**NOVEMBER 2018 UPDATE**

As of October 2018 these sets have had some upgrades and pricing has changed. These displays are now being sold under their new configurations and a new thread was created below for further updates.

Link For Latest Display Information
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/new-pinitech-led-displays-for-classic-bally-stern-plasma-contender

CLOSEOUT SALE!!
WHILE SUPPLIES LAST, we still have some leftover AMBER and BLUE colored LED digits in the "old style" (digit with a decimal) as shown in the pictures below and through most of this thread.

You can order the older style of the displays from the links below. WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.
TRADITIONAL - https://www.pinitech.com/products/ballystern_display_traditional_generic.php
UNO - https://www.pinitech.com/products/ballystern_display_uno_generic.php

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Questions? Comments? Need Help?
We're happy to answer any questions you have about the previous configurations of the display sets shown here, but we won't be posting further updates in this thread. Instead, we'll be using the new thread for further updates on the newest generation of these displays.

Below are some pictures of how the previous configurations of the sets look assembled. Again, we have AMBER & BLUE digits available in this older style still, if you'd like to order displays that look like what's pictured below at a bit of a discount off our new configurations of the sets. Contact us for details.

ballystern_full_displaykit (resized).jpg

ballystern_led_display_single (resized).jpg

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

Some pictures of the Single-board design in my Xenon:
xenon1.jpg

xenon2.jpg

displays_back.jpg

display_in_holder.jpg

And here's a picture of a traditional 2-board display being off-center with the backglass. Notice the area highlighted in the green box. Then look to the far right of the display window and you'll see edge of the 1's digit LED block is *right* at the edge of the display window.

display_offcenter.jpg

This is actually a RETROFIT conversion kit display installed here, but even the original plasma displays were shifted over to the right. The previous pictures show the single PCB design in-action, with the displays being kicked back to the left and centered with the display windows on the backglass.

Here's the mount-point on the display bracket for the single-board design. The original screws are used. The display brackets were left in the game. There's a nylon spacer behind the PCB to kick the board out slightly.

mountpoint (resized).jpg

The vertical white-line is the "center" line. It's used as an adjustment reference. This line would typically be centered with the phillips head screw if you wanted the displays centered at the same point a 2-board "traditional" style display is centered. So if you have a game that doesn't need the displays shifted at all, you just align the vertical line with the center of the phillips head screw. What's nice about this is you can use it for reference if you do need to shift the displays left or right a bit. Most likely the remaining displays in the game will get shifted the same amount.

DISPLAY BRACKETS
The display brackets can stay in the game. I'm not a fan of removing them in case someone wants to use them down the road. The idea of throwing them in the cabinet is great, until the cabinet is moved -- and most likely if they're removed from the game completely they'll be trashed, get lost on a shelf or in a box, and won't accompany the game when it's sold. If someone wants to swap back to plasma displays down the road they'll have to look for display holders. Leave them or take them out, you'll have the option either way.

SNAP POINTS
Something else I can point out with the above picture. There's some "mouse bites" on the board.. meaning points where you can "snap" the board if needed. This is because I've seen pictures of a few games where lamp surrounds were directly next to display brackets. With this unique style design (to allow shifting the displays) the mounting point is slightly larger (both height and width) than the display bracket holder. These snap-points allow you to snap the top or bottom tab off a bit easier if there was something interfering with placement of the display.

I left these a bit further from the edge of the board so they don't snap too easy. So far from what I've seen they seem pretty durable and may need to be snapped with the help of some micro-flush cutters. I just wanted something nicer than having to dremel through solid PCB if people ran into this occasional issue.

Any 7-digit display could be utilized with modified ROMs that supported 7-digit scoring, but there's a hardware part to the conversion that needs to happen at the display connections on the MPU as well. I started designing an easier plug-and-play solution for that, but first order of business was these full display kits. I'll get back to working on the 6-to-7 digit scoring conversion soon, especially if there's enough interest here on something that makes it a bit easier to do the hardware/wire harness modifications for that.

I don't modify roms nor have any interest in figuring that out at this time, so it would just be whatever's already been supported via the efforts of Oliver @ http://www.pinball4you.ch/okaegi/pro_soft.html which requires that hardware modification I mentioned to pick up display signals & output them differently to create a 7th digit signal.

Are there boards already available then? And is it the same as what's shown here, along with the process involved (ie. modification of wire harness, etc)? http://www.pinball4you.ch/okaegi/pro_d7.html

Sorry, just the 6-digit and 7-digit LED displays for Classic Bally/Stern.

Added expected pricing information to the main post

Between the look and features, these new displays will be great bang-for-the buck. Not to mention they will live up to their feature list with being a low-current & efficient design that's not over-driving components. Unfortunately something a number of other displays on the market aren't living up to.

