that I'm progressing in the right direction. I will update my config.h for sure, those values look pretty clear, I was having trouble tracking down why one of my RGB's was skipping a number.

 

Edit: I just updated my config.h with your updates and the SimpleLEDTest.exe can no longer light up my buttons as we've moved all the lights to values greater than 32 but using your testing tool reveals they are all working just fine. To confirm there was no button changes there they all appear to be working as normal and reviewing your comments that makes sense... you don't make any changes there

 

Powerboard question for you. The schematic has this note:

 

"Connect (+) terminal of each output device to appropriate positive voltage for device from PSU2."

 

Is that telling me there is no +12 output on the board? I need to go directly from my power supply into one of the wires on my solenoid? Then the other wire on the solenoid onto one of the pins on the Hi Power Outs? If I do this should I be able to test the solenoid with the DirectOutputTest.exe? The readme makes it sound like that will only work for LED's.

Edited by roar, 30 March 2016 - 02:11 AM.

[mjr]

Edit: I just updated my config.h with your updates and the SimpleLEDTest.exe can no longer light up my buttons as we've moved all the lights to values greater than 32 but using your testing tool reveals they are all working just fine. To confirm there was no button changes there they all appear to be working as normal and reviewing your comments that makes sense... you don't make any changes there

 

Great - sounds like things are working well so far.  Sorry I didn't mention having to switch to my test program with the outputs numbered above 32, but you figured it out.

 

 

 

Powerboard question for you. The schematic has this note:

 

"Connect (+) terminal of each output device to appropriate positive voltage for device from PSU2."

 

Is that telling me there is no +12 output on the board? I need to go directly from my power supply into one of the wires on my solenoid? Then the other wire on the solenoid onto one of the pins on the Hi Power Outs?

 

Yep, that's precisely it.  The board doesn't have the + voltages for the various devices because the expectation is that you'll need a mix of voltages - on my own setup, I have 5V devices (LEDs), 6.3V (button lights with incandescent #555 bulbs), 12V (motors), 24V (contactors), and 40V (knocker).  The power board outputs all connect to the "ground" or negative side, so for each device, you just wire it to whatever + voltage you need for that device and connect the other side to the power board output.

 

+12V ----- solenoid ---- power board output

 

And of course please remember to put a diode across the solenoid's terminals as well:

 

+12V ---- solenoid ---- power board output

                 |        |

                 ---|<--

 

(I hope my ASCII artwork is somewhat readable...)  I use 1N4007 diodes for all of my inductive devices.  The diode's function is to shield the rest of the circuitry from the spike of energy that's released when the solenoid turns off and its magnetic field collapses.

 

 

 If I do this should I be able to test the solenoid with the DirectOutputTest.exe? The readme makes it sound like that will only work for LED's.

 

Sorry for any misleading comments in the readme - the tester program should work fine with any type of device.  The only difference with solenoids is that you usually only operate them at full intensity - i.e., turn them on at level 255 rather than at different "brightness" levels like you would with an LED.  You actually can use different levels even with solenoids, but in most cases there's no real reason, since the pinball solenoids they're simulating would always be operating at full strength (flippers, bumpers, etc).

Edited by mjr, 30 March 2016 - 04:43 AM.

[roar]

This is perfect... Thanks. I'm guessing I'm going it have to disassemble my solenoid as I can se terminals on it anywhere. Just two wires hanging out of it. I'll do that and snap some pictures to make sure I get this right!

[JiePieWie]

I've also bought a pinscape board in Germany and i am currently sourcing all the needed items and checking them where it would be needed on the board. There is an item i can't place on the actual board: it's called the 'Headers & Wire Housings IDC SOCKET 16 PIN W/STRAIN RELIEF . Is this really needed and where on the board can i find this?

[roar]

mjr,

 

I attempted to take my solenoid apart and that isn't going to happen

 

So I remove some of the tape on it and have exposed the 2 copper wires that I hook up the the common and 12 volt to. Can i solder my diode across these two copper wires and tape it back up? Picture attached.

