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Starting the cabinet all at once. It works! And here's how...
krick:
I'm kind of interested in the outcome of this thread myself.
I'd like to be able to flip the factory toggle switch on my cabinet and have the following happen...
1) power is applied to the monitor, marquee, and computer
2) a <insert magic device here> senses the mains power and triggers the power on switch on the PC
when I flip the toggle switch to off, I'd like this to happen...
1) a <insert magic device here> shuts windows down, turning off the computer
2) a <insert magic device here> senses the computer going off and turns off the mains power to the monitor, marquee, and computer
Obviously, the shutdown part is MUCH harder if not impossible.
My reason for wanting this is that I'd like it to be as much like a normal arcade machine as possible. i.e. on/off with a single toggle switch.
Has anybody tried using the sleep/hibernation features of Windows in a cab with one of those automatic power stips? If putting the computer to sleep triggers the power stip, then you might be able to set it up so just walking up to the machine and tapping any button will wake it up and power up the marquee and monitor. Then you might be able to assign the keyboard "sleep" button to a shift function on the I-PAC to put it to sleep when you are done playing.
All this talk also makes me wonder how modern arcade games that use computers with hard drives (or CD-ROM drives) handle this? I imagine that you can't just kill power to the system whenever you like because it might be writing to the hard drive at any time. There must be some sort of shutdown procedure that happens.
rampy:
--- Quote from: krick on May 27, 2004, 11:36:37 am ---I'm kind of interested in the outcome of this thread myself.
I'd like to be able to flip the factory toggle switch on my cabinet and have the following happen...
on/off with a single toggle switch.
--- End quote ---
Does it *have* to be a toggle switch? I have a momentary pushbutton in the same spot as the original switch on my cabinet. I push it once it powers up the PC and the sears power strip turns on the marquee light, audio amp, and monitor...
I hold down the button for a few seconds and it forces windows to shutdown and powers off everything else... no fuss no muss...
I'm sure if you *had* to have a toggle switch you can find one that does momentary on when switched somewhere...
I think IMHO people are making this much more complicated than it needs to be.
I solved my one button to rule them all issue with 20 dollars and a trip to sears. YMMV.
rampy
whammoed:
Was there any reason this wouldn't work:
http://www.nteinc.com/relay_web/R30.html
I believe this is what Ken was talking about.
Maybe I just missed something again?
SirPeale:
--- Quote from: rampy on May 27, 2004, 10:09:25 am ---Peale, may I inquire as to why you are so steadfast in not wanting to deviate from the example arcade power wiring diagram (the bob roberts one) but are willing to wire up all sorts of capacitors/relays elsewhere.
--- End quote ---
Well, it's twofold.
First, if I can get this to work, it'll take me about five minutes to wire up a real JAMMA board, and I can use the PC power supply (IF I decided to. The whole cabinet is JAMMA ready, with this exception)
Second, this has been a thing that a lot of people have attempted to figure out. A lot of people use the Bits Limited strip, which is okay for them. But a simple thing to power on the computer? Seriously, it just *can't* be that difficult!
Has anyone tried the capacitor shorting out the power pins idea yet?
danny_galaga:
Peale,
honestly, im telling you it ISNT that difficult!! my relay set-up works perfectly, and is much simpler than any other suggestions ive read. No capacitors, no freaky timed relays. Just a garden-variety relay. I switch mine at the wall but it is exactly the same if you switch it from the toggle on the cab if it switches ALL power devices.
Attached is the pic posted earlier. Below it is the diagram for MY cab. Which would you rather? If you put a plug on the the coil end and plug it into a $5 powerboard with all the other accessories, then it's ALL switched with one switch. Mine is all hard-wired for neatness but is exactly the same principle. Mine switches at the wall, yours by the toggle in your cab. Still has to be shut down like a normal computer but from what I can tell, none of the other solutions addresses that either. (I hit 'fire' and 'player two' to activate a macro on mine. Shuts down in maybe two seconds).
Dan.
P.S NC is normally closed, not north carolina. hehe. dont be wiring the motherboard to them!