swappable control panels with minipac

[nomad]

I've decided to have swappable control panels because I have too many controls (Thanks to Oscarcontrols for the spinner I won in the holiday contest  ).  I have a minipac and want to use db40 (hard drive) cables.  Since the pins bend really easily on the minipac when I take the cable out, I thought of hooking up a male-female db40 cable to the minipac so as to not stress the minipac's pins.  I was just wondering if this will work.  If so, where could I get such a cable or connector?  I've tried searching for them, but they seem to be quite rare.  If it does work, is it worth the trouble?  Would I be better off using Molex connectors or other db connectors?  Thanks.

[Lilwolf]

There are a few solutions...

But this is the easiest and cheapest solution I know

 - Buy some 25 serial cables (passthrough cables... make sure they have all 25 pins through) on ebay.  They go for about 1 - 2 bucks before shipping.  Cut them in half (so you will use 1/2 on one side and 1/2 on the other).

Now for the hard part....  Do you cut the cable harness in 1/2 and then connect one side of the wire harness to one side of the serial cable.  And wire the other side to the other.  You can do this with wire nuts, or heat shrink tubing or those crimp on straight pieces.  But I wouldn't use electrical tape.  They will come off after a while.

[telengard]

Just to throw in my 2cents.

I had swappable panels (now modular panels) and had used molex connectors.  They work but you really need 3 hands to use them.  Two to separate the connectors and one to hold the panel.   
DB connectors would probably be in the same vein.  Not sure what to suggest for hooking up a lot of connections.

I ended up using ethernet cables and I am very happy I switched over to them.  Much easier to deal with in many ways.  They probably won't work well with your setup though I imagine given the # of inputs.

hth,
~telengard

[paigeoliver]

I don't know why more people don't use JAMMA fingerboards and JAMMA edge connectors for swappable panels. They really hold up, and are very easy to change. All you need is one JAMMA harness, which will be wired to your encoder, and then a fingerboard for each panel.

[Lilwolf]

If you want a no-cable solution.  I'm hoping to start selling a tac switch solution.  These allow each control panel to have a standard size barrier strip (Quick web example.  I use a 10x2 one myself and the one shown are actually a little too small.  Only added to show an example http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=274-659)

I found a good solution to the last problem I have and am going to upgrade 3 more on my system at home and then I need to make some orders.

Anyway, you end up being able to swap control panels without a plug at all.   Just get them in place and your good to go. 

Currently I have my encoder and my AKI working through it.  I'm also going to try a USB cable to see if I can hot swap any USB device. 

I'm hoping to have my setup working with the latest changes by this weekend and test the USB.  After all that I will probably see if anyones interested. 

I don't have any prices yet.  I'm expecting around $30 per tac switch... But then each control panel will only be about 1 - 4 bucks (depending if you find them on ebay or have to buy them from radio shack)

[sodapopinski]

I'm not shure why you can't have your mini-pac inside the conrtrol panel and just use the usb or ps/2 cable for swapping. Mabey i'm missing the point, but it would make changing them easy without touching the pins on the board.

[Flinkly]

uh...soda, that would mean buying multiple minipacs for one single machine.  now i'm not saying that this hobby is cheap, but that would be a little too much for most of us.

[sodapopinski]

Thats true, guess I did'nt think about that. I just got up. Another $100, my visa is maxed out from this project. Yah, a pin connector would be alot cheaper.

[Lilwolf]

minipacs advantage is they are pre crimped and ready to go.

but you will have to redo this for each control panel hands down.

You might consider what other control panels you want to start off with and what controls you want.

If you want a trackball one + a few buttons.  Well, you don't need the minipac... you just need a hacked mouse (but if you want the third button for missile command... you might have to ask if Oscar can sell one that he hasn't clipped the third button for the ground... he will understand)

If you want a steering wheel second same.

If you want an analog joystick / starwars / ect.  You would want to look into a AKI... and that has 14 inputs..

IE, you might not (at this point) care to have access to the minipac on any control panels but your main. 

If this is true... then put the minipac on the control panel and be happy.

[greywolf22]

Lilwolf,

I remember this very topic coming out awhile ago with the tac strips...glad to see that you have found a way to make them work.  Keep me in the loop when you plan to start selling this solution because I'd be VERY interested (so interested, that I might just make my swappable panels, but hold off on the input).

[mahuti]

Paigeoliver... know of any good way to mount a fingerboard once you've soldered it up? I have a few harnesses & a bunch of fingerboards, and I've been thinking about doing what you mentioned for a long time, but couldn't think of any easy way to keep the stress off of the wiring once everything is soldered to the fingerboard. With panels that are swapped several times a week or day or more, exposed wires are bound to come into catch on something, requiring a resolder or troubleshooting. Even if I wrap the wires, as they approach the fingerbord at some point they will be exposed enough to catch on stuff, either inside or out of the cabinet.

A solution should have presented itself to me already, but I've never come up with anything good in my mind, and I just haven't had the urge to experiment. Hm... just had some new thoughts.....