1103 replies to this topic

[mjr]

 

The only thing I can think of to try right now is doing a fresh firmware install, since it seems like something's screwy on the controller.

 

That did the trick!  My plunger is now working.  Thank you very much for the help.

 

Glad to hear it!  I still have no idea what the actual problem was, but hopefully whatever it was won't come back.

I have a PC I hook up the boards to via USB, but it's a test system and my main PC. I am going to hookup the power to the main expansion board via a power supply I have and am going to hook the 5v and 12v to the main board from that one power supply. Any concerns with this? I assume not.

 

Right - that's fine.  You can use separate power supplies for the "PC power supply" and "Secondary PSU" inputs if you want, since the two sections are isolated on the boards, but it's also okay to power everything from the main PC power supply. 

 

The main reason to use two separate power supplies is that it gives you more power overall, to ensure that any heavy-duty feedback devices (particularly solenoids and motors) don't cause brownouts (supply voltage reductions) on the main PC power supply.  It also helps reduce the amount of electrical noise transmitted from the high-power devices into the logic circuitry.

 

 

I am going to hook two contractors up to the power board and have a 24v PSU for it. I assume I need to combine the grounds from the above PSU and the 24v PSU?

 

Correct.  If you haven't read through it already, my recommendations for the feedback power setup are covered here:

 

http://mjrnet.org/pi...d=powerSupplies

[dannygey]

Hello mjr,

 

Got a new small problem.

I'am setting up the nudging and plunger , this works fine on my test computer ( pinscape detected as hid keyboard and configurable as a joystick with x,y,z axis ).

On my cabinet computer the pinscape board is also detected as hid keyboard but i have only buttons in the properties and no x,yz axis.

Is this some usb port setting ?

 

Kind Regards

Danny 

[mjr]

Got a new small problem.

I'am setting up the nudging and plunger , this works fine on my test computer ( pinscape detected as hid keyboard and configurable as a joystick with x,y,z axis ).

On my cabinet computer the pinscape board is also detected as hid keyboard but i have only buttons in the properties and no x,yz axis.

Is this some usb port setting ?

 

Yeah, there's probably some old data stuck in your registry settings on the cab PC. 

 

The first thing to try is the Windows "Set up USB game controllers" control panel.  Select Pinscape Controller, click the Settings tab, and click "Restore to default".  

 

If that doesn't help, try unplugging the KL25Z from USB, then open RegEdit and look for keys of this form:

 

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaProperties\PrivateProperties\DirectInput\VID_FAFA&PID_xxxx\Calibration

 

"xxxx" is a placholder for four hex digits, usually 00F7 for Pinscape.  If you find any keys like that, delete all of them.  Close RegEdit and reboot the machine.  Then try plugging the KL25Z into USB again.

Edited by mjr, 04 February 2019 - 09:17 PM.

[dannygey]

Got a new small problem.
I'am setting up the nudging and plunger , this works fine on my test computer ( pinscape detected as hid keyboard and configurable as a joystick with x,y,z axis ).
On my cabinet computer the pinscape board is also detected as hid keyboard but i have only buttons in the properties and no x,yz axis.
Is this some usb port setting ?

 
Yeah, there's probably some old data stuck in your registry settings on the cab PC. 
 
The first thing to try is the Windows "Set up USB game controllers" control panel.  Select Pinscape Controller, click the Settings tab, and click "Restore to default".  
 
If that doesn't help, try unplugging the KL25Z from USB, then open RegEdit and look for keys of this form:
 
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaProperties\PrivateProperties\DirectInput\VID_FAFA&PID_xxxx\Calibration
 
"xxxx" is a placholder for four hex digits, usually 00F7 for Pinscape.  If you find any keys like that, delete all of them.  Close RegEdit and reboot the machine.  Then try plugging the KL25Z into USB again.

Deleting the registery key did the trick.

Thanks again.

[mjr]

 

 

Got a new small problem.
I'am setting up the nudging and plunger , this works fine on my test computer ( pinscape detected as hid keyboard and configurable as a joystick with x,y,z axis ).
On my cabinet computer the pinscape board is also detected as hid keyboard but i have only buttons in the properties and no x,yz axis.
Is this some usb port setting ?

 
Yeah, there's probably some old data stuck in your registry settings on the cab PC. 
 
The first thing to try is the Windows "Set up USB game controllers" control panel.  Select Pinscape Controller, click the Settings tab, and click "Restore to default".  
 
