TZ - wiring up mods (red &amp; black croc clips, lamp diodes, etc)

Hi,

I've recently bought a refurbished Twilight Zone, which has LEDs installed throughout. It has some mods attached to the playfield, but in some cases (for reasons unknown) they aren't wired in.

One such mod is a camera mod. It has a pair of red and black crocodile clips on the end of the wire, and the install instructions (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B18V2Lyll3xhUXlBZnFOdGRvOWc/view) talk about connecting them to the camera insert. I've looked at this on the underside, and it looks like a lamp diode fitting - but I haven't got a clue where I should attach this red and black crocodile clip. I tried connecting it once already and all I managed to do was end up making multiple lamps light up erroneously at the same time (a short I guess), so have removed them again.

I should say that I'm pretty clueless about electronics beyond the fact that I know red = positive and black = negative.

Here is a photo of the "camera" lamp insert on the playfield:

camera_insert (resized).jpg

..and here are the two crocodile clips that are currently attached to an inert metal bar:

IMG_2467 (resized).JPG

Also - it has a slot machine mod (http://www.pinballdecals.com/TwilightZoneUltimateSlotMachinePage.html) which has three separate circuits for 3 different LEDs (two orange ones either side, a blue one at the top that is supposed to light up when Super Slot door panel is lit, and a third white LED that is supposed to be wired to general illumination). Only the 2 orange ones are currently working. The orange cable pair is wired into a couple of plugs...

IMG_0224 (resized).JPG

..the blue pair is soldered directly to the Super Slot location (but doesn't come on when this panel is lit?)

IMG_4290 (resized).JPG

..the green pair, which by process of elimination I'm guessing is the white LED and is supposed to be "wired to general illumination" is just hanging there..

IMG_6434 (resized).JPG

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide

Post last edited 6 years ago: “Fixed broken links”

#2 6 years ago

LER

Lermods

Lermods Pinball Co.

11y 201K 10,854 58

Assuming the mod is ours, Read step 8 of the instructions in the link you provided. If the mod doesn’t light, reverse the clips, very simple. Pm me with any questions, we will get it going.

#3 6 years ago

DAZ

Durzel

Pinside member

The camera mod is yours, I believe.

The problem is not so much that I can't get the mod to illuminate (white LED top, multicoloured one bottom right?), but when it is connected it causes other lamps to come on when they shouldn't. There may be others coming on by mistake too.

For example - with mod connected and on single lamp test on e.g. Super Slot, both Super Slot and The Spiral light up (not ghosting, I mean properly switched on).

I'm presuming I've just wired it wrong, since the mod works, but I don't know how to wire it to the camera insert (first image in my original post). There is a green/yellow wire going to one prong, and two red/green wires going to another side. I don't know based on this where the red/black croc clips should go.

Thanks in advance.

#4 6 years ago

LER

Lermods

Lermods Pinball Co.

11y 201K 10,854 58

OP
Quoted from Durzel:
The camera mod is yours, I believe.
The problem is not so much that I can't get the mod to illuminate (white LED top, multicoloured one bottom right?), but when it is connected it causes other lamps to come on when they shouldn't. There may be others coming on by mistake too.
For example - with mod connected and on single lamp test on e.g. Super Slot, both Super Slot and The Spiral light up (not ghosting, I mean properly switched on).
I'm presuming I've just wired it wrong, since the mod works, but I don't know how to wire it to the camera insert (first image in my original post). There is a green/yellow wire going to one prong, and two red/green wires going to another side. I don't know based on this where the red/black croc clips should go.
Thanks in advance.

Not my mod, we only use blue LEDs in the camera.

#5 6 years ago

DAZ

Durzel

Pinside member

Ok thanks, this is what it looks like - it looked like yours from what I could tell, but as I didn't buy the mods originally I couldn't confirm.

IMG_7970 (resized).JPG

#6 6 years ago

SMK

TheLaw

Pinside+ Addict

Ann Arbor, MI

12y 162K 48,033 19 30 1

OP
Quoted from Durzel:
(white LED top, multicoloured one bottom right?),

uff.

Just put the aligator clips on both arms of the camera insert lamp...where the wires are.

#7 6 years ago

F X

Coyote

Pinside member

No.
FFS, this is how a lamp matrix works.
One needs to go on the Yellow wire.
The other needs to go on the UN-BANDED side of the diode - NOT on the red wire.

Otherwise, depending on the lamps in the mod, you are bypassing the lamp matrix diode, which will cause other lamps in the matrix to light when the Camera lamp is on. (However, looking at your camera lamp socket, I can't tell if both red wires are wired to the same lug. They should be.

