CP wiring question

[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]

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

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

[mike_bike_kite]

Will do. Thanks for your help.
Mike

[DeLuSioNal29]

It would be helpful to have a pic of your actual microswitches so we can see which female connectors should fit properly.

However, I have a pic and explanation of all 3 sizes in this post:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,99770.msg1057440.html#msg1057440
I also put the pic here again for reference.

Hope this helps!

DeLuSioNaL29

[mike_bike_kite]

The ones I'm having issues with are similar to the ones in the top left. The ones I'm used to are those in the top right. The female connectors for those in the top right don't feel like they'll mate (is that the correct word?) with those in the top left - pushing them all the way just feels like the connection will fall off at some point in the near future. Do these connectors have different names or is it pot luck what you receive?

[DeLuSioNal29]

The upper left are Cherry Switches (click on the link I provided for more info).  Those use .187 connectors.  The ones on the upper right are e-switches, they are slightly bigger.

D

[leapinlew]

The ones I'm having issues with are similar to the ones in the top left. The ones I'm used to are those in the top right. The female connectors for those in the top right don't feel like they'll mate (is that the correct word?) with those in the top left - pushing them all the way just feels like the connection will fall off at some point in the near future. Do these connectors have different names or is it pot luck what you receive?

If you are worried about fiddling with loose connections, solder'em on.

[ShankyMcStabber]

That's what I plan to do when I build my new control panel.

My kids love to beat the buttons like they owe them money, which seems to loosen up the standard connectors.  I doubt it will be as much of a problem with solder.