Ms. Pac-man power switch wiring

ckasek

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I picked up a ms. pacman a few weeks back, and the power switch on the top of the cab wasn't connected. There were two wires running up (i think blue/green), with one attached to the screw holding the power switch in, and one attached to a screw on the speaker. Any chance these are supposed to be attached to the switch itself?

There were then two thicker brown wires running to the coin door and soldered to the tech switch up front, with the connection wrapped in electrical tape. I was thinking maybe these were supposed to be attached to the power switch on top, because there were two red wires that had been cut on the coin door that were hanging loose with the ends taped off.

I cut the brown cables so that I could remove the coin door, and now I'm just looking to get things attached properly in the coin door, as well as getting the power switch up top reconnected. I can take more pictures later if needed, but wondering if anyone can provide any info or pics of the wiring on their coin door switch and the switch on top of the cab.

Thanks!

Here's the two loose wires inside the coin door:
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The power switch wires are, from the factory, brown. You should be able to follow those wires you cut back to the power cord entering the game - the top cabinet power switch comes before the safety interlock on the back.

The green/yellow wires on the mounting screws are ground wires, and are all connected to the ground prong on the power cord. Leave those alone.

The red wire you see dangling is the control ground wire, and the red-green wire is the credit switch input. Those wires should go to a pushbutton mounted inside the coin door, for a service credit.

Someone probably replaced the pushbutton with a toggle switch to turn the game on and off.

-Ian
 
Here is the offending toggle switch. Is this a bad thing to have had hooked up?

To be used to turn the power on and off for the whole game? Not entirely. It's convenient... but I think it's probably being run right at the ragged edge of it's current rating. Not to mention the fact that you now have nice, exposed, uninsulated AC wires right in the coin door.

That toggle switch isn't factory. There is supposed to be a little momentary contact pushbutton switch there to add service credits. Someone removed it, and installed a toggle switch in the hole and wired it to turn the game on and off.

So, personally, I'd put it back the way it's supposed to be. Use the nice heavy duty switch on the top of the game to turn it on and off with, and put a pushbutton there for credits. But, if you really want a power switch there, try to find a little beefier switch, and insulate the connections to the switch. Also, be very, very sure the AC wiring doesn't get pinched in the door.

-Ian
 
I went over to radio shack, and realized I didn't know nearly enough of what kind of switch i need.

Rather than an on/off type button I linked above, it seems I want a momentary switch that is normally open (NO). With what I linked above, I would think it would either constantly send credits once it was pushed, or you would have to push it to turn it off, and then push it again to turn it on for a credit. The momentary NO would complete the circuit (and thus trigger a credit) when pushed, and then would be back off once depressed. Sound about right?

Only thing I'm not sure about now is how many amps - the one at radio shack was .5 amps at 125VAC, no idea what if this would suffice for the tech credit switch.

Also, the switch that was previously wired to the power was 10 amp 125VAC. Would that be beefy enough to be a reliable power switch?

I'm really a noob at this stuff, so any help is appreciated.
 
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Only thing I'm not sure about now is how many amps - the one at radio shack was .5 amps at 125VAC, no idea what if this would suffice for the tech credit switch.
Yeah, that's more than enough. And you are correct, you want a momentary contact, normally open switch. The credit switch has only TTL level voltage on it (5 volts), and minuscule current (far, far less than .5A). Anything will work fine.

Also, the switch that was previously wired to the power was 10 amp 125VAC. Would that be beefy enough to be a reliable power switch?

10 amps is plenty for a power switch. The game only draws 2 or 3 A. The toggle in the picture just didn't look like a 10A switch - it looks more like a 2A switch - which would be not quite enough for the job. But 10A is fine. You just want to make sure that the switch can handle the current that will be drawn through it.

-Ian
 
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