?? about jamma switchers

cadillacman

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?? about jamma switchers- area 51 TRIO project

School me on these. Do they connect all the gameboard pins and just switch power and ground to each, or do they actually switch all terminals in between games?

Im thinking about doing a multi-51 trio as i have an area 51 site 4 cab as well as a area 51/max force board from the zback im trading off.

I have plenty of jamma harnesses here. Im thinking about tying all the inputs , videos, and gun wires, grounds togther between the boardsets. I would then use a simple dual pole dual throw toggle switch, picking which game by directing the +5 and +12 to one board or the other via the switch.(and to be safe powering down between game changes) If these boards need -5 as wel i would do the same idea with a three pole dual throw switch.

If you guys think that will work, thatll save me alot of money. I need to save all i can now (see caa section)


thanks for your input fellas.
 
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Well, the problem you will run into hooking all the wires together from all the boardsets is that it will cause a ground feedback, resulting in whatever board you have powered up at the time will think you have the buttons pressed all the time and aren't releasing them. This is of course assuming that you are going to be using an actual switcher. If you are going to give your idea a try, I don't know what kind of problems you'll run into.

The only way around this is to install diodes on all the wires that need to be spliced together. I am talking about the buttons wires/harnesses only. I made a video on how to do this. Let me know if you want me to post it.

I don't know if the Area 51 stuff requires -5vdc, but the 6-in-1 switcher that most people choose to use does not have it. The contact on the switcher is a dead trace. You have to wire each slot for it manually. You also have to wire each slot for the service menu because it's contact has a dead trace as well. I have a series of videos on how to accomplish all the mods. To answer your question, the switcher only switches the power inputs from board to board. That's why you have to put the diodes in for the wires that aren't part of the regular Jamma harness run if you are using a Jamma+ setup.

Worst case scenario, switcher, diodes, wiring, you're looking at about $75.

I can do the mods for you if you wish for free. That is of course if you don't want to do them yourself. Let me know if you want me to post the videos on how to do the mods if you feel like tackling them yourself.

As far as the switcher is concerned, it comes with a remote control that allows you to switch between the slots. They are hit or miss as far as functionality, but a recent discovery has allowed the switcher to be modded so the remote is not needed. You can use a rotary switch instead.

Hope this give you an idea of what to expect.
 
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Well, the problem you will run into hooking all the wires together from all the boardsets is that it will cause a ground feedback, resulting in whatever board you have powered up at the time will think you have the buttons pressed all the time and aren't releasing them. This is of course assuming that you are going to be using an actual switcher. If you are going to give your idea a try, I don't know what kind of problems you'll run into.

The only way around this is to install diodes on all the wires that need to be spliced together. I am talking about the buttons wires/harnesses only. I made a video on how to do this. Let me know if you want me to post it.

I don't know if the Area 51 stuff requires -5vdc, but the 6-in-1 switcher that most people choose to use does not have it. The contact on the switcher is a dead trace. You have to wire each slot for it manually. You also have to wire each slot for the service menu because it's contact has a dead trace as well. I have a series of videos on how to accomplish all the mods. To answer your question, the switcher only switches the power inputs from board to board. That's why you have to put the diodes in for the wires that aren't part of the regular Jamma harness run if you are using a Jamma+ setup.

Worst case scenario, switcher, diodes, wiring, you're looking at about $75.

I can do the mods for you if you wish for free. That is of course if you don't want to do them yourself. Let me know if you want me to post the videos on how to do the mods if you feel like tackling them yourself.

As far as the switcher is concerned, it comes with a remote control that allows you to switch between the slots. They are hit or miss as far as functionality, but a recent discovery has allowed the switcher to be modded so the remote is not needed. You can use a rotary switch instead.

Hope this give you an idea of what to expect.

If you dont mind i would love to watch that. It sounds as if the switcher is an overpriced $75 toggle switch with a keyfob basically and id be doing the diode mods anyways right? Lucky for me being this is area 51 all i have are two start buttons and two coin switches. Another klover used a switcher and just wired his gun wires togther in between boards, dont ask me how, but he says it works fine.

In the meantime while brainstorming that i was also thinking of doing a custom marquee. Something like this: Except i dont know where to get high res scans, and my photochop skills are pretty bad.
 

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If you dont mind i would love to watch that. It sounds as if the switcher is an overpriced $75 toggle switch with a keyfob basically and id be doing the diode mods anyways right? Lucky for me being this is area 51 all i have are two start buttons and two coin switches. Another klover used a switcher and just wired his gun wires togther in between boards, dont ask me how, but he says it works fine.

In the meantime while brainstorming that i was also thinking of doing a custom marquee. Something like this: Except i dont know where to get high res scans, and my photochop skills are pretty bad.

Well, I'm not sure if they will be applicable to what you want to do after thinking over your idea again, but the knowledge is always good to have in case you decide you want to use a switcher again for other games. Here they are. Let me know if they help you out at all...





 
Is there a preferred rat shack diode #???

Being i would do all these diodes either way, im just going to use another jamma harness and a dual pole toggle and see how it goes.
 
Is there a preferred rat shack diode #???

Being i would do all these diodes either way, im just going to use another jamma harness and a dual pole toggle and see how it goes.

Sounds good. The diodes I prefer to use are 1N4007.
 
