Open Source - GI Buddy Mod

[swinks]

this is a give back mod from DKPinball where you can buy a circuit board from a company in the US for about - 3 boards for $3.55 USD. You then need to buy the parts (hopefully all available at Jaycar) and then hook it up to you GI and then hook up a power source to it and your lighting and then you can add GI timed lighting effects to you game or your mods. Though you need to do the soldering  

I just bought 3 sets (9 boards) for just over $10 which includes postage which I took the risk as the info on the ordering site is a little vague and a little too good to be true feeling but took the risk, but the boards are on there way  .

Read the following from the creator to learn a little more.


if the parts aren't available we can get them here and probably lots of other places but always nice to have a direct link for the board parts: https://www.mouser.com/ProjectManager/ProjectDetail.aspx?AccessID=edfdee9533

[swinks]

I've been working on this, on and off, for about a month. What's really been holding me up is getting videos made and edited. It's actually kind of a tedious task so it has been delaying things.

I decided to just toss out what I have done now and hopefully get the rest of the project fleshed out, hopefully with the help of the modding community.

Also, I really want to have a get together in the Chicago Northwest Suburbs where I can bring a bunch of my tools and these boards for locals who are interested in learning about surface mount repair / building. I don't want to continue putting that off.

Here is a link to my web site showing the project: http://www.dkpinball.com/DKWP/?page_id=827

Why did I say it was "Free-ish?" Because the board and the parts aren't free. You have to order them from suppliers. But you can get them anywhere you like. The design is free. OSHPark is a board manufacturer for hobbyists. You need to order the boards in groups of 3. If you ordered 3 boards from OSHPark and all of the components from Mouser, the boards end up costing at little over $7 each.

If you go without the Molex connectors and just solder the connection wires to the board (which is probably what I'd do), the whole board ends up costing about $5 each.

*** What is the GI Buddy?
The GI Buddy is an open source pinball related electronics kit. I developed it as a kit to give pinball tinkerers an inexpensive board to learn surface mount soldering techniques. I will document several different methods for working with surface mount components.

*** Why did I do this?
I’ve learned a lot from the Pinball community. I’ve also learned a lot from the many many many free online resources from which I built the skills required to build electronic products. This is my way of giving back.

The kits aren’t free, but I make exactly $0 from this project. You purchase the circuit board from OSHPark and the electronic parts from anywhere you like. I have included a link to Mouser Electronics to make it easy for you, but you can take the part numbers and order them from any electronics supplier you like.

Also, it may be that you want to get into more tinkering and advanced control of your crazy pinball mods. The PIG 2 will be the board for you and you can learn more about it by going to http://www.dkpinball.com/DKWP/?page_id=457 .

*** What does the GI Buddy do?
The GI Buddy is a board that allows you to switch a DC powered mod by connecting it to a traditional 6v AC GI bulb socket on your pinball machine.

*** How do I connect it?
Connect the “IN” pins on the board to a DC power source (Min 3v to Max 50v).
Connect the “OUT” pins to your mod with a current draw no more than 400 ma.
Connect the “GI” pins to your pinball machine’s GI Circuit.

When the GI turns on and off, your mod will turn on and off also.

*** Why would you do that?
A traditional GI circuit is 6v AC. If you connect a typical 12v DC mod directly to the GI circuit, it won’t have enough power for your mod.

Also, if you connect a 5v DC mod directly to the 6v AC circuit, it may not work at all. An LED connected directly to 6v AC will light, but it will not be at full brightness and may have a visible flicker.

*** What does it mean that it’s “Open Source”?
It means you can do anything you want with the design. You could build a million of them and sell them and you won’t owe me a thing. I would, however appreciate a little credit and hey, if you make a million bucks I wouldn’t be mad if you gave me a little something, you know, for the effort.

All kidding aside. It’s free to use, re-purpose, and distribute however you like.

[swinks]

We have the first video up. It's explaining what it is, why you'd use it, and how the circuit works.

Pinball Electronics Gurus, please be kind if I've mis-stated something. These videos are meant to be friendly, unscripted, and informative. Like having a buddy in my shop. I think the important stuff is all correct.

utoplay=1&rel=0

[Marty Machine]

Initially when i read this, i thought it was a mod to make static GI's into flashing ones, but i had to re-read it a few times to realise what it's meant to do (my initial thought would be handy too).

