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LedWiz Booster Board


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#1 zebulon

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Posted 17 February 2012 - 12:28 PM

So having had discussions with several members about issues with the ledwiz and power consumption, I've decided to design an interface board for supplying more power for the toys in our cabs.

My thought is to use optocouplers to trigger some mosfets for supplying a greater amount of current for the high power toys (shaker motor, gear motor, cree leds) and using darlington array chips like those that are on the board already in a bridged mode (500ma becomes 1A).

The advantages of this design would be:

1: ledwiz only needs run on 5v, output from the booster can be set to 5, 7, 9, 12, 24, 48 volt as needed
2: ledwiz runs cool and well below load capacity
3: by selecting the input by jumper you could easily switch to an arduino as a controller without rewiring your whole cab to + switching

I've got some prototype boards on the way for testing this idea, my question is "would there be an interest in the community for this?"

We're basically talking about a replacement for mechanical relays here, only using circuits to do the switching, making it faster and more reliable.


Links to  final documentation for System boards:

https://dl.dropbox.c...nstructions.zip


Edited by zebulon, 17 December 2012 - 03:34 AM.

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#2 chriz

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Posted 17 February 2012 - 02:16 PM

sounds interesting, especially the inverter for use with ledwiz and arduino. keep us informed about that project!

cheers
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#3 DeeGor

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Posted 17 February 2012 - 03:00 PM

Definitely interesting. I'll be watching this thread.
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#4 numiah

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Posted 17 February 2012 - 06:09 PM

Count me in too.

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#5 maxxsinner

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Posted 17 February 2012 - 10:48 PM

You know where I stand with it Zeb. biggrin.gif

#6 zebulon

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Posted 18 February 2012 - 06:59 PM

A few hours work and a little refining of the circuits in my build thread and voila.......




This board will accept either High (+) or LOW (-) inputs and will power the output with whatever power supply you care to use on the 3rd terminal of each block. This means that you could power each output with a completely seperate supply voltage if you cared to.
For Power input for the opto, you have terminals for 5v, 12v and four grounds (power supplies and ledwiz must be grounded to one of these terminals for the circuit to work, they're all tied together on the board).
By using a 5v signal line from the LEDWIZ and a 12v supply signal for the opto output, the LED wiz will be completely isolated from the load...if you short out an output, the ledwiz doesn't get affected.
By switching the jumpers in the 2 banks in the middle of the board, you switch the input from ledwiz (LOW) to Arduino (HIGH).
Finally, the 16 power MOSFETS are good for up to 55v @ 16A.....far more than anyone needs, but good for those that are running a 48v knocker or for Chriz who lights up his neighbourhood with his machine. Being enhanced MOSFETs, they will pass the PWM signals needed to run your Cree's through the 16million colours available if you so desire. Using a BUZ101s power transistor also gives you a built in reverse diode protection, although I'm still a big fan of loading a circuit at the source of the inductance (putting the diode at the coil rather than on the board).

Space limitations are going to restrict these boards to 16 outputs.


Now to run the traces and make sure I didn't miss anything and it should be good for a proto order.

Edited by zebulon, 19 February 2012 - 05:13 AM.

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#7 maxxsinner

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Posted 18 February 2012 - 09:22 PM

Having the LEDwiz connected only to an opto input means all the fuses can be done away with too! cool.gif
Only way to fry a driver chip then would be to short circuit an output.
Looks great Zeb. Chuck me down for 4 when your ready.

#8 zebulon

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Posted 18 February 2012 - 10:31 PM

QUOTE (maxxsinner @ Feb 18 2012, 04:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Having the LEDwiz connected only to an opto input means all the fuses can be done away with too! cool.gif
Only way to fry a driver chip then would be to short circuit an output.
Looks great Zeb. Chuck me down for 4 when your ready.



Means the LEDwiz needs only the power from the usb as well...can't make it run any cooler than that.

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#9 zebulon

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Posted 19 February 2012 - 08:40 PM

Assembled the circuit on a breadboard and ran some tests.

Proof of concept video here:



You can see in the video that the hardwire for the shaker is disconnected and if you turn up the volume you will here the shaker motor running. We will no longer need to solder to pins on the ledwiz or have to hook up a dual h bridge with this board.
You can also see that the ledwiz is running solely off of the usb cable.


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#10 Zablon

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Posted 19 February 2012 - 10:34 PM

Looks great! Will be an interesting new change to make. I've avoided adding toys up to now, this might be what I need to take the plunge.

