Comment by cgyvbunji

2 days ago

Can you explain the significance of the single relay? My car starts with a single solenoid.

The pinsetter is either "on" or "off", there are no other states to manage. Once it's on, it runs indefinitely: it sets the pins, clears the alley, resets the remaining pins, and repeats the cycle, all without any external control.

On mine, I do have some "feedback info" on which pins are down + a signal to "when" to score points, but this is optional as you can also write your score manually if you have no scoring computer system.

  • When I was in a junior league we were at a relatively recent vintage alley and once in a while it would glitch and reset the pins twice in a row. I bet the relay stayed closed too long.

That one relay is the only connection between the pinsetting machine and the scoring system.

> Can you explain the significance of the single relay? My car starts with a single solenoid.

Your car also starts with a single relay... that drives a solenoid and a motor.

Yeah this $100k system with all its expensive add ons is there to push a single button.

  • But at least now I know why the lane near me just has a physical button next to each lane (and manual scorecards)

  • This is an AI app from the 1950s! Developed by Rube Goldberg who fully intended to vibe code the scoring part later. </sarc>

    • Point of clarity: my </sarc> remark was not in reference to the original post and project (which I love!).

      It was in reference to this comment (which I should have pasted):

      > Yeah this $100k system with all its expensive add ons is there to push a single button