Quick DC Hack Question

[iamnaeth]

What gauge wire and what solder do you use/suggest to hack a DC controller?

[Dave_K.]

I use silver bering solder (since its thin), but rosen core will work too.  I use 22-24 gage wire.  Thickness depends on if you are hooking to connectors, or wiring all the way up to the controls with quick disconnects.

[HaRuMaN]

I suggest you let me do it... 

I use 22 gauge stranded wire and just regular solder (not rosin core)

[pmc]

I wouldn't worry too much about wire gauge. Use whatever you have laying around as long as it's not super big or super tiny.

I use rosin core solder on electronics.

- pmc

[countchocula8]

hi guys. i have a quick question:

i'm planning on hacking my dc pad to have it use the control panel in my cabinet.  essentially, here's what i want to do:
           *signal from control pannel -> A/B printer switch -> (ipac2) or (dc controllers)

how would i ground this setup?  i was planning to have the ground from my control pannel run to the ipac, but i dont know how to ground the dreamcast controllers.  would i need to have 2 sets of ground running from the control pannel (one to the ipac and the other to the dc controllers)?  i hope you guys can straighten out my confusion.

[iamnaeth]

So when you're soldering, how on earth do you get the wires to "stick" to the PCB?  I've been soldering, reading online on how to do it, practicing, etc. but it seems the wire just comes right off.  The solder sticks to the wires but not the pcb, any tips?

[HaRuMaN]

Did you sand the black stuff off the contacts?  Solder won't stick to that.

[Minwah]

Did you sand the black stuff off the contacts?  Solder won't stick to that.

Also if you're using a gas soldering iron, make sure it isn't *too* hot...I found this out the other day when doing mine...

[iamnaeth]

Yeah....I didn't realize that the copper was UNDERNEATH the black stuff until halfway through the process on sunday.  I kinda stopped there out of frustration/stupidity.  The solder will stick better to the copper than the black stuff then?

[HaRuMaN]

Yeah, plus you need to solder to the copper anyway to ensure a good electrical connection...

Shameless plug time...  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,37134.0.html

 

[iamnaeth]

Yeah, I just saw your thread but I think I'm gonna give the soldering a go again myself.  I figure being an electrical engineer and owning soldering equipment, I should be able to do this.  haha.

[Dave_K.]

hi guys. i have a quick question:

i'm planning on hacking my dc pad to have it use the control panel in my cabinet.  essentially, here's what i want to do:
           *signal from control pannel -> A/B printer switch -> (ipac2) or (dc controllers)

how would i ground this setup?  i was planning to have the ground from my control pannel run to the ipac, but i dont know how to ground the dreamcast controllers.  would i need to have 2 sets of ground running from the control pannel (one to the ipac and the other to the dc controllers)?  i hope you guys can straighten out my confusion.

Simple, send your ground wire through the switchbox as well. So that way you only have 1 ground wire running to your control panel at a time.

[countchocula8]

Simple, send your ground wire through the switchbox as well. So that way you only have 1 ground wire running to your control panel at a time.

thats just crazy enough to work 

another question...
since the db25 has 25pins (duh!) and the ipac allows 28, i was planning to route the common controls shared by both the dc and the ipac through the switch and have the ipac-exclusive controls run directly to the ipac from control panel.  here's what i mean:

*shared controls*
=============
db25 pins                ipac / dc
-----------             ------------
1-4                        up, down, left, right (player 1)
5-10                      button 1-6 (punches and kicks) (player 1)
11                         start (player 1)
12                         ground (player 1)
----
13-16                    U,D,L,R  (player 2)
17-22                    button 1-6 (punches and kicks) (player 2)
23                         start (player 2)
24                         ground (player 2)
----
25 blank

*ipac-exclusive controls*
==================
coin (p 1)
coin (p 2)
4 admin buttons


so what youre saying is to run the ground wire through the switchbox as well, but since i'm planning to run the ipac-exclusive buttons straight to the ipac, how should i ground those buttons?

thanks

[Dave_K.]

so what youre saying is to run the ground wire through the switchbox as well, but since i'm planning to run the ipac-exclusive buttons straight to the ipac, how should i ground those buttons?
thanks

You can hook up those extra ipac buttons directly (bypassing the switch) as long as you do not mix the grounds for those buttons with P1 and P2 controls.  So in essence, you will have 3 grounds, 1 daisy chained around P1 controls, 1 daisy chained around P2 controls, and 1 daisy chained around ipac specific controls.

