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(Topic ID: 308908)

Will this LED solution work? (Stargate rope light)

By Pahuffman

2 years ago



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  • 6 posts
  • 2 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 2 years ago by ForceFlow
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#1 2 years ago
OP
 
ALX

Pahuffman

Pinside member

US Hoover, AL

9y 88,800 1,967 6

Got one for the electrical engineers in the group. I recently picked up a Stargate that has a burned out rope light in the backbox. Can I wire some 3mm LEDs like the ones linked below in series?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TPLVXSP/

These are the mentions of the rope light I could find in the schematics, and it looks like gibberish to me. Are they running off 5VDC or what? That would work if true I believe. +20VDC? That seems like way too much for such small bulbs.

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I've done something similar before with a DE Star Trek rope light and wanted to see if I could replicate it here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/star-trek-25th-data-east-club/page/6#post-4955800

I know some replacement rope lights exist, but I'd like to modernize and never have to worry about it again if the LED route is possible. Thanks in advance for your help.

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#2 2 years ago
 
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ForceFlow

Pinside Moderator

9y 238K 31,369 268 14

OP
Quoted from Pahuffman:

Are they running off 5VDC or what? That would work if true I believe. +20VDC? That seems like way too much for such small bulbs.

There are 3 resistors in series to bring the voltage down from 20VDC. I'm not exactly sure what that works out to be.

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#3 2 years ago
OP
 
ALX

Pahuffman

Pinside member

US Hoover, AL

9y 88,800 1,967 6

Quoted from ForceFlow:

There are 3 resistors in series to bring the voltage down from 20VDC.

Thank you. That's exactly what I thought, but why they would it that way is beyond me. I'm only slightly adept at reading schematics. Definitely wouldn't be able to do that calculation.

Can I just get in there and test the voltage at the connector with a multimeter without having anything explode? (Slightly kidding)

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#4 2 years ago
 
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ForceFlow

Pinside Moderator

9y 238K 31,369 268 14

OP
Quoted from Pahuffman:

Thank you. That's exactly what I thought, but why they would it that way is beyond me. I'm only slightly adept at reading schematics. Definitely wouldn't be able to do that calculation.
Can I just get in there and test the voltage at the connector with a multimeter without having anything explode? (Slightly kidding)

Yeah, you should be able to use a multimeter on it without any problems.

It's running on 20v because it's using a solenoid output to turn it on and off.

Ok, if I use the voltage division formula, it comes out to 6.67v. But since that's unregulated, it could swing a few tenths of a volt closer to the expected voltage of 6.3v.

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#5 2 years ago
OP
 
ALX

Pahuffman

Pinside member

US Hoover, AL

9y 88,800 1,967 6

So I could use a voltage regulator like the one linked below, remove the resistors from the series, knock the voltage down to 5V, and be good to go?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001506852231.html?fbclid=IwAR0LXRNGMMvnwTTwl836v2MXgCEuiLQrKPctm6fT4LwSkiX8DfDqOyzEEBI

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#6 2 years ago
 
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ForceFlow

Pinside Moderator

9y 238K 31,369 268 14

OP
Quoted from Pahuffman:

So I could use a voltage regulator like the one linked below, remove the resistors from the series, knock the voltage down to 5V, and be good to go?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001506852231.html

If you're just talking about voltage, yes. However, that line gets turned on and off frequently, so I'm not sure exactly how that regulator would handle it, or if that's even a recommended operation for that regulator. Usually, regulators just provide a steady stream of power and aren't flipped on and off.

Then I'm not sure how much amperage the solenoid outputs can support. You'll have to look into that as well.

The better approach might be to tap off an "always-on" line of something else, and then use a regulator to feed the 5v (or make a pigtail connector for the power supply board that you could tap off of), and then use the 20v line to trigger a relay to switch on/off to allow the 5v to pass through to the LEDs.

But if you really want to get fancy, there's some LED mods that have popped up in the last few years:

https://stacydevino.com/2017/04/stargate-pinball-reactive-led-ring-modhack/

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stargate-ring-light-modification

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stargate-pinball-led-ring

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1254-cobra-amusements/03909-stargate-rgb-led-ring-mod-purple-white

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