Pin2DMD display on CFTBL single-handedly overloading 12V?

[VeeMonroe]

We have a new-to-us CFTBL which came with a (then working) Pin2DMD colour display. At some point in the last few days, the display started cutting out suddenly. Cycling the power to the Pin2DMD (or the machine) gets it working again.

Troubleshooting reveals:
- The cut-out normally happens during one of a few quite complex animations - the main culprits are the “Slide” animation with the broken glass and the “Finding the girl for the first time“ animation during multiball. It has also happened during the first kiss.
- A multimeter attached to the 12V power input to the Pin2DMD display or to TP1 (12V unregulated) on the power driver board briefly drops from about 14.5V to about 12V when this happens.
- The voltage drop does not happen when I make the “Slide” shot while the display is already off, or if I make the shot when the game state means that the broken glass animation does not appear.

It appears that there is a fault meaning that the Pin2DMD display sometimes draws so much current that the 12V unregulated voltage drops, and the resulting voltage drop confuses the display driver. I don’t know if the fault is more likely to be in the Pin2DMD, the “original” DMD controller board (which also has a 12V power connection) or the power driver board (a fault increasing the output resistance of the 12V power supply would have this effect). Does anyone have any experience with this type of problem or advice on what to do next - I don’t really want to have to take things apart to the point where I can test individual components until I know what I am looking for.

 

[David_Vi]

Creech is at the limit when it comes to power. Especially with the Hologram lamp, changing that to a LED will help somewhat.

You'll need a power supply for the extras or it'll always be at risk of resetting.
We just put one of @myPinballs power expanders in and are running the pin2dmd and the chase echo off of it. No resets since

the “Slide” animation with the broken glass

That's when ours would play up, or it would do the slide sound effect and animation randomly then reset.
I don't think the animations have anything to do with your issue. It'll be other things drawing the power and the pin2dmd suffering because of it.
When you complete slide you get the hologram right?

 

[Asiapinball]

As David says. Creech is at the limits on power. I have a reset on mine when extra ball is awarded. Lots of flashes from both dmd and playfield when that occurs. Easy short term fix was to run it in tournament mode as no extra balls awarded. But I did buy a separate 12v supply as this is the only long term fix. But I haven't got to installing yet so still playing in tournament mode.

 

[VeeMonroe]

We've just ordered an auxillary power supply. We've got a couple of @MadNat boards hanging around

 

[myPinballs]

We just put one of @myPinballs power expanders in and are running the pin2dmd and the chase echo off of it. No resets since

Exactly, problem solved

 

[Pick Holder]

I always run Pin2dmd's off a power supply.

They are usually okay at first but the strain on the old components cause issues long term.

I normally get a 5a 5v PSU and use that (by pass the onboard 12v-5v)

 

[VeeMonroe]

Well, c**p.

I installed a AC-DC transformer and MadNats splitter board to run the DMD off. It works, but the DMD is still cutting out when the Slide animation comes up. I have checked the voltage, and I am no longer seeing the transient voltage drop.

So the power is fixed, but the fault was in the Pin2DMD board all along. We have a HD Pin2DMD on the way, so not going to fix it.