Use an Arduino to trigger COIN pin on JAMMA harness?

[sn0zc0r3]

Please excuse my ignorance, but I'm a noob at best when it comes to voltage/wiring/etc, but I'm working on an idea I have and I'm trying to figure out how to trip the COIN pin on a JAMMA board to add a token to the machine.

I've wired a JAMMA fingerboard to act as a middleman between the cabinet and the arcade board and have wired an extra wire to pin 16 that goes to a pin an Arduino board. Then, I would use the arduino to send send a signal and trip the pin to add a token.

In theory, this makes sense in my head, but so far it's not working and my first thought is that maybe I don't have the right voltage to trip the pin on the JAMMA harness, or if an Arduino can do it at all?

Thoughts?

[UEDan]

Add a relay?

Instead of a light, connect 1 pin to ground and the other to the coin pin.
Turn on for half second then off.

[PL1]

I would use the arduino to send send a signal and trip the pin to add a token.

By "send a signal" you mean applying ground to the JAMMA input just like you would when pressing a button, right?

If the Arduino is unable to pull your JAMMA board input to a logic low (JAMMA boards are active-low devices), you should use a solid-state relay like UEDan suggests.

InfantSorrow used one here to connect a coin recognizer (your Arduino) to a ZD encoder. (Pin 16 + ground on your JAMMA harness)


Scott

[sn0zc0r3]

Yup, I'm an idiot and didn't explain it correctly. It doesn't "send a signal" but grounds the input upon triggering. I also found out that I needed to connect a ground from the Arduino to the JAMMA adapter.

I soldered a wire to Pin 1 on the JAMMA adapter and inserted it into one of the grounds on the arduino. I also realized I actually had the other soldered wire on Pin 15 instead of 16 on the adapter. That said, it worked! It triggered the test menu successfully.

I took the adapter back to my soldering station, soldered the wire to pin 16 instead of 15, tried it again, and got zilch. I'm a bit more lost now. Why did it work for the test menu on pin 15 and not when it's wired up to pin 16?

[PL1]

Why did it work for the test menu on pin 15 and not when it's wired up to pin 16?

Might be a bad connection.

Did you check the resistance? (with power off, of course)

You can also try coining-up by touching the arduino end of the wire on Pin 16 to ground on the JAMMA harness. (takes the Arduino out of the loop)


Scott