[iamnaeth]

Followup on the ground question.  Where are you grounding on the DC pad itself?

[shodokan123]

so what youre saying is to run the ground wire through the switchbox as well, but since i'm planning to run the ipac-exclusive buttons straight to the ipac, how should i ground those buttons?
thanks

You can hook up those extra ipac buttons directly (bypassing the switch) as long as you do not mix the grounds for those buttons with P1 and P2 controls.

[countchocula8]

so what youre saying is to run the ground wire through the switchbox as well, but since i'm planning to run the ipac-exclusive buttons straight to the ipac, how should i ground those buttons?
thanks

You can hook up those extra ipac buttons directly (bypassing the switch) as long as you do not mix the grounds for those buttons with P1 and P2 controls.  So in essence, you will have 3 grounds, 1 daisy chained around P1 controls, 1 daisy chained around P2 controls, and 1 daisy chained around ipac specific controls.

thanks dave. appreciate it.  one more question just to make sure i understand you correctly:  these go directly to the ground on the ipac, does it matter which side ground they go to, or do i need to make them go to their respective side (p1 coin and 2 admins go to p1ground; p2coin and 2admins go to p2ground)?  also is it ok if the ground that goes through the switch meet up w/ these ground that go directly to ipac before they go into the ipac ground slot (will this be considered 'mixing the ground')?

[HaRuMaN]

Followup on the ground question.  Where are you grounding on the DC pad itself?

Anywhere, really.  There is a large ground surface to choose from, see this example:

[Dave_K.]

thanks dave. appreciate it.  one more question just to make sure i understand you correctly:  these go directly to the ground on the ipac, does it matter which side ground they go to, or do i need to make them go to their respective side (p1 coin and 2 admins go to p1ground; p2coin and 2admins go to p2ground)?  also is it ok if the ground that goes through the switch meet up w/ these ground that go directly to ipac before they go into the ipac ground slot (will this be considered 'mixing the ground')?

Ok you seriously lost me here.  Why are you now breaking these extra ipac controls into P1 and P2?  You cannot mix these grounds.  So your 2 coins and 4 admin buttons are completely seperate from your other controls and switchbox.  These coins and admins button are hard wired to the ipac, and have nothing to do with P1 or P2.  The P1 and P2 controls are wired exactly as you listed in your diagram above.  P1 has its own ground daisy chained around to its controls, and so does P2.  You can't mix the P1 and P2 gounds with your coin and admin buttons since you are wiring them directly to the ipac.

That make sense?

[countchocula8]

i guess i didnt phrase my question clearly so i'm gonna give it another shot.   since the ipac allows 2 grounds, one for each player and since the i'm planning to split up the admin buttons (2 per player), i was wondering if i would have to wire the ground to each side since i'm splitting them up.

to clarify:
-U,D,L,R, button 1-6  -> switch .....ground for these go through switch also. -> ground to either ipac or dc controller

straight to ipac (see pic)
-p1 coin  ->  1COIN
-2 admin buttons  ->  1sw7 and 1sw8
                    ----------------------------> meet w/ ground coming out of switch  --> 1ground on ipac?

-p2 coin  -> 2COIN
-2 more admin buttons  ->  2sw7 and 2sw8
                    ----------------------------> meet w/ ground coming out of switch  --> 2ground on ipac?


i hope my question is a little bit clearer. thanks dave for being patient
i attached some pictures hoping to illustrate my question.

[Dave_K.]

Gotcha, I wasn't aware of the 2 grounds on the ipac (personally I use playstations2->usb  converters for my mame setup).  I'm willing to bet you don't need to use both of them, but if it makes your wiring seem more logical, then by all means use both. 

Anyway,  I see nothing wrong with connecting your coin and admin buttons to their respecitve ipac grounds as long as its AFTER the switchbox on the ipac side (thanks for the diagram), and as long as they aren't connecting to any other P1 and P2 controls on the control panel.

[countchocula8]

thanks dave. i'll try it out. i'll keep you guys on my successes (fingers crossed )