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Pinball Electrical 101


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OK i got a bit stumpped here,

Bought a couple of regulated power supplies on ebay.

A 250watt 12v 20amp like this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180552656437&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Also a 5v 8a from the same place to power me cree's.

Previously i was using a conventional PC power supply, but was getting some cut out when lots of things started firing.

imag0038yo.jpg

For some reason i cant get any contactors/gears/shaker or led's to fire with these supplies. The 12v and 5v Supplies are working because there powering case fans fine, but none of the toys will fire with it??

I checked the outputs with a multi meter and am getting a stable 12v from the outputs.

Anyone have an ideas why this might be? thanks..

Edited by hicks100
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All the grounds go into a bank of terminal blocks then there is one wire running from the terminal block to the -V on the power supply.

The same for the lives which then goto a +V

The gear and knocker are on there own -V and +V

With a multi meter across the terminal blocks, im getting 12v. :hmmmm:

This is the same as i had it set up with the PC PSU. Didnt change anything apart from popping the molex connector of the PSU end and attaching the + and _ to the new PSU terminals.

EDIT: OK so i tested the psu and knocker by wiring the knocker + & - stright to the PSU Terminals, Worked fine.

Up untill now ive not been running any + into the 4 ports on the ledwiz, maybe this could be the issue..? from the manual i could never see the benefit of running external power directly into the ledwiz, Is there any benefit to running external + into these ports?

Edited by hicks100
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The LEDwiz needs a positive to the bank voltage selection hicks100. With you multiple power supplies, separate your voltages on the banks of outputs as best you can.

I cannot tell if you are using relays in between your shaker and gear motor?

Are your contactors firing when directly connected to your power supply?

Upload a few more pics of your wiring if you can. Might make it easier for me to help.

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I am pretty sure just hook these up like 3 knockers(with ground daisy chained. I know there are instructions in the manual for doing that..

Looks pretty simple Zablon. If your using a LEDwiz to control them, daisy chain your 12 volt + between them rather that the ground, and run seperate ground wires from each one back to the LEDwiz. Not sure what current the coils draw. I assume it's less that 500 mA so no relay is needed between the ledwiz and coil? Have not got mine yet so I am unable to measure it for you.

Edited by maxxsinner
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OK Thanks Max,

Here is the current layout:

cabwiring1.jpg

Now before i added the 2 psu's it was the same only the 12 and 5v supply were comming from 1 psu (a PC PSU), and everthing worked fine.

All i did was swapped out the old psu for the 2 new ones, without changing anything else, but now nothing will fire. Tried the knocker attached directly to the 12v PSU and it works.

You mentioned that a supply must be attached to the LEDwiz banks 1-4 but i never had this before with the PC PSU and it worked fine.

I Just swapped out the 12v psu back to the old PC PSU and everthing works again so the ledwiz is still fine.

It just wont fire anything with the new PSU's :hmmmm:

Edited by hicks100
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It works fine with the old PC PSU but wont fire any thing with the new PSU's.

With the PC PSU I get some cut out with contactors etc when lots of stuff starts firing, so i figured the PSU wasnt up to the job.

Thats why i got the seperate regulated supplies.

I know the new PSU's are working as there are case fans wired into the loop which work when i power up, also the front cab buttons are 12v and they light up.

Its just anything controlled by the ledwiz that wont work with them.

Well thanks for taking a look, ill keep playing around and see if i can stumble accross the problem, guess the worst case is ill just have to go back to the old PC PSU and live with the cut out now and again :dontknow:

Edited by hicks100
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Don't worry hicks we will work it out. Just a case of fault finding.

There is a million things that could go wrong so we just need to eliminate each scenario until we get it.

If nothing on the LEDwiz is working, start with the obvious. Make sure the LEDwiz is seen by the PC, USB is on the shortest possible cable with no USB extension leads and a multimeter reads 5 volts across the 5V and GND USB connections.

Next, disconnect every thing from the LEDwiz and put one lead from your multi meter on the Ohms setting to an output and the other lead to the GND terminal, make sure you have a 0 ohms reading when you know a certain output should fire. Output for a contactor when a flipper button is pressed would be easiest (If that makes sense)

The fact that nothing is working from the LEDwiz is my main concern. If you get one thing to fire, we can work from there.

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OK i feel pretty dumb but Problem Solved! :)

It was the ground from the ledwiz, it was loose :embarassed:

I did check this already but just goes to show, check, check and check again!

Now the bad part, the new power supplies have not solved the cut out problem.

I know someone else mentioned that they had to get the shaker off the same power supply to stop their cut out issue so maybe i still need to do this.

Hows everyone else getting on with running all toys of 1 psu?

And thanks for your help guys, much appreciated :tee:

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Glad to hear you found the problem Hicks.

The next part should be straight forward as well. Disconnect your gear motor, shaker and contactors and play a game or two to see if the Cree's and anything else that still connected makes the LEDwiz cut out while playing. Then reconnect one item back up at a time to see if you can make it cut out again. The last item you connect when it starts cutting out again could be the problem, as long as its not a cumulative fault.

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my shaker motor and works quite well its a 12v motor out of an old printer weighted so its off balance

Photo0268.jpg

and heres my gear motor this is part of a video recorder and a socket wrench in reverse

Photo0269.jpg

cheap and cheerful but both seem to work well

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this was one of my contactors so now i put 500ma to the led wiz

so im quietly learning by my mistakes lol

OUCH! Cooked three of your drivers there grim? Not cool.

Think I am going to be recommending to put fuses inline with all LEDwiz outputs after talking to you about this. Will save a LEDwiz or 2 I bet.

Edited by maxxsinner
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Yeah the LEDwiz is hard to get in Australia too and expensive. Got me thinking about where to put fuses in a setup though I will admit grim. Contactors failing would be an instant killer with a short circuit on a coil as you have had. The rest of the stuff, relays and LEDs shouldnt take the ledwiz out. But never say never...

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One could always protect each output with a contactor to it with a 500mA fuse.

I don't know where a contactor peaks when activated though.

We almost need a complete fusebox with all these electrical gadgets, but then again, I'd rather fry a fuse then a Wiz.

With powersupplies capable of pushing currents at at least 20Amps (when a coil shorts) or above through a single ledwiz or wire it's not only the Wiz what is at risk, but actually your whole cabinet ie house !

So I'm pro fusing !

Edited by Numiah
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well at the moment ive put 500ma fuses inline fast blow onto the contactor inputs of the ledwiz and not sure as mine are 24v putting 1 into the positive bank but im not sure what fuse will be viable if any , the 500ma that i have going to ledwiz seem quite happy and havent blown any yet

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