Updated 6/9/2015
Updated core Pinduino library with new functions to fade in/out addressable LED strips across all channels
Updated code for Ironman GI lighting

Updated 6/7/2015
Added beta code for controlling GI in Ironman:
https://github.com/elyons/professor_pinball_pinduino_sketches/tree/master/IM_interactive_GI

Updated 5/11/2015
Added code for apron/backpanel for Spiderman:
https://github.com/elyons/professor_pinball_pinduino_sketches/tree/master/SM-Apron-Back

Updated 3/25/2015
Added code for Metallica backpanel of playfield: https://github.com/elyons/professor_pinball_pinduino_sketches/tree/master/Metallica-Apron-Back

Update 3/20/2015
Added support for Stern whitestar systems.

Lord of the Ring (LOTR) apron and playfield:
*Install instructions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1flqpWpg-yn98aAIjPoJgZX-o_H5LMovO5QdyXzAD88U/edit
*Code: https://github.com/elyons/professor_pinball_pinduino_sketches/tree/master/LOTR-Apron-Back

Update 3/9/2015
Added instructions for installing Pinduino code and library:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Xk9QtnBrs58lnKNAFGCy8bAlQ9cdEmo1Trk4WAJEpYM

Update 3/7/2015
Added instructions for building/connecting addressable LED strips: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16LbYL2x28CdcNPdOtlQ6sCq2ZnG9WlICS7bRPxxhEcw

Update 3/5/2015
Added instructions for installing/building an Addams Family backbox kit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HKyJwPsHfhxWkHS7zmrljCiCwN6ou_A6P5EYyhbwRRM

Update: 3/3/2015
The Addams Family backbox lights has been created.

Update: 3/2/2015
Game list with supported games and videos now available: http://goo.gl/krqwnD
Includes links to instructions, video, and code

Update: 2/17/2015

Instructions for assembling a Pinduino: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y68ZkTQ2VHid4RKTt7BpwDiLYukaT8Dqg48kC-UWgqU/edit?usp=sharing

Update: 2/16/2015

Added apron and under backbox lighting effects for XMen. Code is available: https://github.com/elyons/professor_pinball_pinduino_sketches/tree/master/XMen-Apron-Back

Update: 2/15/2015

We have the Pinduino installed in a WPC game (Theatre of Magic).
*Code: https://github.com/elyons/professor_pinball_pinduino_sketches/tree/master/Theatre_of_Magic
*Instructions to make it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AILkBQkR4-VTdYEEuH_BTGi2seYsod-aqP9rHbFgXhY/edit?usp=sharing

Update: 2/14/2015

Almost all of the components are in for the Pinduino (just waiting for TIP122s). We have developed a general purpose Pinduino library to make programming these for new games quick and easy: https://github.com/elyons/professor_pinball_pinduino_sketches/tree/master/pinduino
Feel free to pull a copy and use as you wish.

All our code for games are posted to GitHub: https://github.com/elyons/professor_pinball_pinduino_sketches

Update: 12/19/2014

Version 2 of the Pinduino is returning from production. Details on the improvements are in this post: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/update-arduino-shield-propin-pinhead#post-2118187

--------------------------------------------

This is an update on our progress on our Arduino shield for intercepting flasher and coil outputs. Since this is prof_pinball, here is our science-style update:

Purpose: Develop a plug-and-play Arduino shield that let's anyone easily make custom programs for controling any pinball mod.

Background: This is a plug and play shield for Arduino Megas (http://arduino.cc/en/Main/arduinoBoardMega) with all the necessary circuitry for plugging into J6 and J7 on SAM Stern pinball machines, and plug outs to drive LED strips, addressable (programmable) LED strips, or other mods. You can easily program Arduinos using all the open source tools available (Windows, Mac, Linux: http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/HomePage) so that every time a J6/J7 flasher or coild is triggered (or a sequence of them), you can trigger a custom mod in your game. Right now, we have been writing programs for ramp lights, backbox lights, and under backbox lights. (See videos of Tron and Ironman)

Vids:

Metallica:

Tron:

Ironman:

