how to hook up u360 to 5 volt power supply

[Hogie1418]

Hey guys, my usb on my u360 broke so I decided to use the wire harness to the ipac in the meantime. Since I do not have a usb connection though, that means that I need to connect my red wire to a 5 volt power supply. I honestly have no idea how to do this. It is probably something simple but I am very noobish when it comes to this. Any help is appreciated.

[paigeoliver]

You don't need a separate 5 volt power supply, you can tap the one in your computer.

The red wire on the 4 pin connector is +5 volts and the black wire is ground.

[Hogie1418]

....

[Hogie1418]

Would the same work with a usb cable? Simply cut a usb cable and connect the red and black wires?

[paigeoliver]

USB is 5 volt however you can't count on the cables inside a USB cord being a particular color. You can certainly tap a usb cable for power, however judging from your questions I would recommend you instead tap the connector I showed you inside the PC itself. The chances of a screw up are much lower.

If you tap the connector coming off the power supply like I showed you then you can safely get 5 volts for sure.

So can I just cut a usb cord, hook it up to the computer and connect the red wire to the red and would the black then be the ground? USB runs at 5 volts correct?

[PL1]

So can I just cut a usb cord, hook it up to the computer and connect the red wire to the red and would the black then be the ground? USB runs at 5 volts correct?

If you don't feel very comfortable with modding your own USB cable, Randy sells a USB power tap cable with .187" QDs already installed:

http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78&products_id=299

I use one to power my CP/trackball LEDs and another to power a "breadboard" for circuit testing.


Scott

[paigeoliver]

If you have never done that sort of wiring before than yes, just use that thing that Randy sells.

So can I just cut a usb cord, hook it up to the computer and connect the red wire to the red and would the black then be the ground? USB runs at 5 volts correct?

If you don't feel very comfortable with modding your own USB cable, Randy sells a USB power tap cable with .187" QDs already installed:

http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78&products_id=299

I use one to power my CP/trackball LEDs and another to power a "breadboard" for circuit testing.


Scott

[Hogie1418]

Well I am really weary about messing with the inards of my computer so what is the worst that can happen with trying the usb trick?

 I feel that there is a whole lot more that I can mess up with the computer than the usb. But I'm guessing my logic is incorect.

[PL1]

Well I am really weary about messing with the inards of my computer so what is the worst that can happen with trying the usb trick?

 I feel that there is a whole lot more that I can mess up with the computer than the usb. But I'm guessing my logic is incorect.

As long as you don't short 5v to ground, either way will work just fine.
If you post  of the damage, we might be able to provide better advice on repairs.

Depending on the damage, Andy might even be able to fix it or chime in with advice.  He's definitely serious about customer service.


Scott

[paigeoliver]

The exact same thing can happen if you short +5 to ground regardless of how you are hooking it all up.

[Hogie1418]

Well I went ahead and gave it a go with the usb cable and I now have power to the u360 but it is not functional. Not sure if there is anything special that I need to do. I have everything hooked up to the ipac as the ultimarc website instructs me too. Any suggestions? or did I screw up somehow? lol

As far as pics go on what happened basically I ripped the port that the mini usb goes to off of the motherboard of the stick. I talked to andy and he said he could try to fix it but I might want to just buy a new board. I thought I would give the harness a try but so far I am failing with it.

Thanks for all the help guys if you have anything else that can help me get this working I am all ears.

[PL1]

Without seeing the damage or a clear and complete list of what/where/how things are broken, I don't think that anyone can provide accurate repair advice on a circuit this complex.

Imagine phoning your car mechanic and telling him that you, "got in an accident and the car won't start, but the battery is connected like it says in the owner's manual.  Why won't it start?"   

Sorry, Hogie, but there are too many variables here and not enough clear details.

Absent those details and/or pics, replacing the board is your best bet.

Best of luck.


Scott

P.S. Ultimarc mentions two ways to hook up the u360 through the I-Pac. Not sure which one you tried, or if you tried both.

[Hogie1418]

Alright lets try this, So I was lifting my cp out one day and ripped the mini usb port off of my sticks board.



I picked up the wiring harness for the u360 as I do not really use the mapping features so I figured that there wouldnt be an issue with just buy the harness. What I didnt realize was I was going to need a power source since my usb was busted.



I then connected the wires as ultimarc instructed



I then took an old usb printer cable and cut it and spliced the red and black wires and connected them to the ground and 5 volt wires on the harness. I then crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.



Now my u360 has power but is not functioning in mame or maximus arcade. I tried to change the inputs in mame but the stick does not respond at all.

Hope this is what you meant by pictures and I hope it helps in resolving the issue.  Thanks again

[Hogie1418]

P.S. Ultimarc mentions two ways to hook up the u360 through the I-Pac. Not sure which one you tried, or if you tried both.

I only saw the one way to connect to the ipac. I must be missing something on the site.

Rick

[MonMotha]

If the PCB and connector aren't torn apart, it may just be easier to solder the USB connector back down to the PCB.

