SOLVED: Noob needs help with lighting up the quarter slots

[escapepodgames]

Greetings, fellow Arcade Geeks!

I am restoring an arcade cabinet for the first time.  I'm pretty handy and have a basic understanding of electronics, etc.  But this project will require a few visits to this fine forum for a little assistance from you experts...

The guy who sold it to me is a little hard to get in touch with and also busy so any help I can get here is greatly appreciated.  I own a sign company and have no problem giving out free decals or graphics that may help some of YOU out!

Here is my first question (of many to follow!)

I want to have the quarter slots light up when game is on.  I found that both bulbs were bad so that is easy enough...but then I noticed the wiring harness is not even plugged into anything!

Please see pics attached.  It has a bunch of pins but I cannot find anywhere obvious.  This cabinet has had custom work done on it so if there is no female connector anywhere is there some way I can tap into a 12v power supply or something?

Thanks!

[yotsuya]

Greetings! What kind of cabinet is it?

[escapepodgames]

Hi. It started its life as a game called War:Final Assault. A midway game from the late 90s

[yotsuya]

Trace the cables back from the lights. There should be at only two colors - the power and the ground. Shoot a photo of the socket and maybe we can help.

[escapepodgames]

Ok thanks. I will take some more pics and reply later tonight or tomorrow. Just to be clear there is a male connector but no apparent socket or female connector. I'm Steve btw. Thanks for your offer to help

[yotsuya]

No problem, Steve. We'll get you going in the right direction.

[jennifer]

    **With a SWOOSH of skirts, it"s a bird, a plane... It"s, It"s JENNIFER! ,**  Stand back Steve, everything is going to be alright... I would be curious as to why, your cabling is missing, You may want to look closely at the harness, and look for cut wires or black tape. my guess is someone chopped them off for whatever reason... A conversion is possible, Although if you go that route LED would be a better choice IMO....Jennifer looks to the skies (and strikes a pose ), COME MY LITTLE FRIENDS!, our work here is done.

[yotsuya]

[escapepodgames]

Ok yes I have experience with leds so that is probably easiest. I have combed this thing over and cannot find a mate for this harness so it is probably long gone along with some of the games original guts.

So I guess what I need is advice on where to find a power supply for the LEDs   Would they use a 12v power source like a wire I can tap into?  Any advice on what type of led to buy?

Finding that power will also help me get my illuminated buttons hooked up so two for one!

Thanks again and sorry for my lack of knowledge but I am getting there!

Steve

[yotsuya]

No problem. I'd like to see the light assembly so we can trace the wires back. At worse, you can cut that harness off and replace it with a Molex one.

[escapepodgames]

OK here we go...

Top pic is a closeup of the bulb socket.  One of them has one yellow wire coming from each side and the other has 2 yellow wires for each side (?)

Second Pic shows a little more.  There are some darker wires leading down to the coin area but it is not a coin-op so I dont need those

In the third pic you can see that they all go into a plastic conduit and make their way back.

Bottom pic is from the back of the machine - this bundle of wires ends here at a connector that has nowhere to plug it in.

Thanks!  Steve

[escapepodgames]

Someone told me to check the power supply and there should be places to wire in that are labeled at different voltages?  He said wire the bulbs to 5v and ground (1each). I'm not near the machine now but I am hoping it is this easy don't remember seeing these places to connect..,

[yotsuya]

Depending on your bulbs, connect one of those yellow wires to 5 or 12 v, the other to ground. I'd make the ends on both sides of the ground one with black marker or something. It should be pretty straightforward if you snip those yellow wires off at the connector.

If it were me, and granted, I've got experince and tools behind me, I'd convert the end there to Molex.

[yotsuya]

Actually,  zooming in (I'm on the phone) it looks like one wire is yellow, the other yellow white. That should make it easier.

[escapepodgames]

Ok I found two identical harnesses with 9 holes each that cone from my power supply. One is connected to another one that leads to the main circuit board. The other is not connected. But there is a diagram that says what each color wire is so I am looking for a red 5v and a black ground. Wish me luck!

[jennifer]

   I would venture to say.... That looks like a daisy chain, most likely feeding down and sharing power with your credit switches, However somebodys done some work there, the tell is, theres a cable clamp on the left inside the door, Those wires your looking at were supposed to feed through that. So yes its been chopped at some point.... And as Yot"s says do the Molex, It will make it a lot easier to take apart someday.

[escapepodgames]

Thanks for everybody's help we are halfway there! The bulbs now light but they are very dim. What are my led options now that I know how to power them?  Any that run on 12v?  I want these suckers to GLOW 😜

[escapepodgames]

And molex just means wiring everything into harnesses that snap together, right?  I plan to do all that once I've lit everything I want lit so I can do it all at once. In my younger days I used to hook up all kinds of lighting to my car to make the air vents etc glow so that is where my experience lies  so I assume I would use the same stuff and hook it to my 12v option?  Thanks again. Please visit my eBay store and pick out a decal, you two. Stores.ebay.com/decalheadquarters

[jennifer]

   If your 12v bulb is dim, that's probably a 5v supply right?.... I don't usually endorse venders, but cointaker has a nice selection of Leds. Normally they were 5v, but they have been kinda standardized over the last decade or so, to be used in a 12v system with no mods. They are cooler than bulbs, Virtually the same light....And will outlast bulbs hands down.

[escapepodgames]

OK so I hooked the wiring into the 12v instead of the 5v and VOILA it lights up great!  Left it on for awhile and no issues.

Question is, is this safe because the guy who sold it to me said use 5v.

I am so happy to have accomplished my first wiring job on this project!  As soon as I get feedback I will go ahead and hook both bulbs up and make it a little more permanent.

