J-Pac Question

[Flip_Willie]

Hello,

     I have a question about the J-Pac.  I recently purchased it, and want some information before I use it.  In Andy Warne's faq on the J-Pac he says the following:

    "Ensure that if the cabinet has an electronic coin door, this sends a 5 volt signal, not a 12 volt,
otherwise the J-PAC will be damaged."

    On my Jamma Connector, I have one wire going from Component Side 6 to my coin mechanism.  On Andy's site, he labels "6" as a 12 volt.  So even if I have the old arcade power supply off and unplugged from my jamma connector, can this still do damage to my J-Pac?  I believe this wire might supply the power for an actual electronic counter, which I wouldn't mind losing if I had to.

    I suppose what I actually want to know is, is it actually possible to harm my J-pac electronically if the old arcade power supply is not plugged in at all?

    Just curious.

Thanks.

[AndyWarne]

The connections on the J-PAC which are marked as 12 volt, -5 volt etc on the JAMMA pinout are not connected to anything on the J-PAC. This means that if you plug in a JAMMA connector with the power supply still working, there would be no problem BUT:
If the power supply is still working and you accidentally plug the JAMMA connector in backwards, the J-PAC will be damaged. Also some older JAMMA powre supplies dont like having no loading (ie no game board) and will overheat.
The coin signal issue is a different one. Some coin doors send a 12 volt signal which will blow the input on the J-PAC. Most coin doors send an "open collector" signal which is effectively open circuit until the coin is inserted then drops momentarily to ground. These are fine.
Some poorly-wired cabinets drive a coin counter directly from the coin signal vis 12 volts. These will damage the J-PAC.
drop me an email if you need more info andy@ultimarc.com