85 replies to this topic

[duke atomic]

I'm just going to chime in and state that I purchased an AIO board from Mike and I think it is awesome. 

 

I'm a casual... getting into (real) pinball relatively recently and desiring to build a virtual pincab as:

1. An alternative to spending money on collecting and maintaining pins. 

2. A fun "winter" project (that will inevitably turn into spring, summer, fall, repeat). 

3. To have a cool "thing" for the family and guests to play with.

 

Pinscape appears to be the most future-proof and best currently supported I/O system.  The Expansion Board DIY project was just too daunting for me.  I want to play!  I see the appeal for some folks... but one look at the Mouser parts list and I "noped" right out.  

 

Mike's board is allowing me to dive in closer to the deep end and gets me closer to playing Cactus Jack's until my fingers fall off.  The second benefit is that I get to learn at my own pace without worrying that I've got the wrong resistor soldered in backwards.  

[rickh]

Mike,

 

Congrats on your success.  Since you are planning on building these PCBAs in China, have you considered turn-key where the CM supplies all the material using your AVL?  I stay away from consignment where the client has to round up the parts through their own supply chain.    

Mike,

 

And here is my experience so far with reality marked in red:

*    Boards would not sell and I would be left with unsold investment

*****Getting parts and inventory management

*    Testing

**   Taking up too much of my personal time

*    Writing documentation

**** Pricing

**   Promotion and marketing

***  Shipping and import/export problems

 

[MikePinball]

Since you are planning on building these PCBAs in China, have you considered turn-key where the CM supplies all the material using your AVL?  I stay away from consignment where the client has to round up the parts through their own supply chain.

The PCBA house in China orders all of the necessary parts from Mouser and there is no consignment - I am well aware of the issues. I complete the final soldering of some through-hole parts such as the socketed KL25Z, MOSFETs, and pluggable screw header connectors. And then I thoroughly test every input and output with my test scaffolding.

 

As you remarked in an earlier append:

This is a good bargain. If those connectors are Phoenix, they command over $8 a piece(pair), the MOSFETS adds at least another $50 and the KMZ25 is ~$20.  I'm glad to see someone offering an affordable solution.

 

and of course I am getting the connectors and MOSFETs from a cheaper source otherwise I could never get to a reasonable price. The problem is that these vendors do not have reliable delivery times. The KL25Zs come from Mouser in the USA.

 

Actually I have done fairly well up to now, but one of the vendors has become really painful and hence my 5 asterisks. I have now solved that problem by ordering the MOSFETS from a well known and reliable USA vendor (not Mouser). The problem is that they are 2x as costly which will drive up the price of the AIO in the future. So there a balance between cheap and unreliable or more expensive and reliable.

 

So why bother even discussing this? So people understand that I am working hard to always provide the best possible pricing for the Pinscape AIO (and other Oak Micros products). I don't want anyone having to deal with issues that will undoubtedly arise from that certain other company in Germany.

Edited by MikePinball, 08 December 2019 - 07:08 AM.

[MikePinball]

Just to let you know I now have more Pinscape AIO boards in stock. I have 8 available as one has already been sold.

 

If you are in the USA, you can order now and it will arrive before Christmas

Edited by MikePinball, 13 December 2019 - 06:45 AM.

[nikodemus]

Mike’s service has been impeccable at every stage for me. I am in the process of sorting my install & have a couple of questions regarding power.

 

I have the 12v sorted but on the 5v side I have a separate supply for my addressable led’s. Max amp draw from them should be 19A based on the number of LED’s (316). The supply is 5v 130w which I calculate leaves me with 7A to play with. 

 

For the immediate future all I’ll be powering from the AIO board will be rgb flippers but i can power these from the 12v line, and the illuminated buttons (6 of these) from the 5v line. Will the supply be sufficient or do I need and additional supply. 

 

Any advice very much appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Nick

Edited by nikodemus, 15 December 2019 - 01:53 PM.

[MikePinball]

Mike’s service has been impeccable at every stage for me. I am in the process of sorting my install & have a couple of questions regarding power.

 

I have the 12v sorted but on the 5v side I have a separate supply for my addressable led’s. Max amp draw from them should be 19A based on the number of LED’s (316). The supply is 5v 130w which I calculate leaves me with 7A to play with. 

 

For the immediate future all I’ll be powering from the AIO board will be rgb flippers but i can power these from the 12v line, and the illuminated buttons (6 of these) from the 5v line. Will the supply be sufficient or do I need and additional supply.

 

Thanks for the compliment.

 

Including the current for the low power LED/small optos but not including the current for all of the low side outputs (e.g. MOSFETS), the maximum current used by the Pinscape AIO is approximately 0.5A @ 5V.

 

So while you don't want to get too close to the maximum current for a PSU, I think you will be fine, even if you powered the RGB flipper LEDs from the Pinscape AIO as well. It is unlikely that you will ever get close to the maximum of 19A for the addressable LEDs.

