Functional Neo Geo MVS LED Marquee Backlight Project

EvilEmuOfDoom

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Functional Neo Geo MVS LED Marquee Backlight Project

***UPDATE 2/18/2013*** If you're seeing this thread for the first time, the form to get on the pre-order list can be found here: http://www.evilemuofdoom.com/mv-eeod-led-kit

I was really bummed to find out that a certain "other" LED backlighting project on neo-geo.com came soooooo close to completion before stopping. However, there was a lot of good information in that thread and along with a few others and the information on http://wiki.neogeodev.org I thought to myself "I might just be able to do that". So, I set out to give it a try...

Having delt with LED marquees recently for my MK2 and TMNT cabs, I really wanted the option to adjust the brightness so right off the bat, that was a desire for me. Having played around with Arduino projects last year, I immediately though of PWM as a means of dimming and started working on an Arduino based MVS lighting controller. At the same time, I wanted to use the logic portion of the MV-ELA board to drive LEDs in case the MCU controller didn't pan out.

So, I've been working on both and have made some really good progress so far. I have the arduino-based controller partially working already with it fully recognizing game changes and being able to swicth lights successfully. My progress can be seen in the following two videos:





As for the non-MCU design, I found a nice simple non-MCU PWM circuit on the web that I was able to build a working dimmable LED setup using potentiometers. The only limitation being that each individual mini-marquee backlight would have it's own dimmer pot although that could be a feature if you consider the face that some MMs are darker/lighter than others. I have parts coming from Mouser on Tuesday and hope to have a prototype of this later in the week.

I plan on making this an Open Source Hardware project for the following reasons:
1) I love tinkering and this project is a perfect example of something I wished someone else had done and said "ok, so here's how you build it". I've found the arcade collecting community to be very supportive and I would love to give something back to it.
2) If for some reason I fail, get bored, get interrupted by real life, etc., I want to make all of my information public so that if someone else wanted to pick up where I left off and complete the project they could easily do so.
3) Realistically, there is a limited market for this so even IF I were to make a polished final product and sell any, it would be for those that can't or don't want to spend the time building there own. This is not my job, it's a hobby, so any proceeds will go to funding further arcade projects and cabinets and the cost would really only cover parts and assembly time in order to keep it as low as possible ;).
4) By sharing my work, a real engineer might see it and say "dude, it would work a lot better if you did THIS..." and the end result would be a better product for everyone :D.

Once I have it working a little better I'll post my schematics and code in this thread. Also, I've started collaborating with DackR via email and will hopefully get him my code and partial schematics tomorrow so he can look through it and give me some ideas/corrections, etc. ;)
 
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Looks like a great start to an awesome project. I was surprised the original guy working on this concept vanished, especially after talking with him about it in person at TempleCon 2011.
It seemed like it was really going to happen, and I wanted to help in any way I could.

If there is anything you need a hand with, or would like tested, let me know. I've installed a ton of EL panels and have a lot of Neo knowledge in general. I really want to see this finally happen! :)
 
Thanks guys! I'm really excited about this and hope I can get it fully operational. But like I said before, worst case I'll at least make all of my project public so that someone could still finish it. Of course, right now I have no plans of quitting, I just wanted to make that really clear ;)

Looks like a great start to an awesome project. I was surprised the original guy working on this concept vanished, especially after talking with him about it in person at TempleCon 2011.
It seemed like it was really going to happen, and I wanted to help in any way I could.

If there is anything you need a hand with, or would like tested, let me know. I've installed a ton of EL panels and have a lot of Neo knowledge in general. I really want to see this finally happen! :)
Me too! He seemed pretty much complete.

Thank you! I'm sure I'll need help from the community on various things and you're officially the first beta volunteer when we get to that point :D.

We'll eventually need measurements and pictures of the wood panel that normally holds the MV-ELB boards for 2-slot cabs, v2/3/4 cabs, and 6-slot cabs.

DackR already has some diffusion material that he's sending me a sample of (which is awesome!) which has me super-excited as well.

What's the cost of all that hardware?
I'm glad you brought this up! My goal was to make this as cheap as possible. I think that a $150-200 solution is way too expensive. I mean, I can't say what it'll cost for a professional packaged product and it could be $150 (which would make me sad) but I want to make sure that this is also buildable by anyone with a little soldering skill for as cheap as possible. The reason I went with those LEDs is because they are MANY times cheaper than building my own unless I were to buy something like 10,000 smd LEDs. That strip was only $12.55 shipped from Amazon and is a roll of 300 LEDs (100 x 3 LED sections) that can be cut and easily soldered. They even have adhesive backing!

