maxxsinner

Thanks GW. I will add these links to the turtorial next update. While we are at it, can people please add some links for those in the UK, Europe and anywhere else that you can think of. Would be great to be able to add a link list to the tut for everyone.

Just found a US web site that seems to supply all the stuff that I have been refering to. Digi-key has everything from braided sleeving through to slotted trunking (Which I have just discovered is sometimes called raceway in the US) as well as resistors, Crees, heatsinks, terminal strips, everything that a DIY pinball needs. If anyone needs help in selecting parts, either post here or shoot me a PM.

You would not read about it Ozstick. I have had no problems with the service for so long then they went to the proverbial s-house over a couple of weeks. A bit of lost business but no way to get compensation... Enough unhappy customers to almost go bankrupt by the look of it. Wait and see I guess....

Link is operational again. The site that hosts my server was attacked by hackers and distrubed all services for 4 days. Gald I wasnt one of the poor buggas that needed to fix that mess up.

Appears to be a DDOS on clickngo servers. Thier whole hosting service is offline. No doubt it will be back online sometime later today. If anyone is needing a copy in the meantime, I have uploaded a copy to the FTP server /Upload Here/Maxxsinner

Cheers for the heads up Dazz. Just noticed that myself. Looks like my server is down and so is the hosts website. Will let you know when I find out more.

Don't know why I didn't think of this before. Should be slapped in the face for not realizing it. To calculate the amperage drawn from your knocker coils, measure the resistance of the coil using a multimeter in Ohms then use Ohms law to calculate the amperage. V - Volts that you want to use in DC I - Current in Amps R - Resistance in Ohms Ohms Law - V= IxR So to find the amperage we change the equation to use the numbers we have, Volts and resistance. I= V/R So if your using a 24 volt power supply and your coil is 7.6 Ohms I=24/7.6 = 3.15 Amps 48 Volt power supply I=48/7.6 =6.31 Amps The higher the voltage the stronger the power of the coil, but the amperage rises at the same ratio. Hope this helps a few people out.

I dont have a knocker as yet Hicks so I am unable to measure one. (hopefully someone else can help here) But I can guide you through how to test with your multimeter if your interested? Just post a pic of you multimeter or tell me the make and model of it and I will shoot you a diagram of how to test.

Sorry Zablon. Have a bad habit of over explaining myself. Yeah its not really needed but there is no harm in doing it.

Oooo Good question Zablon. If you have a mains cable using the bolt as a fixing point for the cable or it runs very closed to the bolts you certainly could put a ground connection onto the 4 legs, but most likely there is almost no chance of the legs getting mains voltage accidentally on them. Legally the requirement is to ensure that all mains are double insulated from possible exposed conductive parts so if all your mains cabling that runs past your leg bolts still have their outer and inner insulation, you should be fine. But if you want that extra protection to be sure, there is no reason why you cant ground all off the legs together then back to your earth connection.

Just wanted to say thanks for this blur. It adds that bit of finishing touch and poslish that I was after.

Updated tutorial with LEDwiz fuses and multiple power supply connections

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...

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.

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.

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.

Everything looks fine to me there Hicks. What made you change power supplies? Sounds to me like a bit of a sick ledwiz there... So the ledwiz wont fire anything at all?

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.

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.

Have you got a pic of the em xylaphone that your refering to Zablon? Curious to see what your refering to and I will post a wiring diagram for you if you need it?

I can help you with the electrical side Zablon, but with the scripting I am no help. The boys are doing a ledwiz script for all other outputs, contactors, knockers, etc so I would assume it's just a case of adjusting the script to suit your triggers and outputs. This thread may put you on the right track. http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11584

Lmao! did she have a mains powered one? *shuddder*

Glad I could help. Lol hope I dont offend any believers with that signature. Hmmm that last one could be my next guide. Shaker motors for pinball cabinets and perment smiles on the wife

The correct way to connect up multiple power supplies is to connect both negatives from each supply to a common point then wire all negatives from all your gear back to that common point. Please understand that this * HAS NOT BEEN TESTED * So all usual disclaimers about house fires, imploding LEDwiz's, and male erectile dysfunction caused by anything stated here cannot be pointed at me. (Well with that last one I guess without the magic blue pills nothing is pointing ) But from what I can ascertain, the LEDwiz is using the ground from the PC on the USB cable to complete the circuit of all your gear so a connection from the GND to the same common star point you make from the negatives from your power supply would be the best way. Try and keep the wires from your negatives about the same length and wires should be the same gauge. This stops any difference in the resistance of the wires putting stray voltages onto the other power supply. Update - Sent an email to LEDwiz technical about this. The response was -" This should be fine. However, when tying multiple grounds from different supplies together, it's good practice to use a meter to make sure there is no potential between any of the grounds you intend to tie together. Usually, you can check for continuity between all of them and they will be common through the grounded mains plug. "

You can certainly install a fuse on the negative wire. Fuses work on current draw so any current passing through the + wire will must pass through the negative and if the contactor coil shorts, a fuse would protect the ledwiz. The 12 volt contactors that I am using draw about 450mA. I am not sure what the 24 volt contactors draw but considering the ledwiz has a maximum 500 per output, I would be using a 500mA fuse and see how you go. Thanks for the post. I will be installing them in my cabinet now and will add something in the guide for this on the next update.