If that doesn't help, try unplugging the KL25Z from USB, then open RegEdit and look for keys of this form:
 
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaProperties\PrivateProperties\DirectInput\VID_FAFA&PID_xxxx\Calibration
 
"xxxx" is a placholder for four hex digits, usually 00F7 for Pinscape.  If you find any keys like that, delete all of them.  Close RegEdit and reboot the machine.  Then try plugging the KL25Z into USB again.

Deleting the registery key did the trick.

 

Great!  That key seems to be used for caching some information about the HID report layout inside DirectInput, and DI doesn't seem smart enough to notice if the HID report changes on the device side, so DI can get confused if the Pinscape config ever changes.  Seems like a DI bug to me, but Microsoft declared DI obsolete a long time ago, so I don't think there's any chance it'll ever get fixed.  Anyway, I'm glad that turned out to solve it for you!

[mk47]

The Pinscape and the expension boards work perfectly well :-)
 

But this weekend i exchanged some of my contactors for some used noisy big ones which better simulate the sound of bumbers.

If I turn them on and off manually, the sound is great, but wired to the pinscape power board, two of them just do very silent clicks most of the time. Sometimes they work like expected, but only in one case out of ten.

 

I think that the duration of the signal is just too short. I then started reading about effect durations and extended durations in the DOF documentation. I think it is doable via DOF. But the settings are per table and per trigger which will lead to endless adjustments for just two contactors.

 

That's why I asked myself, if the pinscape software could be the right place to implement the required adjustment. It would require to configure an optional minmal duration per output.

What do you think about it?

 

BTW I recognized your answer https://www.vpforums...ndpost&p=349856
But I don't wont to have a global adjustment because the other contactors just work fine.
And according to the DOF documentation and the the current configs generated by the configtool, these global setting don't seem to be applied to bumbers, slingshots and flippers.

Edited by mk47, 25 February 2019 - 12:13 PM.

[mk47]

I wrote a small script that automates the required adjustments for the two contactors in question for all tables. I posted it at http://vpuniverse.co...n-per-solenoid/

[mjr]

I think that the duration of the signal is just too short. I then started reading about effect durations and extended durations in the DOF documentation. I think it is doable via DOF. But the settings are per table and per trigger which will lead to endless adjustments for just two contactors.

 

That's why I asked myself, if the pinscape software could be the right place to implement the required adjustment. It would require to configure an optional minmal duration per output.

What do you think about it?

 

I have something experimental for you to try out.

 

I've come up with something new called Chime Logic.  This is similar to the existing Flipper Logic, but has some slightly different capabilities:

 

- It has options for finer gradations of time at the lower end of the scale - 1ms, 2ms, 5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms, 100ms, then 100s up to 800ms

- It has both minimum and maximum pulse lengths

- It's purely ON/OFF (there's no reduced "hold power" like with Flipper Logic)

 

I think this might address your situation because of the minimum time setting.

 

Here's a testing version if you want to give it a try:

 

http://mjrnet.org/pi...himeLogic-1.zip

 

Important: this contains both a Config Tool update and a firmware update. The firmware update is in the ZIP file, named Pinscape_Controller_ChimeLogic-1.bin. Extract that along with the other files and use the "Update" function in the config tool to install the new firmware.  You'll need to install the firmware update before the Chime Logic option appears in the Config Tool, since the Config Tool only shows the option if the firmware has the feature available.

 

Give it a try when you have a chance and let me know if it solves the problem for you.

[dannygey]

Hello everyone,

When i start my cabinet all ports on the pinscape board seems to switch on for half a second, is this normal ?

Danny

[mjr]

When i start my cabinet all ports on the pinscape board seems to switch on for half a second, is this normal ?

 

If you literally mean half a second, as in 500ms, that would be unusual.  If you mean more like a very quick momentary flash, a couple of milliseconds worth, that's normal.  There's a brief period during the power-on process where the ports will connect to ground, which will make fast devices like LEDs flash.  It's normally brief enough that slower devices like solenoids won't get a long enough jolt to trigger mechanically, but that might happen on occasion too.

[dannygey]

When i start my cabinet all ports on the pinscape board seems to switch on for half a second, is this normal ?

 
If you literally mean half a second, as in 500ms, that would be unusual.  If you mean more like a very quick momentary flash, a couple of milliseconds worth, that's normal.  There's a brief period during the power-on process where the ports will connect to ground, which will make fast devices like LEDs flash.  It's normally brief enough that slower devices like solenoids won't get a long enough jolt to trigger mechanically, but that might happen on occasion too.

It is like you say, a quick flash.
It is normal then.

Thanks for the info.

