I'm about to install an LED OCD in my TZ, but I've noticed that my Start Button and Extra Ball button look like they're using incandescent bulbs. Everything else in the game with the exception of the clock and a flasher underneath the mini-playfield are LEDs.

Am I likely to blow a fuse with these 2 bulbs in situ, or would I be better off replacing those two bulbs first? They look like a huge pain to remove so I'm hesitant.

Thanks for heads up, didn't even think about those. They are almost certainly going to be incandescent too given that the previous owner didn't bother to replace the button lamps.

Thanks for the fast reply herg

I have a GI OCD board too that I was planning on installing at the same time. I'm guessing I'm going to run into problems then if the clock is standard (4 non-LED bulbs?) and the coin door bulbs (no idea where these are or how to access them) ?

Thanks again. I need to do the clock really, I've been putting it off because it looks like quite a chore to remove, but I have all the parts ready to go (Ingo board etc) so I've got no excuse. I'll do that and the coin door & buttons first before installing your boards I think. Thanks.

Any gotchas I should be aware of in installing both the GI and LED OCD boards in the recommended locations (GI OCD vertically on backbox left side, LED OCD horizontally on backbox right bottom) alongside uprated speakers? I bought the 3D printed standoffs for them.

I've got a pair of Flipper Fidelity speakers in my TAF with the terminals at the bottom (looking face on at the panel). From the looks of it these terminals are touching the floor if not very close to the bottom of the backbox.

Was hoping someone might have already found out whether this conflicts with the LED OCD board and how they solved it...

I haven't installed the volume control yet, but I'll most likely be putting it at the front of the cab with the extension kit that you can buy.

I don't know how Stern cabs compare to B/W in terms of speaker spacing though.

Thanks for the feedback

Is there anything I need to be aware of fitting a GI OCD to my TAF in the UK? I'm sure I read an old post about how it didn't work or needed some specific firmware to run on 220v/50hz here in the UK? I don't know if that was still the case or if I needed to know anything else?

I bought both boards direct from the US at the start of the year so I presume they are the latest versions but never got around to fitting them to my TZ at the time (it turned out to have GI dimming issues).

Thanks. Assuming I might not have that firmware already - how would I update it without damaging it by connecting it up?

Quick question - I'm aiming to install LED and GI OCD on my TAF soon, but before I do that I'm going through all the lamps and changing them to Comet ones (not non-ghosting). I've done all the inserts and am working on the GI. I was planning on installing the boards last of all.

The GI OCD FAQ says that it changes GI from AC voltage to DC. Will this affect the polarity of #555 wedge bulbs that I install? In other words - will they continue to work when installed in either direction? I've noticed that my flashers only work with the bulb installed in one direction.

The reason I ask is that some of the GI on TAF is particularly tricky to get to, so I don't want to put it all back together and then install GI OCD only to find the bulbs no longer work in the orientation they're installed in, if that makes sense.

I guess what I'm asking is - if all the bulbs in the game light up before installing LED and GI OCD, is there a chance some wouldn't work until they were reversed in the socket afterwards?

Thanks. They are sold as "AC/DC".

Just started trying to install my LED OCD and GI OCD in my TAF. It was bought back in January 2018 (was originally meant to go in my TZ but discovered GI dimming doesn't work on it), but the GI OCD I've got has installation instructions that talk about WPC95 instead of WPC89.

The LED OCD instructions correctly say WPC89.

I've double checked my order (ordered direct from @herg, had it brought back to the UK by a friend) and it definitely says WPC89 for both.

Is the GI OCD different between WPC89 and WPC95? There are two sets of instructions on the website which suggests to me that there must be some differences?

D87101CD-C7AB-4D64-A8A5-6B80E8FB3B1D (resized).jpeg

Help gratefully received...

I never installed it in my TZ. None of it has been out of the packaging.

I determined before installing that GI dimming was faulty on my power board in TZ because the GI dim levels test do nothing. All of the lights stay on max brightness at any level (they switch on and off correctly according to strings). I assume my Zero Cross is faulty but it's beyond my skills to fix and the game otherwise functions perfectly. I'm aware that GI dimming has to be enabled in settings for it to work in test, etc - I've ruled out settings.

On my TAF with LEDs the dim levels test cause serious strobing effects, so I know the dimming works - in as much as the signal to dim is getting to the bulbs.

Yup, I was gutted when I found out because the machine was fully shopped and I paid a commensurate price for it. Because it is in otherwise perfect condition I've tried to put that fault out of my mind. I'll get it fixed at some point in the future.

Thanks for the clarification on the GI OCD. Just took the instructions out of the bag and found a set for WPC95 and WPC89, so I feel a little stupid now. Unfortunately I'm the sort of person that likes to know exactly what I'm doing before I start.

Well, my LED OCD lasted about 3 seconds. The LEDs on the board just pulsed before turning off completely. No inserts lit on playfield in attract mode.

