Author Topic: Making Light gun Removable(solved) (Read 5993 times)

AX · « **on:** April 04, 2003, 04:47:03 pm »

Building on the info found here: http://www.angelfire.com/rebellion/anthony2600/cable.htm I am going to make my Lightgun removable. I am working on a plan where I will use his wiring info and slice an RJ45 connector onto the end of the gun's cable. This will make a nicer looking connection on the cabinet. Also, it CAN be done without soldering. I will write up a full tutorial after I complete the project fro anyone who is interested.

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #1 on:** April 04, 2003, 10:00:48 pm »

If/when Act-Labs finally gets off of their butts and makes an S-Video TV-out lightgun, I plan on doing almost exactly what you're talking about (I was even thinking of using RJ45s too). So YEAH, I'd like to hear your plan of attack.

anthony691 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 04, 2003, 11:17:04 pm »

I would like the tutorial when you make it (to put on the site, if its alright with you; of coarse I will give you credit ect.)
It is always good to have overlapping info to avoid situations liked mixed Lightgun w/ arcade monitor results.

E-Mail it to me @ anthony11282600@hotmail.com
I look forward to seeing it.

Jakobud · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2003, 02:23:38 am »

Quote from: Sasquatch! on April 04, 2003, 10:00:48 pm

If/when Act-Labs finally gets off of their butts and makes an S-Video TV-out lightgun,

Well it just so happens that these are in production as we speak simply because so many of us on this board supported Act-Labs to make them.

Amra · « **Reply #4 on:** April 05, 2003, 02:54:20 am »

I was actually considering using Cat5 or Cat9 instead, depending on how many wires are needed....

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #5 on:** April 05, 2003, 10:49:05 am »

Quote from: Jakobud on April 05, 2003, 02:23:38 am

Well it just so happens that these are in production as we speak simply because so many of us on this board supported Act-Labs to make them.

Really? I pre-ordered back when they first accounced it as a possibility, and I have yet to hear anything from them. Got a link?

anthony691 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 05, 2003, 10:54:50 am »

Der you go

Update March 18, 2003
It's official - due to the enthusiastic response, we are proceeding with the design and manufacturing of the TV Light Gun. We don't have a confirmed ship date yet, but we are looking at a late May release. Check our this page in March for updates. Thanks for your support!

http://www.act-labs.com/scripts/proddetails.asp?pid=132

anthony691 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 05, 2003, 11:00:53 am »

Quote from: AX on April 04, 2003, 04:47:03 pm

Building on the info found here: http://www.angelfire.com/rebellion/anthony2600/cable.htm I am going to make my Lightgun removable. I am working on a plan where I will use his wiring info and slice an RJ45 connector onto the end of the gun's cable. This will make a nicer looking connection on the cabinet. Also, it CAN be done without soldering. I will write up a full tutorial after I complete the project fro anyone who is interested.

That was really my first reaction to this article RJ-45 would be cool. My second was makeing it removable; that is really cool, but who needs to extend it? Sorry for the vile amount of adds on my page (2 hosting popups, 1 DNS popup, and 2 add banners; At my front page)

AX · « **Reply #8 on:** April 06, 2003, 10:33:48 am »

may be a few days before I actually get into this. I have changed my ideas a little. I was originally going to go into the gun to remove the wires completely because I didn't want to see a splice outside the cabinet. now I have decided to cut it closer to the box and splice the part you don't see. but after I do it I will write it up. Also it's perfectly cool to post on the site if you like.

AX · « **Reply #9 on:** April 09, 2003, 11:17:12 pm »

ok I did the modification and it came out perfectly. actually I put more than one connection the wore as I will explain inthe tutorial. I will write it up thursday.

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #10 on:** April 10, 2003, 12:12:56 am »

Cool!

Chris · « **Reply #11 on:** April 10, 2003, 10:23:59 am »

THe Act-Labs cable has 8 wires, so I used an RJ-45 connector. Note, however, that the calibration switch is normally closed, and is opened to go into calibration mode; thus, if you disconnect the gun, the system goes into calibration mode! So you can make the gun removable, but you can't play with the gun removed...

--Chris

Brad Lee · « **Reply #12 on:** April 10, 2003, 10:39:33 am »

If youve got rj45 plugs and a crimper, just take a single strand of awg22 or -24, loop it betwen the pins needed to close the calibration circuit, and crimp away

Kinda like a homemade loopback plug

AX · « **Reply #13 on:** April 10, 2003, 10:48:39 am »

excellent Idea! Do you remember what color wire it is?

