Wiring - Ground question...

[pboreham]

When you make your ground connections for the controls, do both ends have to go back to the 'Ground' Terminal on the KeyWiz? In the PA book, it says so, but in SpyStyles tutorial, it just has the first going to the ground and the last ending at the last button's ground point.

Could someone please clarify?!

Thanks!

[FrizzleFried]

My CP ground wire is connected at one end and then ends at a quick connect at my last button.  It doesn't loop around.  Ground is ground is ground...

[AlexKidd]

Just one end needs to be connected to the ground on the KeyWiz. Although if you did have both ends connected that would be like having ground insurance, er, or something. If the ground wire broke or there was a bad connection somewhere all your buttons would still work because they would have the other route back to the ground on the keywiz. Do whatever is easier for you though.

[pboreham]

Cool, thanks guys!

 

[DaOld Man]

I used the keywiz eco 2 on my three arcades, and with each, I used two common ground circuits, one for player one controls and one for player two controls.
Each loop ended with the last button in the circuit.
Although one ground would be sufficient for all the buttons on the panel, as posted by frizzelfried, I thought I would separate the grounds into two circuits, that way if I had a ground issue it would only affect one player's controls, making it easier to troubleshoot.
But I agree with alexkidd, just do whatever is easier for you.
Here is what I did on my last arcade, and what I plan to duplicate on the one in the works now:

http://skennys-arcade.blogspot.com/2007/05/wiring-up-control-panel.html

[ARTIFACT]

... from ultimarc site:
http://ultimarc.com/ipac2.html

[SavannahLion]

Looping the ground is just there for insurance purposes. It just boils down to a matter of preference. I'm not sure which I prefer. Looping adds extra reliability, but I would want to know about any potential problems before they become too serious.

I drew these crappy little diagrams for this thread.

The green dots and marks represent dead buttons or failed connections.
The green dots represent buttons.
The green square represents a PCB.

This is what you have when you have no ground loop.


This is what happens when the wire or some connection is severed.


This is a break near the PCB.


A looped ground.


A break near the PCB.


A break between two buttons.


Two breaks, one near PCB one between buttons.


A break at the PCB.


As you can see, in a serious failure, it's easier to pinpoint certain problems.