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Author Topic: Re: MAME Abduction- Update - 99.999% Complete?  (Read 143247 times)

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rablack97

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Understood, gotcha now.....

We used the about the same layout and idea....

Take a look at this video I did a few years back, and it will give you some insight.


Los Abrazos Rotos

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I love it, its insanely ambitious but hes totally pulled it off.

TheShaner, are you putting glass in this?  It kinda deserves it.

Yes, I plan on putting some smoked acrylic or glass in it.  More than likely I will go with glass just because it seems cooler.


Go with glass!

TheShaner

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So I am probably going to go with glass, cut about 1/8" shy of the width of the cab so I can make sure it fits.  After a lot of reading, I have determined that it should be smoked to help with the contrast and hide the sides when the picture is oriented vertically.  That is all good.  The question I have though is this ... Is there a percentage of opacity or any other measurement of darkness that I will need to communicate to the glass seller?  Or any other nuances that people in the know that are familiar with glass would get?

TheShaner

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Is it wierd that I sneak out to the garage and secretly caress this machine late at night?

Drnick

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Is it wierd that I sneak out to the garage and secretly caress this machine late at night?

That all depends on if you get dressed up (Or undressed  :censored:) before you start the caressing.   

rablack97

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I'm sure you will use a local vendor for the glass....

If not go to One Day Glass, its cool cause you can submit super accurate measurements in the wizard.

They are good and reasonable

Here's what you need, just change up your measurements...

Shape: Square/Rectangle
Glass Type: Tempered
Glass Thickness: 3/16"
Glass Tint: Solar Gray (Light Gray)
Edgework (Step 1): Pencil Grind Satin Finish
Edgework (Step 2): 1, 2, 3, 4
Option: No Tong Marks
Width: 25 7/8"
Height: 25 1/2"
« Last Edit: May 28, 2012, 10:17:25 am by rablack97 »

rablack97

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Is it wierd that I sneak out to the garage and secretly caress this machine late at night?

It's a natural instinct.......no different than rubbing on a classic car.....your still in "I can't believe I built this shock" :blowup:

Track how many times you "go and just check on it" knowing you really don't have anything further to do on it at that time.

TheShaner

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update May 24th - Artwork, painting and computer setup
« Reply #167 on: June 02, 2012, 09:40:49 pm »
Decent progress in the past week...


So I started this week off needing to mount the speakers.  First the controller:


I pulled the bottom of this off, then drilled two holes into it.  Two bolts were sipped through the holes and the back replaced. I also routed out a space for the cable to come out of the back instead of the side, then filled the other hole with silicone.  Then holes were drilled into the cab just under where the control panel will be and everything slipped into place.



The finished product ...



Pay no attention to the trimming.  I still need to detail the line where green and black meet.

Next the underhang where the satellite speakers needed to be mounted.  I dismantled the midrange and tweeter speakers, then routed the wood for an exact fit with a Dremmel.



The finished result:



The lights in the marqee are from Groovy Game Gear.  They looked cool so I am going to give them a whirl.  Pay no attention to the odd placement of them.  I was trying to place them in coordination with the artwork.  Chances are I will probably end up placing them uniformly, but I want to see how it looks first.

On the base speaker, I am going to create a box with one open side on it.  It will be 2 inches wider on all sides than the bass speaker.  Then I will place the speaker inside the box and stuff the free space with insulation.  the entire box will be seperated from the rest of the cabinet by rubber feat to help reduce vibration.  Finally, I will cut a hole around the same size of the bass speaker in the back door and cover it with some form of metal mesh.  This will let the bass escape out of the box.

Yesterday I was able to go get the glass.  Solar Gray 26x22 for about 35 bucks.  not too shabby.  I went ahead and taped off the needed area and took to it with some spraypaint.  I thought about doing a bezel, but that seemed pointless with the glass.  The spray paint looks AWESOME on the other side of the glass. 





And the final result. 



All the while I have been working on the computer.  I have all of my roms in place and am almost done with my MALA skin.  More than likely I will get started wiring the control panel here within the next day or two. 

TheShaner

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Looking at the last picture more closely there is a glare making the right side of the glass look weird. It is sharp as a tack in person.

BadMouth

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Looking at the last picture more closely there is a glare making the right side of the glass look weird. It is sharp as a tack in person.

You can tell it's just a glare.  Looks great!
The green front really makes the cab pop.