Chris · « **Reply #14 on:** April 10, 2003, 10:54:35 am »

I had thought of that. However, since I don't intend to play without the guns connected, I wasn't too worried about it. If I did anything to account for it, I'd probably put in a VGA switch instead to route the video signal around the control box; this would also be useful for setting BIOS options and such.

--Chris

Brad Lee · « **Reply #15 on:** April 10, 2003, 10:56:37 am »

If there's no schematics you may need to take the gun apart to find it, as well as the ground.

AX · « **Reply #16 on:** April 10, 2003, 11:03:37 am »

Well I know the ground wire is the brown and cable shield wire. And the wires are all labeled ont he board. though maybe someone had it in thier head so i could make on eup here at work. but I will look when I get home. I want to add this to the tutorial.

Chris · « **Reply #17 on:** April 10, 2003, 11:04:00 am »

Quote from: Brad Lee on April 10, 2003, 10:56:37 am

If there's no schematics you may need to take the gun apart to find it, as well as the ground.

It shouldn't take long to find with a multimeter...

AX · « **Reply #18 on:** April 10, 2003, 11:05:15 am »

Since the gun is USB you should be able to stop it in Windows.

Chris · « **Reply #19 on:** April 10, 2003, 11:14:36 am »

Quote from: AX on April 10, 2003, 11:05:15 am

Since the gun is USB you should be able to stop it in Windows.

But the monitor is fed through it! If you turn it off in Windows, the monitor goes blank.

AX · « **Reply #20 on:** April 10, 2003, 11:18:44 am »

I don't know I didn't try that. Bt to me it seems like it should just pass through since you arent cutting power to it just stopping the driver. If you connect all the connections and do not connect the USB cable the monitor still works.

Chris · « **Reply #21 on:** April 10, 2003, 02:13:59 pm »

Really? On mine if I don't connect the USB cable, I get no display. Perhaps they changed the design at some point...

AX · « **Reply #22 on:** April 10, 2003, 10:07:08 pm »

you were correct sorry. anyway there are 2 colors it could be. green is labeled as set and blue is labeled as reset. SO beings as I can not get out to install the gun again into my cab and I can't test it on my main, I made both jumpers. One ground to green and one ground to blue. Very easy and quite un noticeable. I used 1 wire on each that I took out of a cat5 cable. 1 green one blue. ran them tot eh appropriate pin on each rj45 and crimped them. then tucked them into the connector and whichever one works I will hotglue the end to key crap from getting in the rj45.

AX · « **Reply #23 on:** April 11, 2003, 10:12:32 pm »

guess what it's not that easy. apparently there is voltage applied to either side of the switch along witht he colored wires and ground at center. I am nto an electronics expert so I wouldn't know how to make this circuit. but I am going to try anyway lol.

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #24 on:** April 11, 2003, 10:47:20 pm »

That sucks. I was hoping it wouldn't be THIS big of a chore. Honestly, I'm somewhat unpleasantly surprised that Act-Labs didn't make the gun removable/detachable on their own.

AX · « **Reply #25 on:** April 11, 2003, 11:10:15 pm »

Well, I may have somehting here but i will need confirmation form some others. There is some sort of resistor in between the 5volts and the blue and green wire connections. whic to me says this would send voltage straigt to ground on either side of the gun. If I connect ground and voltage together the calibration mode shuts down and the cabunet plays normally. my question would be what kind of damage would this cause? The resistor says 102 on i and it is a tiny flat piece. I have one of these I can use. would this help? any info would be great.

AX · « **Reply #26 on:** April 12, 2003, 12:40:49 pm »

Her is the deal. the correction for hte calibration mode is this. if you provide a split second of voltage to the link between the green wire and ground it will turn off calibration mode. I just need to figure out a safe way to do this.

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #27 on:** April 13, 2003, 12:07:58 am »

Yikes. Good luck!

shmokes · « **Reply #28 on:** April 13, 2003, 03:19:57 am »

perhaps you could put a momentary contact button somewhere (on the gun or on the cabinet somewhere) that will close a circuit providing the surge you need to turn off calibration mode. I guess you'd have to be careful. You wouldn't want someone to hold the button down and fry anything. How do turn signals work in cars? They blink on and off. Maybe you could use the same concept to turn the power on and then off quickly to shut off calibration mode. It seems to me that turn signals have something that expands and compresses inside that gives it the behavior it has.

Hmmm...I don't know. I'm not a doctor.

AX · « **Reply #29 on:** April 13, 2003, 09:26:02 am »

what i did was create a green wire to ground rj45 jumper. then I took a mini momentary switch and put it right below the rj45 connection and wired one end to power(red) and one to Green. by putting hte jumper in and pushing the button turns off calibration mode. I will add this to the tutorial I have been working on.


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