#11 H4CK3R

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Posted 19 February 2012 - 10:45 PM

Ill give it a go... =)

#12 zebulon

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Posted 20 February 2012 - 04:15 AM

I've put through an order for a prototype board, after playing with the circuit for the day I'm pretty confident in its performance, but until I've received a board, assembled it, tested it and seen that the design actually works I'm hesitant to order any more.

Should be in a position to take some orders in around 3 weeks. I'll need that much time to figure out what the components are going to cost.

Here's a design for a second board, more of a medium power board.....



and a revision to the high power one.....



Both boards are isolated with optocouplers which will protect the ledwiz like a fuse. I'm going to put the optos in sockets so if someone blows one, it can just be swapped out. The 16 pin header on the boards is for connection to another board I'm working on. The boards will be able to interconnect with a 595 based board that will expand the outputs of arduinos, you just plug a 16pin flat ribbon cable in to join one to another. It will save rewiring everything if you decide to switch. As it is, both of these boards plug in to the existing wiring of a cab that is already running an ledwiz. the outputs are all negative, just like the ledwiz.



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#13 maxxsinner

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Posted 20 February 2012 - 05:55 AM

QUOTE (zebulon @ Feb 20 2012, 03:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I'm going to put the optos in sockets so if someone blows one, it can just be swapped out.



I swear H4CK3R I didn't tell him to do that after I saw you placed an order. And i didn't tell him about how you love to kill LEDwiz driver chips.... Honest! biggrin.gif

#14 pixelmagic

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Posted 20 February 2012 - 04:42 PM

removed

Edited by pixelmagic, 20 February 2012 - 04:43 PM.

Pinbal project blog: click here
LED-Wiz utility: click here

#15 zebulon

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Posted 20 February 2012 - 10:44 PM

I'll keep you posted on the progress.

In the meantime, I'd encourage anyone interested to consider a similar board that is apparently being released as well.

Always look at your options before making a decision. They both have their advantages.

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#16 Dazz

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 02:44 PM

this sounds really interesting, but way over my head... Just looking at everyone's wiring for toys/shakers/solenoids/etc I've been very scared to even get started.

What I'm hearing is that this will allow us to easily connect toys (shaker, solenoids, etc) without having to use external power sources, h-bridge, etc. But, I know it can't be that easy and I'm missing something...
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#17 numiah

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 07:27 PM

QUOTE (Dazz @ Feb 21 2012, 03:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
this sounds really interesting, but way over my head... Just looking at everyone's wiring for toys/shakers/solenoids/etc I've been very scared to even get started.

What I'm hearing is that this will allow us to easily connect toys (shaker, solenoids, etc) without having to use external power sources, h-bridge, etc. But, I know it can't be that easy and I'm missing something...


The toys still need their powersource, they get it through the board afaik.
The ledwiz doesn't need one as it's power source is the USB connection.

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#18 pinballlooking

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 10:00 PM

I am interested. I'll be watching this thread also.

#19 zebulon

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 11:06 PM

Numiah has it right Dazz, this is a replacement for all the relays, h-bridge, fuses etc....you hook the outputs of the Ledwiz to the inputs on these boards and your power supplies to these boards (boards because I can only fit 16 outputs on them) and your toys hook up to the outputs. What it gives you is the capacity to run far more toys (you could easily run 6 crees in parallel on one output, they would all flash the same colour at the same time) and the only parts at risk are easily replaceable in the event of a short or whatnot. They also allow you to hook up an arduino if you so choose.

Think of it as a big relay board for your outputs, only far faster than mechanical relays.

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#20 pixelmagic

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Posted 22 February 2012 - 10:15 AM

First of all, while there where a lot of other people with the same idea, kuddos for bringing the ledwiz expansion thing to real life. I think some people could really benifit from that.

The thing that suprises me, is that you are producing something for a product that is not even available or developed, namely the Arduino for pinball.

There is a small group of people spending loads of time and cash into a new feature for digital pinball, hoping to take 'toys' to the next level, developping both software and hardware for it.
That group is planning to release the software to the community for free and maybe (just maybe !!) getting some small part of there investment back by selling some pieces of hardware, like the driverboard for Arduino and adding some extra ports via the by you refered 595 shift registerers.
You should almost think that you would have known that people are developping such a board....

My personal opinion of this that it lacks respect on almost every point i can think off.

Erwin

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