wiring control panel

[toyfiend2004]

i think this may have been asked and answered in here, but i can not for the life of me find it... generally speaking what is the standard gauge of wire for wirign the control panel?  I have herd 22 and 26.  i understand that it ultimately comes down to preference, but what have people used?

[MadWRX]

I used 18G tinned copper 'machine' wire which is much more flexible than the cheap wire you may find at Radio Shack, etc.  I really wanted to use 20G but 18G was much easier to source in the type of wire I used.  Some may say that is too big of wire, but I like working with something more substantial versus trying to use really small 26G wire or something.  (You, of course, don't need near that gauge of wire for electrical reasons...)  Just my $0.02.

[Hoopz]

I was in the opposite situation.  It was easier and faster for me to get it at Radio Shack.  I think mine was 22 gauge.  I could have ordered it on-line for cheaper but the convenience of the store being less than 5 minutes from my house or 10 minutes from my office was more important than saving a few dollars.

[arcadeboy0000]

I used 22 guage wire. It was fine, but MadWRX is right about being more flexible with the larger wire. I used the radioshack wire he was refering to. It worked perfectly, but the wires have a cheaper feel to them. Its easier to organize the more flexible wires under the CP.

[the3eyedblindman]

Is it possible to get too big? Im using 16 gauge..

[TimmyB]

For the typical low voltage analog circuits in your control panel, gauge won't matter.  Even something as small as individual wires from CAT5 will work.  There is no electrical advantage to going bigger or smaller.  Smaller wire is harder to crimp properly while larger wire is typically more expensive.  I found 20 gauge to be a reasonable cost and still very easy to crimp.  It was also readily available at the local Radio Shack, along with the appropriate crimp connectors.

[toyfiend2004]

now for part 2 of this question:
can you put two wires into the same quick connect without shorting it out if you have, say... an ipac AND a hacked controller but want to use the same buttons for both and switch between the two using a toggle with the grounds attached (per the following diagram)?

[toyfiend2004]

bump 

[WTB]

It should work fine with that switch in there.  Although I do fancy the BYOA Kit from X-Arcade along with a data switch myself.

  -Matt

[Avery]

Too big is not an issue unless it won't play well mechanically with the connectors you are using and you don't get a good circuit.

[mallgood]

When I do my cab I'm planning on using 16 or 18 gauge MTW.  I also have some 16 & 18 THHN stuff too that I'm going to use for internal power wiring. (MMmm.. 1 power switch for the whole cab. )  I wouldn't think that the 16 MTW (machine tool wire) would be a problem.  The only thing I can think of is if the connectors are too big for the cherry switch terminals.  But you could probably get away with using terminals made for smaller wire, or taking a pair of pliers and squeezing the connecter to make it a bit smaller.

As for switching the grounds, I wouldn't do it that way.  It would be easier, yes.  But some of the gamepads use higher voltages and you might burn something up.  I would switch the signals and leave the grounds.  The good part of it is that you could still have just 2 wires to the switch.  Connect all the grounds together and to the pad and the encoder, then use a switch or relay for the signals and run the cherry switch from the common of the 2.  If that makes sense...

[toyfiend2004]

not a lick of sense.

[Ed_McCarron]

I think what he was saying...

If you choose to switch the grounds, then you've NOT switched the control wiring.

Which means, if I understand your concept, that you will have the "Player 1 - Left" from the IPAC tied to the same switch contact as the "Player 1 - Left" from the game controller.

It might work, but I'd be scared to try it.  The IPAC supplies a voltage, probably 5v (never checked mine) to one side of your switches.  When you activate the switch, it gets pulled to ground, and tells the microprocessor in the IPAC "Hey, this just happenned."

So far so good... But the game pad ALSO supplies a voltage, which may or may not be compatible with the IPAC.  Since you've put both "Player 1 - Lefts" under the same lug, they are tied together, and you introduce the chance for some kind of problems...

