Help with soldering power connector to PCB?

[DeLuSioNal29]

Hello all,

I recently inherited a Konami all in one consumer arcade unit.  However, one of the pins on the DC power connector on the circuit board broke off.  So I unsoldered it and I'm in the process of locating a replacement part.

However, I was thinking... Is there any reason why I can't cut the power cord end off and solder it directly to the board?  If so, what would go where?  There are 3 points on the circuitboard, but I'm assuming there are only 2 wires available to solder.

Any ideas?  Pics below for reference.  The last pic is of how the connector looks.

Thanks in advance for your help with this.

DeLuSioNaL29

[DeLuSioNal29]

P.S. - Found this link, but not sure if it will work or not.

http://us.element-14.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=08WX2564&CMP=AFC-UC7427804409

D

[Encryptor]

You should be able to solder it directly to the board without any issues that I can see. The only thing you need to worry about is to get the polarity correct (ie... + to + and - to -).

Encryptor

[DeLuSioNal29]

Yeah, but the trouble is I don't know what wire goes to where.  I wish I had the pinout of the connector.  There are 3 prongs.  Which is negative and which is positive?  And what's the 3rd prong for?

~ D

[nick3092]

Generally speaking, the negative/ground pin would have attached to a trace on the PCB that runs pretty much everywhere on the board.  Should be easy enough to figure out with a multimeter/continuity tester.

Two of the three pins most likely both go to ground.  Only one pin would be positive.  Again, you should be able to confirm that with a continuity tester on the PCB, or the old jack.

[51mmz0rz]

Most of the time, the center pin of the connector and power source is the positive voltage.  You can test this by sticking the positive multimeter probe into the connector on the power source, and placing the ground one on the outer metal.  If the voltage reads positive, then the center connector is +, outer shield is -.  If the voltage reads negative, these are actually swapped.

Nick is right that usually two of the three pins will be attached to ground.  Looking at your board layout, I think the back most pin is connected to a power plane on the top layer of that board.  Also you can see two of the three pins are not connected to that plane.  I bet if you turn that board over, or even use a multimeter, you will see those two pads closest to the edge are connected (and therefore likely ground).

Also, if you can see a clearly marked "GND" connection on the board, use this to test connectivity with the multimeter.  Ditto for a power connection.

If you didn't feel like reading: I think the back most pin connects to the center conductor and carries power, while the other two pins are ground, but I urge you to test it yourself.

[Encryptor]

A lot of the time you can also look at the back of the power supply and there is usually a diagram which show's you which is + and which is -.

Encryptor

[DeLuSioNal29]

Well, I got lucky on the connector I ordered.  It fit perfectly.   

And now the machine works.

Thanks everyone for your help.

D