Power supply for Happ perfect 360s besides computer?

[Doom bucket]

I just got a Wii adapter for the ipac and I'm really excited. This way my Wii is connected to my arcade controls. Which is neat.

It'd be awesome to just use my Wii with my control panel and leave my loud, noisy computer* off when I use it but... the joysticks are hooked up the power supply of my computer! So I can't.

What could I use besides my computer to power my two joysticks?

*why the hell is my computer so damn noisy, anyways? is there anything I could do to fix that?

[IDDQD]

Computer noise comes from the fans; if they are noisy, I'd suggest blowing them out with some canned air, which should quiet them down. Other than that, you can change the speed of the fan by using something like SpeedFan, although you have to be careful, as there is most likely a good reason the fans are running that fast, and you don't want to burn up your computer.

[fjl]

Wii to Ipac adapter? Link please...

[DrBunsen]

The Perfect 360's use 5V (though I'm not sure of the amperage).  I'd think that any 5V power supply should be fine.  I'm planning to use an old power supply from a Linksys router that puts out 5V for my P360's.


Bunsen

[Doom bucket]

Wii Adapters are now available straight from Ultimarc. In addition, he has also gotten a supply of dreamcast adapters which he bought from that one arcadecabinets.co.uk website. They were 200+ at that site, now they are 100, which isn't as bad but still not the best price. I bought them though, since I didn't want to go through the trouble of finding and hacking dreamcast controllers myself.

The Wii Adapter is significantly cheaper and can also be used with PS1/PS2/Gamecube.

The Perfect 360's use 5V (though I'm not sure of the amperage).  I'd think that any 5V power supply should be fine.  I'm planning to use an old power supply from a Linksys router that puts out 5V for my P360's.

?

Could you provide some sort of detailed explanation on how one does this? I really have no idea >_>

[deadsoulz]

Am I missing something?  Doesn't the ipac have a 5v lead on it?

[Doom bucket]

?

nope

[Doom bucket]

bump

[ark_ader]

What are you bumping for?

Go to an electronic store and ask for a 5v power adapter.   

[Doom bucket]

uh, and then what?

[AmericanDemon]

Cut one end off.  Wire it up to the P360.  Plug the other end into the wall and voila...working joystick

[Ginsu Victim]

I'm still wondering about the ipac question. It has 5v you can use, so why not that?

Other than that option, I just went to Goodwill and dug through the box of wall warts and found a 5v and a 12v for various cabinet needs.

[DrBunsen]

Could you provide some sort of detailed explanation on how one does this? I really have no idea

I'll have mercy.

A 5 volt power supply will have 2 leads coming out of it, one positive and the other negative.  The individual transformer should have it labeled in some way.  If you're at all unsure you should go out and buy a Voltage-Ohm meter which can tell you how many volts and what polarity a supply has.  (If you're going to be working with electronics you should probably have one.  Even a cheap one is better than none.)

On the bottom of the P360 you'll see that there is are black and red wires coming off the board.  The red is labeled +5, and the black is labeled G (for ground).  The positive lead from the power supply connects to the +5, and the negative (or, more accurately, the ground) to the ground.  Easy as 3.141592653589793238462643383279...

Don't forget that the ground wire for the P360 will be serving as ground for 2 different circuits - the power supply, and the gaming unit.


Bunsen

[Doom bucket]

Where on the ipac is the 5v part? I don't see it...

[ark_ader]

Could you provide some sort of detailed explanation on how one does this? I really have no idea

I'll have mercy.

A 5 volt power supply will have 2 leads coming out of it, one positive and the other negative.  The individual transformer should have it labeled in some way.  If you're at all unsure you should go out and buy a Voltage-Ohm meter which can tell you how many volts and what polarity a supply has.  (If you're going to be working with electronics you should probably have one.  Even a cheap one is better than none.)

