PC to WG K4900 - Newbie needs help

[DaveO]

Hey guys, this is my first post and I am a bit of a newb when it comes to arcade machines.

First of all please understand that I am not the most gifted with electronics, but I can do simple things like soldering. Also I have done a search for my question, but have only found unclear and sometimes conflicting answers, so I figured making my own post was the only way to get a good answer.

Anyways... I bought a working cabinet at an auction this weekend and am in the process of converting it into a MAME machine. Now I have stripped out the entire old game except for the monitor which I would like to use. The monitor is a WG K4900 (WG 19k4906). It has the wires for Red, Green, Blue, Ground, and Sync coming from it. Now my question is, can I just use these wires and connect them to the corresponding pins of a VGA connector (are there even corresponding pins?)? I understand that the frequency and resolution will not work, but I plan on using Powerstrip to work around that but I don't know if it is as simple as I think it is to connect the monitor to the PC.

2nd question - This may show off some of my noobness, but oh well.... The power cord to the monitor has been cut since I didn't want to use the old power supply that came with the cab. Can I just cut another power cord and connect it to this so that it has an end that will go into a power outlet, or do I need something in between so that I don't draw too much power and blow my monitor?

[SirPeale]

Anyways... I bought a working cabinet at an auction this weekend and am in the process of converting it into a MAME machine. Now I have stripped out the entire old game except for the monitor which I would like to use. The monitor is a WG K4900 (WG 19k4906). It has the wires for Red, Green, Blue, Ground, and Sync coming from it. Now my question is, can I just use these wires and connect them to the corresponding pins of a VGA connector (are there even corresponding pins?)? I understand that the frequency and resolution will not work, but I plan on using Powerstrip to work around that but I don't know if it is as simple as I think it is to connect the monitor to the PC.

You'll need a video amp for this monitor.  Ultimarc has one that will be perfect.

2nd question - This may show off some of my noobness, but oh well.... The power cord to the monitor has been cut since I didn't want to use the old power supply that came with the cab. Can I just cut another power cord and connect it to this so that it has an end that will go into a power outlet, or do I need something in between so that I don't draw too much power and blow my monitor?

It's not about drawing too much power, it's isolating the power using the isolation transformer that was originally hooked up to it.  Reconnect it.

Get ready for lots of wiring.  Now, before you do any more damage to your cabinet, I suggest you start reading everything you can here before you just start 'taking stuff out' again.

So...what game was originally in this cabinet?

[DaveO]

Cool Pool was originally in the cab. It was already a conversion too since it was in a Bally/Sente Cab.

[DaveO]

So Peale, would the amp you are talking be a J-Pac? I see that has one built in, is that what you are talking about?

BTW thanks for the help, it is much appreciated.

[SirPeale]

J-Pac has one built it (and would be fine if your cab was wired for JAMMA) but this is what I'm talking aboot...

Er...

Ultimarc doesn't seem to have them on his site anymore.

[Kevin Mullins]

Ultimarc doesn't seem to have them on his site anymore.

http://www.ultimarc.com/vidamp.html   

[DaveO]

http://www.ultimarc.com/vidamp.html   

Ya, I saw that, but I don't think you can order them (at least I can't find where)

[JMB]

http://www.ultimarc.com/vidamp.html   

Ya, I saw that, but I don't think you can order them (at least I can't find where)

http://www.ultimarc.com/JShopServer/section.php?xSec=2   13th item on the page.  $19

[DaveO]

http://www.ultimarc.com/JShopServer/section.php?xSec=2   13th item on the page.  $19

Ya, I think they just added it to the ordering page after I emailed them . Thanks for the help guys, I will probably have more questions in the near future .

[DaveO]

Now onto the isolation transformer thing.

I want to make sure that I am doing this right. Here are some pics i took to help explain what I am doing:

The isolation transformer


The connection to the monitor


Now what I am thinking is that I connect either one of the circled connections in picture one to the wires I am holding in picture two. The wire coming from the left says that it is the 120V and the one on the right says 1A (from what I can tell). It also says that this is the secondary and the primary is the line going to the wall outlet. So what I am thinking is I just have to figure out what wire coming from the monitor is the 120V and the other one should be the 1A (or whatever). Would this be correct?

[Ken Layton]

Try this:

www.homearcade.org/BBBB/basic-ac.gif

[DaveO]

Try this:

www.homearcade.org/BBBB/basic-ac.gif

Alright, so it does look like I am doing this right, I am just not using a PDU at the moment which I had planned to do once I found one (I know I have a bunch of them sitting in a box somewhere in my house). Now I just gotta figure out what wire is the 120V and what wire the 1A wire connects to. I don't see any obvious markings on the monitor board or anything in the monitor manual. It is probably something obvious like the striped wire is always the 120v or something like that. I'll have to investigate more.

[SirPeale]

Here's my version.  I did this up a couple years ago when I was trying to figure out a problem.

(also attaching because my old post seems to have lost this particular image)

[DaveO]

Ok, like I said, I am a newb when it comes to electronics. My dad happens to be an electrical engineer so I had him explain to me how an isolation transformer works and what it does. See I was reading the label on the transformer wrong and was thinking one thing was actually two separate things (hence the reason why I didn't know what wire connected to what other wire). My question was probably so stupid that you guys trying to help had no idea what I was saying . Thanks guys for hanging in there with me and trying to help me even though I am probably unhelpable (doubt that is a word). This community is amazing!