My GeeWiz KeyWiz Connectorizer

[Stobe]

I'm sure others have made things similar to this, but I did not see them documented in all my searchings, so I thought I would humiliate myself by posting my ideas and some pics of my GeeWiz KeyWiz Connectorizer (cute ?)

I've had this KeyWiz keyboard encoder for some time now, waiting to be installed in the bartop I am working on (slowly).  And I have had the idea to make the CP somewhat modular, since my bartop does not allow for a lot of variety due to real estate constraints.  I've always planned on making some type of quick-connect connection for the CPs, so I could keep the KeyWiz inside the cab.  I was thinking DB25, since I should not excede 24 inputs on a small bartop CP.

Then my ideas started changing when I found a couple Pelican Arcade Sticks at my local Gamestop for $20 (gamecube only).  I couldn't pass them up for that price.  I don't even have a gamecube, but I knew I could do something with them.  First I started looking for GC > XBOX or GC > USB converters, but they were 15-20 bux apiece.  So I figured I'd use the KeyWiz to hook them up for use on a PC.  I wanted to be able to connect either one or both of them to the keywiz, and also I wanted to be able to put the keywiz inside my bartop when its finished.  Here's what I came up with:

I wired the Keywiz to 4 RJ-45 jacks.  The first 2 for 1 Pelicak Stick, and the second pair for a second Pelican Stick.  This setup met my demands.  I could hook up just one stick, or I could hook in the second (I ran commons to both for this reason).  Also, when I complete my Bartop, I can wire the 'active' CP to the first 2 jacks (15 inputs + common).  Also, I could use one of my hacked Pelican sticks to hook into as a player 2 (rather than just using a gamepar or something.

Here's a pic of the keywiz mouted on standoffs to the RJ-45 jack box.  And the second pic is all wired up to the jacks (not pretty, but it works).

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A view from the back...

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Now for the Pelican hack....

I'll admit, this was a hasty job.  I wanted to see if it worked (I had no doubt at all ).  On my second stick, I willl take more time, open the box more, and make direct solders for every contact.  But it works good so far .

When I removed the back cable storage box from the stick, I found 3 cables connected to the PCB that converted the inputs to the GC wire.  Soldering right to the female jacks would be ideal, but not my choice this time.

Each microswitch was wired, with its common, in pairs to the connectors.  This made it super easy to pinout all the buttons, etc.  The stick has one joystick, 7 player buttons, and 2 'admin' type buttons.  13 inputs total.  Add one contact for the commons, and I still have 2 ports left on my connectorizer, incase I decide to drill a couple more holes and put pinball buttons or something (would be pretty easy to do).

I cut the pairs from the connectors one by one, and wired them to a euro-style terminal block.  I had two 8 possition terminal stricps, which worked quite well when interconnecting to RJ-45s.

On the other contact of the terminal strips, I wired some CAT5, with a RJ-45 plug on the other end.

Time for more pics....

Heres a look inside the back panel.  You can see the 3 sets of wires.  Not sure why they didn't wire all the commons together, but it made finding the pairs easier.  Second picture is after I wired the existing wires to my terminal strips.  Some wires were too short to make it out the back hole, so I had to do some close-quarters soldering to extend them (there were only 2 that were too short, the Joy-UP switch).

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Last pics... I promise!

Next picture is after I wired the CAT5 to the strips.  Yes, I know I did not follow the 568-B wiring scheme, but it was easier to group this way.  Plus, as you can see everything was well documented, otherwise I would have had a mess.  The CAT5 connecters, and the RJ-45 jacks on the box were wired 568-B, so it was essentially a 'straight-through' to the wiring I did on the KeyWiz.

The last Pic is with the box back in place, and the wires feeding through.  2 different collors so that I know which ports to plug them in on my connector box.  (Don't tell my wife I made such a mess of the kitchen table;  she was asleep...shhhh!).

Well, its done.  I tested it out on my PC, and it worked great.  I didn't get to actually play a game, since I need to re-map some buttons for 1up, etc.  But I tested all the buttons, and they all work.  I would have re-programmed my keys last night, but my Keywiz program came on floppy, which I do not have on my PCs in my office.  I will have to copy them over to a CD or thumbdrive or something.

Hope this was helpful to someone (or at least somewhat entertaining).

Next I need to hack the second stick, and start playing!

-Stobe
(will this guy ever stop rambling???)

[Timoe]

nice.  Ihave 2 of those pelican real arcade sticks.  One xbox and one universal (ps2, xbox, GC)

They have decent joysticks (super copies) and lots of buttons for admin use or sumthin.

[Stobe]

I would have much rather found the Xbox version.  

-Stobe

[Grasshopper]

I did something similar. I hacked my Ipac into a printer switchbox.

[Stobe]

Nice.

I didn't fully enclose mine because I wanted to be able to access the keyboard ports, and the switch, but I see you remoted them to AT ports.  Nice job.

-Stobe