Not suprised you ended up going with MALA, but was hoping to see a custom Hyperspin theme that matched the cab since it's not done that often.
I may give Hyperspin another try for my next driving cab project.  I think I can get it to do what I want for that one, but definitely not for the current build.  At least not without even more time consuming workarounds than I'm already putting into MALA.

Any particular reason that you put the tweeters toward the middle instead of the outside?

TheShaner

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No particular reason on the tweeters, it just seemed to work out aesthetically.  Ive fired it up and it sounds awesome.

On MALA vs Hyperspin, I am still not 100% on going with MALA, but am working in that direction to keep things moving.  I might end up switching though.  I don't like the overhead, but it is pretty slick otherwise.

Epyx

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@TheShaner just saw this thread which also made me realize I hadn't logged in for a while so apologize for not getting back to your questions earlier although I just did but probably too late! :)

Looking great btw! It's been 3 years since my Aliens cab was built and I still play it at least a few hours every week...this weekend I probably put about 5 hours into playing on it...you will be rewarded so enjoy :)
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Vidiot

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I really love this project. I saw your post in the Mala vs. Hyperspin thread. I found a cool looking mala setup on youtube. I wanted to share it with you. I thought it might give you some ideas. Looks like it would fit your theme really well. Minus the rotating monitor of course. I dunno who this guy is or anything about his cab. Just thought this looked cool. Keep up the great work on your cab!  :cheers:



TheShaner

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Cool, thanks Vidiot.  That does look pretty cool.  I did not realize you could do an animated background.  That opens up a world of possibilities.  

I have a very rough outline of what I am going to do.  Here is the graphic so far ...



Of course it looks a lot cooler full size (so I left the link to the flickr upload active) and It still needs some work, but once I settle on placement of everything, I will probably break the panels up to fit each individual item (marquee, video, control panel, etc.).  With the ability of being able to animate the background, I will probably pulse the background slightly lighter to darker and back leaving the logo and the panels lit at their current opacity.  I dont want to get overly complicated with the design, but I definitely want it to fit.  I will more than likely remove the logo the more that I think about it as well.  It is already on the control panel and the marquee.  Dont want to over do it.

On the same note, I am testing this all in a Virtual Machine on my Mac, and I am noticing a delay before the video starts on each of the games when they are selected.  I havent tested on the actual cabinet yet, but am curious if anyone else notices a delay while the video loads ... or if it is just the VM.
« Last Edit: June 06, 2012, 01:24:25 pm by TheShaner »

BadMouth

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I am noticing a delay before the video starts on each of the games when they are selected.  I havent tested on the actual cabinet yet, but am curious if anyone else notices a delay while the video loads ... or if it is just the VM.

The delay is in there on purpose so it doesn't try to load every video if you're scrolling through quickly.
It's adjustable in the cfg file

VideoDisplayDelay=1
VideoDisplayDelayInterval=1000

I'm not using video in my current layouts, but for the new cab I plan to stack the video on top the snapshot.
So as you scroll through, you see snapshots, but if you stop at a game, the video will start playing over top of the snapshot.
I assume this is how most people do it.
« Last Edit: June 06, 2012, 03:51:06 pm by BadMouth »

TheShaner

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Awesome idea on the video/snap overlay BadMouth.  I will more than likely do the same.


TheShaner

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I managed to get the computer into the box last night and achieved a massive woodcrafting feat, I made a box.



I took the rubber feet off of the subwoofer and attached them to the bottom of my glorious green box.  Then I took some carpet padding and put a couple of layers underneath the sub to try and minimize vibrations.  lastly, I am going to take off the back door and cut a good size hole in the back of it to let the bass escape and some cool air get in.  I will more than likely put some kind of metal grate painted on the inside of the door to cover the hole.  I must admit, I am a bit nervous about taking off the door as it is such a perfect fit right now, but screw it, I need to do what needs to be done.

wp34

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 :applaud:  That looks just beautiful.  Nice work.

bsktbllmn23

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Awesome build! This build thread and all your pictures are the main thing that gets me through my boring days at work!

This is great inspiration for what will be my first cab build, very soon.

TheShaner

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Thanks bsktbllmn23, but I must say, if this thread is what gets you through the work day, you must have a really crappy job.   :-\

I started wiring today and wanted to throw a quick post up about it.  I may have mentioned before, but I got my joysticks and all of my buttons through paradise arcade.  When I got the joysticks in, they looked yellow instead of green, and the buttons look more like happ pushbutton green instead of Galaxian like everything else on my cab.  However, when I started wiring things up and looking at everything, those buttons and joysticks light up with a great colors that are very close to the Galaxian green.  I am extremely surprised and pleased. 

