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Wiring CP to DB25

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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:


--- Quote from: georgeb on August 19, 2013, 05:15:19 am ---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).

--- End quote ---

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.




--- Quote from: georgeb on August 19, 2013, 05:15:19 am ---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.

--- End quote ---
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.   :angry:

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

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