Looks awesome Rob!
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

Noice!!!! I'm in.

Noice!

LOL

The NeoLoch stuff is pretty neat. Rob has their new version of the tester, which looks very nice.
http://www.neoloch.com/products/NLT-28P-LCD-5S.php
This replaces their older version:
http://www.neoloch.com/products/NLT-28P-12LED-5S.php
I'm still hoping they will make a 6821 PIA tester...

I ordered the 'kit' form. Let us see how that goes together.

Rob, next time you or David do a firmware update. 2101's maybe?

I still have a few of those around to use a 'testers' when I think I have a bad 5101. I bought them in bulk ages ago. They are pin compatible with the 5101 just slow as crap. When I get the tester built I was going to see if it could test them as 5101.

I'm looking forward to playing around with this, especially since it can now test nvram based products. The old unit would PASS 6264 compatible nvram, but it wouldn't write much to it and really wasn't actually testing the memory. I had suspected this but didn't really know for sure until I dumped the nvram data. I think I saw one bit in the data change. I let David know of that issue, sent him some RAMTRON DIP parts (FM1608B-PG) and he got the new tester design working properly with the RAMTRON. He had to change the code so the chip enable would properly latch the addresses (design consideration on the RAMTRON datasheets and this is different from SRAM). Anyway, not technically a "design issue" with the old unit since it was just meant to test standard SRAM and works perfectly for that.. but it's certainly cool that the new tester will also handle the nvram, especially for those of us creating nvram products.

David's pretty open to suggestions and if he doesn't have the ICs himself he would most likely be interested if you could send him some and incorporate it into a future firmware revision.. if the tester doesn't already work with them. I sent him a bunch of pinball ICs last year.. 6821s, 6800s, 6802s, 6808s, 6810s (6810 now handled with newest design). I think he's looking into being able to test some of those additional chips. Really looking forward to a 6821 tester if he ever builds one.

You got that right. I left my 2101 in my tester board a week or two ago with my external battery pack connected and on,,,,, 3 dead AA's in a week.

Is the kit entirely through hole? If so...awesome. I don't see anything SMT...fig better to ask though.. lol.

great product well done.. Two now on their way to live in Australia

Well shoot, I hope he continues to support the old model, at least as much as hardware limitations will allow.

Bah! David still hasnt even let me know the boards were ready for purchase!

This is awesome I must have it! Great job Borygard!
I will check your site for purchase details.
Cheers

Just got my kit in the days mail. Will try to assemble tonight.

Took about an hour to assemble. Not too bad. Thing can be powered a variety of ways. That took me a bit of research before I 'tried' to fire it up. I ended up feeding it 11vdc off my bench supply.

I say 'tried' because the poor baby was still born. I've got a ticket in Neoloch.

Voltage on the board looks good, yet no pulse. Rechecked my soldering, rechecked all orientation of components, nada. I'll see what the support folks can come up with.

I am IMPRESSED. Not 10 mins after I logged a support ticket, the David (the president) responded and was still in the office and offered to help me out on the phone. I didn't have to as he gave me a couple tips that got me going.

The unit has a contrast knob, I had set it to mid point and when the unit did not 'appear' to power up I tried adjusting it back and forth to see if it was a contrast issue. Well figures, my display likes the pot set almost full counterclockwise /facepalm.

Unit works as advertised. I tested a known good 2101 (it does know 2101s) and a known good 5101, both passed. I then tested a known bad 5101 and it failed right away.

Tomorrow I may try testing a Pinforge NVram adapter as a 5101 and see if it passes. I'm thinking the retentivity of the nvram may mess up data tests.

The prints to the module are in the datasheet available at Neoloch.com.

Went camping outdoors, finally had a chance to test the Pinforge. The handle on the ZIF adapter interferes with the adapter module and you can not place the chip in the tester directly and try it.

I managed to wiggle a bit and get the adapter in but it failed test 17 the address test. All other tests appear to pass. Of course that also could be due to the games I had to play to get it seated. So I would not call it a failure yet.

Tomorrow I'll see if putting a socket or two between the adapter and the ZIP will remove the clearance issues.

Sounds like a great kit for sure. I was actually all set to start ordering boards and parts to carry these on my own site, but I've had another opportunity drop into my lap and won't have the funding to do both. Stinks that I can't do these as well.

