New & building a control panel, some things I'm not 100% about...

[ZombieMetroids]

Hello all, I am new to the BYOAC world and am having trouble obtaining 100% certainty on the items I am contemplating ordering (and some I have already ordered).  Hoping you all could help me out.

I’m building a control panel for my coffee table that may eventually be put in an arcade cab.   The control panel will have 2 led joysticks each with 8 led buttons, led 1P & 2P buttons, led coin button, and a couple more buttons for escape, etc.  The control panel will be going through an A-Pac with USB to connect the switches and ground to the computer.  At least this is the plan so far.  

I would like to be able to switch between PC and PS3 with a USB switch.  

1)  Does anyone know if the A-Pac will work with the PS3?  

2) If not, can you recommend other products that will work with the PS3 and the PC?  I have seen various products, but each seems to have a draw back when working with 2 separate joystick configurations (some buttons are not mapped) or I cannot find anything that says they work with the PS3.

3)  What do you think of the following idea:  Wire all the switches to both the A-Pac and a PS3 game pad interface (both with USB outs).  Run the A-Pac and the PS3 game pad interface to a USB switch and use the switch to change between the two.      

Regarding illuminating the leds in the joysticks and buttons:

4)  If the leds are all 5v and I use Led-Wiz 32-port USB lighting and output controller, will I still need an external power supply or will the USB be able to power the leds (around 20 of them, possibly more)?

Regarding the COIN button:

5)  Can I use one COIN button and wire it to both the 1P ‘coin’ and 2P ‘coin’ on the A-Pac?  


The control panel will be used mostly to play games like Street Fighter IV on the PC and PS3 initially.  

I can provide links to the specific products I’m talking about if that will help, didn’t want to seem spam-y with my first post.  Again, I’ve found a lot out but it’s been really hard to become 100% sure of some of these things on my first build.

[mgb]

1) I'm not sure but I would think it would because the PS3 handles usb
4) The usb should have no problem powering upto 32 leds. Remember that if you use rgb leds, it will be multplied by 3, so 20 rgb leds will be 60 outputs.

[Cynicaster]

The only advice I will offer might be obvious, but I'll put it out there anyway.  If the long-term plan is to integrate the control panel to a cabinet, plan how that will be done and make sure everything is prepped accordingly as you build.  Farting around with drilling and modifying a fully wired and assembled CP is guaranteed to be a pain in the ass.

[BobA]

Why an a-pac?  Are you going to be interfacing analog pots to it?  I think an ipac will do what you want if.  You did not mention anything about analog controls in your post.

[ZombieMetroids]

Thanks for the input so far. 

@mgb

Thanks, I'm not going the RGB route.  I'm looking at a standard Red vs. Blue type control layout with white led 1P & 2P and and Orange led Coin button.


@Cynicaster

Thanks for the advice.  I'm looking at this build as a learning experience while I get together the funds and the plans for the final build.  I'm still trying to convince my wife that the best entertainment center for our living room would be a custom arcade-style shell.  She's pretty good about giving me free reign with my projects, but it's not looking like I'm going to get this one. 


@BobA

Thanks for the suggestion.  The A-Pac was just a few dollars more and I figured it was worth having the option to be able to change to a racing set up.  I know if I ordered an I-Pac the urge to make a racing set up would strike and I wouldn't be able to.