Thanks! That design drove me nuts. Spent a long while figuring out how I wanted it to look, wasn't even sure I could squish all the through-hole components on there and get it routed. Kind of reminded me of the 64 Switch Tester lol. It's crazy that it's not much bigger than the digit panel PCB of a 2-board design (except the extra PCB for the brackets). I'm also not a fan of "blocky" when it comes to a single-board design. It had to look nice.

Just wanted to update, I'm going to hold off sending out invoices to the handful of people that expressed interest so far in REV1 kits until early next week. Had to order some shipping/packaging supplies in, that should be coming by mid-week. I'd also rather people aren't waiting too long for their order to ship once they send payment.

So, a little more of a delay than I expected, but should definitely be getting some of these kits out next week

Here's another picture of the UNO mounted.

display_single.jpg

I'm going to get a shot with a single "Traditional" display in Xenon (with and without backglass) to show what that looks like & a better side-by-side comparison of how the UNO boards helped on that machine.

Side-by-Side shot.. UNO versus Traditional in a game that needs displays shifted over:
display_gap (resized).jpg

And just a shot of the Traditional board in AMBER in-game:
traditional_amber (resized).jpg

I'm imagining the UNO will be more popular than the traditional. Some people may still prefer the look of a 2-board design. It'll be interesting to see what the response is.

I like that the UNO will utilize all the existing hardware, everything can stay "factory", just the addition of some nylon spacers. The couple advantages to the Traditional design are being able to swap out the display panel (color, or 6-or-7 digit) and the holes in the component board allow you to insert PCB stand-offs so the display could be used as a "bench" display (I like boards elevated when working at the bench).

Also in terms of reduction of effort / assembly time.."working" displays can be created with fewer components. In fact you could drop some of the components included with the kit if you want to shave a few minutes off assembly & the displays would still function. Some aftermarket displays don't have filter caps, 20k resistors on the 4543, comma enable circuitry, brightness regulation. I went with what I felt were the minimal components to create a solid display. IMO when you minimize things too much you're giving up a lot more than the gain you get for shaving a few minutes off assembly & a few bucks off material cost. The corners cut may still create a working display, but one that lacks features or isn't a very good circuit.

Got a few invoices out today & it also looks like shipping supplies are due in tomorrow! So it looks like some kits will begin making their way out starting mid-week! I'm excited to see what people think of them!

Won't have a shopping cart link up this week, but possibly sometime next week once I clear through the small handful of initial requests for kits and get ahead of them a bit. Anyone else that's interested between now and then, just PM or email me. Doing things the old-fashioned way right now

Some updates..

• I've figured out the easiest way to deal with the resistors on the REV1 boards is just to bend the leads against a table at the body of the resistor. Makes it easy as cake to get a 90 degree angle and slides right into the resistor footprint then. This will be mentioned in the instructions along with a few other things specific to REV1 boards to make assembly as easy as possible.
• I have instructions for both the UNO and TRADITIONAL designs much further than I thought they'd be and should be easy for most people to follow along. The UNO instructions have some details of what I've found to be an easier method of mounting the UNO with leaving the display bracket in-place.
• I'm including foam tape for the REV1 kits that go out. If you see this & don't want the foam tape let me know. I'm still undecided whether the foam tape will be included with these new kits or not, especially the UNO. Hopefully a few people can chime in on whether or not they decided to use it with the UNO kit.
• A handful of REV1 kits will be shipping out tomorrow, the rest should ship out Friday/Saturday.

Really not much at all. I called them "REV1" because I didn't know what changes might need to happen & was hoping they'd work first-shot lol. REV1 is fully working & the final design aside from the minor tweaks below. No additional functionality planned.

TRADITIONAL MODEL (minor tweaks)
1. Fix silkscreen for diode (not my fault backwards because the CAD software footprint was wrong)
2. Potentiometer turns counter-clockwise to increase brightness, will be reversed in next revision
3. Adjust silkscreen markings by .156 header
4. Move double right-angle header on digit panel up slightly
5. Fix resistors fitting "snug" into footprints (increase hole size slightly and/or adjust pads slightly)
*see note in previous post, not really an issue if bending leads close to body as suggested there.
6. Move potentiometer for clearance of 90 degree bracket (not really an issue, see below)
*design does not need these brackets & no plans to include them at this point

UNO MODEL (minor tweaks)
1. Move pad for C2 capacitor slightly (too close to .156 header)
*instructions note this, show a picture & how to install
2. Fix resistors fitting "snug" (same as TRADITIONAL MODEL)

At this time I have limited supply of both designs from the REV1 boards. I'm expecting interest to pick up slightly once the handful of people that bought kits get them and post their results.. and on that note, I expect to be out of boards relatively soon since they get eaten up fairly quick at 5x boards per set. Need to get that next board order in! I think people will be very happy.

All initial orders have been shipped!

Some of these new display kits should start hitting people's doorsteps in 1-2 days!

