In response to a few requests, I decided to design a simple board to smooth LED GI lighting for Stern games. This is little more than a bridge rectifier and some capacitors, and is nowhere near as complex as GI OCD. Still, it works well, and it is far cheaper to build than GI OCD.

It is available for purchase on my website:
http://ledocd.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=19

Here's a short video of it in action:

...and a couple of pictures:
GIzmo
Installed

I'll try. My camera kinda sucks, and you might not be able to see anything.

You're right; they don't do any fades, and there is only one relay. The only thing that bothers me is cases where the game turns the GI on and off really fast. For example, hit a spinner during Zuse mode on Tron. Others in the LED OCD thread said they could see strobing due to the AC, but I can't myself. I probably would not have built anything if others had not requested it.

I doubt it. The reason this works is that there is only one control for Stern GI. One rectifier and one capacitor bank takes care of all of it. That means I can keep it small enough to just plug directly between the power driver board and cable. No extra cables is a big part of the cost savings.

WPC, you'd need 5 of these to keep the strings separate. Plus, the TRIACs work much faster than the Stern relay does. The caps would stay charged most of the time, and you'd lose all the dimming.

Here you go.

I'm still trying to settle on exactly what parts I'll be using on it, but for a rough estimate, I'd say about $50.

So, where would you get your input DC from?

1. You could add a separate DC supply and run cables from it to the regulator.
2. Maybe you find a DC supply already in the game to steal a few amps from... plus you'd need a cable.
3. You could generate it from the GI AC like I'm already doing.

If you wanted to use the cheap regulator, you have to modify it, add cables and an input DC supply. At that point, you would have something that doesn't install easily.

I have built 3 of them. I'm running one in my Tron. A friend has one in his POTC, and I'm going to his house this evening, so it will be a good chance for me to see it. I sent the third to another Pinsider.

I'm not aware of any showstoppers yet. The biggest nit I have with it is that the lights still dim when I hit the flippers, though I'm not sure anything can be done about that short of a completely separate power supply. If all continues to go well, I'm planning to run a batch of them around the end of Feb, so they'd be ready early April.

Thanks for the update. I would love to have just one configuration, but when I had one with all 4 caps installed in my RBION, the fade off time was way too long. It is dependent on how much current is being pulled by the GI. Since it's easier to add caps than to remove them, I'm planning to ship with 2 uninstalled caps.

I had thought about it, but I haven't dug into the specs yet. The amount of current we're talking about is almost certainly too much for a DIP switch, but jumpers might be an option. Also, I'm trying to keep cost and size an absolute minimum.

BTW, this is confirmed. DIP switches won't handle the current. Jumpers will, and I have updated the design to include them. I'm still planning to start a good sized build at the end of the month.

They should be shipping in the next week or so. I have 4/15 for availability on the website, but it might be a bit earlier.

I haven't received them yet, and I'm not doing pre-orders or anything like that. I added them to the website so that people could request notifications, see pricing, etc.

The boards have arrived, and they're available on the website now. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to ship, so I hope I can send some partial refunds for the ones that have already ordered.

Sounds good. This thread has been fairly low profile, so I'm hoping more people start to see it. Maybe I just overestimated the demand for these.

Just a quick heads-up. I plan to be at Pinfest (Allentown) on Saturday. I won't have a booth, but I can bring these if anyone wants.

If paid cash at the show:
GI OCD $140
WPC LED OCD $140 (Assuming I have the new batch in stock by then)
Stern LED OCD $120 (Assuming I still have them in stock)
GIzmo $40

Please PM me if interested.

I decided to go the simple route with this one since there is no dimming on Stern games and only one relay. I felt there wouldn't be enough functionality to warrant the cost of a fully programmable board.

That said, there is a board that I think you could use. Another Pinsider, caker137, designed a programmable board to use in DataEast games. See here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/led-gi-smoother-for-data-east

While his was designed for DE, and mine was designed for Stern, the GI of each of these is nearly identical, down to the pinout of the main GI connector. The connector where he gets input power and where you "hook into" the control signal is different, though. I believe you could use his board with some customized cables for programmable operation in a Stern game. I also believe you could use the GIzmo with no modifications in a DE game.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad to hear it's working well for you.

Yes, it has been confirmed to work in RBION (Stern branded Whitestar) and Goldeneye (Sega branded Whitestar). It should also work in the others, but these are the only ones I'm aware of it being tested in.

GIzmo does remove the flickering and smooth the on/off transitions for GI. This is ONLY the GI. It does not do anything for inserts, and that is where the LED OCD comes in.

GIzmo - GI
LED OCD - Inserts

You can use either separately or both together.

Sorry, but no. Do you have a game that you have LED'd and have complaints about? For OCD newbies, I usually suggest trying it without OCD first, then decide whether they need anything based on how the game looks.