multi-pcb cabinet wiring suggestions

mcdeez

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I am planning on adding more pcbs to my cabinets since i don't have the room for more machines. I have looked at the 2 and 6 way switchers that people sell and i don't like the idea of only having a remote to change the games. My idea was to just let each board have its own power supply and jamma harness and find a way to just switch the power to the power supplies. anyone see a major problem with this and if not does anyone know of a good way to switch the power. I can find on-off-on toggles and maintained key switches but i was looking for a way to do 3 or more without having to cycle the power through each power supply to turn on the game i want to play. Something like the older push button kvm switches.
 
i've got 3 cabs done this way. 2 of them have 6 games each. For those, i used a bank of 3 on-off-on toggles to switch the power. Flip switch 1 up for game 1, down for game 2 etc. I just labeled them accordingly.

Edit - since i did them this way, i didn't need to use 6 power supplies. For switching the controls from one pcb to another i used 2 4 port parallel printer switches. Its not hard to do, but it can get confusing, and very time consuming.
 
power supplies are'nt really expensive and i like the idea of using lit buttons so when i turn on one game only the buttons needed are lit. i considered multiple toggles but would like to find something were 2 boards wouldn't be on at the same time by mistake.
 
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heres a general layout of what i am thinking. Right now i plan on using a midway cabinet(former mk2 - if it doesn't sell). 19 in 1 capcom cps2 board, neo geo single slot w/108 in 1 cart, tekken tag tournament, still thinking on a fourth board would like a naomi but will probably go with an atomiswave or system 246.
I figure i will need 4 jamma harness, 4 power supplies, 2 3-way toggles, a modified 4 slot neo geo marquee and the lit buttons, and will probably use terminal strips instead of molex plugs for the buttons.
plan is when you power on the game the mini marquee for the game will light along with buttons that will be needed for the game(6 for the capcom, 5 tekken tag, 4 neo geo ect.)

anyone see any major disasters with this setup other than cost and making sure 2 boards arent' powered on at the same time by mistake.
 
Make sure you have a cabinet big enough to stuff it all into is rule 1. An MK2 should be enough, zenomorp has all the MKs in a single MK cabinet. I've been somewhat trying to do this in a Karate Champ cabinet and it just isn't going to fit everything. I also have been pondering on the idea of button lighting per game, but haven't been able to come up with something that'd work as of yet (I was actually wanting to change button color per button based on game w/ switchable leds) so if you find a solution for that I'd be very interested in the details of it.

*e* Oh and standard warnings about being careful with the wiring of the Neo Geo board.
 
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yea was little worried about the neo geo but i decided to hang onto my harness for it. jamma but with fourth button wired in. I took it out of a converted nintendo cab.
yea the mortal kombat is huge inside i may just hang onto to it if i can get this to work and sell my dynamo with the blue elf, if you look at craiglist you can sell a multicade for millions ;-)
 
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I like the idea and the game selection. Ive been toying with switching between neo and cps2 for my cab. What do you see your button layout being? ive read that you might need diodes in places anybody know witch ones?

BTW the only time neo wiring (outside of the 4th button) isnt JAMMA is when its a multi slot board
 
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I like the idea and the game selection. Ive been toying with switching between neo and cps2 for my cab. What do you see your button layout being? ive read that you might need diodes in places anybody know witch ones?

BTW the only time neo wiring (outside of the 4th button) isnt JAMMA is when its a multi slot board

If you're splicing all the kick harnesses together all going to the CP at once, you'd need diodes in line before they hit the splice to prevent "phantom" button presses.

Thanks for the Neo info, I knew some of them had the audio going through an odd pin and some of them didn't, I don't have one so hadn't committed which is which to memory yet.
 
i am thinking of doing the control panel button layout like the candy cabs the offset curve of the buttons look almost like the 4 button layout for the neo but looks comfortable for the 6 button street fighter layout.

if you get the large single slot neo you can run audio out a 4 pin connector on the board for stereo sound(the one i have is like this).

i hadn't considered diodes but that shouldn't be too hard to setup i may check to see if there are any terminal blocks with this built in.
 
I really don't see what the big problem people have with the remote on the switchers.:confused:
Just stick it inside the coin door with 2 sided tape and it won't get lost and you just need to open the door and push a button.
Screw all that switch and wiring crap.:rolleyes:
 
I used a 6 slot switcher with my multicade until I got the Red Box. Only issue I ever had was that the first slot didn't want to load certain games. As for the remote I just put a small paneling nail in the top of the cabinet near the back and hung it there out of the way and out of sight until I needed it. Definatley less complicated than the wiring.
 
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