The output opto-triac is a limiting factor in what you hookup, anything (mod) that draws more than 400milliamps will kill that opto output.

I built similar things to this years ago, although i use the lamp & switch matrixes to control external mods.
The addition of some beefier Triacs/Mosfets to the above mod would be a big help.

my 2c :-)
MM.

[Zedman]

I'm a noob so ATM not sure of the application.

It looks like you've spent a good amount of time and have thought things through well.
Nice work!

Doing SMD without a proper soldering station is a challenge I wouldn't try so a ore built kit is a good idea.

Nice to see you have some fun in your video, I didn't get to yes end yet but maybe showing it action woul be good. Maybe I just missed it at the end if the clip. Please disregard if this is the case.

Now all I need to do is work out what to do with one!

Z

[swinks]

it's not my mod rather someone else's, just saw a use for it and thought not alot of money and worth a try for fun

for the SMD soldering will do something like this.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-a-fine-tip-for-your-solding-iron-for-SMD-so/

[dkpinball]

Swinks,

Thanks so much for sharing this with others!

Zedmen:
We're editing the videos now which demonstrate how to work with surface mount components, starting with a plain old soldering iron and spool of solder.  Then I continue upgrading tools as I complete the board.  I work through using solder paste instead of solder wire, using an inexpensive hot air station, and end with using a $20 hot plate (The kind college kids use in their dorm rooms) to do reflow.

The project's main purpose was to demonstrate working with surface mount components.  I figured it would be more fun for pinheads to build a project that was pinball related.  Also, it had to be easy to explain and cheap.  You could burn up 3 boards practicing to build the board and only be out $15.

As an example, I brought one of these boards to a friends house last night.  It turned out that I goofed and mounted the 4 pin SSR to the board backwards.  I was able to de-solder it from the board without damaging it so I could turn it around and re-solder it to the board.  All I had were needle nosed pliers, a spool of small gauge solder, and a Weller soldering iron.  My point is, dig in and demystify SMT soldering.

Marty:
Yea, there are a lot of ways this could go.  There are also some other solid state relays that could handle up to 2 amps, but they got expensive.  I could have used a fet but I really wanted to keep both electrical sources isolated from each other and felt that the 400ma optically isolated relay gave the proper balance between isolation, cost, and usefulness.  You can drive a few bulbs or 15 - 20 LEDs with 400ma.  Not bad for $5. 

This board is powered by the GI when it's on.  I was a little afraid of the gate on a mosfet floating when there was no input power.  I wasn't sure if pulling it down to ground would be enough to keep it to from floating when there really isn't a ground when the AC power is cut off.

Also, I have a product called the PIG 2 that has high power mosfets, can use Lamps, GI, Flashers, Switches, Optos, motors, 24v coils as an input signal to trigger mods.  It has a configurable microcontroller on board with a removable memory card which allows you to control servos and to make mods flash, fade, blink, pulse, or whatever else you can imagine.  All of that started with the question of "How do I make a mod go on and off with GI".  I guess my point is that continuing to add requirements to a single product can build a monster. :)

Thanks again for giving it a look.  I plan on putting together other pinball related open source projects.

[dkpinball]

I've posted 4 more videos on my web site.  They are all techniques for assembling the GI Buddy as well as many different ways to service surface mount boards.

http://www.dkpinball.com/DKWP/?page_id=827

Thanks!

Mike

[swinks]

Thanks Mike, appreciate the update and information. 

[Shaneus]

Bump from hell, but I was just thinking about this... could this be used to convert GI AC voltage into DC voltage suitable for LEDs? I'm sensitive to the 60Hz strobing and this sounds like it might be the way to go. I guess the voltage could be converted to be enough to light all the PF and backbox GI LEDs on, say, a Sys 11 or Whitestar?

[swinks]

pm dk himself, very helpful guy and if it looks good for what you want to do I can arrange (at cost) one of my boards for you to test with and you can then go from there

[Shaneus]

Fantastic, I definitely will! I might even wind up doing the same thing for the GI on the soon-to-be-mine RBION. Might you have two spare boards if I go down that route?