You can probably just put it in place and hit it with a heat gun until it goes.  Either that or dob some flux on it and tap it with a dry (but tinned - wipe it off on a sponge) iron.  The mounting posts may actually need to be soldered as typical.

Unfortunately, lead free solder doesn't hold up as well as the old leaded stuff, especially if the manufacturer doesn't get the oven profile JUST right.  On the upside, when the joints break in a situation like this, it tends to be "clean" and leave everything undamaged.

[Hogie1418]

yeah when the connector came off it took a few of the little silver pieces of the pcb with it. So I am not sure if fixing it is even an option. I was going to buy a new pcb but Andy is on vacation till the 12th and I have not seen anyone else who sells the replacement part. Kinda just looking for a quick fix until I can fix it the right way by replacing it. Thanks for the response

[PL1]

Hope this is what you meant by pictures and I hope it helps in resolving the issue.  Thanks again

Looks like a great start.

So I was lifting my cp out one day and ripped the mini usb port off of my sticks board.

First step: Check the remaining stubs where the port was attached to be sure nothing is shorted across the terminals.  Can't quite tell from this picture.

I picked up the wiring harness for the u360 as I do not really use the mapping features so I figured that there wouldnt be an issue with just buy the harness. What I didnt realize was I was going to need a power source since my usb was busted.



I then connected the wires as ultimarc instructed



I then took an old usb printer cable and cut it and spliced the red and black wires and connected them to the ground and 5 volt wires on the harness. I then crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

Second thing to check:
Disconnect the USB red and black wires from the U360--with no power applied, of course.

Set your multimeter to DC Volts, plug in the hacked USB cable and verify that the red is indeed +5v.  Measure with the "-" lead connected to the PC case ground.

Next, verify that the black is indeed ground. (0v)  Measure with the "-" lead connected to the PC case ground.

If both of those are correct, connect red to "+" and black to "-" and you should read +5v.

If you want to be absolutely certain, here is a pinout for the USB connector. (Right side, scroll down a bit.)
With no power applied, set your multimeter to Ohms and verify that pins 1 and 4 are not shorting to any other pins.


This should get you started.  Let us know how it comes out.


Scott

[PL1]

P.S. Ultimarc mentions two ways to hook up the u360 through the I-Pac. Not sure which one you tried, or if you tried both.

I only saw the one way to connect to the ipac. I must be missing something on the site.

Rick

Table about I/O port and USB located 1/3rd of the way down this page.
Wasn't sure from your earlier posts if you were trying to jumper onto the remnants of the broken port (2nd option.)


Scott

[MonMotha]

yeah when the connector came off it took a few of the little silver pieces of the pcb with it. So I am not sure if fixing it is even an option. I was going to buy a new pcb but Andy is on vacation till the 12th and I have not seen anyone else who sells the replacement part. Kinda just looking for a quick fix until I can fix it the right way by replacing it. Thanks for the response

Sounds like you tore a couple pads off the board.  Someone who's good at soldering can generally repair it fairly easily, but such a repair is probably out of reach of someone who doesn't have a reasonable degree of practice.

[Hogie1418]

First step: Check the remaining stubs where the port was attached to be sure nothing is shorted across the terminals.  Can't quite tell from this picture.

Alright, when you say check to be sure nothing is shorted, how does one determine if it is shorted or not. Again, sorry, totally new to all this.

Second thing to check:
Disconnect the USB red and black wires from the U360--with no power applied, of course.

Set your multimeter to DC Volts, plug in the hacked USB cable and verify that the red is indeed +5v.  Measure with the "-" lead connected to the PC case ground.

Next, verify that the black is indeed ground. (0v)  Measure with the "-" lead connected to the PC case ground.

If both of those are correct, connect red to "+" and black to "-" and you should read +5v.

If you want to be absolutely certain, here is a pinout for the USB connector. (Right side, scroll down a bit.)
With no power applied, set your multimeter to Ohms and verify that pins 1 and 4 are not shorting to any other pins.

Is there any other way to determine that black is truely ground in this situation? I do not have a multimeter at this time (This is why you do not let people borrow your stuff). So at the moment I have no way to check any of that. Is there anything else we can try without this information?

[Hogie1418]

Sounds like you tore a couple pads off the board.  Someone who's good at soldering can generally repair it fairly easily, but such a repair is probably out of reach of someone who doesn't have a reasonable degree of practice.

Yep, definately outta my paygrade and I do not know anyone personally who has these skills. Thanks for the advice tho.

[MonMotha]

Is there any other way to determine that black is truely ground in this situation? I do not have a multimeter at this time (This is why you do not let people borrow your stuff). So at the moment I have no way to check any of that. Is there anything else we can try without this information?

On a typical USB cable, you can be 99% sure that Red is +5V and Black is Ground.  There data lines would be white and green.

The colors for the wires in the cables are standardized by the USB-IF.  In theory, any cable with the USB logo on it should be compliant since it's a requirement to use the trademarked logo.  In practice, not all cables that use the logo are actually fully compliant since USB-IF isn't very aggressive with the trademark enforcement.  I've never hacked one up that used the standard colors but didn't use them correctly.

