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Progressive Controllers, Displays and Slot Toppers => Mikohn Progressive Systems. => Topic started by: ShortCourse on January 09, 2012, 12:35:47 AM



Title: Another "Newb" to Mikohn...
Post by: ShortCourse on January 09, 2012, 12:35:47 AM
Ive been spending alot of time trying to figure out what progressive system is best for me.

Im now thinking that the Mikohn would be pretty good but as expected.. lots of questions coming.

So far Im in the understanding that I can use a Con-1 F with a Cham 44 board to a Cham 44 display.

In this post (http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=1319.0 (http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=1319.0)) I saw a picture posted by OuttaTheBunker showing a close up of the J1 and J2 headers on the con1(?)..
It was replied that the 5th pin on J1 is the common (to ground or all machines) and that pins 1 thru 4 goto each individual machine.  If so, does that mean that only 1 (possibly 2 if the common that goes to each machine too) wire goes to each machine?!  Seems way to simple lol.  Store the Con1 in the stand, 2 small harnesses to each machine and then a strip to the display?

If I were to set this up on two s+ machines and then later sold/traded one, could I still use this system with just the one machine?

On to the good stuff..
I attached a picture below.  What else would be needed?  Ive got the Con1, con1 harness, chamm 44 and cham 44 display.  I know il need ribbon cables and wiring to and from the machines, but anything else?  What about a power supply?  9VDC like a wall plug in or 12VDC like a computer power supply?  Does the con 1 send power to the cham board?

Thanks!


Title: Re: Another "Newb" to Mikohn...
Post by: jay on January 09, 2012, 01:59:56 AM
Hi, with a CON1 - 2 wires to the slots. The GND wire is common and assuming you purchased a 32 spot board like the CON1F from Rudys you use a different pin to each of the slots.
The reason for a different wire to each is that when the progressive is hit the display shows which machine won on the display.. not that you wouldn't realize it from all the noise the slot is making.

You are missing a Cham44 (also known as a LED4) board/power supply. This then has a long ribbon cable to the driver board as well as a 2 wire DC feed to the driver board from the powersupply.

The Con1 uses a 2 wire interface to the Cham44 to push data to it.

When you buy the Cham44 it will have a chip in it with a sticker. Something like a 1x2. This means 1 panel high and 2 long.
Each display panel (meter) is 16" long. SO a 1 x 2 is 32" wide.
The panels are interconnected by short ribbon cables.

The common chips are 1x2, 1x3, 1x10, 1x12.
If you only have a 1 panel display and are working with a 1x2 chip the only issue you have is with block mode.
In block mode your message is centered and when the 1x2 thinks you have 2 panels you will only have 1/2 your message displayed on 1 panel.
The way to get around this is to use the left justify command and stuff some spaces....

WesTec and I put out a post on this chip and if you have an eprom burner you can change the parameters to anything you want.
The restriction as I found out is you can use a maximum of 16 panels. So 1 x 16 or 2 x 8 is the largest you can go.
You can do a 3 x 5 but the largest the letters get is the 2x size.

My original 10' sign came from one of those round hanging signs. It had only 9 panels but the chip was 1x10.
I have since aquired more panels and altered it to be 2 x 8.

If you have the other problem 3 panels wide and only a 1x2 chip you will just get garbly gook on the third panel.


SLOT =====2 wire====CON1 === 2 wire === Cham44==============Meter+Meter+Meter
                                       |                      Mounted on Power supply
                                       |                                 
                                    Wall Wart Power Supply                                   
                                                                             





Title: Re: Another "Newb" to Mikohn...
Post by: ShortCourse on January 09, 2012, 02:08:28 AM
Awesome, thank you!

Does the display and the driver board mount together?   As in the driver board will be mounted to the wall too?t 0



Title: Re: Another "Newb" to Mikohn...
Post by: jay on January 09, 2012, 03:11:42 AM
Here is a link with a few pics of a Cham44 connected to a CON1
You can see the driver board on the back of the displays
http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=3686.0 (http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=3686.0)

The meter panel is usually sold with the smaller driver board already mounted to the back.
I know I would be P***ed if someone sold me a display panel and it didn't come with the driver board.

You sometime see the driver boards for sale by themselves as some of the display panels can develop bad pixels.
This is rare.

The ribbon cable and the power connect to the driver board. The display panel is pretty useless without the driver board.