(Topic ID: 285451)

New MiniDMD product from BriteMods - Pinball Life

By calico1997

3 years ago


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  • 32 posts
  • 13 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 2 years ago by calico1997
  • Topic is favorited by 4 Pinsiders

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    2021-06-25 07_09_05-Pinball Life_ MiniDMD Customizable Playfield Display For CGC, JJP, & American Pi (resized).jpg
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    #1 3 years ago

    Hi Folks,

    New MiniDMD™ add-on displays from BriteMods are now available. This plug-and-play kit allows you to add scrolling / blinking messages on various parts of your playfield for more illumination and fun. Messages are easily loaded into the MiniDMD via wireless Bluetooth using your iPhone or Android smart phone and a free 3rd party App. Add game call outs, rules, slogans, or whatever you’d like. These are great for older pinball machines that didn’t have DMD displays. Suitable for nearly any pinball machine with standard 5-6 volt lamp sockets. Available in Red, Blue, Green, and classic Amber. Upper and lower case text and some pictograms are available. You can even create your own basic pictograms. Scroll speed, direction, chase lights, blinking, other effects and brightness are adjustable. Retains message memory when powered off. The MiniDMD comes with enough wire to allow placement in a wide variety of locations. Just make sure it is clear of any ball travel or moving parts. Attachment can be done with the included mounting tape, or vertical mounting adhesive brackets. This set uses less power than a standard 555 or 44 incandescent 6v light bulb. Each kit contains installation instructions, one 3x9 cm display unit, 9 feet of wire, mounting tape and a pair of mounting brackets, and one bayonet and one wedge LED power adapter (warm white).

    You can view details at:

    http://www.britemods.com/

    They are available for purchase at Pinball Life:

    https://www.pinballlife.com/minidmd.html

    The YouTube video demo is here:

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    #2 3 years ago

    A note about the history of this product: These were a concept I worked with and posted about roughly two years ago. Thanks for everyone's feedback! At the time, there was no way to program messages into the device without hooking up physically to a PC and installing software. But these new versions, for a reasonable cost, now include instant message programming via free smartphone app. That's what made this a viable product for the average user and why it wasn't offered until now.

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    #3 3 years ago

    A note about connection: Another reason for the delay bringing this to market was the need for plug-and-play connection. While many of our Pinside friends are experts at soldering, not everyone is. We therefore had to come up with an ac/dc adapter that allows you to power this device anywhere on your machine using a standard wedge or bayonet 5-6 volt lamp socket. We highly recommend using coin door lights, as those usually remain "on" and at full power without game control for 99% of machines. They even should work on EM machines, though I haven't personally tried it. The kit comes with both adapters so you can move it from one machine to another if desired.

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    #4 3 years ago

    A note about availability: As this is a brand new product, our stock currently is "starter inventory". We don't really know what the response will be, so for now let me just mention that supplies may be limited at first.

    Thanks again!

    calico1997
    BriteMods

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    #5 3 years ago

    Very Cool! Nicely done.
    I think a blue in BTTF will be nice.
    Green in Fish tales too.

    #6 3 years ago

    That’s cool! Any way to customize font?

    #7 3 years ago

    Isn't this just a regular 5$ LED name tag?

    #8 3 years ago
    Quoted from calico1997:

    A note about the history of this product: These were a concept I worked with and posted about roughly two years ago. Thanks for everyone's feedback! At the time, there was no way to program messages into the device without hooking up physically to a PC and installing software. But these new versions, for a reasonable cost, now include instant message programming via free smartphone app. That's what made this a viable product for the average user and why it wasn't offered until now.
    [quoted image][quoted image]

    Yeah I’ve bought an a bunch of these at different conventions for fun. They’re usually like $25 or something.

    #9 3 years ago
    Quoted from DorkVonWaterfall:

    Isn't this just a regular 5$ LED name tag?

