Multiple control panels for cabinet

[Negativecreep0]

Hey guys any ideas on how I can make it easy to switch between two different control panels for my cabinet? I have yet to design the control panel yet so any suggestion would be appreciated. By the way I am following the Ultra Arcade II plans. Thanks

[RacerX]

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=14582

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=14240

[cdbrown]

Easy way in terms of construction and ease of use would be to make 2 panels up.  You can secure them to the cab by clamps like these from Happs.  You can un/lock the clamps from the coin/front door.

I have wired up my panel from the microswitches up to terminal strips.  Then on the other side of the strip is printer cables cut in half.   I have the ipac located in the cab with the other half of the cables wired in.  That way I just plug the printer cables into each other to connect that panel.

Panel wire - terminal strip - male printer cable -/- female printer cable - encoder

Hope that helps

Cheers
-cdbrown

*edit - too quick for me RacerX - here's a pic with the wiring

[cdbrown]

the cables from the panel

[SirPoonga]

Hey guys any ideas on how I can make it easy to switch between two different control panels for my cabinet? I have yet to design the control panel yet so any suggestion would be appreciated. By the way I am following the Ultra Arcade II plans. Thanks

What interface are you using?  Do you have it yet?

If not I'd look at the mini-pac.  You will just need to find IDE pins you can mount on your CP.  Then it's just unplugging an IDE cble and swapping the cp.

[Negativecreep0]

well Im planning on using dreamcast controllers for one control panel, and the other is strictly for mame Im gonna use IPAC or one of those other ones

[gnateye]

i use the printer cable method too, and had it set up with dreamcast controllers and mame controllers, same printer cable just one male side was to the ipac and another male side went to 2 hacked creamcast pads

!!!! make sure you use seperate ground loops for each players controls if you plan to hook up dc controllers, they do not have common grounds !!!!!!

and im not sure about other brands but belkin db25 male/female cables have 25 different colered wires that are always the same. it helps

good luck

[tmasman]

and im not sure about other brands but belkin db25 male/female cables have 25 different colered wires that are always the same. it helps

I wouldn't count on it...
I've got a Belkin db25 male/male I just hacked apart for a controller & it has 36 wires!!! & there are quite a few duplicates...
But they are strung in twisted pairs, so it's not too hard to chase them down.

I know this is a different cable, but you can't always count on that sort of thing...

[JamesS]

Wow I have a belkin 25 male/male too that I have not cut up yet.

I hope that it does not have 26 wires, why would they even do that I wonder.

I like the Belkin male/female one.  And I have a word document with the pin/color combinations.  If you want it, I could email it to you.

Then you could random Multimeter a few pins and make sure the colors are the same on yours.  Should be I would think.

Also on that document is what each pin will be on the KeyWiz, but you could ignore that section.

[gnateye]

it should also say parallel/serial o nthe package but so far (knocks on wood) i have bought 6 of these ate differetn times, from differetn stores and so far all wire colors have matched perfectly. i almost accidentally bought a db25 male/female "MODEM" cable then i remembered the parallel/serial thing, the modem cable has 25pins but only about half as many wires inside so i wont vouvh for those. but of the 25 pin/25 wire deb25 male/female parallel/ serial extension cables i can. but i will say at everyplace i have went i stood in front of the cable for at least 10 minutes trying to make heads or tales of what is where, before finally gettin the right thing. just bought 2 this weekend as a matter of fact and they sinked up with my older existing setup. my only complaint is that those wires are so small its a pain to strip them without clipping them....

so far.....


i must say im really diggin those minipacs with the ide cables......

[tmasman]

Wow I have a belkin 25 male/male too that I have not cut up yet.

I hope that it does not have 26 wires, why would they even do that I wonder.

I like the Belkin male/female one.  And I have a word document with the pin/color combinations.  If you want it, I could email it to you.

Then you could random Multimeter a few pins and make sure the colors are the same on yours.  Should be I would think.

Also on that document is what each pin will be on the KeyWiz, but you could ignore that section.

I've already mapped out which wires go to which pins... Thanks though... I don't know why they did this, but some of the wires actually go to the same pins... & there were 2 wires that didn't go to any pins (at least on the half I've used so far) And Pin 7 didn't have any wires going to it! (& yes I checked that there weren't any broken wires (as best I could tell).

It's very strange, but usable none-the-less. I only needed 17 wires anyhow...

Stand alone Controller with 1 8-Way, 8 player buttons, start, coin, & 2 pinball buttons...
eh... I'll post a "Project Announcement" soon...

[unclet]

I used parallel cables as quick disconnects for the controls on my driving cab.  I wanted to determine which colored wires mapped to which pin so I used a continuity tester to map out the color-to-pin mapping.

After cutting the parallel cable wires I had lying around, I noticed I had three different types of cables.  Although each cable had only 25 pins, the inside of the cables either had 18 wire pair, 17 wire pair or 25 individual wires.  I included the color mappings for these wire types below in case anyone else could benefit from my patience  

I was told that the color mapping for parallel cables are not standard, so it depends on the type of cable you are working with for your project, but maybe this can help someone out...

