Output Port Tester

This window lets you test the physical output port wiring on your Pinscape unit.

The list shows each output port and its pin location on the KL25Z, external chip, or expansion boards.

If you need a reminder of the pin location for a given output port, move the mouse over the port's row in the the list on the left. This will highlight the location of the pin on the diagram of the KL25Z or expansion board on the right.

Ports can be either PWM-capable or Digital. PWM outputs can be set to a range of brightness/intensity levels, while Digital outputs can only be turned ON and OFF. The type of each port depends on the physical output hardware and your selections on the Settings page. All KL25Z GPIO pins can be used as Digital outputs, while only a subset of GPIO pins are PWM-capable, because the KL25Z hardware only provides the necessary internal wiring for PWM on certain pins. The Settings page lets you assign the mode (PWM or Digital) for each pin, and only lets you select PWM for pins that have the necessary internal wiring. TLC5940 ports are always PWM, and 74HC595 ports are always digital.

For a PWM port, the output list shows a slider control that lets you set a brightness level for the port, from 0 to 255. 0 is OFF and 255 is 100% brightness. There's also an ON/OFF button next to each slider that you can use to switch the port on and off without changing the brightness setting.

For a Digital port, the list only includes an ON/OFF button. Click the button to toggle the output status.

Night Mode

The Night Mode button lets you turn night mode on and off. This lets you test that the right outputs are marked as "noisy" in the port setup and that night mode disables them properly when engaged. When night mode is engaged, all ports marked "noisy" in the setup are disabled, so those physical outputs will stay off even if you turn them on or turn their brightness up in the list. Note that the software on/off and brightness settings for "noisy" ports aren't affected; the ports are simply cut off at the physical output pins. So you can still adjust the software on/off and brightness settings for noisy ports while night mode is engaged, and those settings will be applied to the physical ports as soon as you disengage night mode.

Troubleshooting Visual Pinball, DOF, and other software

The Output Tester window can be helpful if you're having problems getting your output devices to work with your pinball player software.

The output tester communicates with the KL25Z directly via USB. It doesn't depend on any other shared software that you might need for other programs, such as DOF, LEDWIZ.DLL, etc. That makes it easier to isolate the source of any problems: