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First time building a custom Control Panel - help :)
swirlee:
Still a little confused as to what hardware will serve me best... Will the X-Arcade kit function with the Specralite buttons and be pretty easy to setup? I'm not sure about all the voltage stuff.
severdhed:
The x-arcade interface is really awkward for building your own panel because it doesn't use a common ground....and instead of screw terminals on the encoder pcb, they use proprietary connectors. The inputs are divided into groups of 4 and a ground for that group. It makes the wiring messy and difficult.
Get a ipac, be happy
PL1:
Just to clarify, LED buttons consist of two separate electrical circuits -- the microswitch and the LED.
One-color LED circuits (like in the Spectralite) are wired as indicated above.
The microswitch circuit is wired like any other encoder. (KADE shown, but MiniPac/IPac/Keywiz all connect the same way)
IIRC, the thing that makes the X-Arcade encoder more tricky is that each wiring group has its' own isolated "ground" -- touching a "ground" from wiring group #1 to an input from wiring group #2 will register a button press in the corresponding input in wiring group #1. :dizzy:
If you haven't bought the X-Arcade encoder yet, the Mini-Pac Opti. with harness would be a better choice IMHO.
Scott
swirlee:
I do have the X-Arcade control panel kit. I ordered it on impulse. I want my control panel to be super basic allowing me to play a pretty wide variety of games, Atari 2600 on up to Gamecube/PS1 gen. Also all the arcade only games that spanned around that generation. So which control panel kit is the easiest to setup, both hardware and software wise? I Pac, Mini Pac?
PL1:
All three (X-Arcade, I-Pac, Mini-Pac) come programmed with defaults for MAME.
IIRC, the X-Arcade is harder to customize the keymaps if you want to change anything, but whether that's necessary depends on the other emulators that you choose to use.
There's no one-size-fits-all solution, so it's a good idea to go through a design process like this one in the FAQ (You have checked out the FAQ, right?) before you buy any more parts.
Also, did you RTFM (Read The . . . Fun . . . Manual) for the X-Arcade Kit and see this color diagram?
It's harder to wire than most encoders, but as long as you keep microswitches using J2's inputs with J2's ground, J3's inputs with J3's ground, etc. you will be fine.
Scott
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