Went to fire it up... nothing. So I check the voltage on the 48v power supply, nothing. Well, about 2 months ago when I was trying to figure out the wiring, I accidentally touched a couple pins on the power board with my ring. It was unplugged at the time, but I think there was enough stored juice in the caps to retain energy (hurt like hell too, had 3 dots on my finger like I had touched an arc welder). So I figure maybe it's a fuse, run to radio shack, nope. Then from some advice from the guy supplying the electrical hardware (more on that later), I hooked up a known working 12v supply, and sure enough the flippers fired up (slightly weak, but they moved all the way).
So at this point, I can either:
A. troubleshoot the power supply
B. Order one for $30 on ebay from a guy in wisconsin (has a fan, but he claims he's never pulled enough juice for it to turn on)
C. Pay $60 for a fanless power supply from a place in mesa, AZ
D. Buy a 48v power supply from ebay china for $28, and wait 2-3 weeks
Pretty sure I'm going to go with option B. It'll be quick shipping, it'll give plenty of juice, and in early development I doubt I'm going to pull enough power for it to get hot. If it does, I resell it on ebay after I've ordered a replacement fanless unit.
Right now the wiring is pretty messy because I just wanted to get the thing working. Now that I know what I'm doing, I'm likely going to route things better.. Use shrink tubing instead of electrical tape, use terminal strips. Actually the radio shack local ran out of them, and they haven't restocked in 2 months (can you say bankrupt?). The other radio shack that's sort of local was chock full of parts, but I think nobody really shops at that one. They DID have a 8-position terminal block in stock, so I'm likely going to route the ground into it so I can tap each solenoid easily.
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