[genjackson]

This is probably a dumb question, but I'm new to all this and I don't know technically what I'm supposed to look up. I'm wanting to make a wiring harness for my expansion board. I have my cabinet mostly ready, but in the meantime, I figured I'd make a wiring harness so I could make adding things later a little easier. A link would be perfect, but I mainly just need to know the crimp tool and connector kits I'd need to go ahead and get started. 

[mjr]

This is probably a dumb question, but I'm new to all this and I don't know technically what I'm supposed to look up. I'm wanting to make a wiring harness for my expansion board. I have my cabinet mostly ready, but in the meantime, I figured I'd make a wiring harness so I could make adding things later a little easier. A link would be perfect, but I mainly just need to know the crimp tool and connector kits I'd need to go ahead and get started. 

 

Not a dumb question at all - the number of different connector options at the electronics vendors is just mind-boggling.  I think there must be lots of electrical engineers who make their careers on knowing which type of connector to use when.  And I haven't finished all of the build guide chapters on connectors yet, so there's not complete documentation I can point you to.

 

For the expansion boards, I tried to keep things relatively simple, by mostly sticking to the common 0.1" connectors that the Arduino and robotics people like.  The master parts list includes all of the required pin headers and matching wire housings.  ("Pin headers" are the blocks of pins, usually in two rows, that stick out from the circuit boards.  "Wire housings" are the mating plugs that plug into the pin headers.  The wire housings are actually just empty plastic shells that you have to build with crimp pins, so the pins are separate parts.)

 

Here's the parts list section:

 

http://mjrnet.org/pi...p?sid=partslist

 

Look through that for items marked "pin header", "crimp wire housing", and "crimp pins".  I tried to group related headers/housings/pins and cross-reference the part numbers with each other, so it hopefully will be clear which parts mate with each other.  Also read through the linked footnotes, and the section at the top about ribbon cables.

 

As far as crimp tools go, I really like the ones from Pololu:

 

https://www.pololu.com/product/1929

https://www.pololu.com/product/1928

 

They work great and they're very reasonably priced (the similar "professional" products from Mouser are all over $200, and some are as high as $800!!!).  I think I have the 16-28 AWG version.  They have links to videos showing how to use them - they're very easy to use and reliable once you see the procedure.

[NailBuster]

mjr.  for discussion purposes as I don't need this myself... but helping others with DOF hardware expansion.

 

any ideas if something like this could work easily?  I know the embed world has simple DMX protocol code that maybe can be connected to pinscape board.

 

https://www.aliexpre...2963718783.html

 

or people could use a usb/dmx connection as well.

 

I like DIY and seeing what's out there to solve problems....

[wrd1972]

I have not been able to locate a wiring diagram indicating which pin-outs are intended for which functions. I have the boards built, but now I need to start interfacing them to the cab. Can someone please point me to these wiring diagrams?

 

Thanks

[Suikazz]

Mjrnet.org has everything you need

[wrd1972]

Mjrnet.org has everything you need

Respectfully, I have been combing that particular site for hours. But I cant find the wiring diagrams. There is a lot of info there.

 

If its not too much trouble, could you please post a link?

Edited by wrd1972, 22 April 2019 - 04:33 PM.

[Suikazz]

In short:
Mainboard
16x small leds with a Common 5V Pin
15x mid power (up to 1.5A each) with common 5V pin
1x knocker pin
1x strobe pin
24x Button pins with Common ground Pin.

Power board
32x high power pins (switching to ground)

Make sure to only use a common ground for mid and high power , but not for the small led outs.

[wrd1972]

Okay thanks.

 

So I just tested the button inputs in the control panel. It appears that button #6 is active all of the time. It is showing "lit" in the controller properties. All of the other buttons are "Un-lit" but will lite when connected to common, like they should.

 

Is this normal behavior for #6? Or have I messed something up. I checked the #6 pin as it is soldered to the main board and dont see any reason why number 6 would be shorted to something. Solder joints are all extremely clean.

[Suikazz]

Okay thanks.
 
So I just tested the button inputs in the control panel. It appears that button #6 is active all of the time. It is showing "lit" in the controller properties. All of the other buttons are "Un-lit" but will lite when connected to common, like they should.
 
Is this normal behavior for #6? Or have I messed something up. I checked the #6 pin as it is soldered to the main board and dont see any reason why number 6 would be shorted to something. Solder joints are all extremely clean.

This is no normal behavior.
Make sure you have set your Pinscape to use the expansion boards in configtool and save/program the device. Before that some false triggers may apply.
Also check the soldering point at the pinout header where the Kl25z is attached to the mainboard.