Great to hear Brian! Seems for some people it takes a few displays to get into the groove. Nice to see the 3rd one is going even quicker! I think it's all part of the lesson in doing this stuff, you start learning how to solve the time problem as you repeat something & figure out your own way of doing it to make time.

There's a bit of a knack to figuring out an assembly-line style of building or repairing anything -- and making time. Could be brand new components, could be repairing a huge stack of old boards. Once you start figuring out how to attack the stuff that's a time sink & find *YOUR WAY* to make it work, with the tools you have -- that same concept can be used with anything you're doing & it starts paying in huge dividends. I've stopped myself from thinking "I CAN'T.." [be faster, have it look nicer, pull this idea off, etc] to asking "HOW CAN I.." looking for what I'm overlooking. Keeping an open mind helps too instead of just believing what everyone else has said. Has helped me a lot more thinking that way recently with creating things and spreads into other areas of life as well. This project wouldn't otherwise have happened because no one thought it was possible to convert those old displays into something efficient that looked nice. But look where we are

Every once in a while I catch an eBay listing for a lot of 6-10 unknown displays since I'm looking for a couple of 7-digits for myself, get tempted to bid and then think "I don't want to be bidding against my customers" lol.

Did I run everyone out of old displays?

Easily solved, buy some more machines!! Or "accidentally" drop some good displays.. I won't tell.

Yay! More BLUE DIGITS just arrived! Think I'm set for a while.

bluedigits (resized).jpg

AMBER DIGITS due in next Wednesday, should have purchasing options for sets of those toward the end of the week.

You're a machine! Nice job, I vote for red or blue.

I'll have a deeper red filter coming in soon, will send you a sample next time you order anything.

Oh, right.. my bad. I'll link that on the giveaway post above.

It's also linked on the main post, but I've moved the link up under a GALLERY heading so it's more visible.

Is that for a 7-digit Bally display? Asking since the comma circuit gets activated based on Segment C and E being activated, so the comma circuit is a possible suspect for issues with those segments.

Otherwise, that's an interesting one. Must be a solder blob/short to something that works better when the displays are multiplexed versus when they're given more current at the bench (since it's less of a direct-short then in the game). Could be an intermittent connection, but less likely if the results are always the same (works in the machine to some degree, but not at the bench). Some weird things can happen like what you're seeing with the displays being multiplexed in-game. I'd go by the bench results.. in other words, if for every digit, the same Segment C is out at the bench.. then I'd suspect a short to something in the Segment C circuit or bad connection in that circuit (ie. at the plasma footprint or solder points on anything replaced). If you're working on other displays of the same model that you've already done and are working, you could do a quick comparison check at the solder joints for components you replaced in that circuit.

Wish I could help pin-point it, but sounds somewhat isolated to just the segment driver part of the schematic. And with replacing the 4543 and driver, to me it seems like something stealing current or an intermittent connection.

What's the display model? I can send the schematic if I have it.

I haven't done this myself, but maybe check with Todd @ TNT Amusements? Or some of the other larger guys doing arcade/pinball repair. There has to be a ton of displays getting completely tossed by some of those guys.

I'm not totally surprised there's not a ton of them up on eBay since it takes a bit of work to list an item and a lot of people would rather just toss them or leave them sit. Yet, I'm also a bit surprised when I did a WTB a while back here and on RGP that I wasn't completely bombarded by people wanting to get rid of displays. That was before I had a ton of info out there on what I was even doing. I had a guy with 70+ displays email me that I thought might work out for some 7-digit displays, but he's disappeared a few times. Larger lots of bad displays definitely exist.. it may just take posting and bumping some WTB threads to find some people that are willing to sell for a reasonable price and take the time/effort to ship them. I really have to imagine some of the larger guys reselling pinball machines wouldn't mind knowing when they get a dozen or two displays, they have an immediate outlet for them at $3-4ea if the component boards are in nice enough shape.

I'll ask this question here.. and apologize at the same time for not getting to this sooner

Is there anyone interested in these displays if the parallel resistor method is shown in detail via pictures for each revision of the displays? In my book, it's pretty easy to upgrade displays that way. I'm pleasantly surprised to see so many people doing the full component removal on the displays, just wasn't what I had expected. But I think a huge deterrent for the parallel resistor method is there not being close-up pictures of the modifications per display revision & I do apologize for that.. I meant to get some pictures up much sooner.... like shortly after doing the beta test. Either way I'll be getting those pictures up, but just interested in finding out if that's been the deterrent for some. Modeling the 1st display off a picture, and then additional displays off the ones you complete would make that method super easy IMO.

What's the proper number format? Do tell!