Its impossible to take a picture that shows it well, especially not with an iPhone, but here are a couple of shots.




So the point is, if you are going green, Paradise Arcade has good chit.

Vidiot

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Beautiful man. This is looking awesome! :applaud:


Le Chuck

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Thanks bsktbllmn23, but I must say, if this thread is what gets you through the work day, you must have a really crappy job.   :-\

Dude, can I sign up for your "how to accept a compliment" seminar?  :laugh2:

Cereally, your build is looking great.  Keep it up.

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My job is incredibly boring at times... and I have to pretend that I am intensely reading an email. But of course, I am intensely reading this thread and taking diligent notes about to be awesome and building cabs. ;D

And Le Chuck, your commentary is second to none. Keep up the good work haha.

Epyx

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Quote
However, when I started wiring things up and looking at everything, those buttons and joysticks light up with a great colors that are very close to the Galaxian green.

I was actually going to mention that to you when you said it earlier that not too worry once lit they are a very nice green. I have identical tops I believe. :)
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TheShaner

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Well I've made some progress and had a pretty big setback ...

First off, the cab is done barring the circles on the sides.  I have been going back and forth on how I am going to approach these, but I will get to that in a moment.

First I got to wiring the power to the cab.  I found a belkin smartstrip which is really cool.  As most on the boards know it has 1 master outlet on it and several slaves that will turn on once the master draws a current.  So, hook the computer up to it, then the rest of your devices and when the computer is powered on, whala!  All of the other devices come on.  Pretty slick.  So I cut the end of the plug off, and went in search of a outlet that I could wire it to.  I almost used one from a computer power supply, but to be safe and avoid fires, I picked this one up for $7 that was rated for 15a, the same as the power strip.



Soldered up the lines from the powerstrip to it along with a heatshrink wrap to keep accidents from happening, cut a hole and screwed it in.  



It worked out well and I like having a nice clean plugable outlet on the back.  Slick.

Then added holes USB ports to the front of the box for lightguns and other hookups when needed:





Of course I still have corners to detail, so disregard the sloppy lines. I am also going to paint that area with a roller to give it the same texture as whats around it.  It is smooth now because of the sanding.

Found a good spraypaint at HomeDepot that matches the green tmolding for things like the fan guards.



Here it is incase anyone is trying to find some spraypaint that matches.  It's pretty darn close.



Then got to working on wiring up the control panel

img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8144/7401660228_651f9516b8_c.jpg[/img]

Ive got almost everything but the LED's wired up.  I am waiting on some little connecters to come in the mail so I can wire those to the little PACLED board.  That has been a little bit more complicated than it would appear from the beginning and paying $12 a harness for 4 harnesses to wire up one pacled is a little pricey, so I will do it myself when they come in.

Ive also been working on shielding parts of the cabinet from the bass vibrations that will be coming from the bass speaker.  I will hit that stuff in another post when it is done.  Should be within the next few days.

Lastly I mounted the control panel.  I got some bolts, nuts, washers and wing nuts.  Drilled a hole small for the bolt in the cabinet, and a hole big enough for the nut in the bottom of the control panel.  This way, I could put the bolt in from the bottom of the board in the cabinet under the control panel, secure it with a bolt, lay the control panel on top of that and put a wingnut inside the control panel to hold it down.  All with washers in between.  It worked out really well and things are nice and secure.



... Abd inside the control panel:



Which leads me to the big bummer.  I finally plugged in my 29" Makvision SVGA monitor, and it doesnt work.  I had been putting it off because I didnt want to run any electricity to it until the end as I would be working around it and didnt want to have all that stored charge just waiting for me to accidentally touch it.  So when I hooked it up yesterday it locked up my computer before it could get to the windows boot screen.  I can't  even get into safe mode with it attached!  I get a disconnected message on the screen whether it is plugged into this computer or my other laptop.  No bueno.  I have contacted Craig at xgaming.com, but have not heard back from him.  My guess is that this one is going to get a little sticky because of the shipping charges involved, but we will see what he comes back with.  I will let everyone know how they handle it incase someone else is thinking about picking up a monitor from them.  
« Last Edit: June 19, 2012, 09:00:05 pm by TheShaner »

rablack97

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You might look into these

USB PassThrough

Looks good man.......awesome work...

