You can wire up two buttons to one IPAC input right?

[Jakobud]

You can have two buttons hooked up to the same input on an IPAC2/4 right?  That won't cause any electrical problems?  Can you press both buttons at the same time without creating any sort of wierd circuit that would mess up anything?  Can they be connected to the same ground?  Any problems at all that would arrise from this sort of thing?

Jakobud

[liche]

You could have a hundred buttons hooked up to one input is you wanted to.  Doesn't matter as long as they are wired in parallel.

An example of this is the following:

I have the coin mechanism switches (2) wired in parallel with another pushbutton which is then wired into one input of my encoder.  So, you basically have coin slot 1, coin slot 2, and a pushbutton wired into one encoder input.  So one can register a credit in one of three ways this way without having to use separate encoder inputs.

Pushbuttons can also be wired in series.

An example of this is the following:

To prevent accident exiting of a game while in play, i use two pushbuttons wired in series to one encoder input.  So for the encoder to register the input, BOTH pushbuttons must be pressed simultaneously.

Of course, ADVMame already has a built in safety for accidental ESC pushing.

[mattv]

______________
To prevent accident exiting of a game while in play, i use two pushbuttons wired in series to one encoder input.  So for the encoder to register the input, BOTH pushbuttons must be pressed simultaneously.
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That's really a very good idea. Thank you

[cdbrown]

Way off original topic but...

Or you could use the shift function of the ipac.  But I suppose if you have more buttons then inputs your way of doing it is very clever.  For me I will have spare inputs so I will probably go the shift way.

Back on topic  

People also wire two joysitcks to the same input if they know they won't be using both at the same time - saves precious inputs if you've got the Ipac2.

Cheers
-cdbrown

[Brax]

Wiring multiple joysticks into one input allows you to use all the controls you need for a rotating control panel too!! Wheeeeeeeee!

[Analog-X]

Any Pictures or diagrams on Hooking up buttons in Parallel from Two Buttons into a single input on IPAC?
 
I'm just trying to collect as much info as I can before I get my Cab Project off the ground.

[Tiger-Heli]

Any Pictures or diagrams on Hooking up buttons in Parallel from Two Buttons into a single input on IPAC?
 
I'm just trying to collect as much info as I can before I get my Cab Project off the ground.

Don't have Diagrams - but -  - -

Two buttons in Parallel (Either button causes same input) (Uses GND Ring Wiring)

End one              Wire No           End Two
IPAC P1B1                1                Button 1 NO Terminal
IPAC P1B1                2                Button 2 NO Terminal
IPAC GND                 3                Button 1 GND (Common) Terminal
Button 1 GND Term  4                Button 2 GND Terminal
Button 2 GND Term  5                IPAC GND

Two buttons in Series (Both buttons required to cause input)

End one              Wire No           End Two
IPAC P1B1                1                Button 1 NO Terminal
Button 1 GND Term   2               Button 2 NO Terminal
Button 2 GND Term   3               IPAC GND

Hope this helps

[Jakobud]

Uh...okay I understand I think...but do you have to have the ground wiring do a loop like that?  Is that necessary?

If you have some other buttons that are wired up to other inputs, can they still share the same ground?

By the way, Analog-X are you the same one from Analogx.com? If so, saw you on Screensavers.  Bet you could make a badass Mame frontend...

Jakobud

[liche]

Yes, they can share the same ground.  

[Tiger-Heli]

Uh...okay I understand I think...but do you have to have the ground wiring do a loop like that?  Is that necessary?

If you have some other buttons that are wired up to other inputs, can they still share the same ground?

By the way, Analog-X are you the same one from Analogx.com? If so, saw you on Screensavers.  Bet you could make a badass Mame frontend...

Jakobud

Hi Jakobud,

The ground loop isn't necessary, but it is recommended.  You can definitely have different buttons all share the same ground.  Here are the three options and the advantages of each -

Individual Wires - You can run a wire from the ground terminal on the I-PAC to each button's common terminal - Disadvantages:  (1)  It may be hard to attach 28 wires to that one I-PAC terminal, you could do it with terminal blocks, but you shouldn't have to.  (2) Let's say your I-PAC is at the very right side of your panel and buttons 1, 2, and 3 are on the far left side of the panel.  You now have multiple wires running all across the panel, again no harm in itself, but you have extra cost and extra chances for nicks, etc. to cause wiring shorts.  (3)  Since you have multiple connections into the I-PAC ground terminal, troubleshooting a bad ground is difficult, almost a re-wiring exercise.

Snake Wiring - Wire runs from the ground terminal of the I-PAC, to the closest (to the I-PAC) button common terminal, to the nearest second button common terminal, to the nearest third button common terminal, terminating at the common terminal of the last button.  The advantage to this is:  (1) You only have one wire connecting to the I-PAC, and (2)  Troubleshooting a broken wire is simpler because all buttons "downstream" of the break cease working.

Loop Wiring as I recommended above - This is the same as the Snake method above, except you "close the loop" by running an additional wire segment from the last button back to the I-PAC ground.  The advantage to this is that now you can completely break any segment of the ground circuit and no buttons will be affected until a second segment breaks also.

Hope this helps.

[SirPoonga]

From the IPAC's website.

For two buttons witht he same input just run two wires from the IPAC (Use a splice from radio shack to connect one wire into another).
Just daisy chang all the grounds liek that.

[MinerAl]

Using SirPoonga's (Andy's actually) graphic above, lets say we wanted to make the left and center buttons be the same keystroke to the IPAC (wire them in parallel).  Disconnect the red wire from the IPAC, and connect it to the same pole on the center button as the green wire.  

If either button is pressed, the circuit is closed and the keystroke is sent from the IPAC to the computer.

If you wanted to have to press both buttons to get the IPAC to register the keystroke (serially), disconnect the ground from the center button entirely (but leave it connected to the left button), then move the red wire from the IPAC to the ground terminal on the center button.  This way if the center button is pressed the signal travels on to the left button, which must also be pressed for it to hit the ground, completing the circuit.

SirPoonga, I think I dated Daisy Chang in high school!

[SNAAAKE]

SirPoonga, I think I dated Daisy Chang in high school!

HUHAHAHAH>>HAHAH>>HAHAHA...

that is just too funny!