Ramp lights:

GI lighting:

X-Men (LE):

Ramps:

Apron and under backbox lighting:

Theatre of Magic:

The Addams Family:

Lord of the Rings:

Pictures:
V0.2
Board:
IMG_3962.JPG

Kit with all components:
IMG_4027.JPG

Installed in XMLE:
IMG_3973.JPG

Installed in ToM:
IMG_4101.JPG

Technically, you can control over 50 mods. At this point, 21 of the 54 digital pins are used, and 0 of 16 analog pins (+5V out). Think of it this way. Data comes into the Arduino and you can use it anyway that you wish. Don't plan on driving anything that uses a lot of current directly through the Arduino (max 40mA per I/O pin), but you can use the Arduino to trigger a transistor or relay to drive a high current circuit.

Note: posted this before seeing Wes' response.

Yes -- but there are a couple of ways we deal with this. One way is as you describe: poll the inputs and update their states, then after some time (e.g, 100ms), check to see if the appropriate combination of events have occurred to do something or set a stack of events to occur. However, some things are missed when running a function that takes a long time to complete(e.g., sweep lights). The second is to use interrupts, for which there are a few you can use in the Mega. If you use a Due, you can set any pin as an interrupt. The nice things about our shield is that it will work on a Mega or a Due (same form factor). One other way, which isn't pretty, is to add calls to a function to check pin states inside of every loop.

In the end, the nice thing about Arduino is the extensive set of libraries and code to use to figure out solutions to all these situations. We will start posting our code once the board is in a few people's hands. Of course, let us know if you'd like to take a look at our code and we'll get it posted sooner.

Very nice job with this mod! I just checked the transistor control for those relays and, unfortunately, they are on the accessory board available in the LE. This version of the Pinduino ties into J6/J7, so whatever is controlled by those circuits can be intercepted. I'm attaching what J6/J7 controls in Xmen. If a flasher or coil is triggered when the GI colors change, that can be used as the signal to flash the ramps.

Screen Shot 2014-11-28 at 7.28.23 PM.png

Yes: http://www.adafruit.com/products/1143?gclid=CIH1ybqDn8ICFUJsfgodd6sAVA

There is even a nice tutorial on how to control them with an Arduino: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-arduino-lesson-14-servo-motors

However, they do note to only drive one server with the power provided through an Arduino. If you use more than one, then hook them up to an external power source. Fortunately, our board draws both 5V and 12V from the pinball machine, so it is easy to splice into the wiring harness for 5V required to power servos.

Awesome idea! You hit on what we are shooting on doing with these boards: enabling anyone with a fun idea to make it a reality. While there are many systems for building simple control logic (turn on LED, turn on servo), leveraging the resources available through the Arudino SDK and extensive libraries will let people develop more interactive mods that are tied to gameplay.

Update: X-Men completed!

Gameplay: See it all come together in a game

Flasher test: Showing each lighting effect

Just wanted folks to know that we have done our first code drop (X-men)! You can download the Arduino sketch from our GitHub repository: https://github.com/elyons/professor_pinball_pinduino_sketches

More will come as we clean up the code!

The Professor Pinball Team is excited to announce that the next version of the Pinduino is currently under manufacture! Based on our first run and feedback from the community, we have made some MAJOR improvements.

--------------------------------------------------------------
The Professor Pinball Pinduino Board has the following:
--------------------------------------------------------------

---===Standard Inputs===---
J6 and J7 of Stern SAM boards.
This includes the signals for up to 16 flashers, coils, or motors. For a breakdown of what is controlled for various Stern SAM games: http://goo.gl/lKMpR1

---===Standard Outputs===---
(3) +5V Output Headers. These output headers have an Analog/Digital Output, +5V, and GND, (Servos, Addressable LED strips work well for this)
(4) +12V Output Headers. These work great for 12V RGB strips. Each color is independently controlled so you can program all types of lighting effects for cabinet, under cabinet, and backbox.
(2) Generic Output Headers. These supply +5V, +12V, and GND sources from the pinball machine.