So, while it's WAY too early to discuss cost details, I figure the MCU and supporting parts are around $3, misc ICs are another $2-3, LEDs are unknown but assuming 9 per panel would come to <$2. I think most of the cost will be the diffusion material, PCB, and possibly the housing/brackets.

Does anyone have a CNC handy? Especially one big enough to cut MDF wide enough to replace the wood panel behind the marquee. I blew the money I was going to use to buy a CNC on my arcade cabs :D.
 
Thanks! I didn't realize you had an MVS until I saw your video this morning. Is it a multi-slot? If so, guess who just got voluntold as a test user... :D hehehe

Yes, I have a 4 slot that is missing everything marquee wise. It was all stripped by the op. The harness, light board, inverter, the bracket. It wall all removed and a florescent tube was put in its place.
 
Yes, I have a 4 slot that is missing everything marquee wise. It was all stripped by the op. The harness, light board, inverter, the bracket. It wall all removed and a florescent tube was put in its place.
You're not getting out of it that easy, I can make you a cable :p.
 
We'll eventually need measurements and pictures of the wood panel that normally holds the MV-ELB boards for 2-slot cabs, v2/3/4 cabs, and 6-slot cabs.

I have the panels for v1 and v3 4 slots available. I think the 2/4 slot v1s have the same panel with the mounting brackets in a different place, but my 2-slot was converted to fluorescent lighting.

I'll get some photos and measurements tonight.
 
Is this going to be a simple plug in and done? Mine works right noe, just not all of them so replacing it would be nice to get everything working right. If you are having new wood cut for behide the marquee you should have it cut so you can put a light behind the neo geo part and light that up. I am talking about the 4 slot not sure what the others look like or if it would work. This is the marquee I am talking about.

myarcade007.jpg
 
This is great, good luck. I have a spare 4 slot light set up if you need info on anything. If you are close to DC I can even lend it to you.
 
Is this going to be a simple plug in and done? Mine works right noe, just not all of them so replacing it would be nice to get everything working right. If you are having new wood cut for behide the marquee you should have it cut so you can put a light behind the neo geo part and light that up. I am talking about the 4 slot not sure what the others look like or if it would work. This is the marquee I am talking about.

myarcade007.jpg

I'm sure if there is enough demand, the hole behind the neo geo logo could be added to the plan. Worst case scenario, DIY is the name of the game. ;) I kinda want the option as well though...

Edit: Also it will be plug and done if he ends up building the kits and selling them.

I'm assuming that the pre built kits would be limited release-- if that even happens.
 
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This is great, good luck. I have a spare 4 slot light set up if you need info on anything. If you are close to DC I can even lend it to you.

I think we've got the 4 slot mvs covered for testing. We'll keep you in mind. :D

Even though the circuit is basically the same, it would be useful to test on 2 and 6 slot hardware.

If you have a 2 or a 6 slot mvs and want to participate in testing, just let us know here or via PM.
 
Okay, dimensions & photos as promised.

v1 1/2/4 slot cabs:


23 5/8" wide x 11 9/16" tall.

v3 4-slot:


23 5/8" wide x 13 5/16" tall.
 
Oh, and I'm pretty sure the widths for the 6-slot cab can be calculated by subtracting 1.5" from the overall width. Same goes for any of them, really.
 
i did some experimenting with this awhile back when i made some coin counter displays. the main issue I ran into is diffusing the light. you end up with "hotspots".

4.jpg


i think some modification might have to be done to the wood panel with the speakers in order to use LED lighting, or some creative diffusing.

best of luck!!
 
We'll eventually need measurements and pictures of the wood panel that normally holds the MV-ELB boards for 2-slot cabs, v2/3/4 cabs, and 6-slot cabs.
.

Excellent.

Out of dedicated MVS platforms I have a 4 slot revision 1, 4 slot revision 2, early 2 slot, late model 2 slot which is slightly different, and a 6 slot (which is in storage, but I can access it). I'll start taking measurements this week and post some photos.
 
This has been a pain in the ass for MVS owners ***FOREVER***. Every six to nine months I go through the "There must be a cheap source for the correct sized EL panels" motions...wasting an entire night searching the Internet for a solution I am sure exists (you can find new replacement EL lights, but they add up quick when you have two sets of four to replace).

I have a MVS-4-25 Version 1 (in pieces) and a MVS-4-25 Version 3 (complete) in the garage if you need pictures/info.

...and yes. Having the light swap from mini-marquee to mini-marquee IS a part of why this cabinet is so cool. It's why replacing that feature with yet another generic light fixture, although functional, is such a boring way to go. It's all those little quirks and details SNK designed around the system (credit LED's, headphone jacks, memory card support), on top of the library, that made the MVS bad ass.
 
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