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Tricking out classic cabs. Is this a bad idea?
MYX:
--- Quote from: Glaine on January 31, 2007, 01:27:55 pm ---Or obviously you could put in an AC/DC adapter from the shack in there and call it done. Or if you have extras sittign around from old CD-Players, etc you might try wiring to one, just watch what voltage it is. You just strip the adapter prong off and attach those wires to whatever I need.
--- End quote ---
This would not work with in game events. It would just be an always on. But you are right old PSs to old stuff never gets thrown away in my house as they are used all over the place in my gizmos. ;)
Hey Chad, if I went off the matrix...This is a bad idea? There are several runs with more than one light on it correct? I do not have my schematics here at work, but arn't the matrix lights just 12v? Or, I could go with an LED as there is more than enough voltage to get it on, I would just need to put a fairly significant resistor in line with it.
ChadTower:
You could probably just put some LEDs in line with the magnasave bulbs. Doing it that way wouldn't require any tapping into the signal at the board level and putting a couple of LEDs on there (you'd only need two) without increasing the current draw any substantial amount.
I think the bigger issue doing it this way would be running the wiring in a way that didn't restrict raising the playfield and wasn't insane. Obviously you could just run a line from the magnasave bulb but that's near the player end of the playfield, so to do it without restricting you'd have to run the wire all the way to the back of the playfield and then down the inside wall of the cabinet.
A second way may be to find what pin on what connector is sending the current for those bulbs and just tap it from that connector. They must be on their own circuit since they flash out of sync with the rest, right? Then you could run the wire through the bottom of the backbox like all the others. The negligible current draw of the LEDs is really your friend here. The challenge there is coming up with a good way of tapping it at the connector that isn't just jamming another wire into the IDC slot.
MYX:
I am prob going to be replacing all the pins and female housings with the crimp trifurcon pieces. I am thinking that on those 2 lights (4 wires) I may put short wires (like 3 inches) at the connector and put a female shielded spade connector on the end. Then I can run the LEDs to a bundled set of 4 wires that will terminate in male spades. This way nothing is soldered and easily removable if necessary. Actually I should make the leads off the board run long enough that they extend into the play field box so I do not have to dive into the top box.
ChadTower:
Sounds like a solid plan. Good call on upgrading the IDC connectors, too, those things are complete toast waiting to happen by now.
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