TheShaner

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Those look pretty cool.  I had looked high and low for some cool usb ports but couldnt find anything, so I settled for a bridge connector and tried my best to blend it into the cab.  I might keep looking and see if I can find anything with a cool plate I can work with and replace them if they look neat enough.  If anyone knows of any others anywhere please hook me up with a link.

rablack97

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Well they do come in black, i have a set, and they will be fairly hidden under your CP.  Run it by OND, i'm sure he'll tell you some ways to make those look pretty.

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Those look pretty cool.  I had looked high and low for some cool usb ports but couldnt find anything, so I settled for a bridge connector and tried my best to blend it into the cab.  I might keep looking and see if I can find anything with a cool plate I can work with and replace them if they look neat enough.  If anyone knows of any others anywhere please hook me up with a link.

Same product in black. Datasheet has P/Ns for associated accessories.


SCDX cover available in green. (SCDX-5)
http://www.markertek.com/Connectors-Adapters/Audio-Connectors/XLR-Connectors/Neutrik-USA-Inc/SCDX.xhtml?SCDX


Scott

TheShaner

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update June 26 - Soundproofing and broken monitors
« Reply #189 on: June 26, 2012, 03:19:35 pm »
Small update today ...

So the saga on the monitor continues, but it almost at a close.  After talking to XGaming.com, who I bought the monitor from, they let me know that I was 4 days past the 30 day return deadline.  What a bunch of crap!  I had just now turned on the monitor for the first time and was getting the royal screwing.  I was told that my only option was to call Betson, who they get the monitors from.  I ended up doing that and talking to a guy named Frank who really kicked ass.  Unfortunately, my problem is apparently worse than just a cable that needs to be reseated.  So, I sent a pretty scathing email or two back to XGaming.com.  Because they could not work out shipping, I ended up waiting for almost a month just for them to tell me they could ship it.  My though was, I was patient and understanding with them, they should bend the 4 day overage.  In the end, they did me right and I have a new monitor in route as we speak.  So, props to them for doing the right thing.  I was armed and ready to flame them on the boards (eeew, scary internet tough guy!), but no need now.

I have been working on the details of the cab while trying to figure out the monitor problem.  Wiring buttons, lights, extra power supplies, etc.  I just now finished my sound/soundproofing strategy and figured I would share.  As you know if you have read the boards, I have taken apart some Altec Lansing speakers, and mounted them up front.  That all worked out fine.  The item in question was the subwoofer.  Not wanting to kill my hard drive, I have taken several measures to try and dampen the vibrations from this speaker.

First is the box.  The box is padded with carpet padding, covered with felt, and sits on rubber pegs.



The rubber pegs sit on small squares of carpet padding wrapped in felt and hot glued.


Yesterday I took off my back door, and cut a big hole in it to let the bass escape.


I then cut a metal mesh to fit that I bought from Lowes hardware store and Spraypainted it and some washers green.



Then I hot glued some felt around the trim of the inside of the hole to absorb any vibrations in the metal.  This should prevent it from rattling from all of the bass.


And attached the metal guard.


The finished product ...


Aside from the speaker itself, I also padded the two pieces of wood that support the computer with carpet padding and felt as well. 



Now its back to the lighting while I wait for the tube to come in ...

rablack97

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update June 26 - Soundproofing and broken monitors
« Reply #190 on: June 26, 2012, 03:57:54 pm »
Don't worry too much about bass killing your drive, if it is mounting to somethin in your machine that's not gonna move, then your good.

I'm pushing 2 10" car woofers at around 600 watt's, hard drive sits right above them on a shelf, no issues and its been about 2 years or so.  Nice job on the soundproofing though.

Since you took the liberty of spray painting the grill some left over t-molding on the edges would look nice, for show off purposes  :applaud: :applaud:
« Last Edit: June 26, 2012, 03:59:37 pm by rablack97 »

Martijn

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update June 26 - Soundproofing and broken monitors
« Reply #191 on: June 27, 2012, 11:20:35 am »
Nice little build there!

The green and black matched my just finished Gameboy Reloaded



 :cheers:



TheShaner

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update June 26 - Soundproofing and broken monitors
« Reply #192 on: June 27, 2012, 02:51:40 pm »
Thanks Martijn, I am a fan of your Street Fighter build, and this gameboy looks pretty sweet as well!

