From Power Distribution>ATX Power Supply, Instead of Switching Arcade Power

[P.H.U.]

I'd imagine if you are rebuilding a cab from the ground up for MAME, and there is no need to keep it JAMMA standard, some things can be left out such as the switching arcade power supply. If you remove the switching arcade power supply and instead just feed those leads into ATX power, then you're all set to power your PC for MAME?

Does anyone have pics of this or know of a guide? Or is it just as easy as I have just stated?

[Snakesnsparklers]

You are correct, the switcher can be removed.

[P.H.U.]

Cool. I thought so. Learning this stuff. I am pretty good on the software side of things. So the leads off the power distributor will be instead feed directly to an ATX power supply rather than the switching power supply. I have to strip the plug end of the ATX cable to accomplish this I suppose. I bought one of those Lepai sound amps. I'll steal the 12volts off one of the ATX connectors and splice that into the PSU for the Lepai. Steal another 12volts to power the marquee. And take 5volt ATX to power the coin slot lights. The aim is to get one power connection to power the whole cab. One switch to turn on the whole machine (monitor, marquee, coin slot lights, and PC).

I am probably not the first person to do this.

[keilmillerjr]

Monitor will likely not run off the atx power supply.

[P.H.U.]

Monitor will be powered as normal:

AC Line-in>AC EMI Line Filter>AC Power Distribution Block>ISO Transformer>Monitor-END.

The change will be at the AC Power Distribution Block. That will go like this:

AC Line-in>AC EMI Line Filter>AC Power Distribution Block>ISO Transformer>Monitor-END
                                                               ||
                                                               ||
                                                               V
                                                 AC Power Distribution Block>Switching Power Supply
                                                               ||
                                                               ||
                                                               V
                                                 ATX Power Supply ====>12volt ATX===>Marquee-END
                                                               ||
                                                               ||
                                                               V
                                                 5volt ATX Power ===> Coin Slot Lights-END

I am no EE, but if AC power coming off the distribution block is 120v and would have went to the switching power supply, why can't it go instead to the ATX power supply? Won't this work?

[ed12]

download any of the newer cab's
like gtgolf that use a atx supply
chain is like this
ac-switch-em-iso-monitior
                     -atx supply
                    -any switching power supply
any thing else after the power supply  is called down stream
so +5 +12 but not 117vac
just because some one is going to say well with lcd and or interal smps monitor u do not need the iso transformer
but that is for a diff thread



ed

[P.H.U.]

Yeah. CRT all the way for me. Seems like it will work. 120v does come off the AC power distribution block going into what would normally be the switching power supply, right?

Also, this dilemma has come up because some the cabs I picked up have all been heavily rewired and are just a shade of the old JAMMA standard they should be. If I am going to wire up the CP with a Xin Mo controller PCB, I see no point in keeping it JAMMA.

[mrclean]

Another option being its PC driven / MAME... Just get a power strip and hook up all of the items to that. I have one that detects when you shut down the PC / windows it turns the rest of the stuff off. I think it's a sears craftsman (typically used for power tools) but for this purpose is perfect. i.e. the marquee light and monitor can be plugged in with regular prongs.

Craftsman Auto Switch:


Where the master control is the PC would get plugged into that, when you exit MAME / shut down windows, the rest of the stuff will turn off.

[P.H.U.]

Got a few of those master switched power strips myself. Was hoping for a less cluttered solution. This should be easy to experiment on. I just have to sacrifice an ATX power cable and buy some quick connects. Hopefully, I can test it out today. If not, before the end of the weekend.

• So the action would be to set PC CMOS setting to recover on power.
  
• Set front end to shut down Windows
  
  • Hack ATX power cable
  • Crimp quick connects to hacked ATX power cable
  • Connect ATX power cable AC Distribution Block
  • Flip on power to cab
  
  If all works well, the PC should power up. In the event the CMOS does not have a power recovery feature, then the PC should still have power and can be switched on with the power button (fingers crossed)

[P.H.U.]

Turns out my cab does not have a power distribution block (or terminal distribution block). Not ready to hack the ATX power cable just yet. Really wonky wiring in it. Ordered 6 of these. I like how they have 4 screw mounts for secure-ness. I like screw downs for the line-ins; 4 for each which means I can ground everything at the block leaving one spare which I will probably not use. And I like the fin connectors which makes it easy for connection. Update when I get these.

[paigeoliver]

Turns out my cab does not have a power distribution block (or terminal distribution block). Not ready to hack the ATX power cable just yet. Really wonky wiring in it. Ordered 6 of these. I like how they have 4 screw mounts for secure-ness. I like screw downs for the line-ins; 4 for each which means I can ground everything at the block leaving one spare which I will probably not use. And I like the fin connectors which makes it easy for connection. Update when I get these.

If you have an isolation transformer you can just solder multiple runs of wire off the input side and avoid a distribution block.

[P.H.U.]

Too much of a perfectionist and too inexperienced with soldering for that. Plus at $2 a pop, those blocks were too good to pass up!

[P.H.U.]

The power distribution terminal came in. Got a few other goodies too.

The plan is to connect them as follows:

• AC Line-in Terminal w/ built in filter and fuse
• Power Distribution Block/Terminal (PDB)
• 12v DC jack
• Lepy Sound Amp

Off the PDB, I will power the ATX power supply. From there, of course the PC will be connected. The Lepy Sound Amp is powered with 12v DC. I am hoping I can havest +/-12VDC off the ATX power supply. +12VDC will be easy to havest off the drive connectors. But from what I am reading -12VDC is not used on modern PC's these days. If I am lucky, there is -12VDC coming of a molex pins on the motherboard. Otherwise, I am going to have to hack the main board connector. Bought 12VDC jacks just in case I can.

Speaking of motherboards, picked up some SSF PC's from an eBay auction (pack of smokes in pic for size reference). $20 each, since they were a local recycler, I was able to negotiate for pick-up. Saved $17 each on shipping! Both are Core 2 Duo based PC's that take DDR3. One has 3 gigs and 2 ram slots. The other has 4 gigs and with two more empty ram slots. As fate would have it, New Egg had a sale this week on DDR3. $28 for 2x4GB. Going to throw all of that into the PC with only 2 ram slots. Then harvest the 3GB of ram and put it in the PC that has 4 slots. I'll end up with two PC's, one with 7GB ram, the other with 8GB. Both are overkill for a 15khz CRT based cab. I have a AMD X2 5600+ w/4GB DDR2 and it runs MAME just fine.

Should be able to have pics this weekend.

[P.H.U.]

Everything worked like a champ! Here is a pic of the hacked ATX cable. I even posted a video of what is going down. This is so fun and easy, it's criminal!!!

[P.H.U.]

The hacked plug end of the ATX power cable won't go to waste either. I stripped back the wire to expose the hot, neutral, & ground. Then cut those leads to different lengths to avoid a short. Now to heat shrink over the hot for added shorting security and then another bit of shrink over everything exposing only the ground lead.

What am I doing? I noticed when discharging monitors using an alligator clip to the frame, the slightest tension or weight and the alligator clip pops right off. I'll add a quick connect to the hacked plug, lengthen the discharge cable off my discharge tool and viola! I got a secure Earth ground. An extension cord can be connected to the hacked plug just in case I need a longer run to an outlet.