 

 

Another power question, in order for the power board to work do I need both power connectors plugged in on both boards? I don't have my strobes yet so I don't believe I need the 5/12 volt (The big one) on the main board, but I'm not sure if I need both the big one and on the small one plugged in on the power board to get this to work.

Edited by roar, 30 March 2016 - 03:32 PM.

[mjr]

I've also bought a pinscape board in Germany and i am currently sourcing all the needed items and checking them where it would be needed on the board. There is an item i can't place on the actual board: it's called the 'Headers & Wire Housings IDC SOCKET 16 PIN W/STRAIN RELIEF . Is this really needed and where on the board can i find this?

 

That's actually not connected to the board - it's the mating part that connects to the 16-pin header for the flasher outputs.  You only need that if you want to use a ribbon cable for the flasher wiring.  

 

You can alternatively buy a pre-assembled 16-pin ribbon cable - those are pretty easy to find on eBay and elsewhere.  Just make sure the connector has the standard 0.1" / 2.54mm pitch.  That's the most common type, although there are other types, so it's good to double-check before buying.

 

Or,  you can use one of the crimp-pin housings, if you prefer running individual wires rather than a ribbon cable.  I like the ribbons cables for this because they're neater and less work to assemble, but individual wires will work just as well.

[mjr]

I attempted to take my solenoid apart and that isn't going to happen

 

So I remove some of the tape on it and have exposed the 2 copper wires that I hook up the the common and 12 volt to. Can i solder my diode across these two copper wires and tape it back up? 

 

That will work fine.  You actually don't have to even go to as much trouble as you did to get inside the device - it's fine to just solder the diode at the ends of the exposed wires.  I personally think it's better to have the diode physically as close as possible to the coil, but you don't have to go to any great lengths if it's not convenient.  Some people put the diodes all the way at the other end of the wires, on or near the controller board, and it still works.  I like having the diode close to the solenoid so that the current surge is dissipated within the solenoid wiring rather than traveling through longer wires that could act as antennas, but any effect from that would be tiny.  The important thing is just to have the diode somewhere in the circuit at all - the exact physical placement is only a secondary concern.

 

 

Another power question, in order for the power board to work do I need both power connectors plugged in on both boards? I don't have my strobes yet so I don't believe I need the 5/12 volt (The big one) on the main board, but I'm not sure if I need both the big one and on the small one plugged in on the power board to get this to work.

 

Yes, you will have to provide power to the "secondary PSU" power inputs.  The MOSFET switching requires those connections to be powered.  If you don't have a second power supply handy and you're just testing, you can just power the secondary PSU inputs from the same power supply as the main inputs.  I'd still recommend using a separate power supply in your final setup, because it should help reduce electrical noise crosstalk that could cause glitches in the logic circuits, but everything will still work if you just use one supply and connect it to both power inputs.

[roar]

 

I attempted to take my solenoid apart and that isn't going to happen

 

So I remove some of the tape on it and have exposed the 2 copper wires that I hook up the the common and 12 volt to. Can i solder my diode across these two copper wires and tape it back up? 

 

That will work fine.  You actually don't have to even go to as much trouble as you did to get inside the device - it's fine to just solder the diode at the ends of the exposed wires.  I personally think it's better to have the diode physically as close as possible to the coil, but you don't have to go to any great lengths if it's not convenient.  Some people put the diodes all the way at the other end of the wires, on or near the controller board, and it still works.  I like having the diode close to the solenoid so that the current surge is dissipated within the solenoid wiring rather than traveling through longer wires that could act as antennas, but any effect from that would be tiny.  The important thing is just to have the diode somewhere in the circuit at all - the exact physical placement is only a secondary concern.

