Mbed community

Thank you for all your help! on the 'Pinball Advice' topic.

I have a lot to think about.

Just to clarify.

The lamps are powered by 5.79 V AC.

The lamps are 6V.

I think they are 2W lamps. I'm not sure, they are #44.

For the project I am using a 1976 Big Ben Pinball machine.

I've ripped out all the old relays.

My dream is to control the lamps, bumpers, flippers, score etc using the mbed.

But to start with all I want to do is power the mbed from the 5.79 V AC supply.

How do I do this?

As to controlling the lamps I will try a few of the suggestions.

Kind Regards

Dave

Since mbed power voltage can be up to 9v dc all you have to do is use a bridge rectifier and a capacitor for transforming 5.79v ac in about 8.1 dc. Just to be shure use also a zener of 9v1.

For AC lamps you can use opto like MOC3021 at mbed outputs ( with limiting R as you drive a led) to drive triacs. Another way is to use bipolar transistors and small 6v relays powered at 8v DC to drive the lamps.

Also you may consider driving the lamps in DC at say 5v instead of 6 (5.79) ac. This way you need only transistors for driving the lamps.