(Topic ID: 200517)

Meteor Alltek LED Question

By Psutron

6 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 5 posts
  • 4 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 6 years ago by Coyote
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

You

Linked Games

  • Meteor Stern Electronics, 1979
#1 6 years ago

Hello,

I recently picked up a Meteor project and am in the process of converting the game to use LEDs. I installed the Alltek Ultimate Lamp Driver and want to use 2835 LEDs from Comet for the inserts (http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/25-pack-2smd-ct-ft.htm). The LEDs are working fine in some inserts near the drain and in the sockets leading up to the spinner target but LEDs installed in the sockets above the rockets flicker. I have attached a wire from the common wire of the controlled lamps in the backbox to the Alltek lamp driver per the instructions but I still get the flicker. What am I doing wrong? Can I not use these LEDs in this game / with this board?

Thanks in advance for any tips!

#2 6 years ago

SCRs are not all created equal. Same with the power supplies. If the LED is very low current type + the power supply putting out low feature lamp voltage + the SCR doesnt like to latch at that low of current, you may get flickers.

Put the game in lamp test. Are more flickering now?

Try a different LED, swap it with another same type. Still flicker, you may need to add a resistor across the offending lamp socket leads. 470 ohm - 1000 ohm should do it. Alltek lamp board essential is putting a resistor across every lamp socket, they just do it up on their PCB in the head.

#3 6 years ago

We were working on a Sexy Girl conversion ('78 bally PB) and had the same issue, I decided to extend the wire and poke around to some of the other ground strings on the backbox and went to the game over light or something, it was the computer controlled lamp's ground string and it fixed all of the flickering on the pf!

#4 6 years ago

Thanks for the tips. I figured out the issue. The rocket light sockets are on metal brackets. I unscrewed the bracket from the playfield and it was hanging below when I was testing the lights. Only today did I realize that the screw which holds the bracket to the playfield is also the ground. Rookie mistake. Now that the bracket is properly grounded the lights are working as they should without flickering.

Thanks again!

#5 6 years ago

Guys - just to clarify, and hopefully prevent future issues...
That's NOT 'ground'. That's the 5.4v Illumination Bus. The SCRs latch on the lamp TO ground, turning the lamp on.

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