Advice - converting Jamma cab to Mame

[willmame]

Hi all, this is a long post, so please bear with me.  I bought an old Jamma cabinet which I want to put a PC into.  I have a PC working how I want it to work, and it has an ArcadeVGA installed.  I could really do with some advice from someone who is experienced a turning a Jamma cab into a Mame cab.

I know very little (nothing?) about electronics, and reading the J-Pac instructions it mentions that if the coin slot is 12v it will damage the J-pac... well, I have a multimeter but have no idea how to check if this is 5v or 12v.  I also read about the J-pac about having to remove or deactivate a power supply in the cabinet if a game board is not attached... again, this is something I know nothing about.  Am going to have to take out the Marquee lighting as I need the space for new speakers.  I would like to keep the coin slot working, just for show-off purposes, if possible - but if it makes things easier to simply deactivate it or not use it, I'm happy to do that.  As far as I can tell, my only ESSENTIAL thing I need powered is the monitor, as the speakers and PC will be powered separately, and the coin slot I can live without.

Here are pictures of my cabinet:

image001.jpg
Back of the coin door


image002.jpg
Back of the machine (coin door is top right of image)


image003.jpg
Sticker on monitor


image004.jpg
Back of monitor


image005.jpg
Testing log sheet


image006.jpg
Back of cabinet where power cable goes in


image007.jpg
Inside cabinet.  Plate at bottom left is where power cable comes in the machine (see image006.jpg)


image008.jpg
Different view of 007.  Transformer (?) on right hand side is shown better on image009.jpg


image009.jpg
Better view of transformer (I think)


image010.jpg
Some cables.  These are on a shelf above the transformer, on the same side of the cabinet as the power cable.


image011.jpg
Same shelf as in image010.jpg but this is the middle of the shelf.  Game board (Olympic Soccer 92 by Seibu) is plugged into Jamma adapter.


image012.jpg
Close-up of more cables visible in image011.jpg


image013.jpg
Close-up of more cables visible in image012.jpg


image014.jpg
This black thing has the 4/5/6 buttons for both payers wired into it.


image015.jpg
Back of control panel.


So, here are my questions, please bear with me and all advice is greatly appreciated!

What is the best order to do this?  I have a PC working as I want it working booting into MaLa, with ArcadeVGA2 installed.  I have J-Pac, and replacement buttons and joysticks for the machine.

This is what I think I need to do:

Cut holes under control panel bigger so I can change joysticks from 4 to 8 way (and vice versa) by reaching behind coin door.

Cut hole in top and mount a vent to allow rising heat to escape.

Remove joysticks and buttons.

Fit new joysticks and buttons, and wire them to existing wires.  Have spare wire available incase I need it.  Snip the wires for buttons 4/5/6 for both players so I can fit them to the J-pac.

Remove bulb and speakers from behind marquee, insert new speakers.

Mount speaker volume control on top of cabinet.

Move transformer (?) thing visible in pics 008 and 009 to somewhere else so I can remove the shelf so the PC will fit in the bottom of the cabinet.  Does the transformer need to be kept horizontal?  My idea is (check pic 009) to move it to the piece of red wood visible directly left of the bit of the coin door.  This would mean mounting it vertically, but it would only be a few inches away from it's preset position, and I'd be able to get the PC in.  Are there any worries about heat building up by doing this?  Any other worries?

Put PC in bottom of cabinet, extend power button to top of cabinet.

Put a power strip in cabinet, and have the cable come out of the hole seen in image006.jpg - I would pull the existing power cable inside the cabinet and put it in the power strip.  Plug PC and speakers into power strip also.  Doing this would mean when I turn the power strip on at the wall, the speakers and monitor would power up straight away but the PC wouldn't power up till I hit the button on the top of the cabinet.

