Author Topic: Wiring for dummies? (Read 2934 times)

BilldaCat · « **on:** February 13, 2004, 01:16:19 pm »

I have a MAME cabinet that I bought from a user that is no longer working. Only one button works, but the machine is fine if I plug a keyboard into the i-pac. I suspect something is wrong with one of the wires, but I don't know which one, and I'm hesistant to go ripping about the wiring which I don't really understand.

Does anyone have a likely cause, which wire is bad, what I should do? I am very un-handy with tools, so explain stuff to me like I'm 5. Thanks.

Sephroth57 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 13, 2004, 03:18:28 pm »

wait so everything works fine if you plug a keyboard into the ipac. meaning u plug it in, and the arcade buttons work normally?

BilldaCat · « **Reply #2 on:** February 13, 2004, 04:22:41 pm »

Sorry, I meant by everything, meaning that I can play with the keyboard controls. So the I-PAC isn't the problem, is what I'm trying to say. The buttons still fail to work (except one, oddly enough.. player 1's 5th button. (?))

Witchboard · « **Reply #3 on:** February 13, 2004, 04:54:24 pm »

I'm new to this, but I would think it's a ground problem. T 1st players 5th button sounds like it's the first in the link to the ground. I haven't really played with these things yet, but thought I would help brainstorm.

krick · « **Reply #4 on:** February 13, 2004, 05:30:04 pm »

It's really not that complicated. Each button needs two wires. One for the signal, one for ground. Pressing the button connects the wires together like flipping a lightswitch.

Ground wires are usually "chained" from one button to the next. If the ground breaks at one, all the buttons "down wind" of it will stop working.

Have a look at the wiring. You should see a wire that connects all the buttons together. Try to find an obvious break in that wire, or possibly a connector that has just slipped off one of the tabs on the button microswitches.

Even if you can't understand wiring, you should be able to spot wires that are obviously not connected to anything.

BilldaCat · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2004, 09:16:04 am »

Thanks for the help.. I'll check out the wiring today, hopefully.

BilldaCat · « **Reply #6 on:** February 22, 2004, 02:55:22 pm »

Ok, I think I found the problem, but I'm not sure.

Both ground wires I have going from the IPAC go to the buttons, but they are tiny loops.. each ground wire only touches 2 buttons. The rest of the buttons are all linked via another black ground wire to a small switch that can toggle left and right (I'll post a pic tomorrow). Right after the wire connects to a corner of this switch (appears soldered on) it goes into a small (5 in wide, .5 in height) black box of wires. The wire that matches coming out the other end of this is going into the IPAC under the SW1 slot.

So, my ground wires aren't really connected to the rest of the buttons, and I don't know why these buttons are all linked to this mystery switch and the SW1 slot. I bought this machine and it worked fine for a long time. Any idea what I should do next?

JamesS · « **Reply #7 on:** February 23, 2004, 08:54:51 am »

Might help a little if you could post a pic or two.

Sephroth57 · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2004, 10:35:29 am »

a pic would help, also though you can really make this a lot easier by just daisy chaining the grounds yourself. disconnect any kind of ghetto rigged grounding they have, run a wire from the ground on ipac to switch1, from switch 1 ground to switch 2, 2 to 3 , etc. with that style ground chain when a ground breaks it will knock out everything behind it so you know which button broke and can fix it easily. try it its really not that hard

MinerAl · « **Reply #9 on:** February 23, 2004, 10:51:59 am »

sounds like maybe a rapid fire box?

BilldaCat · « **Reply #10 on:** February 23, 2004, 10:57:51 am »

The right most wire going into the black box is the one that is seemingly one of the ground wires. I have NO IDEA what that switch is. when I dropped to dos to test the keys, if I fiddled with the switch, it would output the number '1' to the console.

I'm thinking just rip all the existing ground wires out, and start anew. I'm not good at wiring, but it doesn't seem too hard. The wire I bought for this a while ago is I believe 18 gauge thermostat wire (the only kind home depot had in that gauge). is that ok?

Thanks for the help!

krick · « **Reply #11 on:** February 23, 2004, 12:00:47 pm »

The "black box" is just a JAMMA connector. That just connects all the wires to the board.

I'm not sure I totally understand what is happening at the control panel side of the wiring.

It seems like the purpose of that switch "might" be to make all buttons act like button 1.

- OR -

it might be some sort of diagnostic thing that puts button 1 in an "always on" position.

You should try to draw up a rough schematic of the button wiring and include this switch circuit. That would help us get a better picture of what's going on.

BilldaCat · « **Reply #12 on:** February 23, 2004, 03:37:57 pm »

the IPAC is to the right of the jamma connector.. the wires are going to the individual buttons and to the IPAC.

Gideon · « **Reply #13 on:** February 23, 2004, 03:51:51 pm »

Quote from: BilldaCat on February 23, 2004, 10:57:51 am

I'm thinking just rip all the existing ground wires out, and start anew.

I can't help you much with your wiring dilemma, but I will say this: Don't jump the gun! Starting anew may seem like the easiest path, but you should realize that some poor guy may have gone through a whole lotta effort with the existing wiring design; perhaps, it would be worth your time to see if you can fully understand it.

JustMichael · « **Reply #14 on:** February 23, 2004, 04:03:53 pm »

Billda Cat, so do you actually have a j-pac and not an I-PAC? Or is there a circuit board slid into the jamma connector and then wires soldered to the circuit board that go to the I-PAC?

tmasman · « **Reply #15 on:** February 23, 2004, 04:30:51 pm »

Take a couple of pics to give us the whole picture...
Right now we can only guess.
& I wouldn't go ripping out any wires... Not yet anyhow.

We need to see what is plugged into that harness (the black thing in the picture with all the colorful wires coming out of it...) And where the wires from the IPAC are going to.
If at all possible get a pic of the under side of the control panel as well.

This won't be that hard once we have an idea of what's going on in there.

BilldaCat · « **Reply #16 on:** February 23, 2004, 06:59:05 pm »

Quote from: JustMichael on February 23, 2004, 04:03:53 pm

Billda Cat, so do you actually have a j-pac and not an I-PAC? Or is there a circuit board slid into the jamma connector and then wires soldered to the circuit board that go to the I-PAC?

Pretty sure it's the latter. The thing at the top of my picture is what the wires are soldered to, and I definetly have an I-PAC.

I left my camera at work, I'll have some more pics on wednesday. thanks to everyone for trying to help me out.

BilldaCat · « **Reply #17 on:** February 25, 2004, 11:08:14 am »

Ok, here's a ton of pictures I took. Not attaching due to size, just follow the link.

http://www.onlineleagues.com/bdc/

BilldaCat · « **Reply #18 on:** February 26, 2004, 10:01:26 am »

BilldaCat · « **Reply #19 on:** March 02, 2004, 09:31:36 am »

bump one more time..

Stingray · « **Reply #20 on:** March 02, 2004, 01:41:45 pm »

What a mess of spaghetti! Looks like something I would have wired.

Just having glanced across the pictures I noticed a couple of wires that aren't attached to anything. I agree with the guys who say this sounds like a broken ground somewhere. I'd be interested to know where the wire going into the mystery toggle switch comes from, and where the one coming out of it goes.

-S


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