Main > Main Forum

CP wiring question

Pages: (1/3) > >>

mike_bike_kite:

I've built a few small arcade machines in the past using Mame. My current build is a bit different because it's just for one game. I ordered my buttons (with LEDs) and I've either gone a bit senile or something has changed.

The connectors on the switches seem (are) much narrower than on my previous builds and the wire tab thingy just falls off each time I try to connect it. Do I need a new set of connectors for these or do I just crimp them as tight as possible?

The LEDs go into the switches fine but how do I wire them up? and to what? are they in parallel or serial?

I guess I'm just having a senior moment and it's probably all quite simple.

Mike

leapinlew:

Is the switches on the buttons skinny up front and fat in the back? If so, slide your connector all the way to the back. Otherwise, you'll need new connectors or solder.

DaOld Man:


--- Quote from: mike_bike_kite on December 12, 2012, 07:13:19 am ---
The LEDs go into the switches fine but how do I wire them up? and to what? are they in parallel or serial?

I guess I'm just having a senior moment and it's probably all quite simple.

Mike

--- End quote ---

The LEDs wire in parallel. You can wire them directly to 5 VDC (or 12 volt, depending on what the led requires. I would use 5 volts if you are not sure, if they are real dim then try the 12 volts, but caution, if they are designed for 5 volt, 12 volt will greatly decrease the life of the leds, maybe even down to instant burn out.) You can get the supply volts from the PC power supply. On one of the disk drive molex plastic plugs, black & red are 5 volts and black & yellow are 12 volts. (black is negative.)
The leds are polarity sensitive, so if some leds dont work after wiring them, try reversing the connections on the led.
And I completely understand the senior moments.

mike_bike_kite:


--- Quote from: leapinlew on December 12, 2012, 09:04:40 am ---Is the switches on the buttons skinny up front and fat in the back? If so, slide your connector all the way to the back. Otherwise, you'll need new connectors or solder.
--- End quote ---
Skinny at front and wide at back but connection doesn't work particularly well. The normal connector works perfectly so it confuses me that they created another type, especially when it seems to be worse. I might have enough of the old style switches somewhere to allow me to use those. When I seal the boxes up I don't fancy the idea of taking it all to bits to look for a lose connection.


--- Quote from: DaOld Man on December 12, 2012, 10:06:53 am ---The LEDs wire in parallel. You can wire them directly to 5 VDC (or 12 volt, depending on what the led requires. I would use 5 volts if you are not sure, if they are real dim then try the 12 volts, but caution, if they are designed for 5 volt, 12 volt will greatly decrease the life of the leds, maybe even down to instant burn out.) You can get the supply volts from the PC power supply. On one of the disk drive molex plastic plugs, black & red are 5 volts and black & yellow are 12 volts. (black is negative.)
The leds are polarity sensitive, so if some leds dont work after wiring them, try reversing the connections on the led.
And I completely understand the senior moments.

--- End quote ---
They're labled 12v but I'll try the 5v first anyway. The 12v seemed a little blinding. I'll try again when I've got all the button LED's wired up. I assume I daisy chain the grounds together. Then daisy chain the other side. Then somehow connect both ends to a molinex(?) connector. Do they come apart somehow or have screw connections internally?

DaOld Man:

yes, daisy chain black and red wires to all leds.
Are you talking about the molex plugs coming apart with screws? No, they dont work quite like that.
I always cut the molex plug off and wire directly to the wires. But if you dont want to do that, you can scrap some insulation off the wires. wrap the "new" wires around the scrapped part (good and tight, solder if you can), then wrap it up in some good tape. I have also used the "Y adapters" one male plug branching off to to female plugs, plug male Y plug into power molex plug, plug one of the female Y plugs into the hard drive and cut the other female Y one off and wire it to my other stuff. You can get these Y splitters or adapters at radio shack, im pretty sure. But if you have a spare molex you are not using, I would use that for the led power. If you cut the plug off, be sure to also tape the ends of the wires you are not using, dont want them to get against anything.

Pages: (1/3) > >>

Go to full version