Control Panel Cable?

[chrisindfw]

Hello all, I have a few questions. First I am in the planning stage of my cabinet where I plan to build the control panel first and then the cabinet. Is is ok to have one IPAC and interchangeable control panels or is it better to have separate IPAC's for each one? Additionally, what cables would you suggest to easily connect the control panel to the IPAC with the disconnect?

Thanks!

PS...
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[tmasman]

The typical idea & used scenario is to have a single encoder & some way to swap the controls out...
Most people are using DB25 (parallel/ printer cables)  

Get a Parallel extension cable & cut it in half...  Connect the female end to the encoder & the male end to the controls... Now for additional CPs just buy a new parallel cable (w/ 2 male ends) & cut it in half & use each half for a CP...  

If you need more than 25 wires, either find cables that have more than 25 pins (scsi???) or use multiple DB25s...  These are popular because they are cheap.

If you don't mind doing a little soldering I've also seen a JAMMA harness used to wire up to the IPAC & then each CP has a JAMMA edge connector attached to the CP w/ wires soldered to it & wired to the controls.  This was neat because it automatically plugged itself in when you put it in place...

I didn't take any pics, but it would be easy to duplicate... & it gives you 54 inputs (I think that's right...).

PS...
I saw that sit-down cab the other day, but Arkansas is a little out of my way...

[eightbit]

If you use multiple ipacs you have the cost of buying them and the ps/2 ones wouldn't be hot swappable though I suppose the USB ones could be hot swapped. If you use the db25 you can hot swap without issues since the PC always sees the encoder.

Here's pics using a db25 extension cable.

[grafixmonkey]

Look in the Arcade section on my site - it shows what I did with my IPAC, which is turning out to be very flexible.  One 15-pin Molex for each player on an IPAC-4.  Before I got my ctrlr files all set up and finalized, I was able to swap controllers around between the players to set up for 2p or 4p mode.  Now I'm thinking about having another panel that fits over the existing controls for beatmania and classics, so if I just unplug a couple Molexes and plug a couple more in, the new panel is fully attached to the IPAC and ready to play.

(btw if I did it over again, I'd have a 12-pin molex on each controller, but keep Pause and Coin switches and all other misc. buttons on a separate molex.  Make sure you attach the Ground wire to one pin in each molex.)

A SCSI cable might be better than molex connectors, it has a lot more pins and is easier to plug / unplug.  Never tried it though, the wires inside might be really small.

[RacerX]

The typical idea & used scenario is to have a single encoder & some way to swap the controls out...
Most people are using DB25 (parallel/ printer cables)  

Get a Parallel extension cable & cut it in half...  Connect the female end to the encoder & the male end to the controls... Now for additional CPs just buy a new parallel cable (w/ 2 male ends) & cut it in half & use each half for a CP...  

This is what I used.  

I stumbled onto an *extremely* cheap source for these cables once.  I sometimes go garage saling with some friends of mine, and we went to this one where they had *tons* of these cables.  So I bought every one they had for $2 total.  Also, my boss used to own a company called Managed Network Solutions.  He had a bunch of them that he was getting rid of, and he gave them to me.  So now I have like two big boxes full.  I'll stop building interchangable panels when I run out of cable.  

[NoOne=NBA=]

If I were doing the project in steps like you described, I would keep the I-Pac outside the control panel box, so that it can be put inside the cabinet when you are ready.

I don't see any advantage to multiple encoders, as you can hotswap on the controller side, as mentioned above.

When you are making the pigtails for the connections, don't forget to put restricters on the cables.
(You can use anything that will prevent the cable from pulling the individual wires inside the box when it gets yanked).

I put my I-Pac in a project box from Radio shack, and then put it inside the cabinet.
My 1-P/2-P/Pause/Coin door/Pinball buttons are all hardwired to it.
My panels (which are just the top plate) connect via 9-pin connectors because I don't play fighting games and didn't need more than 9 wires.
I also put a USB hub inside the control area for connecting trackballs/spinners/keyboard/etc... when necessary.