Lighting question

[Dougmeister]

There was a nice piece of plywood where the marquee is going to go on my recently rescued "Space Duel" cabinet.  I took it off to measure, and (no surprise to you guys, I'm sure) but to my surprise, there is a lighting fixture back there.

The cabinet came with a standard AC plug that goes nowhere (ends in some sort of plastic connector).  Inside the cabinet, coming from the front where the fluorescent tube fixture is mounted, there is a 6-hole white connector.  I think it's for the lighting, but there are also two speakers mounted on the underside of the top of the cabinet (hope that makes sense).

SO... do ya need more info or is it safe to assume that the connector is for the lighting, and if so, how do I wire it/what do I need to buy to get it to work?

[RayB]

Pics.

[Dougmeister]

Will do tonight.

[Dougmeister]

Ok. Here's the pic.  Let me know if you need anything else.

The upper-left corner inlay is the original plug, which ends in that white connector (3 wire).

The rest of the picture (of course) is the speaker/lighting component, which pleasantly came out with only 2 screws.

My main question at this point is: how do I need to wire it so that the fluorescent tube part will work?  There appears to be a ballast in the lower left.

[Dougmeister]

(bump?)

[JustMichael]

Have you consulted a schematic for Space Duel?

[Dougmeister]

No, that's a great idea.

I'll Google it later, but do you know off-hand where I would find it?

[Dougmeister]

Found them.

http://basementarcade.com/arcade/library/manuals/s/

p. 45 of sd.pdf shows parts list for speaker, fluorescent tube, and fan

pp. 10-11 of sdschem.pdf shows wiring diagram of lighting & upper speakers

They don't help me much as I don't understand wiring diagrams.  Anyone out there know what to do?  Otherwise I could just take the whole fixture to Home Depot and see what they say.

[NinjaEpisode]

Wiring looks like your standard flourescent under the counter lighting setup.

Ballast, hot wire, cold wire, and ground.  In otherwords, your standard AC configuration.

My guess is what's confusing to you is the fact that its bundled with the speaker wires into a wiring harness.  No big deal just a simple way to manage wires in a cab.

Most likely ran down the inside back of the cab and connected to a similar plug on the other end where the wires split off to the appropriate places.

[Dougmeister]

Thanks.  Stopped by Home Depot and bought and adapter than will take the black & white wires for the light.  Will try it later this week.

Now I'm wondering about the speaker wires.  I don't know what the brass-colored box mounted between the speakers is (transformer?), but it's definitely not an amplifier, right?  So to get the speakers to work, I'd have to buy a single-channel amp?

[pcates]

 So to get the speakers to work, I'd have to buy a single-channel amp?

2 Channel (1 Left, 1 Right). I just used an old stereo receiver, If there is enough room in the cab.

[Dougmeister]

Excellent idea!  Will look for one at a yard sale.

I imagine I can just split the signal to go to both SETS of speakers, right?  (One set shown in picture, another in the front of the cabinet, sort of above the coin doors)

[Rocky]

Now I'm wondering about the speaker wires.  I don't know what the brass-colored box mounted between the speakers is (transformer?), but it's definitely not an amplifier, right

That box is the ballast for the light fixture. It looks like someone just stuck it between the speakers for convenience sake.

[Dougmeister]

I thought the ballast was the silver cylinder on the lower left?

[Dougmeister]

Sorry no time for pictures...

Just wanted you all to know that I found an old computer plug I was gonna throw out anyway.  Cut off the end, wired black to black, white to white, and voila!  LIGHT!

Awesome.  Bought a black light fluorescent tube @ Homey Depot and a marquee from emdkay and it rocks.

Thanks again, all.

[BobA]

Great going getting it working.  Small clarification for those who might follow this thread.

The small silver cylinder is the starter.   The ballast is the larger metal object.

BobA

[Dougmeister]

A followup question:

The fluorescent lighting fixture wires, when stripped, were silver (aluminum?).  The old plug cable that I hacked was copper.  IIRC, you are not supposed to use "dissimilar" (read: dif't) metals in any electrical connection.  Is that true?

Electricians will use some sort of paste to prevent oxidation when wiring houses and they run into this.  Not sure what I should do, short of replacing the light fixtures.