Should coin doors get 12v and some ground questions?

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Should coin doors get 12v and some ground questions?

I just rewired my Bubbles cabinet for my Multi-Williams setup. It originally had a partial JAMMA harness. I completely removed it and added a brand new Bob Roberts' JAMMA harness.

I followed his instructions and it says to run a 12v lead and one of the chassis ground (one of the lower ground wires on the adapter) wires to the coin door.

I wired up my coin door and it all works. However, it seems kinda shaky. Why?

1) While wiring it up originally I accidently shorted some of the coin door wires while wiring it with the cabinet on (doh!) and I fried my JROK board. Not fun. He has since fixed it and I fried the input buffers.

2) So, for the time being I have a spare JAMMA board in the cab. I just swapped out the bulbs while the cabinet was on and I got a spark while changing a bulb and it locked up the JAMMA board when it did. I reset the cabinet and it's fine. But it scared me. I didn't want to fry another board again!

3) The lights seem REALLY bright. I am using 44s. I guess this is normal for 44s, but they just seem bright. Can 44s take 12v? I think they are 14v lamps, so should be coolio.

So, is it ok for me to have 12v going to the coin door and is there a problem with using one of the logic or chassis ground wires from the harness for this 12v? I know Bob Roberts says in depth why it is ok but I wanted to get some opinions here first before I plug my JROK board back in. I am really scared of frying it again.

Or, is this all silly and all my fault cause I am wiring stuff while the cabinet is on. :)
 
You do not want 12v wired to the coin door. In Williams games the coin door lights are wired for 6.3VAC. You can run them off of the -5V line from the switcher. When I have done that I use the 3 LED white bulbs from Ablaze. Normal #44 & #47 bulbs pull a surprising amount of current and they look dim when powered by 5V.

They are somewhat expensive compared to the #44 bulbs, but they will last practiaclly forever.

You can get them at: http://www.centsibleamusements.com/pinball-led-44-47.aspx

They also have the single LED #44s, but I have never tried them: http://www.centsibleamusements.com/1-led4447bayonetbaselampwithflattoplens.aspx

Bob was probably thinking about the Midway cabinets that use the wedge base bulbs that are typically 12V.

ken
 
If you wanted to step down the voltage to your #44's, you could put a 25 ohm (2 watt) resistor between your +12V and your lamp.
 
Ok, I found this:

http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/lamps.html

So, I need to put new lamp sockets on my coin door?

What about how I wired it, is that acceptable?

You do not need to change your lamp sockets unless they are in bad shape.....corroded, falling apart, shorted, etc. You need to use a higher rated voltage bulb.....like a 1813 or an 1815. Either of those will work fine and fit your existing socket. The spearking you mentioned is odd (and not good). It makes me wonder if your lamp sockets ARE starting to wear out and develope a short.....or you accidently caused a short yourself when installing (everything is really close together in that area). Also, since you wired this setup from scratch.....you can run any voltage you want to the coin door lights (12, 5, or -5VDC). There's only two things you have to keep in mind.....01) whatever voltage you run, use appropriately rated bulbs......02) amperage. You don't want to max out the amperage load of the power supply. This can be an issue when running coin door lights off a switchers 12 or -5 volt lines. Most switchers only have the -5VDC line rated at 1 amp (some ever less). So, say the motherboard is pulling 3/4 of an amp....that's all good. Then youy add two #44 bulbs to that line. A #44 pulls 1/4 an amp each (as Dave mentioned). Now you're sucking 1 1/4 amps off a 1 amp line. It might not work....or work for awhile and then shut down. This can happen to any power supply, and on any voltage line (even the 5VDC line...an overloaded line...is an overlaoded line). You could also install a fuse inline between the voltage and the lamp socket. If a short was to develope...the fuse should blow before anything could feedback to the power supply...or the motherboard. Depending on the bulbs you use...a .5 amp or a .75 amp fuse will suffice.

Edward
 
Ok, thanks guys. I am going to run 5V from the powersupply to the coin door.

Do I run -5v? or 5v?

I am going to keep the stock light fixtures in the cab with the 44s or 47 bulbs.
 
You do not want 12v wired to the coin door. In Williams games the coin door lights are wired for 6.3VAC. You can run them off of the -5V line from the switcher. When I have done that I use the 3 LED white bulbs from Ablaze. Normal #44 & #47 bulbs pull a surprising amount of current and they look dim when powered by 5V.

They are somewhat expensive compared to the #44 bulbs, but they will last practiaclly forever.

You can get them at: http://www.centsibleamusements.com/pinball-led-44-47.aspx

They also have the single LED #44s, but I have never tried them: http://www.centsibleamusements.com/1-led4447bayonetbaselampwithflattoplens.aspx

Bob was probably thinking about the Midway cabinets that use the wedge base bulbs that are typically 12V.

ken

How many times do you need the answer John?
 
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I ran -5 but now the board I have resets constantly with a coin error. Lights work great.

I am running ground from the jamma harness along with the coin switch and then -5 direct from the power supply.
 
I ran -5 but now the board I have resets constantly with a coin error. Lights work great.

I am running ground from the jamma harness along with the coin switch and then -5 direct from the power supply.

You could be pulling too many amps on the -5VDC line. What game is this? It should be wired up as follows...-5VDC from switcher to coin door light socket lug (it doesn't matter which lug you use).....Ground wire from switcher ground to the other lug of the light socket. I'm not sure what you mean by the "coin switch" statement above.

Edward
 
Ok, I fixed it...

This was a Bubbles that someone jammatized. I stripped the old JAMMA harness out and installed a new one for my Multi-Willams.

The coin door had a three plug connector. One for power, one for ground, and one for the coin switch.

I ran the -5V from the switcher to the power lead on the plug. I am running ground from the harness and am also running the coin switch wire from the harness to the connector.

I noticed that the power lead was also feeding the coin meter, I disconnected that so the -5 was only feeding the lights and now it works.

So, the three wires going to my coin door are as follows: ground (ground wire from the non-power side of the harness) and coin switch from harness and -5 direct from switcher. Anything wrong with that? The coin door lights and the coin switch are sharing the same ground. It's working fine. :)
 
Ok, I fixed it...

This was a Bubbles that someone jammatized. I stripped the old JAMMA harness out and installed a new one for my Multi-Willams.

The coin door had a three plug connector. One for power, one for ground, and one for the coin switch.

I ran the -5V from the switcher to the power lead on the plug. I am running ground from the harness and am also running the coin switch wire from the harness to the connector.

I noticed that the power lead was also feeding the coin meter, I disconnected that so the -5 was only feeding the lights and now it works.

So, the three wires going to my coin door are as follows: ground (ground wire from the non-power side of the harness) and coin switch from harness and -5 direct from switcher. Anything wrong with that? The coin door lights and the coin switch are sharing the same ground. It's working fine. :)

Sounds good. DC ground...is DC ground...it doesn't matter where you pull it from. I thought maybe you had the coin switch ground and singal wires reversed....so the signal wire was running to the lights. Sounds like the coin meter was adding too much amperage for the power supply to handle.

Edward
 
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