Cluster Bomb of Ground Wires

PhoenixStar

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I recently picked up a WWF Wrestlefest game and decided to rewire the controls with updated wire, and also for the purpose of making it cleaner for future repair. Before I began, I took a look at what the previous owner had wired up. My conclusion. . . something is not right, really not right. Enclosed I have a drawing of how the ground is wired.

1) The ground for 1-4 player select buttons goes to player controls 2 & 4. However, Players 2 & 4 also ground on their own plug connector as well. Players 1-4 select have their own group plug as well. So these buttons & controls seem to ground out in 3 different connectors on 1 loop.

2) Player controls 3 & 1 have their own ground in their own plug connector.


My questions are. . .

1) Does it matter how you wire the ground, and how many connectors on it? Can I load up as many joysticks/buttons on 1 ground in any particular order as long as it's grounded?

2) Can I just wire the 1-4 player select buttons on their own ground, and each player controls on their own separate ground (ex P1/P2/P3/P4) so Im not feeding off any others? I really want each control on a separate ground. This would mean I have 5 different ground wires all going into their own respective plug connectors.

Phew that was confusing to write! Hopefully it's easier to read.
 

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i added one that has to be there for everything to work in red.
i added one that doesnt have to be there in blue but could help kinda but not necessary. some, like the one from the P1 start to the plug harness doesnt have to be there, its redundant.
 

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My questions are. . .

1) Does it matter how you wire the ground, and how many connectors on it? Can I load up as many joysticks/buttons on 1 ground in any particular order as long as it's grounded?

doesnt matter or how many connectors. just as long as theres continuity from the farthest point, through all the connectors. thicker wire is better for lower resistance and i solder connections for long term connectivity.

2) Can I just wire the 1-4 player select buttons on their own ground, and each player controls on their own separate ground (ex P1/P2/P3/P4) so Im not feeding off any others? I really want each control on a separate ground. This would mean I have 5 different ground wires all going into their own respective plug connectors.

yes you can do whatever you want but ground is just a ground. extra wires arent needed. everything can "feed" off one wire and it'll work fine. when i wire a control panel, i make a loop (or a circle) so if one side breaks for whatever reason theres the second half to keep everything running.

*remember* in the movies when the indians or whoever would climb the pole to cut the telegraph wire? there was only one wire to cut right? thats because at the destination was the ground or the telegraph button which would ground the wire to earth. thats how the signal was sent/received. kinda a bad analogy you understand.
 
i added one that has to be there for everything to work in red.
i added one that doesnt have to be there in blue but could help kinda but not necessary. some, like the one from the P1 start to the plug harness doesnt have to be there, its redundant.

splattergatz thanks for the tip in red! I must have missed it under that under all the other controller wires.


Good vid!

Here is the same pic with my ideal situation that I want. This is good right? I dont see a need to have other controllers linking off each other.
 

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My questions are. . .

1) Does it matter how you wire the ground, and how many connectors on it? Can I load up as many joysticks/buttons on 1 ground in any particular order as long as it's grounded?

doesnt matter or how many connectors. just as long as theres continuity from the farthest point, through all the connectors. thicker wire is better for lower resistance and i solder connections for long term connectivity.

2) Can I just wire the 1-4 player select buttons on their own ground, and each player controls on their own separate ground (ex P1/P2/P3/P4) so Im not feeding off any others? I really want each control on a separate ground. This would mean I have 5 different ground wires all going into their own respective plug connectors.

yes you can do whatever you want but ground is just a ground. extra wires arent needed. everything can "feed" off one wire and it'll work fine. when i wire a control panel, i make a loop (or a circle) so if one side breaks for whatever reason theres the second half to keep everything running.

*remember* in the movies when the indians or whoever would climb the pole to cut the telegraph wire? there was only one wire to cut right? thats because at the destination was the ground or the telegraph button which would ground the wire to earth. thats how the signal was sent/received. kinda a bad analogy you understand.

Is a 16-18 gauge good enough for the resisitance? What could happen if I used 20-22 gauge? And by the way thanks for answering all my questions directly. Ive learned a ton from your posts.
 
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I think you're over thinking this (something I do all the time). Were talking low low voltage over very short distances so you will be just fine using cat-5 if you wanted. I can't recall the exact gauge of the wires used in cat 5, but just think, telco's run this stuff for thousands of feet and the usual ring voltage of a phone is around 47 volts. Thats much more than whats required for arcade buttons.
 
Agreed; these are signal wires with very low current; you could use 30ga with no problem...

You still should to observe proper grounding technique; find where the common 'star point' is to avoid ground loops.
 
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