NOTE: Discussion continued at http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/led-ocd-advanced-lamp-controller-shipping-with-wait-list

LED OCD is an add-on lamp controller that solves the following problems.

- Eliminate the flicker or strobe effect when using LEDs in a pinball machine. This is accomplished by increasing the lamp matrix scan rate.
- Allow brightness to be controlled. "Profiles" are configured to define the on-time of lamps, effectively controlling the brightness.
- Simulate the fade on/off of incandescent lamps. By gradually changing the brightness of the bulbs, LEDs are made to fade on/off instead of their typical abrupt changes.
- Allow ghosting to be completely eliminated through a combination of additional hardware and improved transistor control.

Here's video of it in action:

The second one is a video showing me configuring it. It's quite outdated at this point, and the software interface has changed, but it gives you an idea what it can do. This one you'll have to watch on a big screen in 1080p to get much out of it.

Sorry for the formatting. I can't figure out how to get the videos to embed nicely.

It currently only works with WPC machines. I'm looking into older Williams, Data East, etc., but I'm not there yet.

_{Post edited by herg : Add summary of project}

Standard bulbs. There's a mix of CT frosted, CT premium, BCs Frosted, Ablaze, and incandescent in the videos. The cheaper LEDs actually work better since there's not extra stuff in the bulb like the premium LEDs.

Yep, customize on the PC, upload and save to the PCB, then disconnect the PC.

Maybe after I've thoroughly tested it myself. There's only one board built up at the moment. More parts are on the way.

Yeah, making LEDs look more like incandescent bulbs is the idea.

Due the the instant on/off nature of LEDs, many people see flicker or a strobe effect when the lamp matrix is scanned at 62 Hz. This PCB monitors the outputs from the lamp driver, then re-drives at 250 Hz. That's the flicker part.

Dimming is controlled by varying the lamp row active time based on the configuration from the PC. That's the dimming part.

The PCB then ramps up/down through the configured brightness values in order to make the LEDs fade on/off like incandescent bulbs.

At the moment, it's WPC only. The work to adapt to other manufacturers/boardsets would be minimal, but I only have WPC machines to test in. Also, new PCB layouts would be necessary to fit the mechanicals of the other machines.

I don't have LEDs in my AFM yet, but I'm hoping it will help with the way the lamps pulse. With all the blinking lamps being synchronized the way they are in AFM, it really drags down the lamp matrix voltage. LEDs should help.

Arduino is nice if you're just looking for a simple controller board. In this case, I'd still have to add the driver transistors, molex connectors, etc. There's also not enough I/O, nor would it screw nicely into the backbox. IMG_2995.JPG IMG_2998.JPG IMG_3000.JPG

Thanks, but it will be a while before I will be moving on to Stern. Getting WPC working 100% and deciding if it's feasible to sell is my top priority.

C, though there's a lot of direct hardware access. It's only somewhat like C in a PC environment. I used an EasyPIC7 dev board early on, and I'm still using the PIC18F45K22. Nice and cheap, but it does the job well. The most expensive part is the USB chip.

Nope, just the matrix.

You don't even know how much it would cost yet (nor do I). The biggest hurdle as far as cost is assembly. The quotes I've gotten are quite high. Our lab tech at work has agreed to help if needed, but even the two of us would not be able to crank out very many.

It's quite different actually. Sure pulsing the LEDs to make them glow smoothly is the same, but monitoring the GI triacs, rectification, string vs matrix is all completely different. Unless you require that the GI is all LED, you'd have to switch a lot of current. The software would be a lot easier, but the hardware would not. I have no plans to work on it.

We're jumping the gun a bit talking about System 11, assembly, etc. The next step is to wait for parts to arrive and build up a few more. That way, I can quit swapping this one between my machines and be able to get more repetitions in. It's not going in anyone else's machines until I'm convinced it's solid.

Assembly isn't bad, other than the USB chip/connector. I was impatient and did the first one at home without a microscope, but I won't be doing it again. Short of those parts and a few SMT capacitors, the rest of it is though-hole. I'm not sure yet how I feel about kits, though. If someone were to damage their machine, I'd feel like crap.

As far as putting it in a System 11 game, I haven't looked at it yet, but I think it would limited to mechanical changes. If you mounted the board somewhere and build cables that adapted everything, that might be enough to get it working. You'd be on your own doing that, though. Until I get a System 11 machine (anyone have a Pinbot) I won't be supporting it.

Any mix of bulbs is fine, and you can configure different bulbs to react differently. The TOTAN in the video is LED in the smoke and jewel inserts, incandescent in the rest. The blue LEDs are blindingly bright, so they're set to 24% max brightness. Actually, the smoke with sun, moon, etc are set brighter than that now that I think of it. The jewels are at like 60% max. The image at the end of the video shows the configuration app, but there's a lot of info to absorb. I might make a video showing a typical configuration process if I end up with time to do it.

Here's a video of me adjusting the settings after replacing a few incandescent bulbs with LEDs. If possible, you'll want to watch it on a larger screen in 1080p. Otherwise, you won't be able to see much.

I'm ready to have someone else test it at this point. A local friend has volunteered to test in his machines, but having another person somewhat more detached from me would be helpful.

This person must be technically proficient. Understanding how the lamp matrix currently works will be helpful. LED OCD is not a product yet. It's possible for things to go wrong. Obviously, this person will need to report any findings to me. Finally, owning a WPC machine (preferably more than one) is required.

It also will not fit with a Flipper Fidelity kit (probably Pinball Pro as well) installed. This was an oversight on my part, and I am working to come up with a different mounting solution. Please keep this in mind if you volunteer for beta testing.

NOTE: I'm covered for testing at this point. Thanks for the response.

_{Post edited by herg : Already have enough testers}

It has been a while, so here's a quick update:

- I have four of them in my machines, and they're staying there.
- PT has one. He has installed it in his No Fear.
- One is ready to be tested in a System 11 (with interconnect) once the owner of the machine is ready.
- I've nearly completed the board modifications, and I intend to have a bigger batch of PCBs made in October.
- I intend for my TOTAN (including the board) to be available for play at MrWizzo's NoVA pin party this Saturday, Sept 29.
- I've created a website using my mid 90s web skills that mostly just repeats this thread.
- I don't want to do pre-orders, but if you're interested in getting one, contact me through the website or PM. Having an idea of how many to make would be really helpful.

http://herg.homeip.net/ledocd/

The ROM patches attempt to fix the ghosting issue, but do nothing for brightness control, flicker, or fade. Obviously, I'm biased, but there's no comparison, IMO.

I haven't even looked at Capcom, so I don't know the difficulty level. It's certainly a good way down the road.

Settings are based more on the bulbs you choose to use, so presets are impossible. The default settings will improve over a game without the board, but you'll have to configure for best results.

That's great to hear, and thanks for the help.