Robby the Robot installed (Hallmark version)

[beaver]

Here is a write-up of my version of the Robby mod on my TZ:
http://www.edcheung.com/album/album08/pinball/tz.htm#robby
My TZ page is getting really long, and I will need to split it some
time.

Thanks to Martin for the LEDs, and Cliffy for the bracket. I get by
with a lot of help from my friends. And speaking of which, I hope to
see many of you this weekend at York!

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[Jazman]

VERY nice work.

Jaz

[Kwisatz]

Awesome job! Nice write-up and photos of the modification process.

Steve

[Joey]

On Oct 8, 7:23 am, beaver <e...@edcheung.com> wrote:

That looks awesome! I just started taking my Robby apart last night
and was trying to figure out how I was going to light it up. At first
I figured I'd just tap into the existing yellow and blue LEDs, but
your 3 light approach looks great. Also, how did you run the wiring
from Robby to the playfield? I was just thinking of using wire ties
down the back of one leg.

[beaver]

Cliffy's bracket has two holes in it. I used one to hold the robot
down, and the other happen to be too far to use for the other foot.
So I ran the wiring bundle down into it. I then painted the bundle
black. This is then run to other face of the pf.

It was fun to build and the whole thing took one evening.

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[Chris Hibler]

Way cool Dr. Ed. Thanks for posting the detailed procedure.
Do the LEDs not require a resistor in series or is that part of the
under PF harness you made?
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm

[beaver]

There is just one resistor and one diode. Both are in series with the
column (+ side) wire. The diode faces the "correct" way (of course),
and the resistor is 51 ohms.

I put the diode into the body. However, the resistor I put under the
playfield. This way, I could tweak the value without taking
everything apart!

BTW, since this morning, I also added a link to Cliffy's Robby vs
Robby comparison. When I wrote the write-up, smugmug.com was having
problems.

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

On Oct 8, 1:12 pm, Chris Hibler <ch...@Team-EM.com> wrote:
> Way cool Dr. Ed. Thanks for posting the detailed procedure.
> Do the LEDs not require a resistor in series or is that part of the
> under PF harness you made?
> --

> Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31www.Team-EM.comhttp://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm

[Jeremy Bibbee]

On Oct 8, 9:23 am, beaver <e...@edcheung.com> wrote:

As always...super job Ed! I don't have a TZ but it sure makes me want
to give it a try. ;)

It sure would be nice if all the how-to's for mods were written up and
photographed as nicely as yours. That way dumb dumbs like me might
actually have a chance at making something work. lol

Jeremy

[Joey]

On Oct 8, 10:40 am, beaver <e...@edcheung.com> wrote:
> There is just one resistor and one diode.  Both are in series with the
> column (+ side) wire.  The diode faces the "correct" way (of course),
> and the resistor is 51 ohms.
>
> I put the diode into the body.  However, the resistor I put under the
> playfield.  This way, I could tweak the value without taking
> everything apart!

Why did you do a diode and resistor? Not questioning your judgement as
I know you know what you're doing. I'm just curious if I am wrong in
how I plan to wire mine up. I was just planning on tapping into the GI
lighting and wiring in a 150 ohm resistor on the positive lead to each
LED to bring the LED forward voltage down to 3.4. Is there a better
advantage to using a diode with a smaller ohm resistor?

[beaver]

On the lamp matrix, lamps that are selected (row and column drivers
on) will have a positive voltage across them. By symmetry, those
lamps that are _not_ selected will have a certain amount of negative
voltage across them. The amount will vary from case to case. By
putting diodes in series with lamps, only those lamps that are
selected will turn on. That is why diodes are used in the lamp
matrix.

LEDs, although they are diodes, are made to be bright, and not to be
able to withstand negative voltages. Usually, they can tolerate less
than 10V (or even less than 5V). So the series diode that I put in
all my mods is to protect the LED from the reverse voltage.

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[Joey]

> > advantage to using a diode with a smaller ohm resistor?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I had no idea. Any chance you could include this diode and resistor
info on your site? I imagine there's a lot of folks like me with very
limited electronic experience and could use a step-by step on the
wiring.
Oh, and I hope I don't sound ungrateful. Your TZ Robby write up is
awesome.

[Rick]

As long as you are not connecting it to the row wire, but rather to
the other side of the diode at the lamp there is no reason for another
diode. Doesn't hurt though.

On Oct 8, 1:17 pm, beaver <e...@edcheung.com> wrote:

[beaver]

I had to think about that one for a while, and I think you are
correct!

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[beaver]

Ok, I will try and find some time to draw this up.

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[cody chunn]

That's a really nice addition. If those LEDs could be integrated to blink on
demand to match DMD/Sound, that would be superlative.

:0)

Could you run the wires down inside his leg and out the bottom of his foot
to conceal them?

--
-cody
--CARGPB4
[Note: Following any advice given in this message
may result in property damage, minor injury, serious injury or death.
Follow advice at your own peril.]

"beaver" <e...@edcheung.com> wrote in message
news:b9f07816-4793-4896...@m11g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...

[beachcomber]

Excellent mod. Really like the led's and paint job!

[beaver]

On the internal harness, I considered doing that. The first
complication is that the leg is in two parts, separated at the knee.
There is a small peg-in-hole joint that joins the two parts. Then, at
the hip it gets very narrow. Drilling past these points would be
pain, but I guess anything's possible with patience.

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[Cliffy]

Most excellent, Ed! VERY nice pictorial!

--
Cliffy - CARGPB2
Home of the world's finest pinball protectors
http://www.passionforpinball.com

[Joey]

> > awesome.- Hide quoted text -

>
> - Show quoted text -

That would be great if you could, Ed! Rick, I'm not sure what you mean
by not connecting to a row wire.
My plan was to do the following:

-Yellow portion in the torso gets connected to the Super Skill insert
light using a 3mm yellow or amber LED (connect the positive 'anode'
side to the Super Skill light power - not sure where to connect the
negative 'cathode' side). Use a 150 ohm resistor to drop the 6.3v to
~3.4v.
As an alternative, I have amber 555 6.3v bulbs from bcspinball. I'm
just not sure yet if there's enough room in the body for one of these
though..

-Blue portion in the "mouth" gets connected to the Multi Ball insert.
I was thinking I could just use a blue 555 6.3v LED that I purchased
from bcspinball and just have laying around. Obviously, no resistor is
required. I was going to wire + and - directly to the multiball
insert.

_White "head" light gets connected to the Bonus X insert using a 3mm
white LED (connect the positive 'anode' side - not sure where to
connect the negative 'cathode' side). Use a 150 ohm resistor to drop
the 6.3v to ~3.4v.

Also, it sounds as though all three LEDs can share a common ground?
I'm assuming this since Ed's write up shows he has 3 LEDs and only
four total wires going to the Robby.

Anyway, I'm now pretty sure that the way I described above is not the
way to go. Ed, if you, or anybody else for that matter, can poke holes
in my plan and provide specifics for a better way to wire this guy up,
I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks again!

[beaver]

I made some additions to this page over the weekend:
- split the page into two (due to its length).
- added schematic diagram of mod at Joey's request.
- added picts of the TV ornament disassembled.

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[Klickit]

I Just put the Robby mod on my TZ and it looks great but keeps blowing
2 of the LED's. Seems to happen in attract mode when the 3 LEDs are
lit at the same time. I think the problem is using one resistor for
the 3 LEDs. It is fine if only one fires at a time, but I think you
get reverse current if three fire at once which kills two of them.
I'm going to modify it to use individual resistors for each LED and I
think that will solve the problem. Any thoughts anyone?