Do All The Multi Jamma Board Switchers Suck ?

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Is there a good one ? I've only heard people say they suck and theres constant power fed to the boards , or something like that , which is bad . Should I get one or instead just swap out PCB's when I wanna play a new game .
 
No one has tried this one. you could be the first!

I might actually be getting one pretty soon here to try out. If I do I'll be sure to post my results. I plan on using one for multi trackball games or a mult shooting game. Since these don't have too many buttons though my results might not be very indicative of how well it actually works though.
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a fellow KLOV'r sold me a jamma switcher a short while back and it was a huge steamy P.O.S.

not only did the boards make an awful sound when switched, whichever game was hooked up to the secondary was always all fuzzy. Sort of like it had a bad power supply and was experiencing hum bars.

not all warm and fuzzy bout that one
 
I have a 6 in 1 from jammaboards and it works great.
It looks exactly like the one linked above.
Maybe I got a good one but it has given me no trouble at all.
I had to do the -5v mod for DK & DKJR but that was easy.
It only powers one board at a time also.
If you really want a switcher then there aren't many options.
Jammaboards isn't getting anymore,from what I have heard.
So you either have to get the one on ebay or the 2 in 1 from mikes which powers both boards at the same time and is more expensive.
 
Cool ! Yeah let us know if you get one and how it works out . That same guys is also selling a 6 n 1 , http://cgi.ebay.com/Remote-Control-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item483928dcf4


I also have one of these 6 in 1's. However I had not had the same good luck as Jimkirk has had. I've had 3 of my power relay's burn out. Kept asking jammaboards for replacement relays(since I bought it from them). And he told me that he does have some extra relays, but they are for the "New" ones that he gets in and says that he uses them as replacments when the new boards from china fail right off the bat, so the extra's are for those. In other words it was tough sh*t for me. So now my 6 in 1 is a 3 in 1. (i could probably find replacements, just haven't looked as hard yet)

So yes, when the 6 in1 worked properly. It was great. As Jimkirk mentioned you have to do the -5v mod. But this switcher does just power up one board at a time. Which is good.

However don't lose the remote as THAT is your only means to switch boards.



;
 
i recently heard from someone who had just bought one of Clay's kits from http://www.multigame.com/jamma.html (apparently, despite many rumors to the contrary, he is still making and selling them.)

I just pulled a trade with Clay for one of his switchers which he said just came in a new batch... so yes, he is still making/selling these. I've heard nothing but great things about Clay's switchers so I'm excited to get it installed into my cab. Hopefully I'll have time to get that done in the next week.
 
I just pulled a trade with Clay for one of his switchers which he said just came in a new batch... so yes, he is still making/selling these. I've heard nothing but great things about Clay's switchers so I'm excited to get it installed into my cab. Hopefully I'll have time to get that done in the next week.

Clay's switcher looks the best , I'll probably get that one . Its much more expensive but if its better quality and won't break , its worth it .
 
I also have one of these 6 in 1's. However I had not had the same good luck as Jimkirk has had. I've had 3 of my power relay's burn out. Kept asking jammaboards for replacement relays(since I bought it from them). And he told me that he does have some extra relays, but they are for the "New" ones that he gets in and says that he uses them as replacments when the new boards from china fail right off the bat, so the extra's are for those. In other words it was tough sh*t for me. So now my 6 in 1 is a 3 in 1. (i could probably find replacements, just haven't looked as hard yet)

So yes, when the 6 in1 worked properly. It was great. As Jimkirk mentioned you have to do the -5v mod. But this switcher does just power up one board at a time. Which is good.

However don't lose the remote as THAT is your only means to switch boards.



;

Hi, I am in the same boat. Bought a 6 in 1 to replace a 2 in 1. Funny thing is, out of the box, channel 2 never had sound, so I at first had a 5 in 1. Now I have 3 boards hooked up in the cab, but only 2 work. I switched the non-working one to another channel, and it worked for a day. 2 weeks later, same thing. Switched it to the last open working channel, next time I powered it up, that board again was dead. Now that it too has stopped working, I am left with a 2 in 1. That sucks.
 