One more ? and sorry if this is in the vids. I got about 20 mins last night free to myself anf so far today not much free time lol.. have you just ties the sheaper terminals of each board together or is there some trickery required there as well?
 
One more ? and sorry if this is in the vids. I got about 20 mins last night free to myself anf so far today not much free time lol.. have you just ties the sheaper terminals of each board together or is there some trickery required there as well?

"..ties the sheaper terminals?"
 
good lord. I have a hard time typing already but my laptop keyboard broke so im actually typing with another usb keyboard on top lol.. To make matters worse its my old ergonomic keyboard that made me make so many heinous typos back in the day.


do you just tie the speaker wires together or is there some trickery involved there too?

All my rat shack shows is either packs of 1n4003, 1n4005, the only way i can get those 4007s locally is "maybe" in an assortment of 25 that includes 1n4001,2,3,4,5,6 and/or7
 
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good lord. I have a hard time typing already but my laptop keyboard broke so im actually typing with another usb keyboard on top lol.. To make matters worse its my old ergonomic keyboard that made me make so many heinous typos back in the day.


do you just tie the speaker wires together or is there some trickery involved there too?

All my rat shack shows is either packs of 1n4003, 1n4005, the only way i can get those 4007s locally is "maybe" in an assortment of 25 that includes 1n4001,2,3,4,5,6 and/or7

No problem. Understandable. You should be able to tie them together with no foreseeable problem.

You can use any of the numbers if 1N400"?" They should all work fine. It's really up to you, but I use 1N4007 because that's what I have the most of laying around.
 
Do i need diodes on the video wires as well?
I tied the video wires togther and did my power mods with the switch i mentioned. These do also take -5 but i just wired both together unswitched for now.

The dpdt switch works great, can switch between games. But now my area 51 max force has good video but my area 51 site 4 has extremely dim video unless i unplug the jamma connector to the max force duoo board then its back to normal.

Should i just try diodes on the r,g,and b and recheck? Banded side away from the pcb correct?

EDIT: that did the trick. Now to move on to the control wires and audio.
 
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Do i need diodes on the video wires as well?
I tied the video wires togther and did my power mods with the switch i mentioned. These do also take -5 but i just wired both together unswitched for now.

The dpdt switch works great, can switch between games. But now my area 51 max force has good video but my area 51 site 4 has extremely dim video unless i unplug the jamma connector to the max force duoo board then its back to normal.

Should i just try diodes on the r,g,and b and recheck? Banded side away from the pcb correct?

EDIT: that did the trick. Now to move on to the control wires and audio.


Yeah, I was going to say that diodes would fix that issue. The other board is bogging down the video signals and causing a dim picture.
 
So far ive got switching between games, sound, video and coin switches and start buttons figured out.

Now i just have to find a pinout for the guns so i can do those and i should be done with this project. Doing this my way is only costing me abour $20, btw.
 
So far ive got switching between games, sound, video and coin switches and start buttons figured out.

Now i just have to find a pinout for the guns so i can do those and i should be done with this project. Doing this my way is only costing me abour $20, btw.


Sweet! .
 
Just as i suspected the +5 from the guns red wire backfeeds to the other board when connected so im going to at least need diodes on both gun power wires.. god knows for the rest. FYI i only needed one diode for each of the coin switches, start switches. I basically left the original harness wire intact and stripped a section, installed the banded end of a diode, then connected the corresponding wire from the new harness to the other end of the diode. You would think i would need a diode on both harnesses for those particular functions but i dont. Weird, but if it works im going with it.
 
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I guess i have the mindset of an old op or something. I will spend all day working on some project if i can do it for $20 instead of $100.

I have never been a rich man so i have had to make do, fix, repair damn near whatever i can my whole life.

-My hottub? Got that for free off of craigs and had to fix it.

-My honda im driving? I got a floor machine for free, spent $60+labor fixing it up, traded it and $50 for the honda. Spent $200 on new valves and head gasket etc on ebay, i now have a $4000 car for $300+ my time.

-My green 97 caddie that just went bye-bye? I bought it for $400 needing alot of work. TOok alot of used parts off of my red caddie that had recently blown up and spent a couple hundo, made a good car out of that. Just traded that for a 2000 gmc safari for the mrs.

- My tvs? Downstairs its a dlp i got for free and i made a lamp fit i also got for free. Upstairs its a 42" lcd 1080p set i bought for $40 and made a different power supply fit. The internet blu ray player was bought off of craigslist used as well.

- My tools at work? ALot were bought used. I only buy new when i absolutely have to.

- My games? Yep, you guessed it. 95% of them were bought broken, not working and i fixed them. I guess its just my lot in life to be a fixer or something.
I will take damn near every junk game i can and strip out the switches, controls, wiring, power supplies, monitors, you name it. I hate having to buy something knowing damn well i had my hands on a used one previously.

Sometimes, yes, i wish i could go buy that $3500 rfm pin(you have no idea how bad i want that) or just buy all new parts to build a project. But the reality is im not a rich man, so i make do with what i have.
 
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this is more appropriate for our 1980s demographic. FIddler on the roof blows.




FYI, learn how to embed already :D hehe
 
this is more appropriate for our 1980s demographic. FIddler on the roof blows.




FYI, learn how to embed already :D hehe

I confess -- don't know how to embed youtube but do okay with pics.

And Fiddler is awesome! That and Les Miserables are the best musicals I've ever seen although I really like Chicago too...
 
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