Uninstalled LED OCD and everything back to normal. Whatever fuse was on the board confirmed as blown (you can see the wire split). The fuse that was preinstalled in there has 1.5A 250V on it - is that right? The instructions talk about it being 2A...

My game has no incandescents at all (including the start button), I replaced every bulb with Comet 2SMD ones. I do have several scoop light mods though (also LED), would that cause a problem?

Here are some photos in case anything obvious stands out, but installation was straightforward.
89C91BCD-620A-4F78-BCEA-720FBB9920CA (resized).jpegA07E1277-7860-4047-B4F4-B6116034843B (resized).jpegB3905C54-E9E0-488A-88F4-1EB2A9D15E39 (resized).jpeg
DF34377F-63EB-4870-B206-89F438B52072 (resized).jpeg

Thanks very much for the lightning fast reply. Am I missing out anything by not having the Rev 3 version? It's taken me over a year to get around to trying to install it.

All the bulbs with the exception of the scoop light mods are Comet 2SMD. The scoop mods add another 7 LEDs in total. Don't have any LED strips or anything else in there.

If 2.5A is safe then I guess I'll try that, unless 2A is safer? I'm not aware of anything wrong with the game, everything works as you'd expect and there is 100% not a single incandescent in there.

Sorry for all the dumb questions.

I'm pretty sure my board wasn't shorting on anything, it was installed on the brackets (also bought from herg ) and with the supplied nylon screws.

Just think my TAF has too many bright LEDs I think (I hope!). Will try fitting a 2A one and if that fails go up to 2.5A.

Ok thanks. Guess I'll have to be very careful.

Can LED OCD handle the "All Lamp Test" test mode, where all insert lamps switch on at the same time and off again?

I have GI OCD yet to fit ("Rev 4 or later"). Should I be worried that I have Comet 2SMD in all of the GI too, and a few OpMax ones too?

Bit of a useless post but I took a video of my TAF in advance of me trying to fit my LED OCD board again, and was amazed to see that the video looks nothing like it does to me to the naked eye. In the video it looks like the machine is spazzing out, with inserts flashing almost randomly, ghosting being very manifest, etc.

Is this simply how the LEDs are behaving and that my eyes just don't "see" it, or otherwise tune it out somehow?

Dumb question I know.. but it's so weird to see a video that looks nothing like the machine does in person!

herg - I forgot to mention I have LED ring pop bumpers.. they must add a fair amount more load than a single LED. Explains 1.5A blowing at least

I guess it also explains why some people don't have a problem with LEDs and wonder what the fuss is about. I don't see anything like that video when I'm stood in front of the machine, it just looks normal (albeit digital on-off).

I've heard people complaining of LEDs giving them headaches, and if they're more susceptible to framerates etc (that video was 29.97 FPS - standard iPhone video), and now I can sympathise!

2A did the trick.. woop!

Looks amazing even without configuring anything yet.

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Fitted GI OCD too, worked first time

Some questions though..

1) When I read the settings off the GI OCD all of the strings had 100 in B8 of the range. The software shows that in orange which I presume means unsafe? What should it be by default? The software usage page shows it as 35 in B8!

2) The blinker bulbs (Comet fast and slow) behave weirdly. Doing manual testing on them they don't respond predictably, and don't seem to turn on at all without high values in the B1 setting. They don't dim at all from what I can see.

3) More of a TAF specific thing.. does anyone know what String 4 is supposed to be? From my testing String 1 = Left Playfield, String 2 = House (backglass), String 3 = People (blinkers, backglass), String 5 = Right Playfield.. which leaves?

Thanks in advance.

Thanks. Set them all to 40. I couldn't really see any brightness difference between 35 and 40.

Couldn't explain how they all ended up on 100, but it's sorted now. Haven't been playing with Advanced at all, the default settings seem to be near perfect (great job @herg)

Found out there is an unused string in TAF, so guessing that's 4.

Thanks for your help.

This is from a long time ago but.. is there any benefit to setting the pulse rate to 1kHz? I think mine was on 500hz, which I presume is the default (also set to 50hz as I'm in the UK). I see "shimmering" in my GI and inserts if I try and set the brightness to much below 10. They are standard Comet 2SMD bulbs (not non-ghosting ones). If the pulse rate isn't likely to make any difference to that, I'll just leave it as it is and carry on leaving it starting on 10.

Thanks.

I'm starting to wonder whether it's actually worth me routing two USB cables through the front of the machine (the two I received are not long enough to reach the coin door comfortably) given how much I'm already tweaking with it lol.

How cool is that

Is there any reason B7 and B8 would be the same brightness in GI test (pin menu, not anything to do with GI OCD software)?

GI fades correctly from B1-6, but B7 always appears to be the same brightness as B8. I've even tried setting a big difference between B7 and B8 - e.g B7 is 10, B8 is 35 to no avail.

Ah well. I won't notice it really. Just glad my game isn't faulty! Thanks for the fast reply (again)

herg will there be any way for us folk in the UK to buy one? I'd definitely be keen to protect mine.