Amber digits came in on Wednesday.. well, I should say half the order. 1st time I've had Fedex only delivery half an order, and have been hoping the other half wasn't going to stay completely missing since both boxes had the same tracking number. Looks like tracking was updated though and post-dated on the 8th in Tennessee, so hopefully the other box shows up next week.

Haven't had a chance to get a display built out with the amber digits yet, but should have some time early next week & will get a comparison with the plasma displays & also WHITE with plasma amber filter. They should all look pretty much the same in color. Should also get the shopping cart link up for those early next week as well.

I'm also going to add a few additional colors for WHITE display filters -- deep red (more saturated/darker red), turquoise, light blue and straw yellow. I meant to get a sea foam blue/green color but forgot it on my last order.. but will get that in next time. Expect to see those options soon.

Yeah I'm liking the Yellow in Spy Hunter too! Blue looks nice of course and would have been my first thought.

Amber digit conversion kit sets are now available to order @ http://www.pinitech.com/products/ballystern_conversion_led_display.php

Also got the other color filter choices up for the WHITE sets (deep red, light blue, straw yellow, turquoise)

The straw yellow is a bit deeper and darker, more like a photo of a straw in a field that's highly saturated (ie. saturated blue sky, saturated yellow in the straw). More golden, a bit warmer or orange-yellow -- whereas the "medium yellow" is more on the yellow side. At some point I'll get some pictures up but not sure if I'll be able to capture the differences in the yellows.

I'll be working on a component board for these as well (mentioned a while back), hoping to have some boards in January. It's definitely the next item on the agenda & will allow for either 6-digit panels or 7-digit led panels. The 7-digit donor boards are harder to come by and kind of a hold-up for many people to order a set. Just didn't know how scarce those were until I made these conversion kits available. Coyote's board sounds like it could compliment these conversion display panels since he's working with the plasma footprint that I'd likely be doing away with in a full kit design.

A full display kit is going to have component count minimized, look will be similar, no plasma footprint since it's unnecessary at that point. Haven't decided yet if I'll go single-board or 2-board design. Vision is to have it be able to mix-and-match with the conversion kits giving you the option of installing a few of each in the game but having them all look the same.

There's also *technically* a relatively easy option for converting a 6-digit donor into a 7-digit. Small aux board that would get soldered into the [currently unused] extra headers on the led panel. It's have the 7th digit circuit on it. You'd need to run +5v to it & the 7th digit signal. You'd also need to isolate pin #12 on the 6-digit component board since that's where the 7th digit signal comes in.. and on those boards pin #10, #11 and #12 are all tied together.... and blanking is on pin #10. So that's why 6-digit displays connected in place of a 7-digit display cause things to go wonky. This is just a possible option, without having to create a completely separate conversion board. I may prototype that up and just show what it would look like to see if there's any interest. It'd probably cost $5 or less as an add-on kit since the board would be small.

I'll also be throwing in a simple display tester design into my next pcb order as well, to make it easier to test conversion displays or even a full display kit.

Only 3x entries so far in the December Contest to win a free NVRAM (all from grnrzr).

I added a link to a list of entrants on the gallery page @ http://www.pinitech.com/retrofit/gallery/

I'm going to take everyone who had submitted photos prior to the December Contest announcement and throw them into an additional drawing for an nvram as well. Once someone wins, they'll be excluded from winning again for the next month's drawing even if they enter new photos for that month (to allow others the chance to win something). Only new entries for any given month will then be used as part of the drawing, so there's a chance if no one else has submitted any photos, the sole person that submits even a single photo for that month will win an nvram. And once again, for every 10 entries received for that month, I'll kick in an additional nvram prize. If a single person submits 20x photos of different games with the displays.. or different colors in the same game -- and they're the only entrant for that month.. they'll get 2x nvram adapters.

Doing this for at least December & January 2017.. but possibly into the first few quarters of 2017 if it works out well in helping to stock the gallery with more images. Have fun!!

Recent competition with other budget led kits also offering WHITE digits has helped me to decide several things..

First off, I'll keep pricing for the conversion kits at the current "SALE" pricing.. no bumping up to what I had expected introductory pricing to be. I'd like to keep these conversion kits as an attractive option and price-point is definitely part of that. So conversion kits will remain as low as $82.95 per 6-digit AMBER set (that's $16.59 per single display kit within a set) or at most $99.95 for a 7-digit WHITE set ($19.99 per single display kit within a set). It's crazy imagining LED display options at those per-display price-points from where things were a year or two ago with Classic Bally/Stern displays. And even now with quite a few other kits on the market, it's still nearly half the price of a single full display kit. I want the conversion kit options to stick around for a while, so keeping prices low would seem a good way to make that happen.