#8 6 years ago

DAZ

Durzel

Pinside member

Quoted from Coyote:
No.
FFS, this is how a lamp matrix works.
One needs to go on the Yellow wire.
The other needs to go on the UN-BANDED side of the diode - NOT on the red wire.
Otherwise, depending on the lamps in the mod, you are bypassing the lamp matrix diode, which will cause other lamps in the matrix to light when the Camera lamp is on. (However, looking at your camera lamp socket, I can't tell if both red wires are wired to the same lug. They should be.

Thanks. I'm pretty much a novice when it comes to this stuff I'm afraid.

The camera angle isn't great, but yes both red wires are connected to the same lug. I guess I need to attach the black (or red?) crocodile clip to the lug on the OTHER side? (this is the unbanded side right?)

#9 6 years ago

F X

Coyote

Pinside member

The diode is the small black cylinder, with two silver-colored leads coming off of it. One end of the diode has a silve band around it - that is the banded (cathode) side. Assuming a lot of things about the mod, since it doesn't seem to be Lermods above, clip one alligator clip to the terminal that the yellow wire is on, and clip the other to the terminal on the socket that is connected to the diode's side that does NOT have the silver band.

#10 6 years ago

DAZ

Durzel

Pinside member

Quoted from Coyote:
The diode is the small black cylinder, with two silver-colored leads coming off of it. One end of the diode has a silve band around it - that is the banded (cathode) side. Assuming a lot of things about the mod, since it doesn't seem to be Lermods above, clip one alligator clip to the terminal that the yellow wire is on, and clip the other to the terminal on the socket that is connected to the diode's side that does NOT have the silver band.

Excellent, thanks, I'll give that a try.

The last time I wired it up I connected the clip to the same lug that the red wires are attached to, and the other clip to the green wired lug, and it behaved exactly as you stated - i.e. more than one lamp would come on during "single lamp" tests.

#11 6 years ago

LER

Lermods

Lermods Pinball Co.

11y 201K 10,854 58

Quoted from Coyote:
No.
FFS, this is how a lamp matrix works.
One needs to go on the Yellow wire.
The other needs to go on the UN-BANDED side of the diode - NOT on the red wire.
Otherwise, depending on the lamps in the mod, you are bypassing the lamp matrix diode, which will cause other lamps in the matrix to light when the Camera lamp is on. (However, looking at your camera lamp socket, I can't tell if both red wires are wired to the same lug. They should be.

So this is interesting. When I wrote instructions for my camera mod, I wrote them based on connections I made with the game right in front of me. The connections were to the lugs with wires on them and I did not have any lamp issues elsewhere. Now, this was a few years ago and it’s entirely possibke I wrote them incorrectly, but usually my instructions are correct. I don’t have my game anymore so I cannot confirm this, but nobody has come back to me and told me my instructions were wrong. To be safe, I will add a note in my instructions about an alternative connection if an issue arises.

#12 6 years ago

SMK

TheLaw

Pinside+ Addict

Ann Arbor, MI

12y 162K 48,033 19 30 1

20171022_150148 (resized).jpg

#13 6 years ago

F X

Coyote

Pinside member

Quoted from Lermods:
So this is interesting. When I wrote instructions for my camera mod, I wrote them based on connections I made with the game right in front of me. The connections were to the lugs with wires on them and I did not have any lamp issues elsewhere. Now, this was a few years ago and it’s entirely possibke I wrote them incorrectly, but usually my instructions are correct. I don’t have my game anymore so I cannot confirm this, but nobody has come back to me and told me my instructions were wrong. To be safe, I will add a note in my instructions about an alternative connection if an issue arises.

In theory, if you're using a bulb, and not an LED, then adding a bulb from wire-to-wire (and not diode-to-wire), that bulb will bypass the diode, and let current flow to light up other lamps. This would depend on the bulb's resistance, etc as well, affecting the result.
Now, if you have an LED, which is a diode, then if you wire the LED up from wire-to-wire, and the diode's direction matches the same polarity as the diode there on the lamp socket, then.. you'll have no issue. Because the LED is not allowing reverse current, none of the other lamps will light.

So, there are a lot of factors that could cause or prevent other lamps from lighting. (And I haven't even touched on whether the OTHER lamps are LEDs or incandescent, etc..)

Just basing on what @op said in his opening post, I'm taking a guess that the mod has a small bulb in it, and it's bypassing the diod there on the socket.

Of course, I could be completely wrong, too. I often am! Just basing my suggestion on what's been posted so far. I mean, hell, it's possible that his TZ has another socket with a shorted/missing diode, and adding this one just exemplifies the issue.

#14 6 years ago

DAZ

Durzel

Pinside member

Just wired it up as instructed by Coyote, and now it's working like a charm with no random lights illuminating. You're an absolute star!

Thanks to everyone for your help. That's one mod sorted, now onto the next ones

#15 6 years ago

F X

Coyote

Pinside member