 

 

Another power question, in order for the power board to work do I need both power connectors plugged in on both boards? I don't have my strobes yet so I don't believe I need the 5/12 volt (The big one) on the main board, but I'm not sure if I need both the big one and on the small one plugged in on the power board to get this to work.

 

Yes, you will have to provide power to the "secondary PSU" power inputs.  The MOSFET switching requires those connections to be powered.  If you don't have a second power supply handy and you're just testing, you can just power the secondary PSU inputs from the same power supply as the main inputs.  I'd still recommend using a separate power supply in your final setup, because it should help reduce electrical noise crosstalk that could cause glitches in the logic circuits, but everything will still work if you just use one supply and connect it to both power inputs.

 

 

And we have lift off!!! Solenoid is firing through the test tool! I like the idea of getting the diode close too... so I've done that, only 9 more to operate on. I've got a bit of a mess on the bench right now, but now that I've got this all working (Short of the flashers and strobe that I'm waiting on) I can neaten things up a bit. Thanks again for all your patience and help with my basic questions. I'm going to guess some DOF ones will be coming in soon.

[mjr]

And we have lift off!!! Solenoid is firing through the test tool! 

That's great!

 

 

Thanks again for all your patience and help with my basic questions. I'm going to guess some DOF ones will be coming in soon.

 

Glad I could help.  And thanks for your patience working without documentation!  

[roar]

 

And we have lift off!!! Solenoid is firing through the test tool! 

That's great!

 

 

Thanks again for all your patience and help with my basic questions. I'm going to guess some DOF ones will be coming in soon.

 

Glad I could help.  And thanks for your patience working without documentation!

 

 

And in other news... DOF is now working Turns out you need to name the directoutputconfig*.ini file the same number as your device, mine was named with a 50 and I changed it to 51 and I've got my solenoid firing away

 

Solenoid question for you, since I went cheap and bought solenoids to start rather than contactors, his holding them on when catch a ball with your flipper really bad for the solenoid? I hear something humming when the solenoid stays engaged.

[mjr]

And in other news... DOF is now working Turns out you need to name the directoutputconfig*.ini file the same number as your device, mine was named with a 50 and I changed it to 51 and I've got my solenoid firing away

 

Wow, you're making all kinds of progress!

 

Sounds like I managed to insert an off-by-one error somewhere in the DOF/Config Tool chain.  Ideally everything would work with the defaults without having to rename the file.  I'll try to work it out with arngrim and swisslizard to get the two pieces lined up so that the renaming isn't required in the future.

 

 

Solenoid question for you, since I went cheap and bought solenoids to start rather than contactors, his holding them on when catch a ball with your flipper really bad for the solenoid? I hear something humming when the solenoid stays engaged.

 

It really depends on the solenoid.  Contactors are actually just solenoids under the covers; the only reason they're considered better for continuous activation for flippers is that the contactors themselves are designed to be used for very long periods of continuous activation, so the manufacturers choose solenoids that can be safely left on indefinitely at the required power level.  In contrast, when they design real pinball machines, they know that the coils for bumpers, slingshots, etc are only ever operated briefly, and they want the maximum amount of force and speed they can get out of them, so they intentionally choose to operate those coils at power levels that the coils can't tolerate for long periods.

 

Anyway, the core issue is heat dissipation.  If the solenoid can dump heat into the surrounding air quickly enough that it reaches a safe steady-state temperature, you can leave it energized indefinitely.  If the solenoid keeps getting hotter as it operates, it'll eventually get so hot that it melts its own coil wires.  

 

There's probably no spec sheet for your solenoid that says one way or the other, so you'll probably just have to experiment.  Try leaving it on continuously for a few minutes while monitoring its temperature.  If it starts getting hot to the touch, you probably can't leave it energized continuously.  If it starts smoking or emitting a burning odor, you should definitely turn it off.

