I-Pac Ultimate I/O : Who uses them?

[liquid134]

just as the subject says, who owns/uses Ultimarc's I-PAC Ultimate I/O??

i just got mine on monday. first impression, its so small!! im so excited to hook it up tho.

I purchased mine with the main harness included. But being that I bought my LED pushbuttons/trackball from somewhere else, i need to figure out how to hook it up to the board (LEDS n trackball). I emailed andy and he said that they are "standard .1in pitch headers". 

anyone fine some that fit?

did you do it differently?

[dkersten]

I have used 2 so far and just ordered a 3rd.  I really like it now that we worked out some of the glitches.

The connectors are .1" or 2.54mm "DuPont" style connectors.  You can get the pins, 4 pin plug bodies, and crimper on Amazon, although crimping them is an art and quite frustrating and time consuming.

Be sure that whatever LED you use does NOT have the resistor built in.  If it does you will just get lower output than expected.

On my first one I used the GGG RGB drive 2 LED's, and frankly I am not happy with them.  At first I ordered the regular ones with the resistors built in and no ends on the wires.  Then I figured out I didn't need resistors with this controller, so I got them swapped for the ones without resistors and with the DuPont connector already attached (you have to request them specifically when ordering from GGG).  This made it easier, but I still had to extend quite a few of them, for which I used generic 20cm 2.54mm male-female jumpers that are typically used for playing with the arduino.  That way I didn't have to extend any wires and recrimp any ends. 

However, those LED's have degraded over time and I just had to order 5 more (out of 30) to replace bad ones.  The color across each of them varies a LOT, especially over time. 

On my second build I used the Ultimarc RGB led's and I was VERY happy with them.  So far color is great across the board, they come with the right connector, and overall the buttons are brighter.  They are more expensive though.

I believe the max per channel for LED output is 20ma, so be careful with other brands. 

A few tips: 
First, if you are using a trackball and a spinner, you can forget the joystick 3 and 4 inputs, they won't work with it simultaneously. 
Second, there are some blank spots on the harness that correspond to ground, I used this for a few of the grounds (just crimp a 2.54mm female pin to a 24-28ga wire and slip it in until it clicks).  If you use the ultimarc trackball, there will be a ground already pinned to an "extra" black wire, just plug it into one of those open slots (be sure to note which side it is on, one side is blank, the other a ground).
Third, Don't use this on a USB hub unless you know for sure that the hub is capable of providing good power.  I used mine on a cheap powered hub and had MAJOR issues.  Soon as I moved it back to an internal port, it fixed it.
Fourth, if you are running animations with LEDblinky, be sure to get the latest firmware.  Andy recently made some changes that made a HUGE difference with performance while running LED animations.

It is a great controller, I am very happy with mine.

[yotsuya]

The connectors are .1" or 2.54mm "DuPont" style connectors.  You can get the pins, 4 pin plug bodies, and crimper on Amazon, although crimping them is an art and quite frustrating and time consuming.

Once you figure it out, though, it's quite awesome and fulfilling to roll your own.

[Nephasth]

The connectors are .1" or 2.54mm "DuPont" style connectors.  You can get the pins, 4 pin plug bodies, and crimper on Amazon, although crimping them is an art and quite frustrating and time consuming.

Once you figure it out, though, it's quite awesome and fulfilling to roll your own.

Amen, brother!

[liquid134]

thanks for the reply guys!!!! yea i dont plan on having more then 2 player positions, so trackball n spinner is no issue for me!!! (see my thread in project announcements, im converting a global VR PGA tour pedestal to MAME)

another quick question instead of opening a new thread...... how do you guys wire up your switches? like what is default? (ill explain below)

do you do it like this?? (this is the "control panel")

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8


or like this???

1 3 5 7
2 4 6 8

im tryin to do the least amount of reconfiguring for the default control settings.

[PL1]

do you do it like this?? (this is the "control panel")

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8

Either that or

1 2 3 7
4 5 6 8

If you play lots of 6-button fighting games.   