Things I'm not sure about:
Power of Coin Door - is it 5v or 12v?  Will it harm the J-Pac?  How can I check this?  How can I deactivate it?
Power issues when game board is not connected.  I've only vaguely heard of this, and don't even know what to ask about... I hope someone can tell what I mean!  What can I do to stop this?
Safety issues with that transformer looking thing... mounting it vertically - would cause heat issues?

So, any advice would be gratefully received - I feel I'm close to having my Mame cabinet finished... but don't want to mess anything up or damage anything!

Thanks

[willmame]

Could anyone please help?  Even pointing me to an article or two about the electric side of things would be a massive help.

I am willing to Paypal for help

[CheffoJeffo]

Hi willmame -- I have done a few conversions from JAMMA to MAME using the JPac and ArcadeVGA (is my preferred method). Unfortunately, I don't have the time this second to prepare a detailed response, but I will check back to see if anybody else has answered your questions.

Just wanted you to know that you're not being conciously ignored ... folks are just busy.

[knave]

Keep looking...All the info you need is here.  Use the "search" function.

I was in the same boat, bought a used Jamma cab...etc.

In a nutshell, the J-pac and the arcade VGA will let your PC output to the arcade monitor and controls.  the PC will have it's own Power supply so you can disconnect the one from the cab leaving just the monitor portion connected.

Your Joysticks and buttons 1-3 will connect via the Jamma wiring, buttons 4-6 (if any)will connect directly to the J-pac. You should not need to alter your CP unless you are adding buttons or a joystick with a different mounting method. (not including art)

Easiest way to get stereo sound from your PC is to use a pair of PC speakers and mount them inside the cab with the volume Pot accessable in some way.

Things I'm not sure about:
Power of Coin Door - is it 5v or 12v?  Will it harm the J-Pac?  How can I check this?  How can I deactivate it?
Power issues when game board is not connected.  I've only vaguely heard of this, and don't even know what to ask about... I hope someone can tell what I mean!  What can I do to stop this?
Safety issues with that transformer looking thing... mounting it vertically - would cause heat issues?

You can just not connect the coin lamps/counter to the harness.  just have the switches. If you want to test it out use a voltmeter... or DMM (digital multimeter) get them pretty cheap if you shop around (cough...harbor freight)

Power issues when a game is not connected means that "the transformer thing" which is actually the arcade power supply will not operate without a load...(something hooked up) so you might have to be creative to get it to still power your monitor.

I have not heard of any issues with mounting the Power supply in a different orientation. Read it, it might say.

Oh, and your cab is not airtight...I wouldn't put holes all over to vent, but that's just me.

[weasel-like_animal]

In a nutshell, the J-pac and the arcade VGA will let your PC output to the arcade monitor and controls.  the PC will have it's own Power supply so you can disconnect the one from the cab leaving just the monitor portion connected.

Your Joysticks and buttons 1-3 will connect via the Jamma wiring, buttons 4-6 (if any)will connect directly to the J-pac. You should not need to alter your CP unless you are adding buttons or a joystick with a different mounting method. (not including art)

Easiest way to get stereo sound from your PC is to use a pair of PC speakers and mount them inside the cab with the volume Pot accessable in some way.

+1

I went this route but used an IPAC instead of the JPAC because I had a light gun JAMMA cabinet. So far the hard stuff has been easy, and the easy stuff has been hard to get working. Go figure.

For sound, I'd definitely recommend getting a 2.1 PC audio system. I gutted my old AltecLansing 2.1 and it sounds AWESOME in the cabinet, especially compared to the crappy paper mono speaker that was in there.

When in doubt, keep it simple! Good luck.

[willmame]

Thanks guys, I'm going to get brave this weekend and start finishing this thing

I'll be back, either with problems (hope not) or with pictures of the victory machine

Cheers!

[Rocky]

As far as the J-Pac not handling 12v to the coin door.  That has nothing to do the the coin switches (which use no active power).  That means you can't use a 12v coin meter. You have to use a 5v coin meter.

Actually, you don't really need a coin meter. It was a way for game operators to keep track of when credits were added.

My advice is to disconnect the coin meter altogether.