Wiring CP to DB25

[georgeb]

Hi,

I am creating my first cabinet and want to have multiple control panels which I can swap out. I currently have the X Arcade Encoder board and want to have this mounted inside the cabinet with a few common buttons connected to it. Each control panel will then have it's own arrangement of controls and from doing some research I think a DB25 connector would be suitable for linking to the encoder. I understand the wiring process but just wanted to make sure this is a viable option. I presume this will limit me to 24 inputs + 1 ground on the db25 connector. Does this sound correct?

On my first panel I have 14 buttons and 2 joysticks for a total of 22 switches. Am I correct in thinking I can just wire these up direct to the DB25 connector and pass them through to the appropriate inputs on the encoder? With that CP layout I presume I can then have 6 standard buttons which are fixed to the cabinet which will connect directly to the encoder for the total of 28 inputs supported.

Thanks for any help,
George

[PL1]

Welcome aboard, George.

Your math and wiring plan both look good.

You even have 2 extra pins if you want to use single color, always on LED buttons.

Are you planning on using solder or crimp connectors?

What will you use for strain relief to reduce the chance of broken wires?


Scott

[georgeb]

Thanks for the reply.

Can you explain what you mean by single color? Are you referring to wire colors. I don't have any led buttons (might want to have in other CP's but I know nothing about wiring them at the moment).

I was thinking of perhaps using a db25 breakout board with screw connectors as I don't have any soldering skills or suited equipment. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

I presume strain relief is not a problem if I use a breakout board. Ultimately I would love to have the ability to swap CP's by just a db25 plug.

Thanks again,
George

[PL1]

Can you explain what you mean by single color? Are you referring to wire colors. I don't have any led buttons (might want to have in other CP's but I know nothing about wiring them at the moment).

By single color, I mean LED buttons that use one LED like this red button -- the LED/holder is the first red item on the left. 



This type of button uses two wires for the LED -- 5v or 12v power source and a ground.

The LED/holder assembly already has the correct current limiting resistor -- plain LEDs are usually only rated for 3.3v and aren't able to handle 5v or 12v without the proper current limiting resistor.



The single color LED buttons are very easy to wire using .250" quick-disconnect daisy chains available from Paradise Arcade Shop (Bryan's redoing the website at this time so no link for now) -- only LED wiring shown below, no switch wires.



RGB buttons have 3 LEDs (red, green, and blue) and use 4 wires (5v or 12v power, red return, green return, and blue return).

By controlling the current flow/resistance on the individual return lines, LED controllers set the brightness of the red, green, and blue LEDs to create any desired color and intensity.

RGB button wiring example at 3:30-4:00, LED controller in action at 4:50-5:39.

I was thinking of perhaps using a db25 breakout board with screw connectors as I don't have any soldering skills or suited equipment. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

I presume strain relief is not a problem if I use a breakout board.

There are several problems with breakout boards like this.


1. They are somewhat expensive.

2. There will always be one wire that is shorter than the others.

When (not if, when) you accidently pull on the cable, the force will be applied first to that shortest wire.

The weakest point is where it connects to the screw terminal.

If you're lucky, it pulls straight out and you can find where it pulled out and reconnect it.

If you're not lucky, the wire breaks off and you have to strip off more insulation to repair it -- leaving the shortest wire even shorter.   

Proper strain relief uses a clamp (metal piece in middle) on the body of the cable to evenly transfer a tug on the cable or connector to all the wires, minimizing the possibility of damage.

It also prevents the connection points from bending back and forth which will cause metal fatigue and eventually breaks.




Scott

[georgeb]

Thanks Scott. The detailed answer is really appreciated.

Probably not going to put led buttons in this first panel but it's great to know how to wire them up and I now understand how I could use the 2 remaining pins on the db25 for this purpose. Definitely want to use some of the rectangle led buttons in my second panel.

I looked around for something a bit more secure than a db25 breakout board while keeping the wire connecting simple but didn't have much luck. I see others have just cut a cable in half which is probably not a bad option as long as I can find a cable that uses all the pins and also find a way to securely connect the wires together. Perhaps I will need to look into soldering.

Cheers,
George

[PL1]

If you find good 25 pin cables and want to avoid crimping and soldering, you can approach it like this.

Add 3 nylon loop clamps for strain relief (tight zig-zag pattern) near where you cut the cable in half.

Use euro-style terminal blocks to connect wires.


Use pre-crimped wires (cut to length and strip) and daisy chains from Paradise.

Add a few more loop clamps and zip ties for cable management.   


Scott

[severdhed]

I hate to burst your bubble, but unless x arcade changed their encoders since I bought mine, they don't use a common ground. They divided the inputs into groups of 4...each group with its own ground. These grounds are not interchangeable, which means you will need allot more wires. (5 wires for every 4 switches)  so that 25 pin cable will  only get you 20 inputs.



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[michelevit]

Encoders are so cheap now, why not just have an encoder board in each control panel? Simple USB connection. Done and Done.

[georgeb]

I hate to burst your bubble, but unless x arcade changed their encoders since I bought mine, they don't use a common ground. They divided the inputs into groups of 4...each group with its own ground. These grounds are not interchangeable, which means you will need allot more wires. (5 wires for every 4 switches)  so that 25 pin cable will  only get you 20 inputs.

I just checked and you are correct that there is a ground for each group of 4. Are you sure I can't use a common ground? I'm out of my depth with that question. Perhaps I will use dual d25's for panels with more than 20 inputs. Or perhaps look into getting an IPAC and can then use a common ground. I'm a couple of weeks away from installing any controls in the panel so have some time to consider my options.

Encoders are so cheap now, why not just have an encoder board in each control panel? Simple USB connection. Done and Done.

I would like to do that but I was looking at the cheapest option plus I want to have some common buttons on the cabinet which will be permanently wired to the encoder. If I purchased an IPAC is there any issues with it being connected at the same time as the X arcade encoder?

[severdhed]

the x-arcade ground situation sucks..and you cannot use a common ground, i've tried it.  what happens is this:

you have two groups of buttons: 1, 2, 3 and 4, with Ground A....and buttons 5, 6, 7 and 8 with Ground B.  if you connect ground B to button 1, it will function as button 5.  it makes for a horrible mess when trying to wire everything up because you have so many extra grounds to worry about.

an Ipac or keywiz both use common grounds and are much easier to work with.  i prefer the ipac over the keywiz (having owned both) because it retains its programming when turned off.  Not an issue if you use the default program set, but i dont like using shift and alt for my buttons as they sometimes cause undesired side effects when pressed with other keys..so i reprogram mine.  i'd ditch the x-arcade for this project and use an ipac. 


If you want to use the x-arcade for the admin buttons that stay in the cabinet, you should not have any issues using both at the same time, as long as you reprogram one of them so that they aren't mapped to the same keys. another option is to hack a cheap usb gamepad for the admin buttons, and use an ipac for everything else.