multi jamma switcher options for light gun setup

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slug54:
Hey Thanks for this really great thread!
I recently acquired a Zero point cab which also came with a Zero point 2 PCB and started thinking of switching a few gun game PCB's.
I am not planning on switching as many as you I was thinking maybe 4 or 5.

I was thinking maybe Zero point, Zero point 2,police trainer and point blank to start. Those are the only ones I've played. Honestly I have not checked to see if Police trainer and point blank use the same guns as my ZP yet.

Would you recommend a 6 in 1 JAMMA switcher and then a relay system to switch gun wiring? Or build switcher from scratch as you did?

Any thoughts would be appreciated and great job on your project and thanks for documenting it here.

-Slug

runawayabc123:
Hi slug,

Zero Point, Zero Point 2 and Police Trainer all can use the same "happ 45" light gun. (Zero Point 2 might be able to drive the newer recoil guns, I'm not sure, but the only difference is "adding" recoil, the rest still works the same. You could use the more expensive recoil gun on old games, but they will NOT drive recoil.)

6in1 switcher: This will work for switching the main parts of the game. The only limitation is power draw. I never owned one, but it was only estimated to support a few AMPs per board. So, super power hungry games may burn out the relays. (Think like Carnevil, area 51 or lock'n loaded. I have heard of people running area 51 on the 6in1, not sure for how long.)

The relays I have been using have doubled in price since I started ($8 to $16). So, that can hurt, but the relays support 8AMPS per pole (I was running 5v/-5v/12v/5v which is 5v twice for 16AMPs on 5v and also helps 5v line drop which is where it is 5v at the power supply, but 4.9v at the PCB and you have to turn up the power supply to run the game).

Someone has/had a limited sale of "light gun" diode boards on KLOV forms, but it was kind of pricey and required more 12v power (so you would need a power supply that had more than 2AMPs on the 12v rail). This one ran with diodes instead of relays and didn't require switching. If you want to go with the 6in1, this would be a better choice than what I did as I ran into slow closing relays that stayed open due to pulling power through a PCB's ground to it's 5v or 12v contact (backwards through the PCB). I could fix this be changing where the power hooked up in the 12 position switch or the 4pole relays, you won't be able to do that with a 6in1.

Since you are only doing 3 games, buying all of the parts won't be too bad. (I'll even sell you my extra 5v mini relays at half price or .50/ea that could hook into the 2nd 5v pole on the relays. I switched out to 12v relays due to 5v demand needs.)

If you want to go this route, I'll send you pictures of the "mini" 6 position only board (instead of 12) that will support video/audio/light guns.

Good luck.

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