I've been thinking for a while about building a bally lamp driver board tester for the Bally Lamp driver boards ( AS-2518-23, AS-2518-14, Stern LDB100).
Up to now, I've always tested a board in a game, but the problem is that not all games use all the circuits (especially the older games) and also it's a pain opening up a game to test a board.
I've got a pile of old boards, and I want to test then and find out what needs fixing. So, I'm designing a little test rig - A stand alone device. Connect it up to a board and it will test all the 60 circuits in one go, quickly and easily.
Also plan for it to test each circuit one at a time and show you the SCR Number and Driver chip number, so it's easy to figure out which ones to replace. if you have a non working one.
System will be a control board with an arduino, a LCD display, something like this:
It will connect onto J4 to provide power and control signals to the lamp driver board. It will have it's own power supply.
Then 3 connectors that go onto J1 J2, & J3 - that have a bank of leds lights - one for each circuit, like this:
I'm getting these boards produced, I'll get a few extra done, and so can make up another couple of testers, if anyone wants one.
The led boards themselves will also be useful stand alone, e.g. remove J1 (or 2 or 3) connector off a board that's in-situ in a machine, plug in the above board and then go into lamp test - all the leds should light (apart from the one in the key position), any that don't light will tell you you have a problem with the board - useful for narrowing down an issue between a board problem and a wiring/lamp holder/bulb issue - it saves having to swap the board for a "known working" board.
Up to now, I've always tested a board in a game, but the problem is that not all games use all the circuits (especially the older games) and also it's a pain opening up a game to test a board.
I've got a pile of old boards, and I want to test then and find out what needs fixing. So, I'm designing a little test rig - A stand alone device. Connect it up to a board and it will test all the 60 circuits in one go, quickly and easily.
Also plan for it to test each circuit one at a time and show you the SCR Number and Driver chip number, so it's easy to figure out which ones to replace. if you have a non working one.
System will be a control board with an arduino, a LCD display, something like this:
It will connect onto J4 to provide power and control signals to the lamp driver board. It will have it's own power supply.
Then 3 connectors that go onto J1 J2, & J3 - that have a bank of leds lights - one for each circuit, like this:
I'm getting these boards produced, I'll get a few extra done, and so can make up another couple of testers, if anyone wants one.
The led boards themselves will also be useful stand alone, e.g. remove J1 (or 2 or 3) connector off a board that's in-situ in a machine, plug in the above board and then go into lamp test - all the leds should light (apart from the one in the key position), any that don't light will tell you you have a problem with the board - useful for narrowing down an issue between a board problem and a wiring/lamp holder/bulb issue - it saves having to swap the board for a "known working" board.
good to have in ya pinball tool box!
