Just got I-PAC. Have some questions.

[JuddWack]

Hey everyone.  I just got my IPAC, 2 J-Sticks from ultimarc and a bunch of multi swtich push buttons.  I have a bunch of questions.
1-  The contact on the pushbutton for NO goes to the corosponding button slot on the IPAC.  Where does the common wire go?
2-  What do I send into the ground on the IPAC
3-  I want to add 2 pushbuttons on the sides of my control panel for pinball games.  DO most pinball games use player 1 buttons 1 and 2 for mame.  I dont have any pinball games to check
4-  How does the shift work?
5-  What are quick connects?  Is this if your not using soder, because Im not.  Where can I get them if so?
6-  What type of wire should I use
7-  THis one is more of a design question.  I have half inch wood, then my design, then 1/8 plastic over top.  
For my J-Stick http://www.ultimarc.com/controls.html  
The J stick goes over the surface of my 1/2 inch wood and pokes through the design and plastic.  How do you guys secure the black disks that go around the sticks onto your surface?  Is there a better way to do this?
Thanks for all your help

[Silverwind]

Hey everyone.  I just got my IPAC, 2 J-Sticks from ultimarc and a bunch of multi swtich push buttons.  I have a bunch of questions.
1-  The contact on the pushbutton for NO goes to the corosponding button slot on the IPAC.  Where does the common wire go?
2-  What do I send into the ground on the IPAC
3-  I want to add 2 pushbuttons on the sides of my control panel for pinball games.  DO most pinball games use player 1 buttons 1 and 2 for mame.  I dont have any pinball games to check
4-  How does the shift work?
5-  What are quick connects?  Is this if your not using soder, because Im not.  Where can I get them if so?
6-  What type of wire should I use
7-  THis one is more of a design question.  I have half inch wood, then my design, then 1/8 plastic over top.  
For my J-Stick http://www.ultimarc.com/controls.html  
The J stick goes over the surface of my 1/2 inch wood and pokes through the design and plastic.  How do you guys secure the black disks that go around the sticks onto your surface?  Is there a better way to do this?
Thanks for all your help

1) Common wire goes to GROUND

2) See answer to question 1

3) not sure about the pinball question

4) shift? (from ultimarc.com)
What is the "shift button"?
Shifted function keys will do various functions ie press "1 player start" and "fire" and you will insert a coin. Press "1 player start" and "2 player start" and you will jump back to the menu. You can also use the MAME game config menus with shift buttons, ie tab and enter are shift joystick right and left. The 1 player start button is always the shift button if you are using the standard MAME codes (ie the MAME/ALT jumper is in the MAME position). In programmable mode you can assign any input to be the shift button and you can program all of the buttons to have shifted codes.

5) Quick disconnects are what you crimp on the end of wire.. as to easily slide the wire onto the microswitch.. I got mine from www.therealbobroberts.com.. 10 bucks for 2 50 packs .187 QD

6) I also got my wire from the real bob roberts... 18ga hookup wire

7) I'm unfamiliar with the J-stick

[SirPoonga]

3-  I want to add 2 pushbuttons on the sides of my control panel for pinball games.  DO most pinball games use player 1 buttons 1 and 2 for mame.  I dont have any pinball games to check

Most use teh shift keys for the flippers, q and or s to add credits and start, Z,.,./ for bumping.  most are configurable though.

5-  What are quick connects?  Is this if your not using soder, because Im not.  Where can I get them if so?

Radio Shack

6-  What type of wire should I use

22awg works well

[JuddWack]

So the common wire goes to ground.  But If I have a common wire coming from each button, is it ok for like 10 wires to go into ground?
Abuot the shift.  I am not sure how to hook it up.  I didnt see anythign on the I-PAC that I thought would help.
And about the wire when I went into Home Depot, the guy didnt really know what kind of wire I needed, and I couldnt help him.  I knew the gauge but there are so many types.  For example thee is speaker wire, thermostat wire (which I could easily eliminate) and about 5 others, to choose from.  Is it just standard wire that you would use in a outlet or on a light switch?

[OSCAR]

Here's how I connect my grounds.  I think most people don't "complete the circle", but I do.

For the wire, you can find common hook-up wire at someplace like Radio Shack.  Home Depot probably has it, too, but try to stay away from solid core if you can.  I would recommend something like 22-20 AWG stranded.

[gtjoe]

1-  and 2 - Go to the Installation section at http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac2.html.  There are pictures there.

3-  The mame pinball games use player 1 buttons 1,2,3. left, ball,  right.  But you can configure these to anything buttons 6,7,8 if you want

4-  How does the shift work? See IPAC FAQ, question "What is the "shift button"?"  See IPAC Instructions for the default shift keys.  You can program your own.

5-  Quick connects - Buy them at radio shack or a local hardware store.  Buy female .187 size, if you use 18,20 or 22 gauge wire. Heres a pic http://tinyurl.com/54v5.  buy a crimping tool also.

6-  wire buy 18, 20 or 22 AWG wire at radioshack or hardware store.

