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Randy T.: Can an LED-Wiz be used to drive pinball solenoids ???

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mark shaker:


--- Quote from: KevSteele on September 28, 2008, 02:32:54 pm ---The hella-big things you see are probably capacitors. That, or bridge rectifiers. The transistors on a power-driver board in a pin are actually pretty small...

I think you'd need to isolate the current from the solenoids from the LED-Wiz, since the solenoids would probably be using 50v AC and the LED-Wiz is most likely 12v DC. You could do it with some dedicated circuits, but it wouldn't be simple.

I'm not an expert on electronics, but I'd lean toward the theory that it's more trouble than it's worth unless you're knowledgeable in the field.

--- End quote ---

As you can tell, I also don't have an electronics background, which is why I'm searching for off the shelf solutions.

I gabbed my Monster Bash manual and checked out the "High Power Solenoid Circuit" diagram, it has about 2 dozen components (per solenoid), but it is transistor based.  

As long as I can find a reliable (and not too expensive) way for the low current of the LED-Wiz to control the high current of a solenoid, I'll be happy.

   - Mark

mark shaker:


--- Quote from: whammoed on September 28, 2008, 02:56:35 pm ---If the transistor is rated for the load, you can use one.  Look here:
http://www.johnsretroarcade.com/hardware_knocker.asp#overview
He's using an IPAC but same idea as the led wiz.

Using a relay may offer a little more protection for your led wiz in case of a transistor failing.  Not sure if one would perform better than the other or if it matters.  I believe a transistor would be able to fire a little faster than a relay since a relay is mechanical (of course there are solid state relays too).

--- End quote ---

Thank you!

If I go forward with the project, I may have to run a couple tests to see if relays or this control circuit work best. 

   - Mark



whammoed:


--- Quote from: mark shaker on September 28, 2008, 03:14:14 pm ---
--- Quote from: whammoed on September 28, 2008, 02:56:35 pm ---If the transistor is rated for the load, you can use one.  Look here:
http://www.johnsretroarcade.com/hardware_knocker.asp#overview
He's using an IPAC but same idea as the led wiz.

Using a relay may offer a little more protection for your led wiz in case of a transistor failing.  Not sure if one would perform better than the other or if it matters.  I believe a transistor would be able to fire a little faster than a relay since a relay is mechanical (of course there are solid state relays too).

--- End quote ---

Thank you!

If I go forward with the project, I may have to run a couple tests to see if relays or this control circuit work best. 

   - Mark



--- End quote ---


If you want an easy way to test out relays I have this:
http://www.nicemite.com/PowermiteDD/PowermiteDD.htm
Hooks right up to your pc power supply.  You would want the "LO" version for the LED wiz.

mark shaker:


--- Quote from: whammoed on September 28, 2008, 05:31:23 pm ---If you want an easy way to test out relays I have this:
http://www.nicemite.com/PowermiteDD/PowermiteDD.htm
Hooks right up to your pc power supply.  You would want the "LO" version for the LED wiz.

--- End quote ---

Cool.

Could it actually replace the relays? In your video, your using low voltage from your power supply, to control high voltage to the lamp.

Would the output from an LED-Wiz be sufficient to control the Powermite DD?

Could the Powermite DD handle the load of driving flipper solenoids?

Could it keep it up for a few hundred thousand cycles?

   - Mark



whammoed:


--- Quote from: mark shaker on September 28, 2008, 06:07:12 pm ---
--- Quote from: whammoed on September 28, 2008, 05:31:23 pm ---If you want an easy way to test out relays I have this:
http://www.nicemite.com/PowermiteDD/PowermiteDD.htm
Hooks right up to your pc power supply.  You would want the "LO" version for the LED wiz.

--- End quote ---

Cool.

Could it actually replace the relays? In your video, your using low voltage from your power supply, to control high voltage to the lamp.

Would the output from an LED-Wiz be sufficient to control the Powermite DD?

Could the Powermite DD handle the load of driving flipper solenoids?

Could it keep it up for a few hundred thousand cycles?

   - Mark

--- End quote ---

It uses relays, so I'm not sure what you mean by "replace the relays".
It can easily handle a solenoid in terms of current.  The relays are rated at 12 amps.  However, The max contact voltage on the ones I stock are 28 volts DC and 240 AC.  So keep that in mind,  I think some pinball coils used 50VDC so a different relay would be needed.  I can order relays rated up to 125VDC but the cost would be a few bucks more, so you would need to let me know.
You can expect them to last anywhere from 100,000 (full load) to 10 million cycles (no load).  So for a pinball solenoid I would guess around a million cycles?
The LED-Wiz "sinks" current and should work fine with the "LO" version.
***I'm also pretty sure the board could be outfitted with transistors instead of relays.  It would require the signal wire from the LED Wiz to go in a different location but should work.  The holes for the relays are large enough and the leads on the transistors are long enough to reach the holes.

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