No probs, thanks anyway.

Getting a bit ahead of myself here but how would this stay attached? Cable tie through the PCB holes as it is now? (guess you could use two instead of one looping over/under the edge connector - which isn't great) or nylon screws per your LED & GI board brackets?

Would it be feasible to have a small lip on the other side that would keep the PCB in place as it would only be held down on one side?

Agreed. No sense selling something at a loss by only charging for shipping. Products evolve over time, and all of us buying them knew what we're getting (and not getting) when we buy them. I would definitely want one of these but I wouldn't expect to get one at lower than cost price a year after I bought GI OCD.

I'd rather you (like anyone) turn a profit if it makes this line of work sustainable for you. Taking a loss on each one shipped by only charging for shipping doesn't help that. Posting the STL online more than covers you for past customers I think.

LED OCD has got nothing to do with GI so wouldn't be affected by that setting.

Not in front of my machine (TAF, but it's still WPC89) but the ground connection for LED OCD goes to the top right of the machine. It only goes there I think?

Where are non-US folk supposed to buy these from?

Comet sell the LED OCD, but to my knowledge have never sold the GI OCD.
Pinballshop.nl did sell both, for an exorbitant price (imo), but do not list the GI OCD at all anymore.

As far as I can tell there are no other suppliers.

Are non-US folk just screwed?

Apologies, I forgot I posted on here too. herg as ever was brilliant, responding immediately

Hi,

Can anyone tell me what type of #8-32 1/4" nylon screws are needed to attach LED and GI OCD to their respective brackets? (seen
here  and here)

You can't get these screws in the UK so I guess I'm going to have to try and import them from somewhere.

Looking at this website  for example, I can see choices for PAN (head I assume?), FLT (?) and "Binding", whatever that means.

Can anyone point me in the direction of the correct screws please.. herg ?

Thanks. Will see if I can find some of those

My small board in my TAF is just cable tied to the loom running along the bottom of the Power Driver Board. My GI OCD board is mounted on the left hand side of the backbox, per the bracket instructions.

There’s pretty much nowhere to mount it other than that really.

What have you got already occupying that space?

You've got me very curious now. I definitely don't have any board on the left hand side of my TZ backbox..

IMG_1996 (resized).jpeg

(bit of an old photo, but still)

If you can’t remount that board I think you’re going to struggle to fit the GI OCD board. The cables that come with it are only long enough to reach the bottom of the boards in the usual places.

You might possibly be able to mount it on the bottom of the backbox on the left, covering over the hole that is normally used to secure the backbox down, but I would’ve thought it would foul the speaker.

Thanks. I managed to score some 8-32 “UNC” screws from a UK store, hopefully they’ll work. Had to buy 100 of them though lol.

Mine is sortof floating too, if it’s the one I’m thinking of. I don’t think you can really install that one anywhere, but you can cable tie it to the loom if desired.

Can anyone share their GI OCD settings for Twilight Zone please?

I’ve just installed it in my TZ and am getting strange results.. I had a feeling that Zero Cross is not working on my power driver board (LEDs never strobed on an GI dim level even with all options at default) but I knew about that before fitting the board.

Anyway, here’s what I’m seeing:

- With the standard WPC89 settings (String 1 = Input 1, String 2 = Input 2, etc up to 5) my String 3 (Clock & Insert) doesn’t illuminate at all when set to the default Input 3.
- If I set String 3 to be controlled by another Input (e.g. 1 or 2) then it illuminates.
- All other strings seem to work with their corresponding inputs.
- If I use Manual Control in the GI OCD tool I can send different levels of dim properly to each string.
- When on Game Control, none of the strings dim at all - they are at full brightness 100% of the time.
- If I go into the GI test and play with the different brightness levels for different strings nothing changes at all, the game doesn’t even turn off the strings not currently selected (e.g. “Playfield Left” should only illuminate String 1, but everything is on)

Clearly something not right here and am wondering whether it’s an issue with my GI OCD board or the Power Driver Board. Any ideas herg ?

Thanks in advance!

The GI OCD board? Or the PDB?

I could do that I guess, though I have a feeling since Manual Control dims the different strings properly and Game Control doesn’t the signal to dim isn’t getting from the game to the GI OCD board.

Not knowing the signal paths of GI OCD etc it’s not really easy to diagnose. I could switch over my GI OCD board from my TAF I suppose.

I can’t explain the String 3/Input 3 not working though, when changing the input to something else does.

The software allows you to set a string to be always on, so you’re all set.

I have LED and GI OCD in my TAF with Comet slow and fast blinking bulbs and have just left it on the standard settings, it appears to work fine.

I'm going to be taking apart my mini playfield on my TZ, which has GI and LED OCD fitted and working. Part of this is going to involve wiring up 8 star post LEDs to one of the GI bulbs on the street lamp.

Ordinarily it wouldn't matter which wire is which since its AC, but GI OCD changes this to DC doesn't it? How would I know which wire is positive and which one is negative?