J-PAC given a facelift

[AndyWarne]

As of today all J-PAC boards shipped will be an updated version.

New features are:

ESD static protection on all JAMMA inputs.
Protection against being plugged in backwards (although we would still not advise testing this feature!).
Supports 12 volt coin doors with no voltage issues.
Supports Service Switch, Tilt and Test JAMMA pins (fixed keycodes, F1, F2, F3)

[Turnarcades]

Excellent news that even well-established products are still monitored and considered for improvements - Great work Andy. 

[Ummon]

I don't get it. I see enough contacts for one stick and only one button (let alone the extra three on later games) per player. What am I missing?

[TPB]

Supports 12 volt coin doors with no voltage issues.

Great news Andy !!       


Although some documenation updates are still in order :   

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.

http://www.ultimarc.com/jpac2.html


Does this mean the J-PAC is now compatible with NRI coin mech's, such as the NRI G-13.6000 :

http://www.happcontrols.com/cc/nri.htm


I'm planning to buy a cabinet that has one of these installed, and then "rig it all up" to a J-PAC.

[Singapura]

I don't get it. I see enough contacts for one stick and only one button (let alone the extra three on later games) per player. What am I missing?

Take the effort to read the FAQ first 

What controls does the JAMMA connector support?

The JAMMA standard supports 2 players with 3 buttons per player. There is an unofficial addition to this, some cabinets wire a fourth button. Plus coin, start etc.


Thats not many buttons, what about any others?

Game boards which need more buttons have an auxiliary button connector which can vary in type. This is not part of the JAMMA standard. The J-PAC caters for these extra buttons by having screw terminal inputs for these extra inputs.
Inputs supported directly through the JAMMA connector are:
Player 1 and 2 joysticks, Player 1 and 2 buttons 1,2,3,4. Coin 1, Coin 2, Start1, Start2.
Inputs supported by the screw terminals are:
Player 1 and 2 buttons 4,5,6,7,8.
Note that button 4 can be connected via either method as some JAMMA harnesses route this button through the connector.
If you have a 4 player cabinet you can use an I-PAC2 board as well as a J-PAC and plug the I-PAC into the pass-through connector of the J-PAC. You will need to re-program the I-PAC board for correct player 3 and 4 keycodes.

I ordered a J-Pac from Ozsticks. I hope Chris will send me the new version 

[Blanka]

Please include something like a MAX9742ETX (16 watt) for low-heat stereo amplification on the next version;D
The chip itself is 2£, some caps and resistors finish it off.
Or if that is too little, a TDA8922B (2x80watt @85% efficiency) is a cool amp.

[lettuce]

Great stuff these ultimarc products just get better and better . When will we see a ArcadeVGA facelift? 

[TPB]

Hi Andy,

Please confirm that the Warning contained on the J-PAC installation web page, about 12 Volt coin mech.'s causing damage to the JPAC, can now be ignored :


http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=82490.msg860808#msg860808


Thanks.

[SirPeale]

I don't get it. I see enough contacts for one stick and only one button (let alone the extra three on later games) per player. What am I missing?

I see contacts for two joysticks, three buttons per player, plus extra buttons for those games requiring such.  Where are you only seeing a few contacts?

[AndyWarne]

Hi Andy,

Please confirm that the Warning contained on the J-PAC installation web page, about 12 Volt coin mech.'s causing damage to the JPAC, can now be ignored :


http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=82490.msg860808#msg860808


Thanks.

Once again I have done my usual trick of focusing on the product and then omitting to check through the documentation! I will get that amended.

On the subject of sound amps I thought I might get asked about that.

I did consider adding an amp, but then decided against for the same reasons I didnt add one originally.
The first is that the amp would need a 12 volt supply. Although this could be taken from the JAMMA power supply, many JAMMA power supplies are either missing, faulty, or not working owing to no game board load in MAME cabinets.
Yes 12 volts could be sourced from the PC but again this would require some kind of adaptor harness.

Another reason is there are many different types of sound wiring used in JAMMA cabinets including mono, stereo, amplified, non-amplified etc, so I would end up with a huge number of support emails "my sound is not working" which would be very difficult to answer without tracing out the cabinet wiring.

Using a pair of cheap PC active speakers is easy. In my own cab I have a set of big PC speakers with sub-woofer and these easily beat any cabinet speakers with a small amp.

Andy

[Ummon]

I don't get it. I see enough contacts for one stick and only one button (let alone the extra three on later games) per player. What am I missing?

Take the effort to read the FAQ first 

What controls does the JAMMA connector support?

Hahahah. Yeah I've read it before. I didn't get it then, and hadn't followed up on my question. However, I was being a bonehead. For some odd reason, I wasn't thinking about the first three buttons that go through the harness! Then of course, much of the rest didn't make sense. But let me make sure I have this correct: through the jamma interface, there is input for a stick and four buttons each player. Then there are ten screw terminals for any other digital input. Correct?

[AndyWarne]

But let me make sure I have this correct: through the jamma interface, there is input for a stick and four buttons each player. Then there are ten screw terminals for any other digital input. Correct?

Thats correct!

[Ummon]

Thank you much.

[Singapura]

Andy you might want to inform Chris from Ozsticks because he didn't know there would be a new product. I'm getting the new one fortunately. 

[Wob]

Hi, I just got a 3 of these units, haven't got around to installing them yet, just wondering what is the "usb2" port for?

Cheers,
Beau

[Turnarcades]

Andy, If the 12 volt coin door connection is safe for this, is there any chance the mini-pac could be updated so the zener diode does not have to be used to restrict it to 5 volt?

[AndyWarne]

Only the first batch of the new boards will have the USB connector. Later it will not be fitted but of course the board will still be able to be used in USB or PS/2 mode as it always has, via the DIN connector.
I will explain why its there. The unit is capable of having its firmware upgraded but this only works via USB. So anyone ordering a PS/2 cable would not be able to upgrade it. But they can, by using a standard Mini-USB cable.
So far there has been no upgrade.

No plans to add any resistor and zener diode onto the Mini-PAC unfortunately. This board is not primarily intended to be used in coin-op applications.

Andy