---===Arduino SDK Control===---
The Pinduino is based on the common Arduino Shield architecture, and is designed to work with Arduino Mega/Arduino Due boards and the Arduino SDK. These open source micro control boards are cheap and easily available. Arduino brand boards cost between $20-$40 (http://goo.gl/BLcc5V) and off brand boards can be had for around $15 (http://goo.gl/wsz1MB).

---===Protoboard===---
You may want to expand upon the Pinduino to add your own capabilities that we haven’t thought of. In this case, we have included a mini-protoboard section (150+ through-holes) to allow you to easily add whatever you need. This could include resistors, transistors, diagnostic LEDs, fuses, etc. to customize the Pinduino to your needs. With this, you can build your own input logic (e.g., read from a switch) to read from anywhere on the pinball machine.

---===Power===---
Everything is powered by plugging into the standard Stern AUX power plug.

Here are some pics of the board's layout.

---===Programming===---
Since our boards are shields for Arduino Megas, programming these is as easy as programming an Arduino. This is very easy, and we are here to take you through it! Even if you have never programmed anything before, you can get yourself programming an Arduino in under an hour. Seriously. It is ridiculously easy. Best part is that there are many tutorials available for walking you through how to program an Arduino: http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage. In fact, even if we don’t buy anything else, get yourself an Arduino started kit and have some fun (http://goo.gl/HzEml0)

Additionally, the Professor Pinball team is doing the following to help get you going:

1. We are providing all of our code for you to use and modify (http://goo.gl/zCIQaW). As time permits, we will be writing tutorials to walk you through how do to various things with these kits (some previous tutorials we’ve written for the pinball community: http://goo.gl/0UKkYo; http://goo.gl/TTphXZ; http://goo.gl/1FAOu8; http://goo.gl/er3tbq).

2. We are in the process of moving all our code into easy to use libraries to make it as easy as possible for people to mix and match our functions to create great new capabilities!

3. We happily encourage you to write and share your own code for the Pinduino! Pinduino is an entirely open source project, and we are excited to see what folks do with it!

Yes -- this *should* work on a System 11 board. I checked out the circuit diagrams for Whirlwind. You'll only need to use one plug to tie into the flashers (not too many in that game) and their power. The power is 5J11-1, and the flashers are grounded on 5J1. The input voltage is rated higher on this game (+25V) than Sterns or WPC-95s, but the 10k resistors should cut it enough to not blow the opto-isolators. We don't have a system-11 to test this on, but if someone wants to lend us one, we can try it out.

Pinduino-williams.003.png

---===WPC-95===---

I checked out the circuit diagrams for Theatre of Magic (which one of us does have) and the Pinduino should work without any problems. You'll just need to create a custom harness to tie into the appropriate plugs on the power-driver board.

J106-5 for the power (that feeds the 10k resistor arrays on the Pinduino)

Grounding of flashers on J122, J124 and J126

Can't wait to get more boards in so I can test this on Theatre of Magic (all the other boards are in machines)!

Pinduino-WPC-95.001.png

Pinduino-WPC-95.002.png

---===Availability===---
We were overwhelmed by the number of people interested in purchasing these cards. For this next round of “prototype” testing, we are producing 50 Pinduino Kits. If you are interested, we will be selling these as do-it-yourself kits that contain everything you need to populate the board and get them running. This includes:

---===Pinduino===---
4x 4-channel opto-isolators
4x 10kohm resistor arrays
6x 3-pin JST headers and wired plugs
4x 4-pin JST headers and wired plugs
3x IRL540 N-Channel MOSFETs (Note: Room to add 9 more FETs to control 3 additional RGB Output Channels)
5x 8-pin stackable headers
1x 10-pin stackable header
1x 36-pin double row stackable header

---===Power wiring harness===---
6 feet of 4-pin wire to run a wiring harness to the Aux power plug.
1x 3-position 0.093”plug (http://goo.gl/1ZBZ1G) to connect to the Aux power on the pinball machine

