Pinball button setup ?

[Connorsdad]

I'm about to wire up my cp, now in my gungho style I made the cp with 3 buttons either side specifically for pinball. The thing is, I don't know what I need 3 for doh!

I know one is upper flipper and one is lower flipper but what is the 3rd button for?

I saw people had 3 buttons and thought yup I'll have 3 without knowing why lol.

[PL1]

Didn't you see Wp34's new sign?   



Now it's time to really blow your mind.
Those 3 buttons are for 4 functions.

1. Lower (Main) Flipper
2a. Upper Flipper
2b. MagnaSave (Visual Pinball only, Future Pinball MagnaSave uses Upper Flipper keys IIRC)
3. Nudge (unless you are using an accelerometer, plumb bob, mercury switch, floating lockdown bar, etc.)

2a and 2b are wired to one button.

No tables use both Upper Flippers and MagnaSave, so the table will ignore the keystroke that doesn't apply.

Search on "MagnaSave" and username "PL1" for posts with complete details on wiring, especially for avoiding potential problems with a pinball/MAME setup.

You should also consider an Up Nudge button on the front and a Plunger/Ball Launch button if you don't currently have them -- see my other posts for a diagram suggesting placement.


Scott

[Connorsdad]

Lol at the great photo

Thanks for your help, I've seen your wiring diagram in other threads before. It may as well be hieroglyphics to me, I'll have to have another look and get my thinking cap on

[PL1]

Wiring diagrams aren't that hard once you learn what the symbols are.

Switches look like this __/ __ -- press down on the "/" lever and it closes. 

In this case, the left side is the Common terminal and the right side is the Normally Open terminal.

If two wires cross and there is a dot, they are connected.  No dot = no connection.

For diodes, just match the band on the part to the "band" in the diagram.

They act like a one-way door.  When a lower voltage (ground) is on the band side and a higher voltage (encoder input) is on the other side, the door is pushed open or "forward biased" allowing current to flow.

When the voltage on the band side is higher than the other side it is "reverse biased" . . .

Are you using 2-terminal (Goldleaf, Sanwa, Seimitsu) or 3-terminal (Happ/IL microswitch-style) buttons?

There are different wiring methods for the two button styles.


Scott

[Connorsdad]

I'm using 3 terminal buttons.

[PL1]

This is the diagram to use.

Connect the wires on the left to your IPac inputs.



You can use the same "backward wiring" on P1 Button 4 (L-Shift) and Left Lower Flipper.

Just substitute P1B4 for P1B1 and Left Lower Flipper for Left Upper Flipper. (ignore the P2B1 part)

Once it is wired that way, you can press either P1B4 or Left Lower Flipper, to connect ground to the IPac input.


Scott

[Connorsdad]

This is the diagram to use.

Connect the wires on the left to your IPac inputs.



You can use the same "backward wiring" on P1 Button 4 (L-Shift) and Left Lower Flipper.

Just substitute P1B4 for P1B1 and Left Lower Flipper for Left Upper Flipper. (ignore the P2B1 part)

Once it is wired that way, you can press either P1B4 or Left Lower Flipper, to connect ground to the IPac input.


Scott

I really appreciate you helping me and I don't want to sound like an ass but I just can't get my head around the above lol. Not in front of my cp atm, will probably make sense when I can see the buttons and ipac in front of me.

[Connorsdad]

On the diagram which is lower flipper and which is nudge ?

[PL1]

Lower Flipper and Nudge aren't on the diagram since they aren't tied to the same button.

Since there is quite a bit of overlap between MAME and VP/FP, some of the controls should be wired in parallel like these:
- P1B4 and Lower Left Flipper (L-Shift)
- P1B3 and Up Nudge (Space)
- P1B5 and Left Nudge (Z)
Don't remember right now if there are any other overlapping functions unless you are using Enter on the MAME part of your panel.   

There are two ways to wire two buttons in parallel.

One way is to wire them like normal buttons and connect both input wires to the same IPac input. (/=switch, __ and | connect to each other)

           ___/  ___
IPac __|             |____ Ground
          |___/  ___|

The other way is to wire the first one "backward" like P1B1 in the diagram then run a wire from P1B1's NC terminal to the second button. (Left Upper/MagnaSave in the diagram)

             ______/  __
IPac ___/  ________|__ Ground

Either way works for wiring them in parallel.