 

The Williams pinballs have a clever hack for dealing with the solenoid heating issue for flippers.  They basically had two coils in one for the flippers - a high-power "lift" coil that turns on briefly when you push the button, to very rapidly and forcefully flip the flipper, and a low-power "hold" coil that has just enough force to hold the flipper at the top of its arc.  The flipper assembly has a limit switch that cuts power to the lift coil as soon as the flipper reaches the end of its stroke, ensuring that the high-power melty coil only fires briefly.  For the rest of the coils, like slingshots and bumpers, they had a less clever hack - if the coil gets stuck on, a fuse blows.  I've had that happen a couple of times in my real machines from balls getting stuck where they shouldn't be and leaving a VUK or something stuck on.  Happily the Williams people were really good, meticulous engineers and were good about covering all of those trouble spots with fuses.

 

Anyway, if your coil gets too hot after a couple of minutes, you should probably find something else to use for the flippers, since you do want to be able to leave those on for long periods without having to worry about something overheating.  I've seen people mention that they use a couple of contactors just for the flippers and use cheap solenoids for everything else, which seems like an efficient solution.

[roar]

Thanks for all the info, I think I may have known some of them if I reach way back into my memory when I actually owned real pinball machines... that would be BC... Before Children
 
When I committed to building my own VP cabinet I wanted to make sure I could do all the electrical stuff before I actually went too far with the cabinet build. I figured if I had an extra PC and an extra TV or two laying around that wouldn't be the end of the world, I can always reuse those, but if I went ahead and started building the cab and couldn't get the toys figured out there wasn't a heck of a lot to do with the cabinet.That lead me to building a little box to hold the toys...
 

 
I've got everything fitted in there, haven't wired up the buttons on that go on the lid yet as I've run into a bit of a problem. The solenoids for the flippers appear to working just fine when I'm using my keyboard and L&R Shift, but as soon as I start using my buttons I start getting erratic flipper behaviour where the flipper will flip rapidly on each button push but not on all flips. I'm not sure if I've missed a setting in VP or mucked something up in DOF, but everything was working fine with just pinscape controller board and the buttons prior to add the expansion boards so I'm a little confused... any thoughts?

Edit: Just reading back through old posts and I'm wonder if the fact I'm not using two power supplies may be causing this.

Edited by roar, 06 April 2016 - 08:29 PM.

[mjr]

When I committed to building my own VP cabinet I wanted to make sure I could do all the electrical stuff before I actually went too far with the cabinet build. I figured if I had an extra PC and an extra TV or two laying around that wouldn't be the end of the world, I can always reuse those, but if I went ahead and started building the cab and couldn't get the toys figured out there wasn't a heck of a lot to do with the cabinet.That lead me to building a little box to hold the toys...

 

Looks like a neat test setup.

 

 

I've got everything fitted in there, haven't wired up the buttons on that go on the lid yet as I've run into a bit of a problem. The solenoids for the flippers appear to working just fine when I'm using my keyboard and L&R Shift, but as soon as I start using my buttons I start getting erratic flipper behaviour where the flipper will flip rapidly on each button push but not on all flips. I'm not sure if I've missed a setting in VP or mucked something up in DOF, but everything was working fine with just pinscape controller board and the buttons prior to add the expansion boards so I'm a little confused... any thoughts?

Edit: Just reading back through old posts and I'm wonder if the fact I'm not using two power supplies may be causing this.

 

That's a possibility.  My first guess is that there's electrical noise that's causing the button inputs on the KL25Z to register rapid on/off bouncing.

 

Just to make sure I understand properly:  if you leave everything else the same and switch to a real keyboard for input, everything is fine, including the solenoids firing reliably when they should (and only when they should).  When you use a flipper button attached to the interface board, the solenoids flutter on and off when you push the button.

 

Does the on-screen flipper in VP also show the erratic flipping, or just the solenoid?  If it's both, the problem is almost certainly on the input side; if i'ts just the solenoid, the problem is probably on the output side.

