Help. How to Connect a MegaKiosk DS-18 to 8 EL Panels? (Sega Genesis Project)

[SegaDude]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some help with a custom arcade cabinet I'm trying to build.


Some background info:

The MegaKiosk DS-18 by Will Gentry has inspired me to build an Arcade Cabinet for my Sega Genesis.
(Yes, a Flashcart would be less work, less money and offer more games but below is the route I wan to take.)

MegaKiosk DS-18

The MegaKiosk DS-18 offers two features that I think make this project really cool.

1) You can cycle between 8 original game cartridges.
2) The hardware identifies the active slot with an LED (the LED is to the left of the cart slots in the photo above).

So (in theory) I can build an Arcade Cabinet with a button to cycle to the next game and I can have an EL Panel that lights up to match the currently selected game.

This would operate just like a Neo Geo MVS 4-slot/6-slot.


But my skills are very much in the realm of hobbyist. I've replaced capacitors, batteries and repaired my Neo Geo 4-slot EL Panel to give you an idea of what I can do.

I started by building a control panel that will work with a Sega Genesis. It works great and by far the hardest part was the wood working.

The two small red buttons are not in use yet. They are intended to be a Reset for the Genesis and Cycle to the next game on the MegaKiosk DS-18.

I'm currently looking into what to buy for my 8 Mini Marquees.

So far, I think this will work:

Eight A6 electro-luminescent panel with leads and connector ($10 USD each)
https://glowhut.com/a6-electro-lumin...and-connector/


I believe the inverter below can power eight A6 sized EL Panels all at the same time.

Electroluminescent inverter for A3 size EL panel AC 100-240V ($30 USD)
https://glowhut.com/electroluminescent-inverter-for-a3-size-el-panel-dc-12-volt/
*I may only need to power one at a time.
**I'm not sure when someone would want AC vs DC for what I'm planning.


I asked Will Gentry how to tap into the LEDs that indicate the active slot. This was his answer:

"You can simply remove the LED and solder some wires where the LED was to a new LED"
*But, EL Panels are not LEDs.

Now for my Question:

How should I run power to each EL Panel and how do they connect to the MegaKiosk DS-18 slot LEDs?

The EL panels should only be getting power from the Inverter.

I was thinking about wiring all the EL Panels to the Inverter such they all light up when the inverter it switched on.
Then find a way to break the circuit unless there is a signal coming from the MegaKiosk DS-18 active slot.

What do you guys think? Any engineers out there have an idea on how to do this?

THANKS!

 

[nem]

You'll need to put relays in between.

 

[nam9]

 

[nam9]

Remove all the leds, run connect the led +vs to the 8 input pins and inverter to Vcc.

Someone much smarter than me will explain why this is an extremely dangerous idea, but I think that’s the basics... Will all come down to your choice of relays...

 

[SegaDude]

Thanks guys!

Extremely dangerous? I was surprised to hear this. I'm guessing this means if not done correctly there a chance I'll damage some of the electronics involved?
Or is the risk more physical like shocking myself or causing a fire?

I watched these videos to give myself the basics of a relay:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9renPKEtUc

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n594CkrP6xE


I feel I understand the principles but I know I'm still over my head in practice when it comes to identifying what actual components to purchase and how they are wired together.

But knowing an 8 channel relay is what I need is a great start. I'm going to do some reading.

 

[nem]

Extremely dangerous?

He was exaggerating. What @nam9 suggested sounds fine to me.

 

[nam9]

I don’t see any resistors on the led lines, so they could be on 3.3v? You should test that voltage. You will want a 3.3v relay of that is the case. I don’t know what voltage the inverter deals with, but should be fine if the relays are rated for mains voltage...

 

[SegaDude]

So here's my first attempt at mapping out how to connect all these components. I'm not at all confident that it's correct. I'd love to hear your advice.

 

[nam9]

Relay power and EL panel power are the same unit...

 

[nam9]

The 8 input signals from the MegaKisok are switching the EL Power to the corresponding panel.

 

[SegaDude]

Thank you Nam9!

I wasn't sure if the amount of power powering the LEDs on the MegaKiosk would be enough to power the Relay.

In that case what am I wiring to the G and VCC pins on the Relay? Are they needed?

Update (Removed Relay Power):

 

[nam9]

Ok, no. I’ve made a mistake in my thinking here...

The EL power supply has positive and negative terminals. Daisy chain one side to the EL panels directly. Daisy chain the other side to the relay COM (your yellow boxes). To complete the switching circuits, place 8 wires from the NO (Normally open) terminals on each of the relays (yellow) to their corresponding panel.

