Over under coin door

[SithMaster]

ive already removed my coin door and the coin box and cleaned the box.

[SithMaster]

hmmmmm....

ive found a guide on wiring a coin door but it doesnt specify a type of wire to use.  is 22 gauge hookup wire good to use?
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2036275&cp=&fbn=Type/Hookup&f=PAD/Product+Type/Hookup&fbc=1&kw=22+gauge+wire&parentPage=search

and for quick disconnects
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104016&cp=&kw=quick+disconnect&parentPage=search

or

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103502&cp=&kw=quick+disconnect&parentPage=search

[brian23]

18 Gauge is good. Wire the lights in parallel. RetroBlast has an article (as do a number of sites) on how to wire lights into your computer.

[SithMaster]

actually i was refering how to wire the switches to a keyboard hack or encoder.  I wasnt sure which wire thickness to use and if those disconnects are acceptable.

though i will be adding lights which i will need to buy.  i have looked at the retroblast tutorials but they didnt mention which thickness of wire to use for the coin input.  keep in mind im using a pc for running the cab.

for the lights, would i stick the bulb into the whole above the one for the reject button to slide out of? (hopefully this makes sense) theres two holes in the part that holds the coin reject button in place though it seems obivous that thats what its there for i just want to make sure.

thanks

[brian23]

Can you post a picture of your coin door and mech area? Yes, there is a small hole where the lightbulb or LED sticks through above the hole where the plastic piece that pushes the reject on the coin mech.

As for the coin switches, I used a .187 quick disconnect, but others may take a .110 or even a .250 quick disconnect. The gage of the wire I used was 20 gage. You could probably get away with 22 gage.


I used 16 guage wire for hooking into the PC. I just cut the 12V and 1 ground wire from the a spare Y molex connector (You can get it from RadioShack for $6). Using a splice crimp connector, I spliced the wire into the 12V and ground. Using the same LED wedge sockets in the RetroBlast tutorial, I then got a set of .110 male quick disconnects from JammaBoards.com. Crimped them onto the 16 guage wire (wired in parallel just as in the RetroBlast tutorial) - and tada.

[markrvp]

.22 guage stranded wire is perfect for wiring the switches. 

.18 guage wire is perfect for wiring the 12v lights.

[SithMaster]

my only digital camera i have access to is pretty bad though i do have this pic from some else's restoration.

[brian23]

For your coin switches, unless you are planning on using the wiring harness you can go ahead and snip those wires, use the existing quick disconnects and splice some 22 gage wire right into the existing setup then go ahead and hook into encoder. Save you some time.

[SithMaster]

My mistake i messed up the image link. fixed it.

i was considering doing that but i decided against that cause im somewhat of a sentimental person (yeah it sucks being me) and i cant bring myself to cutting the exisitng wires.

this way i can always restore it to original parts and have the wires with new disconnects handy for another coin door.

[brian23]

Are you keeping the incandescent bulbs or replacing w/ LEDs?

[SithMaster]

actually my door didnt come with any lights.  Im leaning towards leds based on the guide from retroblast 50 years seems like a plus for the expected life.  which way did you go with them- i hear the bulbs are brighter but the leds last longer.

[brian23]

actually my door didnt come with any lights.

[SithMaster]

.22 guage stranded wire is perfect for wiring the switches.

[brian23]

Yep. That is the Y-adapter I spoke about. If you have an old PC fan that hooks in through molex.. that will do too. I didn't have one so I used that.

My coin door has something similar to slots that the coin mechs fit into. Then, there are these round pegs that fit into the holes in the picture.

[SithMaster]

alright thanks one more thing for now

did you use stranded or solid wires for the coin inputs and for the leds?

[brian23]

I used stranded for the LEDs and the 20/22 gage black wire was solid and the red wire was stranded. I think I got 75 to 90 ft of it for cheap from RadioShack.

[SithMaster]

was that combo (the red stranded and black solid) only for the leds?  i went to radioshack today and purchased for 5.14 (includes tax) 100ft hookup wire 22 gauge but its solid.

which (solid or stranded) did you use for the two microswitches?

thanks

[brian23]

Yep, the Y-adapter was for the LEDs.

As far as stranded vs solid, I don't think you will notice a difference and either should be fine.

[SithMaster]

thanks.

[brian23]

Yea, Home Depot seems like a better deal also. RadioShack disappointed me when I was looking at their QDs also. Not enough for the price.

One thing I did find is that the COM lead on the microswitches are larger than the NO, and NC. I'm not sure on the exact size of the QDs for the COM. .250 was too big and .187 was too small. I ended up going to Target and using their red QDs for 16 gage wire. Those had the best fit on the COM leads. They are $3.99 for about 16 I think.

Whether they are insulated should not matter. Use your discretion.

thanks.