 

Assuming it's on the input side, the next test I'd do would be to set up the problem test case with the buttons wired through the interface board, then unplug the flipper solenoids, leaving everything else the same.  Test if the on-screen flippers in VP stabilize in this setup.  If so, that would be a good indication that it's noise from the flipper solenoids that's randomizing the button inputs.  

 

If it doesn't make any difference whether the solenoids are attached or not, it might just be actual switch bouncing from the buttons.  You're using standard pinball leaf switches for those, I assume?  That's what it looks like in your picture.  Those should be fine, but they're inherently a "bouncy" type of switch.  If the problem seems unrelated to the solenoids and just seems to be coming from the leaf switches, I might be able to help with the software.  The next version has some changes to the debouncing code that will hopefully be improvements.  But they're just tweaks - the current code should be pretty good at debouncing as it is, so I'm guessing it's not just noisy switches.

 

If the problem does narrow down to the solenoids, going to a second power supply for the devices might be worth a shot.  If both power supplies are regular PC PSUs, their grounds will still be connected, so it won't truly isolate anything, but it will at least add some more filtering capacitors between the solenoids and the logic circuits.  It'll also increase overall current capacity, which might help stabilize the voltage when the solenoids switch on and off.

 

Another (possibly simpler) thing you can try is installing some small capacitors on the solenoids themselves, near the power leads in parallel with the diodes.  (You can just solder them to the existing diodes.)  Use the non-polarized ceramic disc type, around .1uf (== 100nF).   These might help by reducing the transient voltages they're feeding back into the rest of the system.

[roar]

Just to make sure I understand properly:  if you leave everything else the same and switch to a real keyboard for input, everything is fine, including the solenoids firing reliably when they should (and only when they should).  When you use a flipper button attached to the interface board, the solenoids flutter on and off when you push the button.

 

You got it, exactly my problem.

 

Does the on-screen flipper in VP also show the erratic flipping, or just the solenoid?  If it's both, the problem is almost certainly on the input side; if i'ts just the solenoid, the problem is probably on the output side.

 

It does indeed, the flipper on screen acts crazy too.

 

Assuming it's on the input side, the next test I'd do would be to set up the problem test case with the buttons wired through the interface board, then unplug the flipper solenoids, leaving everything else the same.  Test if the on-screen flippers in VP stabilize in this setup.  If so, that would be a good indication that it's noise from the flipper solenoids that's randomizing the button inputs.

 

Genius... that was the thing to do. I unplug the solenoids, and the buttons go back to working fine... on screen as well.

 

If the problem does narrow down to the solenoids, going to a second power supply for the devices might be worth a shot.  If both power supplies are regular PC PSUs, their grounds will still be connected, so it won't truly isolate anything, but it will at least add some more filtering capacitors between the solenoids and the logic circuits.  It'll also increase overall current capacity, which might help stabilize the voltage when the solenoids switch on and off.

 

It isn't quite clear to me why adding a second PC PSU will have them share the same ground, but I suppose I don't need to understand that . I am going to take a look to see if I can find a 12V and 5V PSU and my local shop. I know they have 12V and they have 5V I'd like to get both together if such a thing exists. And then can you explain to me how I am isolating things? Am I providing the Power Board's 5V and 12V inputs from one PSU and the KL125Z expansion board's 5V and 12V inputs from a different one, is that the ideal setup?

 

Another (possibly simpler) thing you can try is installing some small capacitors on the solenoids themselves, near the power leads in parallel with the diodes.  (You can just solder them to the existing diodes.)  Use the non-polarized ceramic disc type, around .1uf (== 100nF).   These might help by reducing the transient voltages they're feeding back into the rest of the system.

 

 

The thought of unwrapping those solenoids again to solder more stuff on them is daunting... I'm going the PSU route for starters and see if that helps things .

[mjr]

Genius... that was the thing to do. I unplug the solenoids, and the buttons go back to working fine... on screen as well.

