Does anyone recognise this PCB? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 04:51:12 am
content: This is probably a custom board designed specifically for the Asian tokens game machine in which it was the mechatronics controller. OTP firmware, etc, in which case it's now useless.But just in case it's some standard thing, reprogrammable and with info available, I thought I'd ask. Has anyone seen these online?It runs a bunch of small AC motors (110VAC) and various other sensors.Power inputs: 12VAC, 110VAC. The markings on the CPU (under the label) are too faint to read and most silk screen text is Chinese.I've never heard of this game. It's a four-player table unit. Large plastic domino-like tokens are dumped into central bowl, then the machine randomly stacks sets of them for each of the four players. Like dealing cards. There were three of the tokens still stuck in the machine's guts, see last pic. They have small magnets in them. A spinning drum, large magnets and belts are used to to randomize and stack them.It was street tossed, looking very new but badly damaged (maybe in shipping?) I didn't think to take any overview pics before quickly stripping it. A fun disassembly.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 05:05:41 am
content: Yep, that's exactly it.It was so huge and heavy I had to strip it right after I brought it into the workshop. No point even turning it on, it was damaged too much to operate, and even if it wasn't, three tokens obviously wouldn't be enough to exercise it.Thanks for the name. Now I can go look it up. To find out why anyone would go to so much trouble to make such a machine.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 05:30:27 am
content: i thought that should be obvious enough... gambling? there is one big town in america just for that.

author: LaryPant
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 09:15:44 am
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on October 23, 2020, 05:05:41 amLet me answer that. I have spent some time in China and learning Mahjong from the Chinese and let me tell you, they play it a lot!Chinese tradition dictates that this game can only be played for money, it does not matter whether you play with family or friends, they always play for money.The thing is, for even the basic game, you need at least 108 tiles, which are APITA to shuffle and set up every 5-10 minutes - yes a game can go by that fast. So to speed up the process they use such a table. There are usually two sets of tiles per table, on is being played with and the second one is being prepared down below.I play it at home with my family and we unfortunately do not have such a table, so we sometimes spent more time setting it up than playing.Lary

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2020, 01:59:39 pm
content: Looks like if you swapped the microcontroller with one that can be easily reprogrammed, you'll end up with a pretty nice Christmas light controller. Most likely an ESP8266 plus a few shift registers would make the most sense since the SCRs or triacs are going to be limited in switching speed anyways. With a zero cross reference, could even do some dimming.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2020, 07:36:57 am
content: QuoteIt was a real shame it was so badly stuffed. Obviously what it did would save a huge amount of time, for anyone that wanted large, neat, randomized stacks of those tokens.QuoteThere are 18 triac motor drive outputs, all BTB04 1000SL. The machine has 12 identical AC synchronous geared motors, and one more slightly larger one (that spins the tub.) Plus a lot of sensor inputs, optical token detectors and hall effect mechanical shaft position sensors. All easy to trace, because basically there are 4 identical blocks. Lots of repetition.It would be a fun rig to play with.Unfortunately on closer inspection there's no part number marking on the CPU at all. Just blank. What I thought was indistinct markings, was just noise from the plastic surface texture. Tried chalking it, oblique lighting... nothing.The printed sticker on the CPU is probably unrelated to the chip part number, but just in case... here's a closeup.