Scott

[PL1]

I just can't get my head around the above lol. Not in front of my cp atm, will probably make sense when I can see the buttons and ipac in front of me.

It will make more sense when you start connecting the wires.

Just approach it like eating an elephant -- one bite at a time.   

1. Wire from the IPac to P1B1 common terminal.

2. Wire from the IPac to P2B1 common terminal.

3. Daisy chain the NC terminal on P2B1, the NC terminal on P1B1, and the Left Upper Flipper/MagnaSave switch together using 2 wires and 3 QDs just like a daisy chain ground, but with longer wires.

4. Connect your daisy chain ground to the three microswitches and Bob's your uncle.   


Scott

[Connorsdad]

Appreciate you taking the trouble to respond, hopefully this is getting through the lump of concrete that is my skull. Hoping to start wiring up sometime tomorrow. Had to backtrack today due to me trying to skip a step thinking it'll be alright and then realising no it won't lol

[Connorsdad]

I've been putting this off for too long, I really need this putting into baby steps for my dumb ass. If I post a picture of my buttons (button terminals) and label the terminals A, B, C, D etc, would you mind telling me what connects to where please. I don't know why but I just can't grasp this at all

Sent from Amstrad CPC464

[Drnick]

Yeah, post up some images, I'm sure that we can assist 

[PL1]

I've been putting this off for too long, I really need this putting into baby steps for my dumb ass. If I post a picture of my buttons (button terminals) and label the terminals A, B, C, D etc, would you mind telling me what connects to where please. I don't know why but I just can't grasp this at all

This photo shows the Normally Open (NO), Normally Closed (NC), and Common (COM) terminals on a microswitch.



When the button isn't pressed, the COM and NC terminals are connected to each other.

When the button is pressed, the COM and NO terminals are connected to each other.



Wires that cross without a dot are not connected.

Wires that cross with a dot are connected.

The "upside-down Christmas tree" at the bottom is the symbol for ground.


Scott

[Connorsdad]

Ok guys here are my pics, also just thought I should let you know I have some spare ports on my Ipac:

P1-SW8
P1-1A
P1-1B

P2-SW8
P2-2A
P2-2B

First the left side of my cp:




And the right side:



Thanks for helping and having patience 

[PL1]

Here's a table and diagram that might help.

Just work your way through the table one line at a time and on Upper Flipper/MagnaSave crimp both pinball button inputs to one Quick Disconnect.


Scott
EDIT: Updated pic

[Connorsdad]

Here's a table and diagram that might help.

Just work your way through the table one line at a time and on Upper Flipper/MagnaSave crimp both pinball button inputs to one Quick Disconnect.


Scott

According to that diagram Right upper flipper and right nudge don't have an input? Is this where I should use my spare ports and change the keys to ' and / using the ipac config app ?

[PL1]

Here's a table and diagram that might help.

Just work your way through the table one line at a time and on Upper Flipper/MagnaSave crimp both pinball button inputs to one Quick Disconnect.


Scott

According to that diagram Right upper flipper and right nudge don't have an input? Is this where I should use my spare ports and change the keys to ' and / using the ipac config app ?

You got it -- also do the same for the three P3 ones if you have a 2-player panel.


Scott

[Connorsdad]

Finally 

I messed up 1st time but cracked it the 2nd time 

I can't thank you enough PL1  for having the patience to help me. 
I cant understand why I just couldn't grasp it 


Any idea which table I could try my upper flipper keys on? all the tables I have tried the lower flipper key controls both, cant see an option in visual pinball to change it.

[PL1]

Always glad to help.   

Many tables will have the upper and lower flippers tied together -- normal operation nothing to change.

There are a number of Visual Pinball (VP) and Future Pinball (FP) tables on VPForums (VP/FP tables) or PinSimDB (FP tables) such as Family Guy (FP - Stewie's mini-playfield uses upper flippers), Defender (VP - Smart Bomb is tied to right upper flipper), Black Knight (VP/FP - uses MagnaSave), and Nip-It (VP - uses upper right flipper for the "ballygator").


Scott