 

Glad you were able to run the test - I think that means it's pretty solid that it's some electrical noise feeding back from the solenoids, then.

 

 

It isn't quite clear to me why adding a second PC PSU will have them share the same ground, but I suppose I don't need to understand that . 

 

I just learned this bit of trivia myself in the course of this project, actually - it was a surprise to me as well!  It turns out that ATX PSUs by spec always have the 0V rail (the black wires on the DC side) electrically connected to Earth ground - the green wire in the AC wire to the wall outlet.  You can observe this with a simple continuity tester and see that the black wires are all connected to the metal case of the PSU and to the ground wire in the power plug.  So if you have two or more ATX PSUs in the cab, all of the black wires in all of them will end up tied together through the outlet plugs.  They do it this way in part for safety reasons, and in part for the sake of standardization so that everyone making PC parts can count on everyone else doing it the same way.

 

Anyway, you can get real isolation if you use a non-ATX power supply with a floating ground.  These will generally be in plastic cases rather than metal cases.  You can even convert an ATX case to floating ground (you can find advice about this on the internet if you hunt around), although I wouldn't be comfortable doing that without transplanting it into an insulated plastic case.

 

 

I am going to take a look to see if I can find a 12V and 5V PSU and my local shop. I know they have 12V and they have 5V I'd like to get both together if such a thing exists. And then can you explain to me how I am isolating things? Am I providing the Power Board's 5V and 12V inputs from one PSU and the KL125Z expansion board's 5V and 12V inputs from a different one, is that the ideal setup?

 

Yep, exactly.  In practical terms, I think it comes down to this:

 

1. PC Power Supply -> "PC PSU" connector (JP7 on the main board)

 

2. Isolated Second Power Supply -> "2ND PSU" connector (JP10 on the main board)

 

3. All solenoids and other high-power devices connect to the *second* power supply's (+) supplies for the appropriate voltages (e.g., +12V for your 12VDC solenoids).

 

4. And basically nothing other than the expansion boards should connect to any of the PC Power Supply terminals.

 

I think that covers the bases - let me know if anything's unclear or I missed anything.

 

Oh, one more detail: if you need multiple "second power supplies" to get all of the voltages you need - e.g., a 12V unit, a 5V unit, and a 24V unit - that's fine.  You just have to connect all of their grounds together.  The exception, of course, is that you don't connect any of them to the main PC power supply ground.  That stays separate.

 

Here's how this all works inside, in case you're interested...

 

On the boards, everything that's electrically connected to the "PC Power Supply" is in one group of circuits, and everything that's connected to the "2nd power Supply" is in a second group of circuits.  The two groups share absolutely no wiring on the boards.  The only communications between the two circuit groups is through the optocouplers.  These are basically optical relay switches - they let one side control current on the other side without any electrical contact between the two sides, using light to communicate across the gap.

 

If you use a single power supply, or use two ATX PSUs that have shared grounds, you don't get the full benefits of the isolation, but it doesn't do any harm to the boards, either.  The boards don't care if the two sides of the optocouplers happen to share a common ground - they'll work the same either way.  It just loses the benefits of full isolation to do so because it provides a path outside of the boards for these noisy power spikes to travel around between all the different circuits.

Edited by mjr, 07 April 2016 - 04:43 AM.

[roar]

I picked up a PSU from the store today, went through a bundle of them, there was only one I could find that had +5V and +12V (It also has -12V), it is all plastic housing, has a connector on it I'm entirely unfamiliar with so I will lob that sucker off and see what power is actually going to the wires and go from there.

I had another thought that could be screwing things up... any chance the staples I decided to keep my wiring 'neat' could be causing some confusion on the wiring? Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I didn't it out of laziness more than anything else, I could get plastic connectors instead.

[mjr]

I picked up a PSU from the store today, went through a bundle of them, there was only one I could find that had +5V and +12V (It also has -12V), it is all plastic housing, has a connector on it I'm entirely unfamiliar with so I will lob that sucker off and see what power is actually going to the wires and go from there.