Scott

[RandyT]

On my first one I used the GGG RGB drive 2 LED's, and frankly I am not happy with them.  At first I ordered the regular ones with the resistors built in and no ends on the wires.  Then I figured out I didn't need resistors with this controller, so I got them swapped for the ones without resistors and with the DuPont connector already attached (you have to request them specifically when ordering from GGG).  This made it easier, but I still had to extend quite a few of them, for which I used generic 20cm 2.54mm male-female jumpers that are typically used for playing with the arduino.  That way I didn't have to extend any wires and recrimp any ends. 

However, those LED's have degraded over time and I just had to order 5 more (out of 30) to replace bad ones.  The color across each of them varies a LOT, especially over time.

Apologies in advance for the interruption.  Just to clarify, these were not our standard RGB Drive 2 units, which have the appropriate current limiting resistors for the LEDs set at about 17ma.  The resistor-less assemblies were not designed specifically for this controller, rather for another purpose, and were offered in response to a request to save the work of attaching connectors.  Apparently, the fixed 20ma current of this controller is not compatible with all of the LED's used on these assemblies, and the higher current is responsible for the degradation / issues observed.

I believe the max per channel for LED output is 20ma, so be careful with other brands. 

Good advice.  We won't be offering these resistor-less LED assemblies (by request or otherwise) for use with 3rd party fixed constant-current controllers in the future, as we cannot guarantee 100% compatibility at a higher current than the ~17ma normally set by the resistors on RGB Drive 2 units.

[IAmDotorg]

just as the subject says, who owns/uses Ultimarc's I-PAC Ultimate I/O??

I've got one going in my cab. It seems to work nicely, from the limited stuff I've done with it so far. My single complaint at this point is that it has 48 inputs, but only 96 outputs... which means if you're using RGB lit buttons, you can only use 32 of the inputs before you need to get a second LED controller. So its "Almost Ultimate".

I wish it had 48 inputs and 144 outputs instead of 96.

[dkersten]

Good point, but unless you have 4 led's for each of your joysticks, why would you need an equal number of outputs?

I was only disappointed that you can't use some of the joystick inputs while using some of the optical inputs, just because the pins are there, they just become unusable.  I was OK on inputs though because I used 2 U360's, and they have their own interface, so I was able to put P3 and P4 joysticks on the P1 and P2 spots.  I think I have 2 unused inputs.

I have 31 RGB LED's and I can't see a reason for any more than that.  (7 each for P1 and P2, 4 each for P3 and P4, 4 start buttons, 4 admin buttons, and one trackball LED)  The admin buttons don't really need to be lit up, so even what I did was overkill.  Even if I did 4 lit joysticks and added a tron stick or something, I would have been OK had I eliminated the admin buttons.

[IAmDotorg]

Good point, but unless you have 4 led's for each of your joysticks, why would you need an equal number of outputs?

I was only disappointed that you can't use some of the joystick inputs while using some of the optical inputs, just because the pins are there, they just become unusable.  I was OK on inputs though because I used 2 U360's, and they have their own interface, so I was able to put P3 and P4 joysticks on the P1 and P2 spots.  I think I have 2 unused inputs.

I have 31 RGB LED's and I can't see a reason for any more than that.  (7 each for P1 and P2, 4 each for P3 and P4, 4 start buttons, 4 admin buttons, and one trackball LED)  The admin buttons don't really need to be lit up, so even what I did was overkill.  Even if I did 4 lit joysticks and added a tron stick or something, I would have been OK had I eliminated the admin buttons.

In my case, P1/P2 have eight buttons, not seven (which pushes it over) and there's two pinball flipper buttons. I ended up with 34... missed by two, because there's only three admin buttons.

Upside, I've got a bunch more outputs I can use for cabinet lighting.

[dkersten]

@ RandyT - Good to know Randy, and thank you for your help with this "behind the scenes". 

One thing I have learned with LED's since getting into this is that you really have to be careful what you "mix and match".  If using the Ultimarc IPac UIO, I would not recommend using any other RGB led than the ones they sell with their buttons.  If you do, just be aware that you are limited to 20ma per channel and because it is already limited in the controller, if you use an LED with resistors already on it you will probably not get the full output the LED was designed for and might be disappointed in the performance.

