What's the best Pacman to Jamma adapter available now?

[jmcginley]

My goal is to essentially do the same thing that John from John's Arcade did in this video, except I'm just going to use Player 1 and 2 start buttons as Fire/Jump:





He used an adapter from Lizard Lick (no longer in business) to connect the Ms Pacman harness to a Jamma adapter and then connected that to a Jpac.


Whenever I search for it I just keep seeing lots people discussing the one from Lizard Lick or from Jammaboards.com (which is also apparently no longer in business).


Is there one out there that is known to be reliable and easy to install?

[JDFan]

Might try pinballreplacementparts.com - they seem to have one that is already setup with the buttons set as you mention doing !

Also Mikesarcade.com seems to have the same board or similar available. ( http://mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?sku=JAM2PAC )

[behrmr]

I have not used this board but know people who have and said they work great. They're made by a guy here in the Pittsburgh area.  I think it is the same board as noted above post.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAMMA-PCB-to-Ms-Pacman-cabinet-adapter-board-takes-ATX-power-supply-/141862463740

I have personally used the adapter below.  It also works great. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jamma-Board-PCB-to-Pacman-or-Ms-Pacman-Harness-Adapter-Arcade-Pac-/121973152795?hash=item1c662a9c1b:g:HMsAAOSwE6VXJap8

I believe that the big deal with the Lizard Lick adapter is that it rectified the A/C from the Midway linear power supply into DC current whereas these adapters use an external power supply such as an arcade switching power supply or a PC power supply.   However this should not apply to you since you're not attempting to power an arcade PCB.

[jmcginley]

I have not used this board but know people who have and said they work great. They're made by a guy here in the Pittsburgh area.  I think it is the same board as noted above post.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAMMA-PCB-to-Ms-Pacman-cabinet-adapter-board-takes-ATX-power-supply-/141862463740

I have personally used the adapter below.  It also works great. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jamma-Board-PCB-to-Pacman-or-Ms-Pacman-Harness-Adapter-Arcade-Pac-/121973152795?hash=item1c662a9c1b:g:HMsAAOSwE6VXJap8

I believe that the big deal with the Lizard Lick adapter is that it rectified the A/C from the Midway linear power supply into DC current whereas these adapters use an external power supply such as an arcade switching power supply or a PC power supply.   However this should not apply to you since you're not attempting to power an arcade PCB.

After I read more about some of the ones available on the market now I did notice that they all require a second power supply. So if I'm using a Jpac and not a Jamma board, I wouldn't need the second power supply? That would certainly make things a lot easier. I'm actually kind of confused on how to hook up the second power supply anyway.

I've read that you're supposed to "tap into" the existing power supply to add the second one. I'm a little apprehensive to hack up the existing power supply in the machine because I want to make sure it stays completely unharmed during this whole process.

[behrmr]

I have not used this board but know people who have and said they work great. They're made by a guy here in the Pittsburgh area.  I think it is the same board as noted above post.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAMMA-PCB-to-Ms-Pacman-cabinet-adapter-board-takes-ATX-power-supply-/141862463740

I have personally used the adapter below.  It also works great. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jamma-Board-PCB-to-Pacman-or-Ms-Pacman-Harness-Adapter-Arcade-Pac-/121973152795?hash=item1c662a9c1b:g:HMsAAOSwE6VXJap8

I believe that the big deal with the Lizard Lick adapter is that it rectified the A/C from the Midway linear power supply into DC current whereas these adapters use an external power supply such as an arcade switching power supply or a PC power supply.   However this should not apply to you since you're not attempting to power an arcade PCB.

After I read more about some of the ones available on the market now I did notice that they all require a second power supply. So if I'm using a Jpac and not a Jamma board, I wouldn't need the second power supply? That would certainly make things a lot easier. I'm actually kind of confused on how to hook up the second power supply anyway.

I've read that you're supposed to "tap into" the existing power supply to add the second one. I'm a little apprehensive to hack up the existing power supply in the machine because I want to make sure it stays completely unharmed during this whole process.

If you are using a JPAC I can't imagine a scenario where you would need to add a power supply.  This adapter would simply map the 4 joystick, 3 button, and 2 coin inputs to JAMMA standard, which should be all that you need.

As far as "tapping in" goes it's a pretty non-invasive process.  You just solder your A/C leads for the new switching PS to the A/C tabs on the primary side of the existing transformer.  You could also use Scotch-lock type taps, but I don't like them. Removing the whole rig is as simple as snipping the A/C wires at the tab.  But, as mentioned, you probably don't need to do this since you're using MAME.