I will also post a pic and show you the graphics package I designed for it.  It will be an Empire Strikes Back machine!  I am a huge Star Wars nut.

Thanks again for all the help so far!  I consider this thread closed once I hear that its safe enough and I post pics of the final result.

THEN in a new thread you can help me fix my crazy Player 2 joystick where left is right, right is left, and up and down do nothing!

[escapepodgames]

AAARGH

I have them both hooked up and they light great but I noticed a buzzing sound and when I disconnect the lights the sound stops.

So something is still not quite right...

[jennifer]

    That's most likely a ground issue, Those bulbs are rated for 12v? (assuming so because they didn't blow).... You do have a voltmeter?.... a manual? (most are available online these days) Your hooked to a positive voltage, not a negative?... what are you actually robbing power from? that could be a supply for the audio, loading it might be sucking down your filter caps making the noise across the speakers .... A switcher power supply, (available most anywhere) are real handy for testing that kind of thing....I would for now figger out the continuity of what it is you have, Im guessing its a daisy chain thru both lights and credit switches. (two wires going from thing to thing) And Four wires at switches( two from the lights and two to the board).  If its like that STOP, and maybe we need to check the manual for board voltage (most likely the 5v the guy you got it from was talking about).

[yotsuya]

Yeah, listen to Jennifer. Certainly sounds like a ground issue.

Thanks for the decal offer! I'm just happy to help out.

[escapepodgames]

OK I will try to answer Jennifer's questions and also supply all of the information that I know.

I attached a pic of the bulb package - package says 14v, 3.8 watts

Don't have a voltmeter but I am positive that I attached to the positive 12v wire as outlined on the power supply (which I also posted a pic of)

I am not sure a manual will help.  This is a custom multicade and I am pretty sure it is all new hardware but I could be wrong on that of course.

I don't think I am drawing power from anything else.  The power supply has two of these 9-hole leads coming from it (see pics)  One of them is hooked into an adjoining 9-hole lead that goes to the main boards, etc.  The one that I tapped into was just lying there and not attached to anything but it is identical to the one that powers the boards, etc.

Here is how I hooked up the bulbs:

I completely bypassed all of the original daisy chain wiring.  I hooked a black wire up to the ground on the unused 8-hole lead and then made a "V" from that, using two more wires to run ground to one side each of the two bulbs.  I then did the same with a red wire that I attached to the 12v on the unused lead (harness?) please feel free to correct my terms.  Attached one red each to the opposite side of each bulb socket.  Lit up great but hummed.

SO I rewired it into what I think is called a sequence.  Went from 12v to the left side of Bulb 1, then went from the right side of Bulb 1 to the left side of Bulb 2.  Then went from the right side of Bulb 2 to the ground.  THis stopped the humming/buzzing sound but the bulbs light up much more dimly (I assume they are now sharing the 12v and using 6v each?)

If I hook up just one bulb it lights up fine and no buzzing.

So now you know all that I do (which ain't much!)

If we can somehow solve this mystery I will be unbelievably appreciative and I promise the rest of my issues should be really easy ones.  Please let me know if there is ever any kind of decal I can do.  I can make pretty much anything, even custom work.  I really want to get into this hobby with the goal of restoring/refacing machines for people who want custom cabinets.

Attached is my ESB graphics package.

[harveybirdman]

I don't like that Vader's face is cut off on your side art.

Have you seen Echo Base? http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=122438.0

Maybe you should go a tad simpler on your side art.

[yotsuya]

That's good advice, especially on the left side. Are you able to rearrange the assets?

[Malenko]

The sound is from a ground loop. 90's midway cabs ran 12V bulbs , Ive had a few in my day.

[jennifer]

   First thing is get yourself a voltmeter, If you can spend a couple bucks and get a descent one, A audible continuity checker would make your life easier,.... Since it (the buzzing) goes away with only one bulb, More than likely 2 bulbs are loading that circuit, Leds are less power draw and more than likely would solve your problem, However A new switcher power supply would give plenty of nice clean power for the setup you have there. a auxiliary power source if you will, and would also solve your problem with the bulbs you already have... Don't poo the manual, even if your converting, its a valuable resource for voltages and design. I really would be concerned about sending a 12v coin signal to a 5 v board, again a switcher will have both voltages available and the manual (for whatever board your going with) would be your map.

[jennifer]

The sound is from a ground loop. 90's midway cabs ran 12V bulbs , Ive had a few in my day.

  That's so true.... But whats got Jenn all worked up is, the guy he got it from says 5v,(for whatever reason), I smell something rotten. If you look at Her/his work it screams detail, but not in a traditional sense. And why?, Where is the original Midway wire?...Without actually seeing the cab first hand its hard to say.

[yotsuya]

Yeah, I'd cut that connector off myself and wire my own. Clearly, yellow and yellow/white provide power to the bulbs. I'd wire those two up directly to 12v and ground on the PSU (actually, I'd redo the whole connector, but that's part of my skill set )

[jennifer]

 Speaking of  I followed your whole chip blowing experiment,...I was really surprised there wasn't more interest in that. (**secretly Jennifer bought a uv eraser) out of excitement for the project, a big 20 chip "super light" Stop getting me worked up over fun projects.

[Malenko]

It'll run on 5V it'll just be dim. As for the guy telling him its 5V, you seem to forget that people , in general, are idiots.

[escapepodgames]

OK I decided to go with LEDs and I am pleased as can be (see pics)

Thanks again for all of your help and advice.

Tomorrow I shall have a new mission for you - it will be easy from here!  Just a few more things and then all I have left is to produce the graphics and apply which is easy for me.

As soon as I figure out how, I will change the subject of this thread in order to help others and I will also mark it SOLVED.

Steve