What's new
Pinball info

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Today I worked on......

Finished fitting my second @myPinballs Mod Power Expander board to my TZ today, which involved creating two new cables to power mods. Easier said than done for me, trying to crimp 22AWG wire into JST connectors was taxing.

One thing I have noticed with TZ is that now that I have the ColorDMD plugged into the expander board instead of the main power board, when I power off the game I get a garbled DMD for a brief moment. I assume this is because the main boards go off before the Mod Power Expander board (which is powered from the switched input) ? Is there anything I can do about this besides wiring the ColorDMD back to to the main power board?

View attachment DE17CD35-EAFF-4979-9AA9-3EB38F30BA0F.MOV

















You'll notice in the video that the mini TV, gumball light show, Robby head LEDs and DMD go off the same time. All 4 are the things plugged into the Expander board.
 
Last edited:
STTNG is one of the few IMO that benefit greatly from the LCD ver of ColourDMD. I had one in mine, however the majority look far better and more true to the retro feel with the LED ver.
Just my 2 penneth
Yeah that came set to scan lines but is now on dots xl, got led version in my cv and taf but the others have lcd all in dot xl and look better to me.
 
Finished fitting my second @myPinballs Mod Power Expander board to my TZ today, which involved creating two new cables to power mods. Easier said than done for me, trying to crimp 22AWG wire into JST connectors was taxing.

One thing I have noticed with TZ is that now that I have the ColorDMD plugged into the expander board instead of the main power board, when I power off the game I get a garbled DMD for a brief moment. I assume this is because the main boards go off before the Mod Power Expander board (which is powered from the switched input) ? Is there anything I can do about this besides wiring the ColorDMD back to to the main power board?

View attachment 88407

















You'll notice in the video that the mini TV, gumball light show, Robby head LEDs and DMD go off the same time. All 4 are the things plugged into the Expander board.
My afterglow boards do this to the inserts I wouldn’t worry about it, it’s just holding a short charge.
 
Cheers. My TAF doesn't do it and it is wired up the same way (ColorDMD going into Mod Power Expander board instead of main power board). Perhaps it's just a quirk of different WPC machines, or perhaps TZ puts more load naturally on the boards which mean they lose power faster than TAF ones do? It's a curiousity for sure.. you can see in the video (does the video work on desktop? it doesn't for me) that everything attached to the mod board switches off ~1 second after everything else does.

It's more noticeable with the DMD because its just garbled before it switches off now, like it still has power but the data going to it is gone/corrupt.
 
Yeah that’s a bit strange then if TAF doesn’t do it, one for mypinballs to answer then.
 
I'll have to have a look at my TAF tonight to see when the TV turns off after I flip the power, as it also has the same TV mod. Both Mod Power Expander boards were specced the same - 12v + 5v, so they ought to be identical. It wouldn't really bother me so much if it weren't for the fact the DMD shows a corrupted screen (that video shows an almost white screen, normally it is more garbled) for a brief second. I don't mind the other stuff that's wired up to it switching off slightly after or before the playfield LEDs, etc. It's more ugly than anything, like the speaker pop on power off/on.
 
GB & SS Airball mod’s V2
Had pics sent of my V2 of the Airball mod on both machines and both James and ChrisP seem happy with the outcome.
If anyone feels their pin needs something similar I’m happy to work on these with unlimited revisions for cost of material and postage (approx £2-3 per rev)
All I need is a card template to start it off.
E8479A3E-1D94-4488-BD61-0F4114EFA05E.jpegEC15A81D-FBBE-4283-83E5-61A455FC642F.jpeg409137BC-18AB-43CD-A722-A112E16D1B7B.jpeg4A8D5968-53E3-4A3B-91FE-0CE4F1EEBCF0.jpeg
Col
 
I'll have to have a look at my TAF tonight to see when the TV turns off after I flip the power, as it also has the same TV mod. Both Mod Power Expander boards were specced the same - 12v + 5v, so they ought to be identical. It wouldn't really bother me so much if it weren't for the fact the DMD shows a corrupted screen (that video shows an almost white screen, normally it is more garbled) for a brief second. I don't mind the other stuff that's wired up to it switching off slightly after or before the playfield LEDs, etc. It's more ugly than anything, like the speaker pop on power off/on.
Finished fitting my second @myPinballs Mod Power Expander board to my TZ today, which involved creating two new cables to power mods. Easier said than done for me, trying to crimp 22AWG wire into JST connectors was taxing.