7-  J stick.  If its like other joysticks,  In a control panel, drill a 1-1/8" center hole for the JS shaft. Drill four 1/4" holes for the mounting bolts. Remove the Joystick Shaft and mount the Joystick base under the control panel.  The joystick shaft goes through the black disc and through the control panel from the top.  You don't secure the black disc at all, it should move freely when the joystick is moved

[cdbrown]

3-  I want to add 2 pushbuttons on the sides of my control panel for pinball games.  DO most pinball games use player 1 buttons 1 and 2 for mame.  I dont have any pinball games to check

Most pinball games I have played go to the normal P1 buttons 1-left flipper (left ctrl) 2-right flipper (left alt) 3-ball (space) Tilt (T) but you can configure them in each game if you wire it differently so not a problem.  Make sure you remember to have a button to launch the ball (and the tilt is handy every now and again).

7-  THis one is more of a design question.  I have half inch wood, then my design, then 1/8 plastic over top.  
For my J-Stick http://www.ultimarc.com/controls.html  
The J stick goes over the surface of my 1/2 inch wood and pokes through the design and plastic.  How do you guys secure the black disks that go around the sticks onto your surface?  Is there a better way to do this?

No need to secure the disc.  It moves with the stick so if you secure it the stick won't move.  They are just there so stuff doesn't go in the hole and stuff up the stick.

Cheers
-cdbrown

[JuddWack]

Ok so slots on the ipac will have one wire going into it except grnd, that has 2.  one from the first button in the circuit and one from the last, correct?

[Tiger-Heli]

So the common wire goes to ground.  But If I have a common wire coming from each button, is it ok for like 10 wires to go into ground?

See OSCAR's reply.  (I wish I'd remembered that pic existed).  The advantage of completeing the loop is that if you accidentally cut or break any section of the common wire, all your buttons still function.

Abuot the shift.  I am not sure how to hook it up.  I didnt see anythign on the I-PAC that I thought would help.

There is nothing special to hook up for the shift button.  What is does is allow you to assign one button as the Shift button and then when this button and another button are pressed together, a different key code is pressed.  For instance, by default, P1 Start is the Shift-key and J1 Down (Shifted) is P (Pause).  So if you press P1 Start, Move the joystick Down, and then release the P1 Start button, the P code is sent and the game is paused.

Also, if you move the jumper from MAME to ALT, you can use the Winipac program (from www.ultimarc.com) to assign any button as the shift button and any "Shifted" code to any other button.

And about the wire when I went into Home Depot, the guy didnt really know what kind of wire I needed, and I couldnt help him.  I knew the gauge but there are so many types.  For example thee is speaker wire, thermostat wire (which I could easily eliminate) and about 5 others, to choose from.  Is it just standard wire that you would use in a outlet or on a light switch?

Light switch wire is usually 12-14 gauge solid copper, too thick and too stiff.  I would recommend 22 AWG stranded copper wire.  This is often referred to as primary or hookup wire.

[RandyT]

There was a thread a while back that talked about the evils of creating a ground loop.  Something about the electrons and a single path being better.

Sounds good in theory, but I can't say for sure that it's critical.  


RandyT

[SirPoonga]

There was a thread a while back that talked about the evils of creating a ground loop.  Something about the electrons and a single path being better.

Sounds good in theory, but I can't say for sure that it's critical.  


RandyT

It CAN be critical.  Somewhat depends on the situation.  A ground loop in audio equipment gives you a nice buzz in your subwoofer:)

[JuddWack]

Well lets say I have 2 buttons set up going into the same IPac slot, how to I set up the commons?  Is this dangerous if I do this with to many?

[OSCAR]

There was a thread a while back that talked about the evils of creating a ground loop.  Something about the electrons and a single path being better.

Sounds good in theory, but I can't say for sure that it's critical.  


RandyT

I've hooked up many like this, never had a problem.  Although I also didn't say that it was critical to do so, either.

I agree with SP, in a signal that is going to amplified, any line noise present will be amplified as well.  A ground loop can pick up noise from the equipment it is connected to, so they are not recommended for audio equipment.  But since we are just hooking up a few buttons, the loop is fairly small, and we are connecting to non-amplfied equipment (just microswitches), the "evils" of ground loops in this case is pretty much non-existant, IMO.  

[RandyT]

There was a thread a while back that talked about the evils of creating a ground loop.  Something about the electrons and a single path being better.

Sounds good in theory, but I can't say for sure that it's critical.  


RandyT

I've hooked up many like this, never had a problem.  Although I also didn't say that it was critical to do so, either.

I wouldn't think there would be a problem either.  When I said that I didn't know if it was critical, I was referring to adhereing to the theory .

I was just pointing out something that a poster (who claimed to be an electrical engineer type) was rather adamant about in another thread on the same subject.

RandyT

[OSCAR]

LOL!  Well that figures.... leave it to an EE to get bent out of shape on something like that.  

Hooking up buttons isn't exactly rocket science.  It's not like we are working on some kind of advanced guidance system for missiles or anything.  

[RandyT]

Well lets say I have 2 buttons set up going into the same IPac slot, how to I set up the commons?  Is this dangerous if I do this with to many?

You can jump the ground from another adjacent button or run it's own line.  The first is usually easier though.  

It will never be "dangerous" no matter what you decide to do.  In fact, as far as damaging anything, the only thing that would be really, really bad is to short the common to the +5v line.  Since that line is difficult to get to on the IPAC, you'd have to do something pretty silly for that to happen .

RandyT