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update June 28 - Lighting
« Reply #193 on: June 28, 2012, 10:20:03 am »
Worked on some of the lighting last night...

A little while ago I bought a long strip of green LED lights off of eBay.  Quite the bargain for $13 shipped.  For that price I was not really expecting too much.


When I got them, I was quite underwhelmed.  Regardless I pressed on.  Yesterday I decided to go ahead and put some lighting inside the cab to light it up when I am showing off the inside or doing some work.  The strip actually worked out well.  You cut off what you need and solder to the copper connector circles on the ends.  I must say that is a ---smurfette--- because there is very little for the solder to grab a hold of.  I managed to get a few strips wired up though.



They have an adhesive back to them already, so I stuck several strips up inside the cab and ran them to a well placed switch...




The end result so far ...



These lights look way better than I thought they would.  Quite awesome really.  I would have never guessed. 

I still need to run strips under the cab for the underglow, and will possibly put a few well placed lights in other spots like under the control panel.  I will have to tinker with those to see what fits without going overboard.

The Rings

Originally I had planned on using Neon tubes for the side rings in the sides in the same fashion as Kneivel's Neon MAME machine.  Since then I have had a change of heart and have decided to go full blown LED.  Thus giving me the ability to control every light on the machine, except for the crt, from PACLED's.  I have thought about it and I think I know have the plan. 

My hole in the side of the machine is exactly 14" in circumference.  I plan on cutting a circle that is 14.5" out of white semi translucent plexi.  Then cut a 14" circle out of that, leaving me with a .25" ring of plexi.  Then I will get a 14.5" piece of thin black opaque plexi.  On this I will put the side art. 



The ring and the circle will then be glued together.  Finally I stick a strip of these green LED's to the outside of the white ring and attach the whole thing to the inside of the box sealing off the hole.  I think it should achieve a similar look as the neon, but give me the control of having LED's. 

I welcome comments / insight on this if anyone has any.

Also wired up the Marquee... I have not sealed any of the light leaks yet, but it does look slick though! Light sure does make it pop.




Replacement monitor comes in tomorrow!
« Last Edit: June 28, 2012, 10:31:29 am by TheShaner »

Nephasth

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update June 28 - Lighting
« Reply #194 on: June 28, 2012, 11:06:26 am »
I would recommend adding a couple spots of hot glue to your LED strips, the adhesive on the backside isn't that great...

TheShaner

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update June 28 - Lighting
« Reply #195 on: June 28, 2012, 11:39:57 am »
I would recommend adding a couple spots of hot glue to your LED strips, the adhesive on the backside isn't that great...

Good call.

SNAAKE

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update June 28 - Lighting
« Reply #196 on: June 28, 2012, 04:16:39 pm »
this is a sexy cabinet :applaud:

how do you power up these led strip...just 5+ and ground?

TheShaner

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update June 28 - Lighting
« Reply #197 on: June 28, 2012, 05:18:51 pm »
Thanks SNAAKE!  It's coming along nicely. 

I am actually running 12+ to it.  I took a molex connector and tapped into the 12v side of it and broke it out into a punch panel of sorts.  I am using that panel to distribute power to all of my "Off Computer" needs such as the marquee, all of these lights and various grounding needs.



I am about to put a smaller one below it for a few 5v connections too.

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update June 28 - Lighting
« Reply #198 on: June 28, 2012, 06:57:52 pm »
I may be wrong but i thought you were gonna try to control your marquee lighting and strips with the LED WIZ.

If so be advised that board only handles 5v and will ruin if you try to hook up 12v to it.

These may have been useful and easier for connecting the leds to your leads, for future reference.  See attached

Looks good though man.......awesome work.




TheShaner

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Re: MAME Abduction- Update June 28 - Lighting
« Reply #199 on: June 28, 2012, 07:06:26 pm »
I may be wrong but i thought you were gonna try to control your marquee lighting and strips with the LED WIZ.

If so be advised that board only handles 5v and will ruin if you try to hook up 12v to it.


Yep that was me.  I thought though, that if I tap into 12v power from a molex, then just use the PACLED64 for grounding that it should work.  Im no electrician obviously, so Im probably wrong, but the control on the PACLED64 comes from toggling the ground to a light ... right?  I had an email from Andy once saying that I could power my Joysticks in this manner since they have 12v lights in them.  
« Last Edit: June 28, 2012, 07:08:55 pm by TheShaner »