Would like to just order the pcb as I already have most parts to order but can't find the firmware anywhere. I've been looking for something to use my PICkit3 for.

Rob, are you coming to the Ohio show and will you have these for sale? I have the original version but I'd like to get the new version too.

If you are bringing some, put me down for an unassembled kit

Good to know the failure I saw is a real fault. I don't remember seeing any SIP sockets in my kit. I'll go back and look, regardless, I should have some in my stock anyway.

Still liking this little widget.

I've also noticed that if testing a failed RAM, then switching to testing another type of RAM chip the tester can indicate a failure. I think it was the "1st pass" being tested on the good RAM that would fail and then the rest of the passes would indicate a PASS, but ultimately end up as a FAIL for the chip. Re-running the test results in a PASS. Powering off and on and testing the RAM chip results in a pass the first time. Seems to only happen after testing a failed RAM and then attempting to test a good RAM immediately after. Anyone else have that happen?

Also, just as a side note.. the RAM tester does not blank out the data stored on the RAM IC at the end. It appears the data from the last part of the test "Address Check" is left on the device. According to the Neoloch datasheet the "Address Check" is writing different offset values to each memory location and that corresponds to a pattern of letters and numbers I'm seeing in the data. This is only a consideration when testing NVRAM where the data will remain on the IC. Really not a big deal since it's good to clear settings/audits whenever installing RAM anyway, but I'm sure David could blank out the RAM at the end easily if necessary.

My buddy Steve Mildenberger just bought one of the kit versions with an AC power adapter. I assembled it for him (took about an hour for me to do it) and tested it out. This thing is great! I love it.

I had two 5101's that I suspected were bad and it confirmed them to be bad. I had a 6810 I thought might be bad but it was found to be good on the tester.

I highly recommend this unit!

Rob, hope you'll swing down to Atlanta for the SPF in June. Would love to meet.

Atlanta in June is actually not that bad, it's July and August you gotta watch out for. Honestly, I find Atl to be a lot like St. Louis, which is where I am from.

So...I picked up one of these testers.
Works very nice. Some results that I can't yet interpret on some chips.

Does anyone know what the 4 rubber pads are for?
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

I got one from Rob at the Ohio Show. Haven't put it together yet, although I did look at it. I'm thinking the pads go on the back of LCD screen since it is only held on by the header pins. That would keep OT spaced off the main boardboard

The rubber pads are only mentioned in the parts list and are not mentioned in the assembly instructions.

I haven't had a chance to download the assembly guide yet, internet is on the fritz at home today... I'm planning on putting the pads on the back of the LCD, that makes the most sense to me. Rob did have a built one at the show but I didn't really study it

Aha! Suspected that, right after I soldered the LCD in place. Oh well.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

Does the tester automatically know what you are testing, or do you have to select the device that will be tested?

There are a few switches used to select the device under test.
The type of RAM is not automatically identified.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

I thought they went on the bottom of the main board. That's where I put them. I did not think of the display.

Great little tester! just finished putting the kit together today and tested a bunch of different brand 2114's I had laying around. The good news, I guess, is I threw away several bad rams already so this tester is proving to be very handy and costing me more money already lol.
Will it be possible at any point for it to test 2101 / 9101 ram?

Yep bought mine at the MCG was pretty simple to assemble and is pretty handy I bought the kit form and used my own power supply. Also added some standoffs for the bottom becouse typicly there is solder wires etc on the bench, added a heat sink to the regulator as well becouse the instructions said regulator might get hot but it runs cool.

I wouldnt mind a 6821 or PIA tester and potentialy a 6800, 6200 6808, and potentialy a 6502 as well combo tester I would certainly buy one.008-907.JPG 005-168.JPG

Got mine and assembled it. In about an hour from the time I cut the bag of parts open, I was testing 2114s and found a bad one which I verified by plugging it into a game board. This is exactly the ram tester I have been looking for and am very happy. I will be checking to see if I can build adapters for other SRAMS with similar sizes and organizations to see it it can support them as the need arises. I used a set of arcade board standoffs for mine to elevate it off the workbench surface so nothing gets shorted underneath.

But as it is right now, I am a very happy camper.

Bill

I like the one I bought. Assembled it last weekend in about 30 minutes, and it's accurate. All I needed