Various questions about building a Mame cab with J-PAC

[Nesagwa]

About two years ago I bought a Rampage cabinet that was converted to NeoGeo so I could fix it up.  Other than stripping it and gutting it (it was pretty nasty in there) never really got a chance to work on it.

I kind of lost interest in doing a dedicated NeoGeo cabinet and want to do a Mame one so that my mom and brother can use it (Its in their storage shed and I live a ways away from them at college).

The J-Pac looked pretty interesting, but while looking at it there seemed to be some problems that I knew I would run into.

The first problem is this:

Will I have to have a seperate power supply for the Moniter (the original Rampage one is still in the cab).  What are my options when powering this?

As far as the sound goes, my cab has two speakers in it.  How would I power them since the J-Pac cant?

Would I need to have a PC powersupply to power the computer and then an arcade supply to power the sound and the moniter?

Is there any simple way to do this and have a single plug coming out?

[SeanCyrusTowel]

I don't know about hooking the computer up to the origanal power supply, most likely not.  But you can pull the cord back into the cabinet, and connect it to a power strip, with the computer PS also connected to that strip, and have the power strips cord coming out of the cab.

[SirPeale]

[CheffoJeffo]

Most of your questions are addressed, if not answered, in the JPac installation instructions and FAQ.

http://www.ultimarc.com/jpac1.html
http://www.ultimarc.com/jpac2.html

You will need to power the monitor. Does your current monitor have an isolation transformer and what is that wired to ?

Sound is addressed in the FAQ above -- you need to provide amplification -- you could use an amplified sound board, put in an amplifier, or replace the existing speakers with amplified speakers.

For the single plug issue, a quick search on SmartStrip should get you started.

Cheers.

[RayB]

A JPAC is for hooking up to the JAMMA harness. A monitor does not receive its power through the JAMMA harness, so your question doesn't apply.

Speakers don't require power. So again, your question doesn't apply.

The JPAC supports everything you need for quick and easy connection of all inputs, RGB+sync output, plus a few extras.

If you have a JAMMA cabinet that already works, then you DO NOT need to do anything other than add a PC, preferably with an ArcadeVGA card, and to be safe, cut off the power to the original power supply. NOTE, I said power supply. Don't confuse the ISOLATION TRANSFORMER as being a power supply. Chances are your monitor gets power from the isolation transformer (big heavy block thing).

[Nesagwa]

A JPAC is for hooking up to the JAMMA harness. A monitor does not receive its power through the JAMMA harness, so your question doesn't apply.

Speakers don't require power. So again, your question doesn't apply.

The JPAC supports everything you need for quick and easy connection of all inputs, RGB+sync output, plus a few extras.

If you have a JAMMA cabinet that already works, then you DO NOT need to do anything other than add a PC, preferably with an ArcadeVGA card, and to be safe, cut off the power to the original power supply. NOTE, I said power supply. Don't confuse the ISOLATION TRANSFORMER as being a power supply. Chances are your monitor gets power from the isolation transformer (big heavy block thing).

Well my cabinet at the moment doesnt have a power supply and Im not well versed in how to wire things.

The faqs on ultimarc sort of answered my question, but they didnt go into any great detail about it, so I was still wondering.

That chart kind of helps.

[RayB]

If you are going to MAME the cab and do not care about using JAMMA circuit boards in it, then don't worry about power supplies. All you need is your PC's usual power supply to power your PC.

The monitor, as stated, should be wired directly to the Isolation transformer, which should be getting its power straight from the plug that plugs in your wall outlet.