 

Sounds good.  The plastic housing is promising; hopefully it'll have a floating ground so you'll get good isolation.  Let me know how it goes when you get it wired up.

 

I had another thought that could be screwing things up... any chance the staples I decided to keep my wiring 'neat' could be causing some confusion on the wiring? Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I didn't it out of laziness more than anything else, I could get plastic connectors instead.

 

That seems pretty unlikely to cause this specific type of symptom, but I suppose it's within the realm of the possible.  I'd think the most likely result of an intrusion by a staple into wire insulation would either be a short or a broken wire, in which case you'd have something stuck on, stuck off, or smoking.  But I guess if you were really "lucky" you might have managed to just barely nick a wire and cause an intermittent short.  If that were the case, though, the test with unplugging the solenoids probably wouldn't have changed anything, since the nicked wire would presumably still be in the circuit.  One test that might help settle it is to try jostling the various wires while running and see if that has any effect on the problem one way or the other - if you do have a nicked wire somewhere, I'd expect that you'd see some random input effects if you jiggle the wiring near the cut area.

Edited by mjr, 07 April 2016 - 10:15 PM.

[roar]

Well... it looks like my "interference" may very well be the leaf switches... I noticed when I pushed the buttons in ever so lightly so that the leaf switch barely made contact I'd get the erratic behavior... then for whatever reason I pushed on the outer portion of the leaf switch with my finger to make the contact manually rather than using the button and it works reliably with a firm push... so on go the micro switches... too bad really, I was going with leaf switches on the flipper buttons for the 'authentic feel'... but I spent some time trying to dial in the leaf switches and it just isn't worth it... I still get the erratic behavior with really light touches.

 

Ah well, I've got two PSU's now

 

Question about what you wrote above though.

 

Just want to be sure about what PSU connects to what on the Power Board.

 

PC Power Supply = PSU1

Secondary Power Supply = PSU2

 

Main Board

JP7 - PSU1

JP10 - PSU2

 

Power Board

JP1 = PSU1

JP4 = PSU2

 

Do I have that right? Not sure if I interrupted point 4 correctly or not.

[mjr]

Well... it looks like my "interference" may very well be the leaf switches... I noticed when I pushed the buttons in ever so lightly so that the leaf switch barely made contact I'd get the erratic behavior... then for whatever reason I pushed on the outer portion of the leaf switch with my finger to make the contact manually rather than using the button and it works reliably with a firm push... so on go the micro switches... too bad really, I was going with leaf switches on the flipper buttons for the 'authentic feel'... but I spent some time trying to dial in the leaf switches and it just isn't worth it... I still get the erratic behavior with really light touches.

 

Well that's too bad - I prefer the feel of the leaf switches as well.  Hopefully we can figure out a way to get them working.

 

Are they new equipment or did you get them used?  If they're used, you might just need to clean the contacts to remove oxidation.

 

The next version of the software might help with this, too.  The debouncing algorithm is better at handling noisy make/break events.

 

If all else fails, you might look into some pinball opto interrupter switches.  The later Williams/Bally machines use these for their flipper buttons. They feel almost exactly like leaf switches, but they have much cleaner electrical characteristics (and longer life, which is probably the main reason the pinball makers converted to them).  I think those would give you a much more pleasing feel than microswitches, plus they'd fit better mechanically.

 

 

Just want to be sure about what PSU connects to what on the Power Board.

 

PC Power Supply = PSU1

Secondary Power Supply = PSU2

 

Main Board

JP7 - PSU1

JP10 - PSU2

 

Power Board

JP1 = PSU1

JP4 = PSU2

 

Do I have that right? Not sure if I interrupted point 4 correctly or not.

 

Yep, that all looks right to me.

Edited by mjr, 08 April 2016 - 01:07 AM.