[aldub516]

hey guys, hows it going. Im clearly new here,and ill soon give a better intro and upload some pictures of my work and such. I was browsing the forums, and came across this thread. My main focus right now is the ultimate i/o. im glad to read so many positive reviews about it. But as some of you touched upon, the inputs were rather questionable to me. I was in the midst of writing my own email to andy, or to post here.. So here it is. Thank you for any input, and im now working on my 3rd cabinet, and diving much deeper into the arcade world.

In the features list, it states the following
"Wiring harness supplied for 32 input connections. Additional harness options for the other 16 inputs. Connections marked on the board.Trackball and spinner interface. When enabled these use a total of  6 of the available 48 inputs."

Does the Trackball and spinner EACH take 6 inputs? Or are they each 3 inputs?
And the additional harness mentioned i assume is the 3-4 player add on.. But with that, i believe it says you cannot use trakball/spinner.. So my question is, and this can be a silly oversight on my end.. Is there not a way to use the 32 input connection for pushbuttons, and 3 or 6 for the trakball and spinner, that should still leave either 10 or 13 inputs left? How can i achieve full 48 inputs? Is there a harness im not seeing?
  My setup will be as follows:
2 player panel
6 buttons each plus joysticks= 20 inputs
p1 and p2-                                2 inputs
trak/spinner-                             6 inputs max
4 buttons up top for misc use- 4 inputs

for 32 inputs total.. Which harness would i utilize for the extra 16 inputs? or why would the 3-4 player add on disable the trakball spinner?
again this can be a silly oversight on my end. but before i place a giant order with you for my whole system, i want to make sure.

I cant exactly see why id need over the 32 for now, but id like to option of adding extra inputs and such.

thank you again

[dkersten]

When enabled these use a total of  6 of the available 48 inputs."

Does the Trackball and spinner EACH take 6 inputs? Or are they each 3 inputs?

That means that 6 of the inputs for OTHER devices are used when the trackball and spinner are added.

And the additional harness mentioned i assume is the 3-4 player add on.. But with that, i believe it says you cannot use trakball/spinner.. So my question is, and this can be a silly oversight on my end.. Is there not a way to use the 32 input connection for pushbuttons, and 3 or 6 for the trakball and spinner, that should still leave either 10 or 13 inputs left? How can i achieve full 48 inputs? Is there a harness im not seeing?

You will have the 32 inputs for the main harness.  2 joysticks (8 inputs), 8 buttons per player (16), start and credit for P1 and P2 (4), and the 4 admin inputs (4).
One of the other headers has the trackball input and another player input, the utrak will plug directly in if the ipac is mounted close enough.  The u-trak uses 2 4 pin plugs and a ground.  The other header is for the spinner and other player.  The spinner uses a 5 pin plug.  There are 8 inputs on each of the two headers for players 3 and 4, 4 for the joystick, and 4 for buttons.  6 of these are unusable when the trackball and spinner are both plugged in (one gets covered by the spinner plug and the rest are tied to the trackball/spinner 5v and ground so they change and can't be used, you will see this in the ipac configuration utility).  You can still use 10 of those inputs, but if you have a p3 and p4, you won't be able to hook up 4 buttons plus a joystick for each.

  My setup will be as follows:
2 player panel
6 buttons each plus joysticks= 20 inputs
p1 and p2-                                2 inputs
trak/spinner-                             6 inputs max
4 buttons up top for misc use- 4 inputs

You will be fine, the trackball and spinner will plug right in to the headers with no harness (if you used Ultimarcs parts, can't speak for other brands of spinner/trackball, for those you would likely need to pin them yourself with 2.54mm pins).  The rest will connect directly to the main harness with no problems.  Once you load the utility you will see what I am saying, it is pretty clear. 

the only confusing part is the two smaller headers when you add a trackball and spinner, some of the pins change.  Also, the labeling on the trackball inputs on the board (in how it corresponds to the literature online) might be backwards for the Y axis.  Just plug in and align the trackball the right way and it will work.  If you need to mount the trackball in a different orientation, you will have to unpin the plugs and swap the axes around.  You will know if you hook it all up and the trackball moves wrong.

