Coin Door Lights hooked up to Player 1/2??

[JLR2000]

Question for the masses:  Has anyone hooked up coin door lights to the P1 and P2 lights (I think they are num lock and caps lock in mame)?  Is this even possible?  I have a coin door, and I'm thinking of getting the IPAC for my project (midway style cocktail cab).  I think the IPAC has leads for the lights, but what I don't know is can you hook up the coin door lights (which I think are 12v) to the IPAC and get enough juice thru?  Maybe I pull out the original bulbs and put some leds in instead?  Any ideas, comments? Thanks -
JLR2000's Full Size Cab
http://home.attbi.com/~jlr2000/main.htm
No Pics yet of the cocktail....

[JustMichael]

I don't recommend it.  Lights can suck quite a bit more current than the I-PAC can provide.

[x-wing]

I second JM.  The i-pac can supply 5V, but your coin door lights will be 12V and also draw more amps than the LEDs that the i-pac is designed for.  I definitely wouldn't try to power 12V incandescent bulbs from an i-pac, though.

If you want to power your coin door lights from your i-pac, see if you can find some 5-6V super bright LEDs.  I'm not sure if super brights are even made in a 5-6V, but you might want to check out www.mouser.com and www.digikey.com.

[JLR2000]

Okay, nuff said.  I'll just power them up with an extra power supply I have and be happy....it was just a thought.  

Thanks for the replies.....

[Bob Sanders]

those lights are for the first and second player buttons to be lit

[JustMichael]

What I did for my coin door lights was to wire them to a seperate 6V DC adapter.  It just so happens that the speaker amp I got from a pair of cheap speakers also needed 6V DC.

[JLR2000]

I've read that the lamps are 12 volt, the burned out bulbs in mine have no markings. Can I use 12 or 5 volt bulbs?

[jelloslug]

Most coindoor lights are 12V.  Dont try to run a 5V light from you ipac.  The 5V light is the same brightness and the 12V so it takes the same amout of watts.  Watts= Volts X Amps  you can see the problem here.  If you switch to 5V you will increase the current (amps) draw.  Insted go to Radio Shack and get a DC relay and hook up the input to the ipac light output and the output to the light and the 12V source (pretent its a switch).

[Carsten Carlos]

Insted go to Radio Shack and get a DC relay and hook up the input to the ipac light output and the output to the light and the 12V source (pretent its a switch).

Don't do it until you are sure the relay doesn't draw more then 10mA, unfortunately the Ipac can't stand anymore regarding from what Andy says.
Best way would be a small fair easy transistor circuit - I designed one for this purpose and it works right away. You might find it on my homepage.

[jelloslug]

They have some solid state relays there.  I have not looked at ther ratings but they sound like they would do the job.

[JLR2000]

This thread has taken on a life of its own....

Thanks everyone. I will be powering 12V lamps from an extra AT power supply I have.  I WILL NOT be trying to use the IPAC to get the coin door lights to register as P1 and P2 lights.  Thanks again to all for their ideas....

[Carsten Carlos]

I will be powering 12V lamps from an extra AT power supply I have.

Why don't use your internal PC-power supply? It can sure stand the extra-load. It's a total waste of energy to use an extra power supply.

[JLR2000]

To quote from here: http://www.arcadeparadise.org/arcade/ap2/lights.html

"As I said, I have a separate AT power supply on a shelf in the cabinet that's feeding power to the coin door lights and the trackball light. Why didn't I just try to splice off of the power supply that the PC is using?
1.  I could just see some of the wiring getting crossed somewhere, and the motherboard on the PC frying out as a result.


2.  If I need to swap out or work on the computer, I don't have to worry about futzing around with disconnecting the wiring going to the lights.


3.  I have a couple of AT power supplies sitting around collecting dust, so why not put one of 'em to use? "

Made sense to me and I have an old AT power supply laying around doing nothing as well.  This is just my PLAN. If space becomes an issue, I might reconsider....

[Carsten Carlos]

I guess I'm really making enemies with that -  but that arguments are typically US-born -sorry, I know that most of you are US and I'm not a racist or anything similar, I'm even glad 'cause I love Atari and what it has done for computergames-entertainment!

If you wanna waste energy, it's not my problem - but sometimes it really drives me mad. You got an 250W-power supply, and you use it for powering two lamps that need together most likely 2 W
Sorry, maybe I'll be flamed for this, but I just can't understand this.
Use just an easy plug if you need to take your PC out of the cab, and you can power your lamps with the power-supply of the PC as well. Well, I read on my newspaper that you got energy-problems in some countries - maybe they are wrong? I only do know what I can read here!

If you want to use your external suppy - well, it's not my concern anyomore, I just don't see the point.

Sorry, it's just the differences between cultures, I think. Take care!

Carsten

[Carsten Carlos]

In addition, I made the +5V/+12V of the PC go outside for all purposes I need. Unfortunately still on my testing ground, as the cabinet is not ready built!

[jelloslug]

250W supply does not mean it consumes 250W while its on.  It means it can supply up to 250W if the load demands it.  Since the lights will consume the same amount of power regardless, the only excesspower being consumed is what is lost by the power supplys fan and internal losses of the power supply itself.

[Carsten Carlos]

Jelloslug, right - its just  a bit oversized to drive two lamps, additional I'm not sure if you must have load on the 5V-line, too.
I guess you already know that using these powersupplies without any load on them blews them apart?
Don't know if two little lamps give enough load for this.

[Carsten Carlos]

Okay, here some informations on minimum load - the specifications are from a powersupply I found in a newsgroup, don't know the exact model nor this doesn't mean that values are the same for all supplies. Here we go:

Voltage                  __Current (in Amperes)__
Regulation  Nominal V.   Min      Max     Abs.Max    Variance
+5VDC          + 5.0        1.5      20.0      -           +-2%
+12VDC         +12.25     1.0       5.0      7.0        +-2%
+12VDC(Aux) +12.25     0.0       5.0      7.0        +-2%
-5VDC           - 5.0         0.0       0.5      -           +-5%
-12VDC          -12.0        0.0       1.0      -           +-5%


So what the heck does it mean? The +5V and the +12V on this supply must have a minimum current of 1,5A / 1A.
So you need to draw 7,5W on the 5V-line (that you don't want to use at all) and 12W on the 12V-line. Alltogether 19,5W + amount the supply wastes for itself. I'd expect 30-40 Watt all together, but I'm not that sure about this.
Problem is that you don't exceed the minimum load that is demanded.
Maybe you'll have luck with your power-supply, don't know, but look if there is a minimum current shown on your supply! If it doesn' stated there this doesn't mean naturally that it'd work without.