Can you wire coin door lamps in series?

PhoenixStar

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I have a Final Fight PCB, want to hook up coin door lamps (currently stripped, non existent).
The manual says hook up to the -5v on the power supply. However this raises a few questions for me.

1) What type of bulbs can I hook up off that line? Is it as obvious as 5v? I thought there were different kinds of bulb voltages.

2) Do I have to run 2 separate hot wires to the -5v line, or can I wire them in series like speakers without dimming bulbs or ruining something?

3) Do I need to install an inline fuse, if yes what amp? Is the fuse going to be the same if wired in series?

4) What's the difference between hooking up the lamps to the +5v spot as opposed to the -5v spot? I see many debates over this on klov between many great minds. Who's right??

5) And lastly the -5v or +5v means that amt of voltage always readily available no matter how many things or what's drawing a load from it?
 
Lamps

If you want the second lamp to be dimmer than the first one in line, you can run them in series. Run them in series, parallel.

Some older games used the -5 side. Newer ones use the +5v. Either will work. People use the -5 is used on switchers because it is not used on many games so it is an empty terminal.
 
. People use the -5 is used on switchers because it is not used on many games so it is an empty terminal.

Are you saying hook directly up to the -5v on the power supply or on the -5v harness terminal? If you hook it up to the harness terminal that looks like the circuit ends there with no power, unlike the +5v which can connect back to the power supply.

This is where I get confused. Is the -5v mean polarity like "negative 5v", I thought I has current? Does the ground have to change or any other part of the wiring?
 
You generally want to wire coin lamps in parallel, and if you're running them off five volts, then you definitely can't run them in series. Remember, if you have two bulbs in series, and you're powering them both from 5v, then each bulb only gets 2.5v. You need to wire them in parallel. There's nothing says you have to run two 5v wires all the way back to the power supply though. Just wire them in parallel at the coin door.

5v, -5v, it doesn't matter. -5v is rarely used, so it's a free terminal on the supply in most cases. It's negative with respect to ground - but the voltage difference between -5v and ground is still five volts, and bulbs don't care about polarity.

Personally, I like to avoid running coin door lamps off the switcher at all... most games have a winding on the transformer for coin lamps - use that if you can.

-Ian
 
Personally, I like to avoid running coin door lamps off the switcher at all... most games have a winding on the transformer for coin lamps - use that if you can.

-Ian

Are you refering to the isolation transformer? If I wired the bulbs to the -5v harness, I dont see how it gets power (ex: the +5v terminal at the harness shares a tab back to the power supply). Does this mean I dont have to wire from the -5v harness terminal back to the -5v on the power supply? I dont think the -5v terminal on the board is self powered right? I still ultimately have to get a wire to the power supply I would think.

So is it:

Bulbs > -5v Harness (stops at the board)?
or
Bulbs > -5v Harness > "somehow back to the power supply" ?
 
You don't wire the coin door lamps into the Jamma connector. They need to be connected to the power supply. The board doesn't supply power, it uses it. The power supply supplies the power :)

Think of it this way. Wire your two coin door lamps in parallel, then run the two wires from the coin door lamps, back to the power supply. One of them is ground, one of them is *some voltage*. -5, +5, it really doesn't matter from a light bulb lighting up standpoint. The bulbs still see five volts regardless. If you're using standard 6.3v bulbs (like 555 wedge base bulbs), then they'll light nicely on five volts.

So, take your two wires, screw one of them onto the COM terminal, and the other one onto the -5v terminal.

-Ian
 
I wire up coin door lamps in series all the time without a problem. The ground goes to one then the other. And the power goes to one then the other. I connect the ground to the switcher DC ground and the power to either the +5 or +12, depending on the bulb...
 
You don't wire the coin door lamps into the Jamma connector. They need to be connected to the power supply. The board doesn't supply power, it uses it. The power supply supplies the power :)
-Ian

Gotcha. I was just getting confused because I have a Wrestlefest I was referencing which goes as follows:

Bulb > wire into +5v harness terminal > then wire out of different/neighboring +5v terminal on harness via horseshoe/shared copper path on board > wire to inline 5a fuse > wire into +5v power supply.

It was using a horseshoe path on the board as an input/output to get to the powersupply between 2 neighboring +5v's on the harness.

I guess most games dont do that. :)
 
Many people have a decent working knowledge of electronics without knowing proper terminology (pun).

That's fine, but you have a little trouble communicating things to others if you are using the wrong terms.

There are several things I can fix on a car even if I don't know the proper names...
 
Being semi-new to this is there anyone that could take some pictures of the difference between series and parallel in reguards to this situation.
 
Being semi-new to this is there anyone that could take some pictures of the difference between series and parallel in reguards to this situation.

You can google image "bulbs in series" or "bulbs in parallel". It's pretty straight forward. You just need to learn the advantages and dis-advantages of each setup regarding flow of electricity which you can view animated illustrations for on youtube.
 
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