Cool! Looks like a few people may even get them today! I see at least one that says it's out for delivery and looks like many of the others hit sorting centers in the state they're being delivered to.

Our USPS hub here get things out insanely fast. Knowing that, I had to work my butt off yesterday wrapping up instructions so they were available before people got their packages rather than links being dead

For anyone that bought the UNO, Cheddar pointed out that Step 15 of the instructions should reference capacitor C4, not C1. I've updated & posted the revision. Caught that on the TRADITIONAL instructions but was updating both at once for a bit and missed carrying over.

Glad to have feedback on the whole thing! From instructions, to assembly, to installation & functionality. Any issues, spelling mistakes, anything unclear in the instructions -- just let me know. Maybe assembling in a slightly different order works better & I'd like to know I want everything as easy and understandable as possible.

Great to hear!

I'm wondering if a regular jumper header & shunt for the comma is wanted. In some ways I find the smd pad and solder blob method easier and less hassle when you're DIY'ing and have a soldering iron. It's not like you're changing it that often. On the other hand, selling these assembled.. someone without a soldering iron would need the ability to change it. Could make sense to do both, one quicker & one with ease of swapping between comma/dot or not.

Tip that didn't make the manual: When you find a brightness you like on one display you should be able to align the flat-head screw notch in the pot the same position on all the displays to set all the displays to the same brightness.

A question came up about the orientation of the locking tabs on the headers. In the instructions and on the few sets I built, I have the locking tab oriented toward the front of the board. I've seen both it both ways out there for displays using locking headers.

I'd prefer recommending whichever orientation works better. On my Xenon, with the locking tab facing toward the front of the board, the fit is snug but works fine. Best with either style display to insert the connector with the machine off, and supporting the bottom of the board. I only had a few machines available right now for testing, so if anyone finds the reverse orientation works better let me know.

I had the board setup for double 2x8 male headers, which will feel more solid. Couldn't use those on REV1 because the header footprint on the digit panel was down a bit too low and prevented the digit panel from sitting flush with the component board (as well as knocking the digits up a bit higher in the display window). Probably not any worse than some displays out there.. but I figured better to have boards mate flat. So the easy fix on REV1 boards was to use a 1x8 male header in the bottom holes of the footprint instead.

For anyone that's bought a TRADITIONAL set (just a few people at this time) as a REV1 board.. if you'd like the 90 degree mounting brackts/screws, I can send those out to you. Just PM me. I think when the next revision comes in that allows use of the 2x8 male headers as intended, it won't be an issue. I'll plan on sending out brackets for the remaining TRADITIONAL sets of the REV1 boards I send out. Since the trimpot is in the way on the right-hand side of the board, you'll need to remove the digit panel.. install the screw + bracket to the panel, then reinsert the digit panel and put the final screw through the component board.

Great to be hearing feedback! Thanks a lot!

That's awesome! Great example of that annoying problem & how the UNO solves it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that was bugged by displays that don't line up well!

Just an update on the locking tab orientation on the 0.156 header. It's looking like that should get installed so the locking tab faces the rear of the PCB for easier plugging/unplugging. I pulled a Stern Galaxy head to look at the connectors further and based on the Stern style connector it's going to be the better orientation. The Bally seems okay either way, but also easier insertion with the locking tab facing the rear of the board. I'll get the instructions updated shortly.

I've front-loaded a lot of time and enjoyment in the hobby creating new things that either I needed or that I thought others would find useful. The idea was to establish longer-term consistent funding for new projects, then strike a better balance between creativity & working on games for myself. Never happened though, not with niche diagnostic tools. And the only games that were worked on heavily and fixed up 100% were the ones going up for sale. The collection suffered. Probably happens that way for a lot of people.

Creating is definitely a passion of mine. I like helping people, I like knowing some things like these LED displays are totally transforming the look of machines. But after a while you become a bit of a create-a-holic. Rarely do I just "play pinball" any more. That's bothersome to me because I like games.. video games, pinball, all of it. I definitely plan on finding that balance by the end of this year. I'm looking forward to it.

Instructions have been updated for the locking tab orientation. That actually solves the problem with the capacitor leg clearances on the UNO board. I have to bump the note on the removal of high voltage fuses up on the board since that now gets covered a bit, but the UNO is actually escaping much of a design change at all from the REV1 boards.

I'm going to be putting together a larger order of REV1 boards for someone and at that point it looks like I won't have many sets remaining of either style of the displays. So if you want to get in on the 5% discount now's your chance. Next set of boards that come in will be at the quoted pricing in the main post.

UNO 7-digit REV1 boards are sold out. Still have a few sets of the UNO 6-digit and Traditional designs. A 5% discount is still being offered on remaining REV1 boards. They are fully functioning boards.

If anyone would like a fully assembled set, PM me for a price. I'll be assembling a few of the REV1 sets over the next few weeks if they do not sell before the next order of boards comes in and offer them up for sale.

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