 

For my own cabinet, I am a little behind you, but I plan on using a single ATX PSU (~450W) to power all of the 5V and 12V devices. Power for the audio amps and 24V devices will use separate laptop power bricks (as I have a bunch I collected over time).

[nikodemus]

 

Mike’s service has been impeccable at every stage for me. I am in the process of sorting my install & have a couple of questions regarding power.

 

I have the 12v sorted but on the 5v side I have a separate supply for my addressable led’s. Max amp draw from them should be 19A based on the number of LED’s (316). The supply is 5v 130w which I calculate leaves me with 7A to play with. 

 

For the immediate future all I’ll be powering from the AIO board will be rgb flippers but i can power these from the 12v line, and the illuminated buttons (6 of these) from the 5v line. Will the supply be sufficient or do I need and additional supply.

 

Thanks for the compliment.

 

Including the current for the low power LED/small optos but not including the current for all of the low side outputs (e.g. MOSFETS), the maximum current used by the Pinscape AIO is approximately 0.5A @ 5V.

 

So while you don't want to get too close to the maximum current for a PSU, I think you will be fine, even if you powered the RGB flipper LEDs from the Pinscape AIO as well. It is unlikely that you will ever get close to the maximum of 19A for the addressable LEDs.

 

For my own cabinet, I am a little behind you, but I plan on using a single ATX PSU (~450W) to power all of the 5V and 12V devices. Power for the audio amps and 24V devices will use separate laptop power bricks (as I have a bunch I collected over time).

 

Thanks for the reply Mike, and the complement was plain fact. Wish all those I dealt with were as well organised, honest & prompt. Won’t name the one I waited nearly 2 months to send a supposedly in stock item.

 

I’m good to go then & hopefully will get on with the install tomorrow. 

 

I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

Best wishes for Christmas & a prosperous New Year

 

Nick

[MikePinball]

The second batch of Pinscape All-in-One boards are now sold out. That means I have now sold a total of 25 Pinscape All-in-One boards and people do really seem to like them. This thread and my signature thread contain a number of positive comments. My thanks to all of my customers to date.

 

I submitted a new batch of boards before Christmas and they are in progress. Unfortunately between the Christmas/New Year and the early Chinese New Year holidays, I may not get the new boards until early to mid February. I will post here when they are ready.

 

If people want to submit paid pre-orders, then that will guarantee delivery as soon as they are available. See this append for an example of one customer's experience who pre-ordered with me. Of course you don't have to and can wait until you see them available in this thread.

[MikePinball]

I am pleased to announce a significant update to the Pinscape configuration tool whereby it now natively supports the Pinscape AIO. This means that is no longer necessary to fake it by simulating one MOSFET power board and one Chime board. My thanks to MJR for integrating the changes into the PinscapeConfigTool.exe

 

The picture below shows the before and after. This picture doesn't tell the whole story because other changes permeate through the application such as help text and pinout diagrams to show the exact I/O pin placement on the Pinscape AIO board.

 

 

All future customers will have boards delivered configured with this new version of the tool (available from 1/22/2020). For my existing customers, I have produced a Pinscape AIO update guide which describes the steps to convert over (see chapter 3). This is an optional change and not mandatory.

[MikePinball]

I sent off an order for more Pinscape AIO boards before Christmas but unfortunately they were not completed before the Chinese New Year holiday. Now with the Corona-virus and delays in people going back to work in China, I may not see boards until late February or early March. I will post here again when I have the Pinscape AIO back in stock. My apologies to anyone who was waiting for one of these boards but "circumstances are beyond my control". Thank you for your patience.

 

All of my other electronic boards are in stock and I can ship the next business day.

[GCS2000]

Check your email with regard to your products please, thanks.

[MikePinball]

Check your email with regard to your products please, thanks.

Email was sent to the wrong email address. I am now in communication with GCS2000 using the correct email address per the link in my signature page below.
 

[MikePinball]

I sent off an order for more Pinscape AIO boards before Christmas but unfortunately they were not completed before the Chinese New Year holiday. Now with the Corona-virus and delays in people going back to work in China, I may not see boards until late February or early March. I will post here again when I have the Pinscape AIO back in stock. My apologies to anyone who was waiting for one of these boards but "circumstances are beyond my control". Thank you for your patience.

 

All of my other electronic boards are in stock and I can ship the next business day.

 

I have been in contact with the PCB manufacturer. There is one part that they are short which means the Pinscape AIO boards are now scheduled to arrive in the USA by mid-March.

 

This is all a little unfortunate but other people are a lot worse off. And I'm not talking about stores running out of iPhone X's. Thank you for your continued patience.

[duke atomic]

Mike, 

I'm spending my "Corona-Time" wiring up my cabinet with the Pinscape AIO and Fuseboard.  I'm cruising along with most steps.  I thought I had the RGB flasher wiring all figured out on paper but got confused last night.  