---===J6 and J7 Wiring Harnesses===---
Note: At the moment we are finalizing our plans for providing this harness. You can also create your own harness with the following:
4x 10-position 0.156” molex plugs (for stern SAM power driver board J6 and J7)
2x 10-position 0.1” molex plugs (for pinduino J6 and J7 plugs)
2x 10-position 0.156” z-connector (we will include a 24-pin z-connector that can be cut to two 10-pin connectors: http://goo.gl/O5U9NL)
~24 inches of 10 conductor 24awg ribbon cable or equivalent

---===Product Pricing===---

---===Prototype “Discount”===---
Since these are still prototype versions and you are assembling/testing these yourself, we are selling these as close to cost as we can. Pricing will fluctuate based on how cheaply we can source the components, so if the prices go up or down, that’s why. Our focus is on getting these out to hobbyists and enthusiasts as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

---===Unassembled Pinduino “Kits”===---
1 Pinduino “Kit” - $30
2 or more Pinduino “Kits” - $25 each

---===J6/J7 Harnesses: (Still being sourced)===---
2x harnesses (one for each J6 and J7): $15

---===Assembled Pinduinos===---
Each Pinduino Board, tested and verified to order - $150

---===Arduinos===---
Preloaded Arduino Mega with code for LED Ramp Effects (XMEN, Tron, IM)- $50

---===Shipping===---
TBD. Domestic Shipping should be fairly cheap through USPS Priority Mail. We will work to find the best International Prices as needed.

---===Pre-assembled Boards===---
For those that are interested in pre-assembled and tested boards, you have a couple of options: You can wait until we move beyond the prototype phase where we will be producing these boards more cheaply/efficiently than we can during the prototype stage. Or, you can have us do all the work to put it together for you. In this case, you will be paying us for our time (and we are definitely SLOW). The price for these boards will be $150 each, with no volume discount (the Professor Pinball team can’t quit their day-jobs to solder components, yet…) If you like, we can also include an Arduino brand Mega board pre-programmed with any of our available code (e.g., Addressable LED light effects for X-Men, Tron, Ironman, etc.) for $50.

Please feel free to post your questions and comments. We especially want to know what you think will and won’t work with this board as we want to make this better in the final version. Also, know that we are committed to keep this project completely open. If there is any information you’d like, please let us know and we’ll post it.

---===Date of availability===---

We expect to have all the parts and boards in hand at the end of this month or the beginning of January. Once we build and test a couple, we'll start sending these out.

For people wondering what it takes to do the soldering to put this board together, we'll be making a step-by-step tutorial. But check out this tutorial: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-solder---through-hole-soldering and make sure you have a decent soldering iron (e.g., hakko 888)

There are 16 inputs for the opto-isolators. Whirlwind has 8 flashers, so you should be fine for BK2K (but I haven't checked the schematics). You can monitor the flippers, but you'll probably need to cut down the current before feeding into the opto-isolators. There is a small protoboard area on these boards to make it easy for you to add this. Basically, wire the flipper to the protoboard area, through a resistor, then to the input for the opto-isolators. Remember that the opto-isolators have a 10k ohm resistor upstream from it, which we use for 18-20V inputs (haven't tested it up to 25V).

There are also 4 banks of three transistors that can be used to drive high power circuits as well. Through we designed these for controlling 12V RGB LED strips (not the addressable LED strips), you can easily use them to control other mods as well.

I haven't looked at a BK2K closely, but I'd doubt that the flasher are constantly running when in attract mode. In fact, it would probably be neat if they trigger once in a while and you mod runs.

What I've done for several games that have addressable LED strips is to have an attract light sequence (e.g., simulating lighting effects in XMen, your blue/yellow chase lights in Tron). Once a flasher/coil has been triggered that is being monitored, the routine for running the attract mode lighting sequence is turned off. Then there is a check that if no flashers or coils have been triggered for a 5 minutes, the attract mode lighting sequence is turned back on.

The pinduino kits are coming together! Almost all of the components are in for the shield, J6/J7 harnesses, and power harnesses. The only thing we are waiting for are TIP122 transistors. We ordered IRL540s which were much too beefy and didn't reset state fast enough when the gate was released.

photo.JPG