I am not sure if you would choose the positive terminal or ground terminal to chain through the relays or if it would matter (but there is probably a best practice here).
Edit: The panels are AC, so guess it doesn't matter!

I am also not sure if you would need to connect Vcc on the input side of the relay to a power source if the led lines are supplying sufficient power to trigger the relays (you will still need to connect Gnd to your MegaKiosk). You could always tap a Vcc from the MK if needed.

 

[nam9]

 

[SegaDude]

Hey Nam9,
This is so great. Thank you for taking the time to create this diagram.

I do have a question and I'm going to feel silly asking.

At some point I'm going to buy an EL Inverter and it will have two wires coming out of it.

Does one of these wires daisy chain to each EL Panel and does the other wire daisy chain to each channel on the Relay?

 

[nam9]

Hey @SegaDude ,
We’re doing a few things at once here.
If you wanted to power one panel, then you would plug that one panel into your inverter (some caveats aside). That would be that.
If you want to run more than panel from the inverter, you could either connect them in parallel or series:

(The blue crosses and arrows shows what happens to each circuit if one of the bulbs fails).

If you wanted to light everything at the same time this is what you would do.
What you want to do however, is to add a power switch to each bulb (or el-panel).
You then want each switch to switch itself on or off depending on the MegaKiosk game in play. That is the purpose of the relay. There are 8 of them acting as on/off switches for each panel. In my sketch, the overall circuit is identical to the parallel circuit in the diagram above, except the bank of relays sit between the inverter on one side and the panels on the other side.

 

[SegaDude]

A while ago now I ordered an 8 Channel Relay, 8 EL Panel's and an inverter to power the EL Panels.

@nam9 you've given me a lot of help. Thank you!

I'm looking forward to being able to try this out.

No doubt when I have all the parts I'll be back with a few more questions

 

[SegaDude]

OK, it took some time to get the needed parts and life stuff also kept me away for a while.

I'm now getting to the point where things start to get real.

Here's a look a the hardware.

Genesis (Powered by wall outlet) > MegaKiosk (Powered by Genesis) > 8 Channel Relay (Powered by MegaKiosk) > EL Panels (Powered by EL Inverter):

1) Have a look at the EL Panel closest to the 8 Channel Relay. If I cut the power wire to this EL panel and connect the end coming from the EL Convert into NO1 (Normally Open) and then connect the other side of the wire (still attached to the EL Panel) to COM8 (Commonly Open) will that be the appropriate setup? Then doing the same for the remaining 7 EL Panels (each to their own Relay on the 8 Channel Rely).

Also I'm not what how to do what this comment suggests:
"I am also not sure if you would need to connect Vcc on the input side of the relay to a power source if the led lines are supplying sufficient power to trigger the relays (you will still need to connect Gnd to your MegaKiosk). You could always tap a Vcc from the MK if needed."


2) And I need to wire the MegaKiosk (Cart1 - Cart to the 8 Channel Relay (IN1 - IN.

But I don't know exactly how to do this. Each LED on the MegaKiosk has two legs and the receiving end on the 8 Channel Relay (Example: IN1) has one hole.

If I remove the LED from the MegaKiosk (Example: Cart1) I will have two contacts that need connecting to IN1 on the 8 Channel Relay.

How do I do this?

Reverse side of the MegaKiosk. At the bottom of the MegaKiosk you can see the two contacts for each LED:

 

[nam9]

Ok, the easy part... each led is a power line (each is separate) and a (common) ground connection. Ignore the common ground line, and those are the 8 signal lines that will connect to the 8 input points on the relay (Labelled In1 to In.

 

[SegaDude]

nam9, you're amazing. It's like you're waiting to pounce and help out at a moments notice

So here's my guess. Is my diagram below correct?

I've marked what I think is power to the LED and what I think is Ground.

From the top of the Kiosk I see a trace going to the leg of each LED which is the furthest from the edge of the PCB.

So, one wire solder to the where my Yellow POWER arrow is and going directly into LN1 of the 8 Chanel relay is what we believe is needed?

Is there any way to preserve the LED functionality? Could I solder a wire direct to the POWER leg of the LED and feed that into LN1?

My only thought for doing this is in case the relay doesn't do anything I can still be sure that I have the correct slot selected on the Kiosk.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[nam9]

That sounds like a sensible approach. Now, is there somewhere you can tap 5v on the Kiosk? I guess you want to take 5v and Gnd from there and connect to DC+ & DC- on the relay...

If you get that far... try it out (no panels connected). You should probably hear the relay click in turn (and the leds will still light up... )