Two questions:

 

1. What is the function of the Common Anode port on the "RGB Flasher LED Outputs"? 

 

 

Is this the (+5) power to supply all the flashers?   I'm trying to reconcile these instructions with the wiring scheme from the Pinscape Build Guide: 

 

Here, the power is coming from a 5V supply and there is no wiring to a Common Anode port. 

 

I'm thinking that you can use either the 5V supply from the AIO or a 5V feed from an external power supply... no difference?   Either way, just daisy chain the 5V feed across all 15 LEDs in the flasher bar? 

 

2nd Question:  

For the "Small RGB Outputs", are those typically used to drive cabinet button LEDs?  I have cheapy "arcade" buttons from Amazon.  They do have an LED in them... but they are not RGB; just single wavelength, two pins.  Can I still use them with the small RGB outputs?  I was thinking I could twist the R, G, and B wires together and run them to the LED... maybe?

 

Thanks!

[MikePinball]

The common anode connection is for convenience. It is directly connected to the second 5V supply. You can run two wires from the PSU to the Pinscape AIO second 5V supply connections and run the LED anodes directly to the PSU. You can daisychain this 5V assuming you are using thick enough wire for all 5 flashers or wire each one separately - your choice.

 

The small LED outputs can be used for cabinet LEDs. They do not need a resistor and each output is current-limited to 10mA. Each LED connects to one output connection with the anode again daisy-chained and connected to the PSU. No you should not twist 3 outputs into one LED - it will still only show with the color it was made with. A RGB LED has 4 (and sometimes 6) connections - one for each color and the rest for the anode(s).

[duke atomic]

Thanks Mike - makes perfect sense for the RGB flashers.  Working on that now. 

 

Still scratching my head on the cabinet button, small LEDs.   I realize my single color LEDs won't show different colors.  But I was curious how to translate the R, G, and B hookups on the board to a single color LED.  Like, most cabinet buttons are NOT actually RGB, are they?  A Start button for instance... 

Does VPX and/or DOF control these LEDs as well?  Like, blinks them for certain situations?  I'm thinking about tables that might blink the Launch Ball button at certain game events, etc.   When the software makes a call to blink the light, how does the Pinscape board treat the individual R, G, and B outputs?  If I have a single color LED, I just want it to be turned on and off as the script dictates.  That's why I was going to link the R, G, and B connections... essentially throw out the color information and just get the on/off signal.   Sounds like I'm not tracking the concept, though.  

[MikePinball]

There are multiple types of outputs in DOF. The two that we are talking about are RGB and Mono.

• RGB is used for things like RGB flipper buttons that can change color according to the table
• MonoNoFeedback is used for single color outputs such as the Start button or Launch ball. The color of the LED will match the color of the button you choose. Other lights such as beacons and strobes are categorized as MonoNoFeedback. The category "mono" is for noise makers like solenoids.

[MikePinball]

I am pleased to report that the Pinscape AIO board is now back in stock. I install the Pinscape software, configure and fully test each board before shipping - see the first append in this topic for a picture of my test rig. The AIO provides a plug and play solution that only needs 5 simple steps:

1. Install Pinscape AIO board in your cab
2. Hook up 5V and 12V power
3. Hook up inputs (buttons, plunger etc) and outputs (LED lights, contactors, solenoids, motors etc) with the easy to use pluggable screw connectors - no messy crimping needed.
4. Configure Pinscape with your unique setup and verify using input and output tester built in into the PinscapeConfigTool
5. Configure the DOF Configtool and download to your cab

Because of covid-19 supply chain problems I have had to go to other sources for some components (particularly the 41 MOSFETs per board). This has has necessitated a price increase to $240. This is still extremely good value for money compared to building the Pinscape expansion boards yourself and trying to resolve soldering and build problems.

 

Edit: Fixed typos and added links to tools

Edited by MikePinball, 24 March 2020 - 02:47 PM.

[armydestroyer58]

1. Are these still for sale?

2. Do you still need to use fuzes when powering Solenoid, gear morers, ex?

3. How would you wire up normal led's to flash for extra ball, launch, and such?

[MikePinball]

1. Are these still for sale?

2. Do you still need to use fuzes when powering Solenoid, gear morers, ex?

3. How would you wire up normal led's to flash for extra ball, launch, and such?

1. Yes I have the Pinscape AIO in stock. See the link in my signature for all my products, user guides, and stock levels.

 

2. Regardless of which controller board you have, fuses are a good thing for motors, solenoids etc. See my fuse board user guide for more information on what fuses and when to use them.

 

3. You can connect the LEDs to the small LED outputs (see the Pinscape AIO user guide with the anode connected to 5V and the cathode to the AIO). Then you need to setup your DOF configuration and DOF framework.

 

There are a lot more details to consider. I suggest reading some or all of MJR's build guide.

 

Apart from addressable LEDs, the Pinscape AIO provides everything you need to control buttons, plunger, nudge, and output devices.