multi jamma switcher options for light gun setup

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runawayabc123:
Video proof of concept complete! I have small 1A relays (5v coil) that turn on and off video. RGB Video Sync are on the relays. Ground to ground.

Sound proff of concept complete! Same small 1A relay (5v coil) turns on and off sound (both +/- since they are dual pole relays).

The only proof of concept that I didn't do was test out my 12 pole switch, but I don't care about that. If I have to get 12 switches, I will. ;D

I will be off to the races wiring up all of the power relays and soldering together my 4 PCB boards (light gun, players 3/4, video and sound controlling PCBs).

I have 1/2 mile of wire (mostly in 22ga, but some in 18ga and 16ga).

To handle the voltage drop problem with power hungry boards, the 16ga wire and maybe a second high amp power relay will be applied. (That really only is for area 51 and maybe locked'n loaded.) I have several non-power hungry boards to test inbetween.

Wish me luck! (This part may take awhile.)

runawayabc123:
Today we have POWER!

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1407/01firsttestisgood.jpg
http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/9210/02startup.jpg
http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/20/03startupalternate.jpg
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/2549/04neg5visin.jpg
http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/5034/0512vstarted.jpg
http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/7351/0612vdone.jpg
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9744/07pos5valmostdone.jpg
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/9231/08groundadded.jpg
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/9062/09donefor12relays.jpg
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4101/10bounsrelaysforextraam.jpg
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/761/11powercomplete.jpg

All of the Green/Yellow wire is 18awg.
Green is -5v
Yellow is 12v (one red 18AWG wire is yellow zip ties is 12v cause I ran out of yellow at the time, it is bundled with yellow wires, so very little of it can be seen)

All Red/Black wires are 16awg (except for that one red wire talked about above, but count it "yellow")
I picked 16awg because I got some for .025/ft.

I have 1 green wire for -5v to all
I have 2 yellow wires for 12v to all
I have 4 red wires for 5v to all
I have 4 black wires for ground to all

The reasons for the over wiring it is to combat voltage drop for high amp games (like area 51 site 4)

The 6 and 8 barrier strip terminals that are half full are for the 12 position switch that isn't wired in. The main power relays (1 is plugged into a socket) all run on 12v. They handle 8Amps per pole, 4 poles each. 5v is double wired for 16Amps total. In test, I had a voltage drop problem through 1 relay, so #13 and #14 on the end are to add extra space to combat voltage drop (6 poles should do it!).

1 slot on the ground and 12v barrier strips are still open for the video converter card (mine runs on 12v) and if you have this in a cab, you can just leave that part out. Notice this is BEFORE the relays as you don't want the card going on/off. Just the games. :)

The only thing that still needs to be wired in is the 5v relays to the video/sound boards (they don't exist) on the PCB side of the sockets.

Lastly, if I were to do this part again, I would want a wider board and move the ground to the bottom side as it wasn't really needed on top.

Ask questions/point out flaws!

Yes, I have spent way too much time on this and I am maybe 20% done.

runawayabc123:
Just a quick update. The 12 position switch is all wired in and works! So, now I have a really expensive 14LED flashing board. ;D

Desoldering is a pain and adding wires onto a jamma harness is a pain too. (Mostly because I am adding 4 16awg wires, which I don't think they were meant to contend with.)

Edit... where do you buy new jamma connection contacts?

runawayabc123:
I'm not feeling much interest in this project on these forums... but here is another update:

This is a final picture of the power... if you look real close you can see 2 LEDs light up (primary relay and support for extra 5v AMPs)
http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/2746/12completewith12posswit.jpg

Here is an "up wired" jamma harness. It is intended for 1 of the 2 spots that I have two relays for for extra 5v power. 4-16AWG wires. It should keep the voltage drop to about .1v on 10AMPs for games like area 51 site 4. I didn't heat shrink the wraps yet.
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/1678/13upwiredjamma416awg5v.jpg
http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/6687/14upwiredjamma416awg5v.jpg

The big part of the post, wiring up 6 light gun boards to 1 set of guns! Everything except for ground is isolated with diodes. I did some practice soldering in the middle, so ignore that junk. This is really a proof of concept board as I plan to do it again, but for 12 light gun PCBs to 1 set of guns. (Or, the two together down the road lets me have 17 light gun boards.)
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/5681/15lightgun6to1.jpg
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/7233/16lightgun6to1.jpg
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8633/17lightgun6to1.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/1740/18lightgun6to1.jpg

Feel free to tell me how bad my soldering is... but only if you give me advice on how to do it better! ;D

Enjoy!

runawayabc123:
Today's update is you win one, you lose one.

Turns out the Light gun board has some problems with voltage drop that I found on further testing. That wire didn't look like 22AWG. :( Trigger works, but no hit detection. Screen does flash. I'll have to circle back to that problem.

Good news is video is up and running!

Edit: I should note that I am using dual pole relays (2 switches turned on) and 2 realys for each video line. The video traces and relays are mirrored (that is why the red/black cross overs) and the two sides of the board are mirrored too. Which is why the connectors top side stay the same. The traces are connected to Normally Open sides of the relays.

This picture is the rough plan on the right and parts on the left. I am using IC sockets for all of the relays.
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4748/19videoplanonright.jpg

This is a close up of the plan. Not all parts are present.
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5298/20videoplancloseup.jpg

This is when all of the traces for video (RGB Gnd and Sync) are complete.
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/7231/21videotracecomplete.jpg

This is when the power for the relays is complete.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/8681/22videorelaypowercomple.jpg

This is the bottom side of the power. You can see what is where a little better.
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/8936/23videorepalypowerbotto.jpg

This is with the ground wire for all of the relays is complete AND the ground wire for Video.
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/3677/24videorelaygroundandco.jpg

This is the bottom side and you can see all of the grounds. Note, Video ground is NOT the same as Relay ground. In the end they go to the same place, for here they don't.
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/579/25videorelaygroundandco.jpg

This is the fully completed version. Not much has changed top side other than a new connector for video out.
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/4391/26videoallcomplete.jpg

This is the bottom side of the completed video. Lots going on now!
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5458/27videoallcompletebotto.jpg

This is the board with relays populated in all of the sockets.
http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/7281/28videowithrelaysinsert.jpg

This is tested working for picture and light gun hits (which detected/worked). I didn't test all of them yet.

Next up is sound. I am doing an identical board for sound. I need 4 poles of switches, so the extra work is only ground and 5 pin over 4 pin connectors. I figure a duplicate is easy. ALso, I put groun on pin 2 so if I had too, light guns could also work on the board. (Pin 5 would be reload.)

The identical sound board is maybe 75% done.

After sound is done, I will so some more testing.

The List:
1)Sound
2)Light gun voltage drop fix
3)Players 3/4 board (like light gun board, wires pretested for voltage drop and work!)
4)Jamma harnesses coming in to 1. 12 of them. (That is what all of the extra red diodes are for in the first picture of this post.)

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