not enough ports on ipac2? PLEASE HELP

[Jeromebechaz]

i haven't found the answer to this question anywhere yet, hopefully you can help me.


when i make my controll panel i want 6 additional buttons (pause, esc, setup, enter and 2 pinball side buttons.

i know that there are 2 ports o each side of the ipac labelled 1a and 1b i think, do they go in there and does it matter which side they plug into?

now for the 2 pinball buttons, do you just plug them into any regular button port? so they will work, but the button that is also in that port will work it to?
this may sound confusing so im sorry.

[Drnick]

Cannot answer the 1a/1b part, But as for the pinball buttons, yes just wire them up to same connections as normal buttons.  You can put a switch in to disconnect ground to these buttons so that they are normally not live if you wish.

[surface tension]

1a and 1b you can just program like any other inputs. The ipac is flexible, so it doesn't really matter where anything goes (apart from 0v). It's labelled for ease of use and default settings. The IPAC has four generically named inputs 1a, 1b, 2a and 2b.

[Jeromebechaz]

thanks heaps for your help i understand it now
1 more question, does it matter where the ground wires go to? what are they for? i know every button goes to ground, but what about wires like the pinball buttons? does it matter?
or do you o a loop with the daisy chain, so say you start the daisy at p1 ground terminal, take it to every single button and end it at p2 ground?

[kahlid74]

There is no P1 or P2 ground, they are all just ground.  Any button/switch that you would plug into the iPAC needs to ground INTO the iPAC otherwise it won't work.  The only way the iPAC knows a button/switch is pressed is when it sees the current traveling from one of the connects back to the ground.

So yes, you can daisy chain anyway you like, as long as it daisy chains back to one of the grounds.  Don't forget also that when you daisy chain, if the chain breaks, many of your buttons can become unresponsive.  Daisy chaining is the way to go but you need to make sure your chain is secure and fully connected.

[PL1]

now for the 2 pinball buttons, do you just plug them into any regular button port? so they will work, but the button that is also in that port will work it to?
this may sound confusing so im sorry.

Sounds like you want a total of 2 flipper buttons.

I use a total of 4 to support the greatest number of tables:
1. Left flipper
2. Right flipper
3. Left upper flipper/MagnaSave
4. Right upper flipper/MagnaSave
(search using my username and "MagnaSave" for posts on the finer points of configuration and wiring for MAME+Pinball setups)

You can wire the left pinball flipper (left shift) in parallel with Player 1 Button 4.

For the right pinball flipper (right shift) you can either use a dedicated IPac input or if you don't have enough, reprogram a player button to right shift and reconfigure MAME -- MAME is easier to reconfigure than Visual/Future Pinball.

As for your question about ground, just remember that "ground is ground".

The purpose of the button switches is just to apply ground to the input.

Nothing wrong with having the daisy chain grounded at both ends, but it's not necessary.

The advantage to having both ends grounded is that if both wires pull out of one QD in your ground chain, that is the only switch that will stop working.

Like Khalid74 says, make sure that your crimps are secure.

I prefer using pre-fab daisy chains for this reason. YMMV.


Scott

[Toadie]

Let's go with something crazy.... say you have something like 40 buttons on a two player CP  (I do not) would you just move to an ipac4 and utilize those button spaces?  I ask because I'm designing my console and my button count is still up in the air but I'm thinking:

4 admin
4 pinball
14 player (7 per side)
and maybe some mouse / trackball  or dedicated 4 way buttons

[PL1]

Let's go with something crazy.... say you have something like 40 buttons on a two player CP  (I do not) would you just move to an ipac4 and utilize those button spaces?  I ask because I'm designing my console and my button count is still up in the air but I'm thinking:

4 admin
4 pinball
14 player (7 per side)
and maybe some mouse / trackball  or dedicated 4 way buttons

With what you have listed for admin, pinball, and player buttons plus 8 inputs for 2 joysticks, you're only up to 30 inputs before you allow for overlap in the pinball and MAME inputs.

You should have no problem fitting it all into one IPac.


Scott

[PL1]

From OP:

so do you think it is worth going with 2 buttons per side? i don't know anything about pinball machines

There are a number of tables that use upper flippers including "Family Guy" (Stewie's mini-playfield), "Defender" (smart bomb), and the pinball machine from Happy Days "Nip-It". (with a ball grabbing 'Balligator')

There are about 7 tables that use MagnaSave IIRC including the very popular "Black Knight".

No tables use both.

By wiring both MagnaSave and upper flippers to the second button, you can play almost any Visual Pinball 9 and all Future Pinball tables.

Two flipper buttons will cover the majority of tables, but there are enough good ones that use 3-4 buttons to make the upgrade to a 4-button 6-input setup worth the little extra wiring effort.


Scott

[Jeromebechaz]

im sorry dude, but im just not picking u how you wire all 4 buttons into ipac

[Drnick]

You don

im sorry dude, but im just not picking u how you wire all 4 buttons into ipac

See this ancient thread, it has some diagrams and stuff. But basically for the buttons you want duplicating you will want to use a similar cable to the ground loop cable, IE cable from ipac to NO on CPO Button1 then onto NO on Pinball button1  Repeat this with button 2, 3 and 4. I presume you can reprogram the software to use the same keypress for upper flippers as magnasaves.   

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=3533.0

Also my crap diagram attached

[PL1]

I'm working on a clear and easy-to-follow wiring diagram.

Will post it soon.

I presume you can reprogram the software to use the same keypress for upper flippers as magnasaves.   

Unfortunately, VP/FP is definitely not as easily configurable as MAME.

Redefining those keys would be a real pain IIRC.


Scott

[PL1]

Just remembered these diagrams that should clear it all up.

If you're using MAME player buttons with 3 terminals, you can wire them "backwards" like this.



If you're using buttons like Ultimarc's Goldleaf that only have two terminals, this is a way to wire it using two diodes so that the flipper can trigger both inputs, but the associated MAME player buttons won't trigger the other when you press it.




Scott

[Jeromebechaz]

Sorry guys I never got back to you's. I ended up getting 4 buttons so I'll see how it goes.
Shouldn't be to hard.
Does it matter what buttons you wire the pinball buttons in conjunction with?
So I'll just connect the pinball buttons to P1 buttons 1234?
Thanks again big help!

[DickTurpin]

Cant you double up using your main buttons for select in the front end and things?

[PL1]

Does it matter what buttons you wire the pinball buttons in conjunction with?
So I'll just connect the pinball buttons to P1 buttons 1234?

It does matter what buttons you wire to the pinball flippers.

Some VP/FP inputs are not as easy to configure as MAME.

Start with the VP/FP default keys
-- Escape for exit (use your dedicated admin button, just like for MAME)
-- Enter for ball launch
-- L/R shift keys for lower flippers
-- L/R control keys for MagnaSave
-- A and ' for upper flippers
-- Z space and / for nudge (if you're using them)

Next look at MAME default keys.
Admin enter = enter = ball launch
P1B1 = left control = left MagnaSave
P1B3 = space = up nudge
P1B4 = left shift = left lower flipper
P1B5 = Z = left nudge
P2B1 = A = left upper flipper

That should cover the overlapping functions IIRC.

Direct wire the remaining function buttons to the IPac and program it accordingly.


Scott