One thing I have noticed with TZ is that now that I have the ColorDMD plugged into the expander board instead of the main power board, when I power off the game I get a garbled DMD for a brief moment. I assume this is because the main boards go off before the Mod Power Expander board (which is powered from the switched input) ? Is there anything I can do about this besides wiring the ColorDMD back to to the main power board?

View attachment 88407

How a colour dmd turns off with a power fail scenario is upto the colour dmd product itself. A power system can not alter what it decides to do. Maybe the 2 colour dmd products you have are different. They switched to a 12v only approach later so if it needs 5v it’s an earlier one.

Showing garbage on screen as the power board bleeds it’s voltage away means colour dmd don’t check for loss of data/blanking signals properly at least on early models
 
How a colour dmd turns off with a power fail scenario is upto the colour dmd product itself. A power system can not alter what it decides to do. Maybe the 2 colour dmd products you have are different. They switched to a 12v only approach later so if it needs 5v it’s an earlier one.

Showing garbage on screen as the power board bleeds it’s voltage away means colour dmd don’t check for loss of data/blanking signals properly at least on early models
It's quite possible it's an older one. it was in the machine when I bought it whereas the TAF one I bought brand new last year.

To be clear - I didn't think there was any issue with the Mod Power Expander board, it was just different behaviour that I was curious to explain. :) As said because the ColorDMD now loses power when the Mod Power Expander board does, which is ~1 second after the rest of the machine (per that video), I think it's no longer getting data, or the data it is getting from the main boards is garbage, etc. Under the normal run of things, with the ColorDMD hanging off the power driver board, it would lose power the same time it loses data. Now, it doesn't.
 
TZ mini PF shop and bling added here and there.
As it’s a little quiet on the design front I thought I’d go bit OTT on my TZ and do a mini shop as the rubbers we’re past their best. Whilst on I thought I’d add a few flourecent plastics purely for the eye-candy factor as protection not needed in that area TBH.
I’ve also done the shooter lane and a couple of randoms again purely for the look.
I’ve a few others to consider but that’ll do for now.
A few pics

19D8FAC8-312F-4016-8D96-5623CAEDAC9D.jpegA47A4CC6-BDAE-41A1-B062-DC9389539AB6.jpeg07C70076-EB7C-4A78-9A43-7EDFBDAC799B.jpegDAFA74D7-10B2-4F36-BF27-23DBFD8955D5.jpeg
 
TZ mini PF shop and bling added here and there.
As it’s a little quiet on the design front I thought I’d go bit OTT on my TZ and do a mini shop as the rubbers we’re past their best. Whilst on I thought I’d add a few flourecent plastics purely for the eye-candy factor as protection not needed in that area TBH.
I’ve also done the shooter lane and a couple of randoms again purely for the look.
I’ve a few others to consider but that’ll do for now.
A few pics

View attachment 88471View attachment 88472View attachment 88473View attachment 88474
i really like that one up at the top exit on the mini Playfield.

Guessing your Pinstadium lights help to 'bring them out'...?
 
Working on some textured flipper toppers with a mate as he has a high end fancy 3D printer, the6 look about 10 times more detailed than my Chinese i3 clone which I’ve now gave away for buttons after seeing his stuff.

1st batch looking good on my i500

766EA009-AE37-4C67-8ED5-2151814F24A2.jpeg
4FBD1E70-B485-4210-9F49-54E0E3E82C9B.jpeg 4AD61C1E-6738-4F74-A181-FE938E07462E.jpeg
 
Glad you got the Indy eventually!

Hope it turned up all working ?
Andy the game is absolutely amazing, just tricking out with protectors, flipper bats, ColourDMD and WIP on a topper here’s a part made one as sample. (Not quite finished as made a little too big so stopped part way)

15E87F66-3745-4B6A-8C6A-6650DB50520D.jpeg
 
Not pinball but I am proud of my days work :)

A few weeks back the youngest found a box of bits and wondered what they were for. I dug out the MAME controller panel that i never had the heart to throw away as I made it when I was at school and thus we ended up with this mess in the corner of the bedroom.

1.jpg



2.jpg


As the wife and kids are away today I decided to turn the dining room into a workshop and make a bartop arcade cabinet from scratch. Im rather happy how it turned out.

3.jpg

4.jpg

5.jpg

6.jpg

7.jpg
 
Back
Top Bottom