Note1: "unused" means the wire is not connected to any pin

Note2: In the (TYPE 1) cable, I believe 18 through 25 are ground .



                                       1 1 1 1
             1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3
           --------------------------------
           \ o o o o o o o o o o o o o /
pins-->  \ o o o o o o o o o o o o /
               ----------------------------
               1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2
               4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5


TYPE 1) Parallel Cable with 36 wires (18 pairs)
---------------------------------------------------------------
 1 = Brown
 2 = Red
 3 = Orange
 4 = Pink
 5 = Pink/Red
 6 = Pink/Yellow
 7 = Yellow
 8 = Green
 9 = Green/Blue
10 = Blue
11 = LightBlue
12 = LightBlue/Purple
13 = LightBlue/LightGreen
14 = Purple
15 = Grey
16 = Grey/Yellow
17 = White
18 = Brown/White

19 = Red/Black
     Orange/Black

20 = Pink/Black
     Pink/Purple

21 = Pink/White    
     Yellow/Black

22 = LightGreen/Red    
     Green/Black

23 = LightBlue/Black  
     Grey/Black

24 = Blue/White        
     LightBlue/Blue
     LightBlue/Green

25 = Grey/Green    
     Purple/White
     White/Black

unused = White/Green  
         White/Yellow



TYPE 2) Parallel Cable with 34 wires (17 pairs)
--------------------------------------------------------------
 1 = Brown
 2 = Red
 3 = Orange
 4 = Yellow
 5 = Green
 6 = Blue
 7 = Purple
 8 = Grey
 9 = White
10 = Grey/Yellow
11 = LightBlue
12 = Pink
13 = Pink/Orange
14 = LightGreen/Red
15 = White/Yellow
16 = LightBlue/Purple
17 = LightBlue/Green
18 = Brown/White
19 = Red/Black
20 = Yellow/Black
21 = Blue/White
22 = Grey/Black
23 = LightBlue/Black
24 = Grey/Green
25 = Green/Black

unused = White/Black      
         Green/Blue(one next to LightGreen/Red wire)
         LightBlue/Blue  
         White/Green      
         Pink Black  
         Purple/White
         Orange/Black    
         LightBlue/Yellow  
         Pink/White




TYPE 3) Parallel Cable with 25 wires (all individual)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 = Black
 2 = Black/White
 3 = Brown
 4 = Brown/White
 5 = Red
 6 = Red/White
 7 = Red/Black
 8 = Orange
 9 = Orange/White
10 = Orange/Black
11 = Pink
12 = Pink/Black
13 = Yellow
14 = Yellow/Black
15 = Green
16 = Green/White
17 = Green/Black
18 = Light Green
19 = Blue
20 = Blue/White
21 = Purple
22 = Purple/White
23 = Grey
24 = Grey/Black
25 = White

[JamesS]

That looks like my layout, if I remember it right.  I will look at it when I get home and double check.

I bought mine at a Staples here in GA.  So if they are the same on mine, odds are they would be close on all of them.

[JamesS]

Actually my layout was different.

Schematic of Printer Cable
 Male Side      
    ------------------------------------
13 \ o o o o o o o o o o o o o   /1         
 25  \ o o o o o o o o o o o o   / 14         
          ----------------------------             


   Female Side
   ------------------------------------   
1  \ o o o o o o o o o o o o o   /13
14  \ o o o o o o o o o o o o   / 25
        ------------------------------

Pin Number, Color
1.Black         14.Brown/White Stripe
2.Brown         15.Red/White Stripe
3.Red         16.Orange/White Stripe
4.Orange         17.Aqua/White Stripe
5.Yellow         18.Blue/White Stripe
6.Green         19.Purple/White Stripe
7.Blue         20.Red/Black Stripe
8.Purple         21. Orange/Black Stripe
9.Grey         22. Yellow/Black Stripe  
10.White         23. Green/Black Stripe
11.Pink         24.Grey/Black Stripe
12.Aqua         25.Pink/Black Stripe
13.Black/Grey Stripe

That is how my belkin 25 pin one is laid out.

[SirPoonga]

I don;t think color is standardized on lpt cables.

[cdbrown]

the most important thing is for the cables to be straight through or extension cables.  Some cables have different pinouts depending if it's male or female end.

[alphasqorner]

Easy way in terms of construction and ease of use would be to make 2 panels up.  You can secure them to the cab by clamps like these from Happs.  You can un/lock the clamps from the coin/front door.

I have wired up my panel from the microswitches up to terminal strips.  Then on the other side of the strip is printer cables cut in half.   I have the ipac located in the cab with the other half of the cables wired in.  That way I just plug the printer cables into each other to connect that panel.

Panel wire - terminal strip - male printer cable -/- female printer cable - encoder

Hope that helps

Cheers
-cdbrown

*edit - too quick for me RacerX - here's a pic with the wiring

I like this idea!  Thanks!!