Second, for bulk needs of 4x or more FULL kits for these conversion displays -- email or PM me and we can discuss some discounts. I'm sure there's a few people that have amassed HUGE collections of old displays. I'll work with those people a bit. As a for-instance.. if we hit 10x FULL kits (ie. enough to do 50 displays), I'll throw in one full set for free.

And lastly, I've just learned every time someone affects what I'm doing it just means I need to figure out how to step up my game. No drama, no hard feelings. Just keep at it -- stream-lining to remain competitive, innovating to offer something different, create aesthetically pleasing designs & solid products. In a way I have those people to thank for helping to create better products or causing me to find ways to be more efficient & make things work. I guess that's why they say competition is good for everyone, though it doesn't always feel like it

Expect a full Classic Bally/Stern display kit from PINITECH sometime 1st Qtr 2017. You won't see any pictures or discussion of the design.. in fact, you won't hear a blip from me on it from this point forward -- until it's available for sale. Just know what to expect from what you've seen here & in other designs I've done. The displays will look nice, function well, be priced competitively & may even offer something a bit different. I expect to help others have access to some really nice looking budget displays for their machines, so we can continue to breathe new life into Classic Bally/Stern games!

Future ideas will be carried out in a similar fashion. Radio silence until something is ready to hit the street. If you're wondering if I have any new ideas or projects -- the answer is ALWAYS likely yes. Someone that is creative and thinks a bit outside the box, always has plenty of things in the works! Stay tuned for some more neat things from PINITECH in 2017!

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http://www.pinitech.com - "Pinball Inspired Technology"
Kits, upgrades and test equipment for pinball machines

Just did the 1st drawing for a winner for the RETROFIT GALLERY CONTEST (that's what I'll call it from now on). Everyone that submitted a photo prior to the announcement for the December contest was entered. Printed on a small slip of paper, folded up -- shaken in a small box (but not stirred) -- and my wife picked the winner. 24 entries in this first contest, many by GRNRZR hehe. Since there's 24 entries I picked 2 names.

Some behind-the-scenes shots of the high tech action!!!

box (resized).jpg

Against all odds, and with only a single entry to his name..

The 1st winner for the pre-December drawing is:

SPIROAGNEW

And then not surprisingly from the sheer number of entries ..

The 2nd winner for the pre-December drawing is:

GRNRZR

names (resized).jpg

Congratulations guys! Sending you each a PM so you can pick what style nvram you'd like & get me your address.

Since GRNRZR was also a winner in this contest & will be excluded from the December Contest (having winners sit out 1mo to give others a chance).. there are currently 0 entries for the December contest. Anyone that gets a photo submitted by Dec 31st will get an entry. So if you're the first and only person to submit a photo you get a free nvram. Good luck!

Had some confusion & wanted to add some clarification to the RETROFIT Gallery Contest..

After each drawing, there will be a "clean slate" for the next month's entries. So each month's contest will only be based on any new entries received that month by people.

So to bring things up to speed -- this last drawing was for "pre-December" entries. Anyone that had posted a photo in this thread, who's picture(s) I added to the gallery was entered into the drawing. 24 entries total, so 2 names were picked (every 10x entries I'm adding 1x nvram adapter for a prize). Now that this drawing is over, we move onto the "December Contest" -- so anyone submitting photos in December gets an entry there. Winners are excluded from the next drawing (sit out for 1mo), even if they submitted some new entries. This is just to give others a chance to win too. So as it sits, for the December Contest there are 0 entries (GRNRZR had submitted a few pictures, but he won in the last drawing.. so his entries are cleared out). So if only one person submits a single picture for the gallery between now and Dec 31st, they'll win some free nvram. If multiple people enter, names will be thrown in a box and winner drawn as before.

Here's the fun part. Even if you only ever bought 1 set of these displays, if you have multiple machines you can gain additional entries by taking pictures of the same displays in different machines -- or using different color filters with WHITE sets. Any variation will count as an entry. So lets say you have 10x games, move the displays between machines and take pictures and you have 10 entries. You can use all those entries for the December contest, or just post 5 pictures for December and wait to post the others for January. So what I'm getting at is.. you don't need to make additional purchases to gain new entries into the next drawing. Just submit a new photo (or photos) that would be a variation for the gallery. My goal here is to keep seeing the gallery fill up by offering an incentive for more pictures to be taken. The more variations in the gallery, the easier it is for people to get an idea of what colors might look nice in their games. Plus it's kind of a fun way to go about things I think. If any of this is unclear, just let me know Trying to make it easy to gain more entries into the next drawing without purchasing anything even, as long as you have other games to put the displays in or other color filters to throw in your displays.