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New low cost Bally / Stern LED Displays

lukewells

lukewells

Site Supporter
10 Years
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
2,540
Location
Blackpool, UK
Hi everyone,

For those of you that do not know, I have been building low cost Bally / Stern 6 and 7 digit LED displays

IMG_7848 (Custom).JPG IMG_7849 (Custom).JPG IMG_7850 (Custom).JPG

As you are probably aware, there are already several manufacturers of LED displays, but none that cater for people with low cost / project machines that don't want to spend a fortune.


So what are the benefits :-

  • Low cost
  • Made in the UK
  • Available in Red / Green / Blue
  • Available in 6 or 7 digit form
  • High quality FR4 PCB, with excellent durability and surface finish (can be re-worked several time without damaging tracks)
  • Does not require the original mounting frame (ideal if yours are missing)
  • Can be used to upgrade a 6 digit game to 7 digit scoring (where the required 7 digit home ROM is available)
  • Available in low power / standard brightness configuration - No need to upgrade power supply
  • Available in high brightness configuration for people with upgraded +5v power supplies
  • Plug and play
  • No longer need the HV section of your power supply to be working
  • High quality genuine Molex connector
Unfortunately it is not possible to buy the LED segments with a comma for a reasonable price, but if you want I can enable the dot instead of the comma, which looks almost exactly the same as the comma (see photos) Stern displays should not have any comma, but the dot can be on or off for Bally or Stern, see pricing below.

1x 6 digit Red and Blue display for Bally Vector £30
1x 6 digit Red display £26
1x 6 digit Green display £28
1x 6 digit Blue display £28
1x 6 digit Yellow display £28

1x 7 digit Red display £27
1x 7 digit Green display £29
1x 7 digit Blue display £29
1x 7 digit Yellow display £29

Kit for 4 players + credit display (6 digit)
5x 6 digit Red display value pack £110
5x 6 digit Green display value pack £120
5x 6 digit Blue display value pack £120
5x 6 digit Yellow display value pack £120

Kit for 4 players + credit display (7 digit)
5x 6 or 7 digit Red display value pack £120 (any mix)
5x 6 or 7 digit Green display value pack £130 (any mix)
5x 6 or 7 digit Blue display value pack £130 (any mix)
5x 6 or 7 digit Yellow display value pack £130 (any mix)

High brightness option +£0 (free upgrade on request - must have upgraded +5v)

Dot/Comma enable +£1 per display (£4 for 4 player displays - not needed on credit display)


Postage will be at cost (or collection free / or delivery to North-West events free)

(Insured postage works out about £5 for one set in the UK)

Payment by bank transfer / Paypal gift

Contact me for more info


Bulk orders / UK / European distributors welcome


Photos below of displays in action
 
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Here is my Galaxy with 4 of the displ]ays installed (and the 7 digit conversion performed)

IMG_7837 (Small).JPG


Players 1 and 3 are standard red, and this game will have all red displays in it as that was the colour that matched best

The credit display is the original Stern display for comparison

Players 2 and 4 are green and blue respectively, and both have the option "dot" enabled in place of a comma. It works quite well so I am going to dot enable all of mine on this Galaxy even though a Stern table does not normally have a dot/comma

Please note that the green is very bright even in low power configuration


Here is a pic with the glass removed

IMG_7843 (Small).JPG


Here is a closeup of the green and blue displays (shown with optional dot enable)

IMG_7850 (Small).JPG
IMG_7848 (Small).JPG

Here is a closeup of the red display with no dot enabled

IMG_20150128_213453 (Small).jpg


And the back of the display showing connection

IMG_20150128_213803 (Small).jpg
 
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Nice bit of work there.

But give us some nice high res pics of the boards themselves! Nowt like a bit of PCB porn for us (even if it's long ago) electronic engineers.
 
abaxas said:
Nice bit of work there.

But give us some nice high res pics of the boards themselves! Nowt like a bit of PCB porn for us (even if it's long ago) electronic engineers.
Click to expand...

The final board will be here in a week, so I will supply pics then. The ones in my Galaxy are prototypes and so have been experimented with
 
Played this machine last week and the new displays look top notch, much better than the originals.
 
Very tempted with a set of blue 7-digits for GOLD BALL. There's something about the custom home ROMs being 7-digit enabled as GB uses 6-digit displays but flashes backbox lamps for scores above 1, 2, 3, and 4 million! I think blue would suit GB nicely. But I'd better get GB fully working again before I double it's value with upgrades ;)
 
I was thinking the same re: GB would match the blue legs on mine but I kind of like the nostalgia of the 1 & 2 Million indicators and haven't got close to clocking it yet.

Ps why does GB not hover tool tip as Gold Ball?
 
astyy said:
Ps why does GB not hover tool tip as Gold Ball?
Click to expand...
Now notice that the "Ps" (upper-case P, lower-case s) in your comment is now a hyperlinked "PS" for Pool Sharks?

I think the auto-linking is based upon the abbreviations at Pinball News: http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/acronyms.html

Some of them are very annoying like "IM" which I'm sure replaces a contracted "I am" (or maybe folks just forget their apostrophes). I got a new one today: I was chatting on the thread about replacement speakers and used the word "mono" for a single speaker - which got linked as MONO for Monopoly. Seriously? Is there a need to contract Monopoly only half way to MONO?

But that aside these displays look very attractive :D
 
Hi, luke,

Bally and Stern games with 7-digit scoring had the million digit strobe line wired to different pins. It's easy enough to release the connecting pin from the header on Stern games, and move it to the required vacant slot (#15, I think) to use a Bally display instead.

Also, would Centaur II and Eight Ball Deluxe L/Edition, with their red display 'glass' (which is actually perspex) need the high brightness version?
 
Jay Walker said:
Hi, luke,

Bally and Stern games with 7-digit scoring had the million digit strobe line wired to different pins. It's easy enough to release the connecting pin from the header on Stern games, and move it to the required vacant slot (#15, I think) to use a Bally display instead.

Also, would Centaur II and Eight Ball Deluxe L/Edition, with their red display 'glass' (which is actually perspex) need the high brightness version?
Click to expand...

Both digit 7 strobes are connected, no need to move the pins in your games, plug and play in Bally or Stern :)

Yes I think that where tinted perspex exists, the high brightness version would be batter. I do have a rapid fire panel somewhere so I could try taking a photo of what it looks like with standard vs high brightness if I can find it
 
I was just thinking that no one has contacted me about green yet... So what Bally Stern games would go well with green ?
 
FLASH GORDON and CENTAUR spring to my mind as good candidates for green. The only game I can think of with green displays is HAUNTED HOUSE, but obviously not a Bally ;)
 
Nedreud said:
FLASH GORDON and CENTAUR spring to my mind as good candidates for green. The only game I can think of with green displays is HAUNTED HOUSE, but obviously not a Bally ;)
Click to expand...

I'm putting red in my Centaur, green would be a bit mad in that one surely? lol

Flash Gordon might look quite striking with green though :thumbs:
 
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