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Swappable Control panels: How to connect?

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Bumblebounces:

--- Quote from: REBIRTH on June 03, 2004, 03:43:20 pm ---
--- Quote from: Tiger-Heli on June 03, 2004, 02:41:01 pm ---
--- Quote from: Bumblebounces on June 03, 2004, 10:31:59 am ---I know I am so lazy that I would just use whatever panel was there and play only games it would work with.  Terrible, I know, but no one knows me better than I do.

--- End quote ---
I'm the same way.  Isn't it amazing how many people in this hobby will spend months designing the perfect set of CP's, interface methods, layouts, etc. and then are too lazy to spend 30 seconds to swap a panel around.

I do the same thing over and over - I spend hours coming up with tweaks so the PC boots 5 seconds faster . . . go figure!

--- End quote ---

I figured the same thing for myself, plus was afraid the panels that were not currently in use would be "played with" by my kids - "hey, can my kiddie scissors cut through these cool wires?".  So I decide to rotate 3 always attached control panels and take the lazyness and fear out of it.

Back to the topic at hand, won't each panel need 2 or 3 12-way connectors?   Can't you get larger connector blocks, so you could just use 1?  Not that it is a big deal, just thinking it might be confusing connecting 2-3 plugs as well as just more time swapping the panels.  It would be nice to have a connection like a "docking station" on a palm pilot, where you can just slide in and out of it....

--- End quote ---

That's kinda what I had in mind.  Laptop dock with little LED's to confirm that both edges to the edge connector went into the slot.  Abandoned idea but a great one.  I do think about doing it one day, just because it would be so damned cool, but I probably never will.  The stray not in use panels was a big dterrent plus my laziness which I see I am not alone on...  LOL

If anybody does this on their panel, get some good pics of it.  I would love to see how it comes out.

Bumble

Nannuu:
Mahuti got home made leaf switches to work fairly well:
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=16113

jcoleman:
Now that the IPAC VE is out, my plans for my next CP will involve an IPAC on each panel, requiring nothing more than a USB connection to the PC.  $35 is a pretty good price considering everything you'd have to buy (terminal strip, extra wire, connectors) and then assemble.

Coleman

NoOne=NBA=:
I originally had swappable panels, but abandoned that when I realized how much it was going to cost to do ALL the panels I wanted.
I went to a modular system, and use a filing cabinet that was next to my cab anyway to store the modules.

For me the two biggest goals on my CP were simplicity, and being centered on the cab.
When I wanted to play a game, I didn't want to have a bunch of unused controls everywhere, and would have needed a 6 foot wide CP to put all the controls I wanted onto it.
I also found that, after getting my original swappable CP's going, it really annoyed me to play 1 stick/1 button games off to the left side of my cabinet.

With the modular system, I can still MAKE an all-around panel when people come over to play, but it offers the added bonus of being able to tailor the panel to the EXACT game I want to play as well.

After having the modular system for awhile now, there is absolutely no way I would EVER go back to anything else.

rsoandrew:

--- Quote from: NoOne=NBA= on June 03, 2004, 06:06:30 pm ---I went to a modular system, and use a filing cabinet that was next to my cab anyway to store the modules.

After having the modular system for awhile now, there is absolutely no way I would EVER go back to anything else.

--- End quote ---

I've been thinking about the same thing. I even thought about sending something to Oscar to see if he would design sell it (since he already has somebody to do fabrication).

I would love to see/read about what you came up with.

I envisioned a system that was three parts; the receptacle that is permanently mounted to the CP, the male portion with the wire etc for dropping into the CP and a top plate. There would be different top plates for different purposes. You could have a top plate for a two-way joystick, one for a four-way, one for a spinner, one for extra buttons - you get the idea.  There would be several female pods on the CP and you

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