Worst case, unless they're just plain BACKWARDS, which would be really weird, you shouldn't hurt anything by wiring it up if they're not right.  It just won't work.

I would recommend using a USB outlet in this case rather than pulling power off a PC HDD connector.  The USB outlet should be current limited to ~1A on most PCs, which is a small enough amount of juice that you're unlikely to melt things.  The disk drive connectors, OTOH, can supply enough current to melt small PCB traces or wires without kicking the supply's protection in (they're usually good to at least 30A).

BTW, if you'd like to send me your board and the connector with a return postage paid box, I'll be happy to attempt a repair.  No guarantee of success, but I should be able to test it, and this is well within my normal soldering skill.  No guarantees on how long it'll take, though (things have been known to sit on my bench for a couple months).

[Hogie1418]

So what I am gathering is that since the stick has power then black is ground and red is +5 volt in the usb cable. Otherwise I wouldnt see my u360 with power. So is the power not the issue? Could the problem be the connection between the ipac and u360? Unless insufficient power would cause the two not to comunicate. hmmm

Is there any other way to determine that black is truely ground in this situation? I do not have a multimeter at this time (This is why you do not let people borrow your stuff). So at the moment I have no way to check any of that. Is there anything else we can try without this information?

BTW, if you'd like to send me your board and the connector with a return postage paid box, I'll be happy to attempt a repair.  No guarantee of success, but I should be able to test it, and this is well within my normal soldering skill.  No guarantees on how long it'll take, though (things have been known to sit on my bench for a couple months).

I may take you up on your offer monmotha, I actually have 2 u 360s and both are busted. I broke the first one and the second one (this one) I was real careful with but it came loose and eventually stopped working as well. It eventually pulled too far away from the pcb.

I have since fixed my setup giving the cord extra slack but it was too late for the 2 u360s :-(

[PL1]

First step: Check the remaining stubs where the port was attached to be sure nothing is shorted across the terminals.  Can't quite tell from this picture.

Alright, when you say check to be sure nothing is shorted, how does one determine if it is shorted or not. Again, sorry, totally new to all this.

No problem. I'll try to keep the explanations simple.

Visually inspect the torn up traces (silver lines) on the board to make sure they aren't touching each other. If the pins for 5v or ground (pins 1 and 4) are making contact with the other traces, that could cause the voltage to go where it isn't supposed to. (Think BIG plumbing leak causing a drop in water pressure and damaging the house.)

Once you get your multimeter back, you can use the Ohms (resistance) setting to check for shorts (accidental connections) and opens. (breaks or disconnects)  To see what a short looks like, just touch the meter leads together in Ohms mode and the reading should drop down to 1 or 2 Ohms.  To see what an open looks like stop touching the leads together.

Checking a cable for shorts (Ohms mode--no power applied)
Press one lead to pin 1 and the other to pins 2, 3, and 4 in turn.  You should get an open reading on all three.
Now move the first lead to pin 2 and the other to pins 3 and 4 in turn. Should be opens.
Now move the first lead to pin 3 and the other to pin 4. It should be open.

Checking a cable for continuity--the connections you do want to have (Ohms mode--no power applied)
With one lead on pin 1 and the other on the red (5v) wire, the meter should read 1 or 2 Ohms.
With one lead on pin 4 and the other on the black (ground) wire, the meter should read 1 or 2 Ohms.

Second thing to check:
Disconnect the USB red and black wires from the U360--with no power applied, of course.

Set your multimeter to DC Volts, plug in the hacked USB cable and verify that the red is indeed +5v.  Measure with the "-" lead connected to the PC case ground.

Next, verify that the black is indeed ground. (0v)  Measure with the "-" lead connected to the PC case ground.

If both of those are correct, connect red to "+" and black to "-" and you should read +5v.

If you want to be absolutely certain, here is a pinout for the USB connector. (Right side, scroll down a bit.)
With no power applied, set your multimeter to Ohms and verify that pins 1 and 4 are not shorting to any other pins.

Is there any other way to determine that black is truely ground in this situation? I do not have a multimeter at this time (This is why you do not let people borrow your stuff). So at the moment I have no way to check any of that. Is there anything else we can try without this information?

That is why I have two meters and bought a Harbor Freight $3 meter for a buddy.  As the old military saying goes,"Two is one, and one is none.

The quick and dirty way to check the voltage is if you have an LED pushbutton (5 or 12v versions will work equally well for this) , you can use the USB wires to light that up.  If none are available, try a 3-cell flashlight bulb. (~4.5v)  That will tell you in a hurry if there is a voltage on the cable. I'd avoid using a 2-cell flashlight bulb since it is only rated to 3v and would probably burn out very quickly.  Same for a regular LED.

Once you've verified that you can light the LED/bulb, you can then verify that the colors aren't reversed by using a chunk of wire shorted to the PC case in place of the black wire. (Use this for a quick test ONLY)


Scott

[AndyWarne]

We can easily repair this board or supply a replacement, just drop me an email.

Andy@ultimarc.com