[toyfiend2004]

but if i understand my concept properly, the toggle switch prevents any power from crossing.  there are 3 (at least) connects on the toggle.  one has the ground from the hacked game pad, one has the ground from the IPAC, and the main connect runs to the daisy chained ground on the buttons.  the switch tells the buttons which is supplying the power.  the connects on the hacked control pad (dualshock PS2) dont carry any charge themselves, if i am not mistaken (not enough of one anyway) or they would short out during game play anyway, and would also eliminate the ground neccesity anyway.  Essentially neither the IPAC or the hacked controller will be passing current to the buttons/joys at the same time.  Plus, if it is that big of a deal, i could always unplug the controller from the console anyway.  (Did i ever even mention that it WOULD be hooked up to a PS2/XBox console via normal plugs/adapters?  I dont remember.  well I am!!!)  I hope this clears up questions and hopefully does not open up too many more.

[M3talhead]

Radio-Shack 20 ga.

[Q*Bert_OP]

Radio shack wire is crap

[M3talhead]

Radio shack wire is crap

But it gets the job done......

[mallgood]

but if i understand my concept properly, the toggle switch prevents any power from crossing.  there are 3 (at least) connects on the toggle.  one has the ground from the hacked game pad, one has the ground from the IPAC, and the main connect runs to the daisy chained ground on the buttons.  the switch tells the buttons which is supplying the power.  the connects on the hacked control pad (dualshock PS2) dont carry any charge themselves, if i am not mistaken (not enough of one anyway) or they would short out during game play anyway, and would also eliminate the ground neccesity anyway.  Essentially neither the IPAC or the hacked controller will be passing current to the buttons/joys at the same time.  Plus, if it is that big of a deal, i could always unplug the controller from the console anyway.  (Did i ever even mention that it WOULD be hooked up to a PS2/XBox console via normal plugs/adapters?  I dont remember.  well I am!!!)  I hope this clears up questions and hopefully does not open up too many more.

Well, both the IPAC and the contoller are "sinking" input (like Ed said).  Meaning when the electronics see the signal being pulled down to ground, that triggers the button press.  This means (like what is said) that both the controller and the IPAC are supplying voltage.  In the original diagram it shows the voltage lines (from the respective devices) both going to the cherry switch.  Like Ed said, tying these together could be bad news.

I would think you would want something like this: (sorry for the crappy MS paint image  )



Basically, tie all the grounds together and switch the voltage lines from the respective devices.

So Ed was right, but instead of the 2 contacts from the IPAC and the Hacked Pad being tied together, they are on different terminals on the switch, which means they are never tied together.

[Sensei]

For me, I went to a computer shop and they were selling printer cables and serial cables for about 2 dollars each (since centronics connectors are a dead technology I guess they were cleaning house).

The serial cables were great.  All the wires were in twisted paires (with matching color codes).  So it was great to wire each button with matching pairs of wires on one end of the cable.....then wire to the keyboard encoder with the appropriate pair.  (well, I tied all the grounds together but still the color coding helped here too).

This was the cheapest and easiest for me.
(plus I had waaaaaay more cable than I needed.  I could wire up 2 more control panels with the cables I bought)

[DreamWeb]

Sensei,

This sounds like a good option.. but what do you do if you require more wires than, say, a serial cable (db25?) has?

Can you use two db25's?  And how does this effect the grounding of all the controls?

d.

[Sensei]

This sounds like a good option.. but what do you do if you require more wires than, say, a serial cable (db25?) has?
Can you use two db25's?  And how does this effect the grounding of all the controls?

Yup, that's what I did with one of my control panels.  I just used one serial cable for the buttons and joysticks that were on one side and another serial cable for the buttons/joysticks on the other.

Seemed to work fine for me.....grounding and everything.

[hypernova]

i have access to basically free 16 guage wire from work.  this isn't too large a guage is it?  i.e.  the extra volume of wire won't screw anything up, correct?

[Mark70]

Where I'm from the quick connects are rated by colour.  Yellow, Blue, and Pink.  The pink ones are for 18-22 guage wire.  I couldn't find anything smaller than 22.  I've seen guys around here suggest 24 guage wire.  I'm going with 22 as my smallest option since I can't find a connector rated for less. 

From a design piont of view, if you have a connector that will only allow an 18 guage wire, you don't want to use a wire that will handle more than that... ie larger gauge, and you sure as hell want to be sure that you're not supplying more that than an 18 guage can handle.

Find your weakest link.  Make sure that you're not supplying more than that and then don't leat anything be weaker than that.