[aldub516]

so more or less, those inputs are physically covered/blocked/taken up by the peripherals. Thank you for explaining that. I dont forsee a problem with the given inputs. 4 admins will work, and a shift button will just make it perfect if need be. That was my only concern or question. I shall be ordering it this week.

[dkersten]

Yes, they are "taken" even though most of them aren't physically blocked.

Glad I could help.  I am sure you will be happy with it.

[AndyWarne]

@ RandyT - Good to know Randy, and thank you for your help with this "behind the scenes". 

One thing I have learned with LED's since getting into this is that you really have to be careful what you "mix and match".  If using the Ultimarc IPac UIO, I would not recommend using any other RGB led than the ones they sell with their buttons.  If you do, just be aware that you are limited to 20ma per channel and because it is already limited in the controller, if you use an LED with resistors already on it you will probably not get the full output the LED was designed for and might be disappointed in the performance.

Actually it wont make any difference whether resistors are fitted or not. The performance and current should be the same because the board controls the current.

Just one other point, although a few people have got into making their own harnesses, which is fine, the board, along with other items which plug into it, is designed to be installed without any pin crimping. Everything plugs together when using in a standard setup.

I have just uploaded new firmware which correct a bug with the volume up/down controls. The latest firmware is linked on the product page: www.ultimarc.com/ipacuio.html

PS just noticed a thread about LED strips. The UIO board will drive LED strips via its on-board high-current drivers.

[jahicks]

Is it possible to use the Ultimate I/O board for a 4 player setup AND a trackball?   It seems with the defaults the player 3 and trackball are mutually exclusive when I use the software for mappings.   I did read on the site that this was expected behavior.   I was however considering custom mapping player 3 to some unused inputs. 

For example, I only have 6 buttons for players 1 and 2.   So I was going to map 8 player 3 inputs (up, down, left, right, sw1, sw2, sw3, sw4) to inputs 7,8 for p1 and p2 as well as the A,B inputs for p1 and p2.   I would then override the mappings for player 3 to these extra unused inputs and leave defaults for the rest.

Would this work?   Any other suggestions?

[AndyWarne]

Is it possible to use the Ultimate I/O board for a 4 player setup AND a trackball?   It seems with the defaults the player 3 and trackball are mutually exclusive when I use the software for mappings.   I did read on the site that this was expected behavior.   I was however considering custom mapping player 3 to some unused inputs. 

For example, I only have 6 buttons for players 1 and 2.   So I was going to map 8 player 3 inputs (up, down, left, right, sw1, sw2, sw3, sw4) to inputs 7,8 for p1 and p2 as well as the A,B inputs for p1 and p2.   I would then override the mappings for player 3 to these extra unused inputs and leave defaults for the rest.

Would this work?   Any other suggestions?

You can map the trackball as buttons instead which will give 4 extra, or the spinner to buttons instead which would give 2 extra.

Overall, the board has 48 inputs. A trackball uses 4 and spinner uses 2. Buttons use 1.

[josterch]

I've had my 4 player raspberry pi cocktail table running since Christmas with an I-Pac Ultimate.   Setup was a breeze, but can't figure out how to keep the LEDs lit.  Once a button is pressed, attract mode is deactivated.  I'd like to keep them all lit all the time, but I haven't found a LED controller for linux to run along with emulation station.  Anybody know of anything?

[CpCaveman]

the trackball can be bought so that it just plugs into the pc (like a mouse does) wouldnt take away any inputs from your ipac and can be used as a mouse while youre setting it all up, its what i used (only made one still works great ) , I bought an arcade kit years ago and the trackball that came with it was huge (still in its box somewhere) , bought a cheaper smaller one that lights up when its powered up and works great, the rest is just configuring the buttons to the other inputs (not the mouse movements) , what it took me a while to figure out (alone) was that there were general inputs (all games), and individual game inputs that would overide the general ones so now i`ve set it up so all the games work, until someone turns up and says the magic words "this is great but i used play this game ..... blah blah blah " then add the game theyre blahhing about in front of them and then configure that.

basically make your cabinet as you want it, and then get a trackball if you feel you still need one (personally my next one wont) and if you feel its needed buy one you just have to drill a hole for and plug it in.