On the bottom of the P360 you'll see that there is are black and red wires coming off the board.  The red is labeled +5, and the black is labeled G (for ground).  The positive lead from the power supply connects to the +5, and the negative (or, more accurately, the ground) to the ground.  Easy as 3.141592653589793238462643383279...

Don't forget that the ground wire for the P360 will be serving as ground for 2 different circuits - the power supply, and the gaming unit.


Bunsen

I think you are quoting Pi wrong.  3.14159265187963961....   

So I guess its not as easy is it?

[thatitalian]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi

[DrBunsen]

It's a point of pride that I say that I did it from memory.  I only stopped there because... that's as far as I have it memorized.    I also keep track of how many days old I am (17,783 as of today).

Those sorts of things come in handy at parties.  But only the very very boring ones.


Bunsen

[DrBunsen]

Where on the ipac is the 5v part? I don't see it...

I'll try not to be condescending, but here's how I found the information you seek.  This is the technique that you should use when searching for information on the Internet.  It's a basic skill that you need to develop.

1) I used Yahoo to search for ipac.  Google will work as well.  That returned a bunch of hits that don't apply.  I then did a search for "ipac gaming", and saw that one of the returned hits on the first page was for Ultimarc, which I happened to know was the proper site, but which just about anyone should be able to guess is the correct site from the returned hit information from Yahoo/Google.

2) I went there and could see that they were the manufacturer of the Ipac boards.  They don't have an obvious link for Support like most sites do (boo, hiss), but they do have links under the Ipac header at the top of the page.  I clicked on the option for "Instructions".  That brought me to the page that includes the pin-outs for the header on the board.

I would give you a link to the actual page, but you need to learn how to do the above so I at least give you the step-by-step on how to get there.  You can also shortcut it by doing a search for ultimarc if you like.

Really, it wasn't hard to do.


Bunsen

[Ginsu Victim]

I'll try not to be condescending

Mission failed.

[DrBunsen]

Yeah, guilty.  At the very least I did deliver to him the means to find the information he desires.  So I'll call it a wash.

I need to suffer fools more gladlier.  (Holy crap!  I meant for gladlier to be a silly, made-up word, but it turns out to be a real one!)


Bunsen

[Doom bucket]

I searched that page over and over on my own time. It's not as if I don't know how to use google. Obviously I went to the ultimarc page to get my ipac. Anyways, I figured it out but Ginsu's comment misled me. I was looking on the board for something like, "5 VOLTS HERE!" but if I'm understanding this correctly I have to buy the LED harness kit to be able to use it.

So I have to buy a LED harness to be able to use the 5 volts? Is there a way to make my own?

[Ginsu Victim]

Should be easy to make your own connector, rather than having to buy the harness. It's not like you MUST have it to use it....it's only made easier with it.

[Doom bucket]

http://ultimarc.com/pacdrive.html

If I bought this instead could I plug LEDs AND the joysticks into it?

I have been thinking about getting LED buttons and stuff and this would be really neat...

[Doom bucket]

meh I'd rather just have it connected to the ipac actually

how do I make my own harness now?

[DrBunsen]

Here's how I'd do it:  Looking at the graphic here you can see that there are 2 pins for +5, and a single one for ground.  There are also additional ground connections where you connect the pushbuttons and such.

If you have an old computer case nearby that you're ready to throw away there's a good chance that there's a lead in there that you can use.  Look for one of the connection leads that's used to hook up one of the LEDs, or the reset or on/off switches.  Or if you have an old case fan you can probably snip off the connector for that.  Hook up that connector to the GND and +5 that are right next to each other (on top in the graphic), and then hook up that wire to the P360(s) if it's long enough, or hook up an extension wire if it's not.  If you don't have a connector yourself check with some friends that may have spare equipment lying about.  I wouldn't go to the trouble of actually buying such a connector unless you don't have one and need one double-quick.  If you find a connector that goes over 3 pins just snip the wire off from the unused pin.

Hope this helps!


Bunsen