Anyone use one of these DB25 Breakout Boards?

[thomascirca]

I was just wondering if anyone has used these DB25 Breakout Boards to connect their control panels:

http://cgi.ebay.com/DB25-Female-Signals-Breakout-Board-parallel-port_W0QQitemZ380140745221QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5882277205&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

I saw them mentioned in another thread, but I was curious if anyone had used them. I have two boards that are swappable, and this looks like a good way to make them modular (the method I use now is tedious). 

Question on the board itself: I see that there is a GND input terminal... would I need to use that at all? It doesn't go to any of the 25 outputs. Just wondering.

[GaryMcT]

I looked at these and thought about it, and then just ended up buying a prebuilt cable, cutting an end off, and connecting them together to be modular.

[dirkomatic]

I've bought quite a few, but haven't been able to work on my new panel yet, so they are still in the box.  I will say that they were packed well and look okay...

[jeremymtc]

I just bought 3 of these for my 3-sided cocktail project via Ebay (12 bucks each). I'll be using these for my stick, button and ground signals to an IPAC4. Kinda nifty that they have both male and female DB25 connectors, which will on the one hand let me use whatever spare cables I have laying around, and will also allow me to [easily] play around with discrete and cloned controls once the cab's up and running. I'll have an additional CAT-5 cable (or two) with RJ45 connector per panel running the optical devices and any other inputs I need.

Hopefully these will help me keep everything neat, organized and tidy!

[Beretta]

pretty nifty, im probably gonna go with db25's on my first build as well.. although i think im just gonna go the *snip snip* route, save a bit of money.

[ArcadeBliss]

I am planning 5 swappable panels and will be using the same method of DB-25 connectors. I used these: They are the same as yours, just a little more compact.
http://www.pollin.de/shop/detail.php?pg=OA==&a=NDQ5OTgxOTk=&w=OTk4OTU4&ts=20

On the IPAC side I installed it in a projectbox as shown here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=72173.msg787635#msg787635

I attached a DB-25 connector female to the box as well. That way I only need to use one cable attached to the cab at any given time.

For the LED-Wiz lighting, I will do the same treatment as I did for the IPAC however using DB9 connectors from here: http://www.pollin.de/shop/detail.php?pg=OA==&a=MjE5OTgxOTk=&w=OTk4OTU4&ts=20

BTW, I've already tested it all and it works great!

[mlalena]

The ground on the board is probably tied to the aluminum foil shield on the DB25 wire (or something similar). Grounding the shield will block some interference, but if all you are using it for is on/off (microswitches), then the interference won't cause much of a problem to begin with.

[jeremymtc]

The ground on the board is probably tied to the aluminum foil shield on the DB25 wire (or something similar). Grounding the shield will block some interference, but if all you are using it for is on/off (microswitches), then the interference won't cause much of a problem to begin with.

Ah, interesting. Good to know. Will have to look into this. Thanks!

[Ummon]

I am planning 5 swappable panels and will be using the same method of DB-25 connectors. I used these: They are the same as yours, just a little more compact.

The board you bought actually looks slightly bigger, and all the terminals aren't as easy to access as the first one - which, incidentally, looks basically like someone copied the overall desing of a GGG GP-Wiz.