    Quoted from Isochronic_Frost:

    Yeah I’ve bought an a bunch of these at different conventions for fun. They’re usually like $25 or something.

    For the price point of this mod, you definitely get your monies worth.

    #10 3 years ago

    It appears to be the updated wireless name badge (like Coolbird or "JAHUITE LED Name Tag" which is $16 on Amazon), but includes the power adapters and is essentially ready to install for anyone that is not an electronics tinkerer. It's about 3.5" wide and has the same 44x11 pixel display. Seems reasonable for a plug and play pinball mod to save the hassle of making power cables, buying parts, etc. Next PBL order I might get one to try out on a new Houdini machine perhaps for the Key Lane sign.

    #11 3 years ago

    This is badass!

    #12 3 years ago

    Hi again Folks,

    To answer some of the questions on this topic; Yes, you can get digital name badges on the internet. This product is customized at the factory in China and are made by special order with a minimum order quantity of hundreds of units at a time. There's also added cost for international freight and duty. What is customized is that instead of a built in limited lift battery that goes dead in a few hours, this unit is hard wired. And it has about 9 feet of wire that allows you to place it nearly anywhere on most machine playfields. Then it also has Bluetooth which costs more than the old cheaper ones that required you to install software on a PC and hook up with a USB cable. Plus, it also has mounting tape and custom 3D printed mounting brackets, included. Then it also includes both bayonet and wedge type LED adapters (again custom made and imported from China with a very large order quantity) These are included with a 5-6 volt ac/dc bridge rectifier and capacitor. It also has full color multi-page instructions and is sold as a complete kit, with a modest mark up for us. It had to be tested on every type of machine we could get our hands on including needing some special modification to work with the latest Stern Spike2 system. It took a total of about 5 months to develop with all the back and forth work. This is why it costs more than buying a name badge on ebay and also why it is easy to use and works well in the pinball mod application.

    It's reasonable to ask about the cost and what's included, so I don't mind the question and also don't mind explaining it.

    Best regards!
    calico1997

    #13 3 years ago
    Quoted from DorkVonWaterfall:

    Isn't this just a regular 5$ LED name tag?

    I did this mod 5 years ago, although without BT.....maybe I should call the ™ rights

    #14 3 years ago

    What are the dimensions?

    #15 3 years ago

    Also...link to app?

    #16 3 years ago

    One more thing...maybe add a second matching led to your kits so lighting is uniform on coin door.

    #17 3 years ago

    Which App in particular do you use ?

    #18 3 years ago
    Quoted from crujones4life:

    What are the dimensions?

    I believe the display is about 3.6" wide, and the control app is in the apple and google stores, try to search "LED Badge" in Apple App Store or "Bluetooth LED Name Badge" in Google Play store. One of the differences from the cheap $5 name badge is the number of text letters that can be displays static. This one has SEVEN, whereas the cheap name badges have ONLY FIVE! And they removed the internal battery, and made it hardwired.

    All of these albeit individually minor changes, plus the whole cable adapters are worth the extra few bucks for a ready-to-go pinball mod.

    #19 3 years ago

    The physical dimensions of the LED display unit is 93 mm wide x 30 mm tall x 6 mm deep. If you have a specific installation point already in mind, good to first check that this unit fits.

    #20 3 years ago

    3.66” wide x 1.18” tall x .24” deep - for those of us unfortunately raised on inches

    #21 3 years ago
    Quoted from PinRob:

    3.66” wide x 1.18” tall x .24” deep - for those of us unfortunately raised on inches

    Thanks PinRob! I guess the numbers in inches would be more helpful to a lot of people.

    #22 3 years ago

    I just installed one of the MiniDMD's on my Gottlieb Haunted House to show off the green version. The photos of the dot matrix look a little blurry but in reality they're very sharp. Here's a picture of the coin door installation and also a picture of the screen where I set up the messages on my iPhone.

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    #23 3 years ago

    Here's also a video of it with all the messages.