The ones above are POS! Clay's are great, but the ones Yaton sells are bad chinese knockoffs...
 
I switched the non-working one to another channel, and it worked for a day. 2 weeks later, same thing. Switched it to the last open working channel, next time I powered it up, that board again was dead. Now that it too has stopped working, I am left with a 2 in 1. That sucks.

Probably because they're using too low of an amperage relay on them for the +5V line and then trying to digitally switch the amplified speaker outputs. If unamplified, a digital controlled analog passing switch would work, but amplified sound like Jamma has, would need a digital relay or real relay on that line.

Meter your relays and I'm sure you'll find that they are the power culprit, unless the entire digital switch over all the input lines also is frying. Check the amp specs on the power relays as well. You might be able to swap them out for higher amp relays. Meter your boards when connected directly to see what your amp draw is on the +5V lines. Even a cheap $2 meter from Harbor Freight will even do this for you, you just need to connect it between the +5V terminal on the power supply and the line running to the jamma harness.

Clay's is probably the most reliable, and the Chinese ones might be made reliable by upgrading some components, but is it worth it (unless you already have bought it)?


10A SPDT relays or 8A DPDT (enough for many, but not all boards) can be had for around $1-$2 each here: http://www.futurlec.com/RelDip.shtml However, not owning one of these, I don't know what the pinout is and how many lines they're switching. A closeup pic of the board would help.
 
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Hi, I am in the same boat. Bought a 6 in 1 to replace a 2 in 1. Funny thing is, out of the box, channel 2 never had sound, so I at first had a 5 in 1. Now I have 3 boards hooked up in the cab, but only 2 work. I switched the non-working one to another channel, and it worked for a day. 2 weeks later, same thing. Switched it to the last open working channel, next time I powered it up, that board again was dead. Now that it too has stopped working, I am left with a 2 in 1. That sucks.


6 in 1 to a 2 in 1? That does suck. I thought my converted 6 in 1 to a 3 in 1 was bad. Mine has been failing starting with slot 5 then 6 and 4. No rhyme or reason to it. They just quit working. Not cool. And Jamma boards had pretty much washed their hands of the whole thing. So I really haven't bought anything from them since. (I bought it a year ago).

So, I guess I'll just use it until it fully sh*ts out. Still torks me off that my bloody Pac-Man board can last for 25+ years with only a cap kit needed 25 years later. Yet this piece of "Fine" Chinese Cuisine has only last me a year and not to it's fullest advertisement.


;
 
10A SPDT relays or 8A DPDT (enough for many, but not all boards) can be had for around $1-$2 each here: http://www.futurlec.com/RelDip.shtml However, not owning one of these, I don't know what the pinout is and how many lines they're switching. A closeup pic of the board would help.
I got one of these boards in last night. I'll shoot a picture of the relays and try to post it later tonight or tomorrow. I think you're right about the wrong relays being used.
 
I'm running Mike's 2 in 1 for a phoenix/pleades switch. I've also had Clay's jamma switcher installed in my GnG for at least 5 years with ZERO issues. I'm running Ghost's, Ghouls, Aliens and Mile Miglia. Switch connected to one coin reject, just push to change games. The extra PS's and boards take up a lot of space and generate heat, so fans are important. I don't have access to my home computer right now, but it anyone wants to see pics of my layout, I'll post them late tonight or tomorrow.
 
However, not owning one of these, I don't know what the pinout is and how many lines they're switching. A closeup pic of the board would help.

I hope these are close enough for you.

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They're using a SRE-12VDC-SL-2C Chinese (Songle) relay http://www.songle.com/prodimg/200849045112235.JPG.

Edit: Found the datasheet for it at Songle's site: http://www.songle.com/pdf/20084141618381000.pdf

It appears they are double pole and 5 Amp per pole, and they're using 2 of them which means it can switch 4 lines.

However, looking at the pinout to the male end of the card edge Jamma connector, they're putting all 4, +5 volt pins onto one single pole. This means that 5 amps is the maximum that it can switch on the +5V line!

