RE: Credit-maker?

> Are relays less expensive than opto isolators?
>
Well, the relays I'm using for the reset board are about $1.25? You can
probably get an opto for around $.40.

The only thing I'm a little gunshy of with opto's is that I have *no*
clue what kind of hardware people might hook this up to. Two pieces of
metal that get slammed together is pretty simple and compatible with all
known arcade game buttons. ;-) (I'm not sure if a cheap opto with a
transistor output would always work yanking an input on a board-- awful
lot of variation in pull-up values, LC transient protection networks,
etc. Particularly on older stuff...)

> For low current applications, optos are more reliable (relays
> will get dirty without some minimum current flow through them)
>
Yeah, but relays don't get blown up by static, or stray AC, or
current/voltage spikes either... I'm inclined to stick with the little
relays since I've already got them and it buys me peace of mind (I'd
just as soon sell something for $1 more and never have to take a
tech-support call on it as a result).

For $9 street price wouldn't be making much (probably nothing if I
counted my time in labor). This would just be a "service" type
production to support people that need a solution... If I have to take a
dead one back or spend an hour on the phone figuring out why it doesn't
work with a 1979 Super-Gromwhizzler board I just blew my earnings on the
next 150 of 'em!

If contacts ever get gunked up just hook a 9V battery up to the contacts
and cycle it a few times. They're DPDT too though, so after 100,000
credits you can move it to the other terminals and get another 100,000
plays off it. ;-)

If someone wants to find a cheap opto that would work I'm all for it,
I'm just also not inclined to go look myself. ;-)

It kinda sounds like this would be useful, so I'll look into it. Not a
rocket-science project to be sure, but they all take time.

-Clay
Received on Fri May 28 14:48:43 1999