    #24 3 years ago

    Is there a cover on front? How well is it protected from ball hits? Also..how does the app work If I have two installed, does it recognize each unit separately for different message programming?

    #25 3 years ago
    Quoted from Mitoska:

    Is there a cover on front? How well is it protected from ball hits? Also..how does the app work If I have two installed, does it recognize each unit separately for different message programming?

    It's a plastic case all around and will not hold up long term to repeated ball hits. An occasional ball hit should not be a problem but lots of hits - no way of knowing. I've not tested it in that way. I would only mount it in a location where ball hits are rare to non-existent.

    The app is not specific to one device. It is more of a broadcast to any device that has the Bluetooth receive mode on. I tried four devices all set to Bluetooth receive mode at the same time. It programmed only one at a time (not all at the same time). This is nice in one sense; you don't have to find and pair the devices. You have to manually turn on the Bluetooth receive mode by pushing a button on the device, so accidentally changing one while trying to program another isn't possible.

    #26 3 years ago
    Quoted from calico1997:

    It's a plastic case all around and will not hold up long term to repeated ball hits. An occasional ball hit should not be a problem but lots of hits - no way of knowing. I've not tested it in that way. I would only mount it in a location where ball hits are rare to non-existent.
    The app is not specific to one device. It is more of a broadcast to any device that has the Bluetooth receive mode on. I tried four devices all set to Bluetooth receive mode at the same time. It programmed only one at a time (not all at the same time). This is nice in one sense; you don't have to find and pair the devices. You have to manually turn on the Bluetooth receive mode by pushing a button on the device, so accidentally changing one while trying to program another isn't possible.

    That's a bummer..I was interested in purchasing several, didn't realize id have to take glass off and hold a button anytime I want to change message. Do you have plans to make a model that you dont have to do that with ?

    #27 3 years ago

    wish there was a way to get this to work with encoding chips to use for displays on segmented games, look into it for sometime yesterday with no luck

    3 weeks later
    #28 3 years ago

    IMPORTANT NOTE: Not for Chicago Gaming Remakes including Medieval Madness (MMR), Attack From Mars (AFMR), and Monster Bash (MBR), due to those coin lights being 12vdc instead of 6vdc. We just noticed these games don't use standard 6 volt coin door lights. Perhaps we can get some 12v adapters made but that will not happen for at least a few months. Thanks for your understanding.

    - calico1997

    #29 3 years ago

    Just a note, but my WOZ also uses 12v coin door lights. I can't speak for the other JJP games, but WOZ does.

    #30 3 years ago
    Quoted from Calfdemon:

    Just a note, but my WOZ also uses 12v coin door lights. I can't speak for the other JJP games, but WOZ does.

    Thank you for letting me know this. I suspected that might also be the case. I will check into a 12v option solution. But for now these are only for 6v lamp sockets.

    Thanks again for taking the time to let me know!

    #31 3 years ago

    Could you tie the button that changes the messages to a switch on the playfield(physically)?

    4 months later
    #32 2 years ago
    Quoted from calico1997:

    IMPORTANT NOTE: Not for Chicago Gaming Remakes including Medieval Madness (MMR), Attack From Mars (AFMR), and Monster Bash (MBR), due to those coin lights being 12vdc instead of 6vdc. We just noticed these games don't use standard 6 volt coin door lights. Perhaps we can get some 12v adapters made but that will not happen for at least a few months. Thanks for your understanding.
    - calico1997

    Just as an update, this issue is now fully resolved! You can now use the MiniDMD product on 12 volt coin door games from Jersey Jack, American Pinball, and Chicago Gaming. There is a 12V version available for these, as well as still the 6v version for all Stern and other older games from Williams, Bally, Gottlieb, etc. Both are available from Pinball Life. Just be sure to select the correct 12v or 6v version when you order.

    Regards,
    calico1997
    https://www.pinballlife.com/britemods-store.html

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