Then they entirely skip the -5V line (meaning that's dead and never fed to the slots to the boards) and then they use another pole on each of the relays to do the +12V switching into 2 lines. meaning they can switch a total of 10 Amp of +12V, which makes no sense since +12V usually is a lot lower amp draw than the +5V line. (1A-2A of +12V vs. 5A-10A of +5V). Then they're using the last pole of the 2nd relay to switch one lead of the speaker connector on pin 10.

In other words, from looking at the pictures this is just a completely horrible design, unless I'm not seeing something correctly. If what I see is correct they should have swapped +5 and +12 to have 2 poles for +5 and 1 pole for +12. then they would have 10A +5V and 5A +12V switching, much more in line with current draw on Jamma boards. (Though I'm not convinced they're really using 2 poles to switch +12V but it's hard to tell in the pics)

Here's 2 pictures I believe what they're currently doing and what they should do.
 

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They're using a SRE-12VDC-SL-2C Chinese (Songle) relay http://www.songle.com/prodimg/200849045112235.JPG.

Edit: Found the datasheet for it at Songle's site: http://www.songle.com/pdf/20084141618381000.pdf

It appears they are double pole and 5 Amp per pole, and they're using 2 of them which means it can switch 4 lines.

However, looking at the pinout to the male end of the card edge Jamma connector, they're putting all 4, +5 volt pins onto one single pole. This means that 5 amps is the maximum that it can switch on the +5V line!

Then they entirely skip the -5V line (meaning that's dead and never fed to the slots to the boards) and then they use another pole on each of the relays to do the +12V switching into 2 lines. meaning they can switch a total of 10 Amp of +12V, which makes no sense since +12V usually is a lot lower amp draw than the +5V line. (1A-2A of +12V vs. 5A-10A of +5V). Then they're using the last pole of the 2nd relay to switch one lead of the speaker connector on pin 10.

In other words, from looking at the pictures this is just a completely horrible design, unless I'm not seeing something correctly. If what I see is correct they should have swapped +5 and +12 to have 2 poles for +5 and 1 pole for +12. then they would have 10A +5V and 5A +12V switching, much more in line with current draw on Jamma boards.

I'll do some more looking later but that's what I gather from a quick peek.

Those Bastards !!

Can these boards be easily modded ?
 
I have a new 2-1 switcher, sort of

I have a new 2-1 switcher, sort of.

It routes every signal, has zero compatibility issues, has no interference at all between games, is incredibly easy to install w/o any modifications, only powers one game at a time, and doesn't require adding any extra power supplies.

I'm currently using it to switch between my Gauntlet Legends game and NBA Jam in one cabinet.

What product am I talking about? It's a little bit of out-of-the-box thinking but it works for me and I really like it.

I'm switching using Bob Robert's jamma extension cables. I'd previously bought one to hook up the Jam board to the cabs jamma harness but I still had to go to the back and move the cable when I wanted to switch games.

Now, Jam is a standard res game and GL is a medium res game so I have to adjust the monitor settings a bit between games anyway. No problem -- I simply moved the remote monitor adjustment board into my CP and can adjust it in about 10 seconds.

And, both GL and NBA Jam are 4 player games that work with a kick harness for p3 and p4 and I'd rigged up a CP harness that would simply allow me to move 2 plugs to switch P3 and P4 between games. It takes 15 seconds to switch in the CP and is no big deal.

You see where I'm going with this?

Now, the only thing making me keep my cab back open was the jamma connector so I bought 2 more of the extension harnesses from Bob and have one on each of my Jamma games that lead into the CP. And the 3rd one goes from the cab jamma cable into the CP.

Now when I want to switch games I just move the appropriate Jamma game into the extension cable that goes to the cab's jamma harness.

I have to make 2 other changes in the CP when I switch anyway, why not have a 3rd connector to change in the CP? It takes 5 seconds to switch this way, is dead simple and 100% compatible, and the CP on this game is perfect for this -- it's box-like and I can keep it unlocked all the time and it plays perfectly that way.
 
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