i-pac ultimate io and sanwa joystick question

[acjgoblu]

Getting started on the wiring of my bartop and running into an issue with my joystick connecting to the ipac (likely because I'm a newbie at this).

I got two Sanwa JLFs for the cabinet along with an ultimate io i-pac. The i-pac comes with a wiring harness that includes connections that are supposed to snap directly onto the ends of the microswitches - in general this will be fantastic, because I have little desire to do all of that crimping. However, the joysticks that I got come with their own separate wiring harness that doesn't really fit the i-pac connections, and the microswitch prongs aren't really visible (they're all connected through a big square connector that goes around all four microswitches and has a 5 pin output terminal):

photo of joystick with wiring harness --> https://www.focusattack.com/sanwa-jlf-tp-8yt-joystick/

Anybody have tips as to how to make this connection work? I don't really want to pull the wires out of the i-pac harness and just wire the joystick harness directly into the harness (mostly because I don't know if that will even work), but I can't really see how to make the appropriate connections to the 5 pin output terminal of the joystick, nor can I see how to expose the microswitch prongs for a direct connection.

Appreciate any advice...

[yamatetsu]

The easiest way would probably be to pull out the 1up/1down/1right/1left/2up/2down/2right/2left wires out of the i-pac harness and just stick the corresponding joystick wires into it. The webpage you bought the sticks from has a wiring diagram :

https://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server500/d90a4/products/72/images/2299/JoystickWiringGuide2__90136.1349796435.1280.1280.jpg?c=2

So based on the color code of the joystick's wire harness, you just plug the wires into the corresponding I-Pac ports.

I can't really see how to make the appropriate connections to the 5 pin output terminal of the joystick, nor can I see how to expose the microswitch prongs for a direct connection.

For testing purposes you can put the GND wire of one joystick directly into the I-Pac's GND port, for final assembly you need to incorporate the joystick's GND wires into the GND daisy chain of the wiring harness.

Be careful when pulling out the I-Pac wires, you don't want to yank the wires out and leave the connector in the I-Pac. I used a thin needle to loosen the connector and gently pulled the wires out.

[acjgoblu]

Thanks, that's actually quite helpful to know that's an option.

I thought about doing that, but how would you secure those loose free wires into the i-pac harness? Would you have to get some new DuPont connectors and crimp them on to the free wires at the end of the joystick harness and then slide into the harness? I was able to free the existing wires from the i-pac harness, just having trouble getting the new loose wires to stay where they belong...

 Thanks!

[yamatetsu]

Would you have to get some new DuPont connectors and crimp them on to the free wires at the end of the joystick harness and then slide into the harness?

Either that or you can cut up some unused wires from the I-Pac harness and connect those ends to the joystick wires using one of these (don't know what they're called in the US, something like 'european style wire connectors') :



You can easily cut those things up so you can use one connector for one set of wires. Just slide the connector over one wire, twist the wire ends together, slide the connector over the bare wire and tighten the screws.

[acjgoblu]

At the risk of sounding like someone who is about to electrocute himself or start a fire, would it be doable to do that with electrical tape? I realize that, for larger electrical projects, that would be a bad idea. But is the voltage going through those particular small wires low enough that it would be safe (if it would even be effective in the first place)?

[yamatetsu]

You have got me there. I have googled a bit, it seems for a temporary solution you could even use duct tape, but the issue is actually the glue, which seems to degrade over time. So the appropriate method to do it would either be using the euro style connectors or soldering the wires together and use heat shrink tubing.

[acjgoblu]

Ended up going with your suggestion to fuse the wires. Basically, I left the harness intact and just cut off the spade connector at the end of the directional controls, stripped a bit of wire, and spliced each wire to the bare wire coming from the joystick harness using basic wire connectors like these:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Wire-Connector-Assortment-25-Pack-775128/202894260

Worked like a charm, and nothing on fire!

Thanks!