Jamma test bench controller

Sectorseven

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Got an old playstation controller I'm hacking up for my test bench controller. I've got UDLR, buttons 1-4, coin and start wired up so far. I still have another four buttons free on it, is there anything on the harness worth connecting? The pin outs are kind of vague. Some say "slam," some say "button 5" and others simply say "not used."

Also the "test" switch is a momentary contact switch, right? So I should be able to connect that to the controller?
 
The three extra buttons are Slam (or Tilt), Service, and Test.

Slam (Pin S) is the coin door tilt switch - used to trigger an alarm if the game is kicked. Sometimes it's used to exit control test menus.

Service (Pin R) is the service credit switch - used in some test menus, and in general, puts a credit on the machine without incrementing the coin counter.

Test (Pin 15) gets you in to test mode, and sometimes it's momentary, other times it's on/off - depends on the game. Most later games seem to use momentary switches for this. But there is no hard and fast rule.

-Ian
 
A momentary ought to be fine then, right? I mean, worst case scenario I could just hold it down.
 
A momentary ought to be fine then, right? I mean, worst case scenario I could just hold it down.

Yeah, pretty much. If you had lots of room on your test rig, I'd say use both in parallel, but the momentary will work fine much of the time. I used a momentary switch on my test rig, and it works fine for most things, really. Since I used poker machine buttons, it's really easy for me to jam it down with a piece of paper if i need to. To tell you the truth, it's pretty rare I need to do that.

-Ian
 
I'm not sure that this is the proper name, but I've always called then Momentary On-Off-On.

Yeah - I know exactly the kind of switch you're talking about, and I'm not sure what it's called either :) Definitely would be the perfect part for this application, if you can find one. I know I have a few scavenged from various things, but they're not particularly common.

Realistically, you can use any switch - momentary switches can be held down, and on/off switches can be flipped back and forth quickly. You can wire two in parallel for the best of both worlds - or use the above referenced part that does both.

Wire it up one way, and if you don't like it - change it :)

As for other buttons to connect - you might want a Coin 2 button, and the Player 2 start as well. Some test modes are exited by pressing both start buttons. The PSX controller should have ample buttons if you wanted to do it all on the control pad - I went with putting coin, start and service switches on the test rig box itself, and just controls on the controller - a modified Sega Genesis pad.

-Ian
 
I was going to wire p1 controls to a DA-15 and p2 to another DA-15 and just swap the controller as needed.
 
Just a follow up question.

I have a male and female connector for the end of the controller and the connector on the box. I know it really doesn't matter, but is the male connector traditionally used on the controller end or the box itself?
 
Use a standard on/off toggle and it will work fine. In the case where you need a momentary just flip the switch on and back off and it will think its a momentary switch.
 
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