Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: Kremlar on August 28, 2017, 07:14:05 am
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Can anyone confirm this is correct? Long story short, but just purchased a custom built arcade cabinet from a local guy and it was a mess. I fixed most of the wiring issues, but one thing I'm trying to confirm is whether the I-PAC4 supports a spinner or not. I can't find anywhere that it does, but it seems odd that the I-PAC2 would but the 4 would not.
The guy I bought the cabinet from had it plugged to the pin headers on the IPAC-4 but I don't believe it's a spinner connector. I can't find a description of these pins anywhere.
Thanks in advance.
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Who is the builder? Maybe you can save someone else from making an expensive mistake.
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I believe only the mini pac and the ultimate support spinners?
Do you know what spinner it is? Can you run it from USB?
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why not goto Andy's (Ultimarc) and find the Ipac you have.
http://www.ultimarc.com (http://www.ultimarc.com)
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Who is the builder? Maybe you can save someone else from making an expensive mistake.
I know... I'm trying to get a partial credit for some of the things I ordered but did not get. Will post more later.
Do you know what spinner it is? Can you run it from USB?
Yes, I did get it working via USB using a little board he included with a box of extras. SpinTrak I think. Was just trying to confirm 100% it was not supported on the board like he had it plugged in.
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why not goto Andy's (Ultimarc) and find the Ipac you have.
I did. It is an I-PAC 4. I just could not find any documentation on the pin headers on the board. Am I missing something?
And also I could not find anywhere that the I-PAC 4 did not support the spinner, so wanted to make sure it wasn't supported on the unlabeled connector the builder had it plugged into.
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The spin trak is a quality spinner, I have one runing via USB and works great.
But like I said above to my knowledge there is no way to connect it to a IPAC.
As for this "builder" of yours, he sounds more like a cowboy wanabe!
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As for this "builder" of yours, he sounds more like a cowboy wanabee
Yeah, absolutely. It's sad that I had to fix his wiring mistakes (to the best of my ability) when I have absolutely no experience with this stuff.
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The spin trak is a quality spinner, I have one runing via USB and works great.
But like I said above to my knowledge there is no way to connect it to a IPAC.
The I-Pac2 has supported trackballs/spinners since the 2015 revision using the Dupont pin header on the left.
(https://www.ultimarc.com/images/ipac2_top.jpg)
It is an I-PAC 4. I just could not find any documentation on the pin headers on the board. Am I missing something?
And also I could not find anywhere that the I-PAC 4 did not support the spinner, so wanted to make sure it wasn't supported on the unlabeled connector the builder had it plugged into.
You're not missing anything -- the Ultimarc documentation strongly implies (but doesn't clearly state) that IPac4 doesn't support trackballs/spinners and it is missing info about the unlabeled 9-pin header on the IPac4 that used to be on the old I-Pac pages, hence the confusion. (PM sent to Andy with several suggestions for documentation clarifications/updates)
The 9-pin header was on the pre-2015 version of both the I-Pac2 and I-Pac4 boards (i.e. before I-Pac supported spinners), but it is not on the 2015 version of the I-Pac2.
It looks like the "keyboard LED" header. Same pin pattern and location, but the revised I-Pac4 pin header is only used for initial loading of firmware -- the LED function is no longer available.
BobA found this diagram on the old I-Pac page in 2006.
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=51826.0;attach=43844;image)
The same diagram is currently 2/3rds of the way down the J-Pac page here (https://www.ultimarc.com/jpac2.html) because the J-Pac appears to have the same keyboard LED header.
(https://www.ultimarc.com/images/jpac.jpg)
Which is confirmed in the J-Pac description.
Supports I-PAC optional pre-assembled LED harness with 3 panel mounting LEDs which emulate the keyboard Lights.
The keyboard LED header was often used with Atari LED "volcano" start buttons that would blink when a coin was inserted.
Scott
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Did you pay with a credit card? Dispute the charge. That will get his attention. Most credit cards give you 60 days to dispute a charge.
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Ahh well there you go, cheers Scott!
I have the old models so no connection available LOL
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The other matter is how to connect your spinner.
1. The mostly-easy way is to contact Andy about buyting a Spin-Trak USB interface. (they aren't listed separately in the Ultimarc store)
(https://www.ultimarc.com/images/spintrak_usb.jpg)
2. The easy and probably-slightly-less-expensive-because-of-international-shipping way is an Opti-wiz (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=76_85&products_id=260) "No-Solder" -- you'll need to pull the pins out of the Spin-Trak's Dupont header to connect to the 5v, ground, and data pins on the Opti-Wiz, but that is easy to do.
Spin-Trak wire colors:
Brown +5Volts (goes to the 5v pin on Opti-Wiz)
Yellow X1 (goes to Pin A on Opti-Wiz)
Green X2 (goes to Pin B on Opti-Wiz)
White GND (goes to the "upside-down Christmas tree" symbol next to the 5v pin on Opti-Wiz)
3. The cheap way is to use StefanBurger's Illuminated Spinner (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,152868.0.html) firmware to "roll-your-own" optical interface with an Arduino.
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Got a reply from Andy:
- The 9-pin header LED function is not available on the 2015 revision boards.
- The 9-pin header on I-Pac4 is only used for firmware initial load.
Will correct my post above accordingly.
Scott
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The keyboard LED header was often used with Atari LED "volcano" start buttons that would blink when a coin was inserted.
Wow, thanks! Great info. Yes, I was kind of expecting to see something like "Note: Spinner not supported on the I-PAC4" since it was on the IPAC-2, but did not see that explicitly stated. Thanks for the confirmation.
Did you pay with a credit card? Dispute the charge. That will get his attention. Most credit cards give you 60 days to dispute a charge.
I did pay with PayPal/credit card so do have options, but now that I got it almost straightened out I'm fairly happy with it and don't want to return it. Was just a mess when I got it, and I was pretty pissed I had to spend hours to straighten it out. Just want to move forward from here. The seller has sent me a partial refund for the items I did not get and a small amount extra for my trouble.
I think he's a fairly straight guy, just rushes through everything instead of doing it right.
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1. The mostly-easy way is to contact Andy about buyting a Spin-Trak USB interface. (they aren't listed separately in the Ultimarc store)
Thanks, I did have one of these in a box of accessories so got it working. Just wanted to be certain I needed it - guess I do.