Fluid Dial (Fluid NC dial pendant by Bart Dring, using M5 Stack's M5 Dial)

I’m not near my pendants today, and Bart hasn’t released the source code yet. That said, I did not see a voltage regulator on the kit. Can you post a high-resolution photograph of your pendant side kit?

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The LEDs I recommended (above in this thread) are capable of accepting a broad range of voltage, stated in the listing as “9-30V(12V)” — which I take to mean, it can use that range, but low will mean dim light, and high will mean bright and hot, with “around” 12v as a sweet spot.

I am not sure if the voltage is getting reduced on the PCB on the board side, or the PCB on the pendant side. I only measured “post pendant side.”

I did not see a voltage regulator on either side. I’m certain there is almost nothing on the jackpot side. It has a pair of series resistors and a pair of ESD diodes to protect the UART interface, a SMT fuse, the Jackpot header connector, and an RJ12 connector.

The only thing that I see which would potentially provide an IR drop is the cable to your pendant.

I might ask you to take some measurments. I did not see a significant voltage drop on the two Bart tindie kits that I just bought.

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Good point. Well, I do have to confess, I measured while using one cable that was not the right thing, and then later after getting the cable that is the right thing, I didn’t remember measuring again.

Also, I just remembered that about a month ago, I asked about this very thing on the Discord for support on this. Bart responded to me. Here’s what I sent and what he replied (his reply in bold)

@MakerJim

I can open up my pendant and measure again. I have literally no training in electrical engineering, and only have watched a couple YouTube videos on how to use a multimeter. Could you help me know how, where to to stick the multimeter’s leads, to measure this? I know I can put one on the line side headed to the LED (labelled as “+” on the LED button) and the other lead on the other side, labelled as “-” — but will the “load” of the LED mean I would not be getting an accurate reading? I know so little about electricity.

I have one here taken apart (to change to color matched case) and will hopefully be going back together this afternoon. I can take some measurements from it before I do so if that would help. Keep @DougJoseph from having to take one of his apart. @MakerJim just let me know what you need measured.

Mine does have the LED lighted switches if that makes a difference (sorry I only skimmed the last few post)

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Tell me what your VMOT power measures at the jackpot expansion connector, and then what the M3Dial input power measures at the pendant while the pendant is operating.

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Roger that. Give me a little bit to finish up this wiring and I will report back

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24.57vdc

24.15vdc (with M5Dial up and button LEDs lit.

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That confirms my observations. No voltage regulation in the kit.
You’re seeing around .5v of IR drop through the adapters and RJ12 cable which is about what I’d expect.

I have a pretty long cable on it as well. I leave it at the end of the table with me and the cable is more than long enough to run the length of my full sheet table. Cable built from Cat5e cable

I stand corrected.

@joriente please ignore what I said here about voltage being reduced by the PCB. The part about adding in a buck converter is still valid.

I got these from AliExpress.

Rated 9-30V. They’ll be fine.
We will need to identify the switch contacts and the LED leads and polarity to help you wire it.

Yes, always valid to step voltages provided the efficiency doesn’t bust power budget (it wouldn’t here)
That said, if those parts weren’t 24V compatible you would be using a 5 to 10 dollar buck coverter to avoid changing out a $.67 switch.

Here is a close up of the button

  • and - terminal are the top and bottom ones respectively
    TIA

Yep, so wire like this: (Switch polarity shouldn’t matter)

Those look like the same ones I got. Will throw up a pic to try and help.

The longer tabs are the LED Power, shorter tabs are the switch.


Mine don’t have a buck converter on them. They also don’t get warm to the touch either. They are nice and bright, but not TOO bright. At least not to me.

Pic doesnt really do it justice. But they look good to me

Edit. Took me so long to get the pics yall had it already figured out :rofl:

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@joriente

I think those are the same as mine: they can accept anywhere from 9v to 30v.

I had a memory that in my earlier usage, 24v had them running bright and hot. (I think they were getting 24v.)

However, and I cannot fully explain it yet, currently they are indeed getting “close to” 24v, and they are not as hot or as bright as I remembered. They seem only mildly warm, and not overly bright.

@MakerJim

I just opened up my RC3 and my FluidDial pendant on the RC3.

The voltage going into my Jackpot board, while it is running, measured 24.45v.

The voltage going into my LED for the button, while it is running, measured 23.93v.

I do not understand, and I cannot explain, why I was getting “bright and really hot” usage on LEDs before, yet now seems quite acceptable. I’m at a loss on that.

@joriente

Maybe just ignore everything I said here, even the part about possibly using a buck converter. According to what I am seeing now, with no buck converter in place, both my LEDs for the buttons and my M5 Dial are getting nearly 24V, and it’s all no problem.

@MakerJim

Here is a photo of the internals and wiring of my 2nd pendant. There is no buck converter.

Is there any loss of voltage when running through connectors like I built in here (see red circle)?

I cannot imagine how my earlier use might have had a voltage much higher than 24v, but somehow my use at an earlier time had the LEDs very hot and very bright. Currently they are neither.

EDIT: my earliest usage was on a phone cable that only had 4 wires, not 6. Could that have caused higher voltage?