"Now, what you have to do is go through every single wire, every single bulb, and check each one..." "I did that, Dad." "Well, good, Clark, but if you need any help, I'll be upstairs, asleep." Suppose it's a matter of voltage, and if there's enough of an issue on one end it'll spread throughout the system - and I can see why it's so darn frustrating. Electrical contracting can be awful. At least you've been able to identify it and come up with a workable solution, if not a permanant one!
Not only do the new FAST LEDs "add pressure", but if you use the connectors with the "lips" on them, they actually lock in place. I don't have a link handy, but the connectors I got are white and look more like the other connectors in the FAST system, where they lock in place -- like an ethernet cable on a PC (assuming more people are familiar with that). Molex is probably the right term here, I'm just not that book-smart :) After watching this though -- I'm going to solder all of mine, either talk the FAST guys in to selling some without the pins on them, or find another source. I mean, I'll still use the quick connects for prototype, but for that illusive "final" version I'll solder.
Yea i learnt not to use connectors that dont lock on my homebrew early. I have a habit of poking around and bumping cables loose then wondering why things break. Great to see your progress on this 🙂
Makes note... Lighting on LEDs will be stressful and not looking forward to the lightening side of my pinball machine. I just recently bought my Fast pinball kit and waiting for it. Already have my power supplies wired up with a switch even so both come on at the same time and on one line cord. Cannot wait to get started on my pin and do lots of streams of it. :)
Nice work, man. A solid reminder that good work often boils down to taking care of all those small, seemingly simple details that all add up to produce unwanted margins of error. Another quick question, if I may - do you have any flashers going on your machine? If so, how are you going about that with the FAST hardware?
Not yet, but I'm in the middle of figuring that part put as we speak. It's easy to control a single color LED flasher using a coil driver, but I'm working on a configurable RGB LED solution that I've seen some others use.
Similar thing happened to me, with the leds turning on and off randomly, just like yours. Very frustrating like you said, since it's not easy to find the source of the problem. Eventually I found out the problem. It was the cheap power supply. I had the 5v across all the leds, but I think it sends some noise from time to time and the leds hangs or displayed random colors. Replacing the PSU with a better one fixed the problem completely.
bet that felt good to kill that gremlin once and for all! I definitely have experienced this problem as well.. access is a nightmare to a lot of my LEDS so I've mostly avoided trying to diagnose.. usually lights are fine in attract but after a while into a game get some that go weird colors and/or stay on. I wish I could change to the new boards but I can't face changing them all out.. have found that flickering has often been loose connections vs colors being off and some staying on in a chain can be caused by a bad board in the chain and signals getting messed up after that board. But ultimately -- moving to those more secure connections is a good way to go.
Never considered it might be because of electromagnetric interference from the coils ? When cables like those are too close to a coil, firing one could be enough to fuck up the signal, or at least a few bits. Also the connectors from your new boards are not meant to be used with those cables but hey, whatever works, right ;)
Yes that's a good call out, I forgot to talk about how the wiring needs to run compared to the HV lines. And yes, from what I understand FAST chose those connectors because they are the best they could find to hold the skinny connectors that most everyone uses, and I have yet to see anyone actually use the proper plug connector that matches this recepticle.
Granted,I'm into Digital games because I don't have access to make Physical PB Games . But it's very frustrating to know whats going when all the Lights are flashing or Not Turning on /off when they Not suppose to . Critical issue in my Opinion
"Now, what you have to do is go through every single wire, every single bulb, and check each one..." "I did that, Dad." "Well, good, Clark, but if you need any help, I'll be upstairs, asleep."
Suppose it's a matter of voltage, and if there's enough of an issue on one end it'll spread throughout the system - and I can see why it's so darn frustrating. Electrical contracting can be awful. At least you've been able to identify it and come up with a workable solution, if not a permanant one!
Not only do the new FAST LEDs "add pressure", but if you use the connectors with the "lips" on them, they actually lock in place. I don't have a link handy, but the connectors I got are white and look more like the other connectors in the FAST system, where they lock in place -- like an ethernet cable on a PC (assuming more people are familiar with that). Molex is probably the right term here, I'm just not that book-smart :)
After watching this though -- I'm going to solder all of mine, either talk the FAST guys in to selling some without the pins on them, or find another source. I mean, I'll still use the quick connects for prototype, but for that illusive "final" version I'll solder.
Yea i learnt not to use connectors that dont lock on my homebrew early. I have a habit of poking around and bumping cables loose then wondering why things break. Great to see your progress on this 🙂
Makes note...
Lighting on LEDs will be stressful and not looking forward to the lightening side of my pinball machine.
I just recently bought my Fast pinball kit and waiting for it.
Already have my power supplies wired up with a switch even so both come on at the same time and on one line cord.
Cannot wait to get started on my pin and do lots of streams of it. :)
It's all worth it tho! Can't wait to see progress of your machine!
Nice work, man. A solid reminder that good work often boils down to taking care of all those small, seemingly simple details that all add up to produce unwanted margins of error.
Another quick question, if I may - do you have any flashers going on your machine? If so, how are you going about that with the FAST hardware?
Not yet, but I'm in the middle of figuring that part put as we speak. It's easy to control a single color LED flasher using a coil driver, but I'm working on a configurable RGB LED solution that I've seen some others use.
Similar thing happened to me, with the leds turning on and off randomly, just like yours. Very frustrating like you said, since it's not easy to find the source of the problem. Eventually I found out the problem. It was the cheap power supply. I had the 5v across all the leds, but I think it sends some noise from time to time and the leds hangs or displayed random colors. Replacing the PSU with a better one fixed the problem completely.
these are actually MTA 100 type connectors and are supposed to be mated with a locking counter part: digikey part number A31018-ND
bet that felt good to kill that gremlin once and for all! I definitely have experienced this problem as well.. access is a nightmare to a lot of my LEDS so I've mostly avoided trying to diagnose.. usually lights are fine in attract but after a while into a game get some that go weird colors and/or stay on. I wish I could change to the new boards but I can't face changing them all out.. have found that flickering has often been loose connections vs colors being off and some staying on in a chain can be caused by a bad board in the chain and signals getting messed up after that board. But ultimately -- moving to those more secure connections is a good way to go.
Never considered it might be because of electromagnetric interference from the coils ? When cables like those are too close to a coil, firing one could be enough to fuck up the signal, or at least a few bits.
Also the connectors from your new boards are not meant to be used with those cables but hey, whatever works, right ;)
Yes that's a good call out, I forgot to talk about how the wiring needs to run compared to the HV lines.
And yes, from what I understand FAST chose those connectors because they are the best they could find to hold the skinny connectors that most everyone uses, and I have yet to see anyone actually use the proper plug connector that matches this recepticle.
For anyone ordering from Ali baba, you should always assume near-zero quality control. And also lead everywhere lol
+Voltron !..
Oh yeah
hey steve how did you finally fit your ball trough and auto plunger have you got any photos
Nothing special, tho with the auto plunger I chose it was a bit tight for some reason - email me if you want more details - thepinballroom@gmail.com
Are you going to make art blades for your machine?
Actually no, I ended up going with the black mirror blades that pinballlife sells and am really liking them
Granted,I'm into Digital games because I don't have access to make Physical PB Games . But it's very frustrating to know whats going when all the Lights are flashing or Not Turning on /off when they Not suppose to . Critical issue in my Opinion
I totally agree, many machines have become way to complex and are virtually impossible for newbies to figure out what to do
@@thepinballroom
Exactly and was about to Mention the Newbies