New Project: CPS-2 Desuicide and JAMMA Test Station

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New Project: CPS-2 Desuicide and JAMMA Test Station

While recently replacing all of my CPS-2 batteries (5 total), and climbing behind my Big Blue uncomfortably every time, to test my work after completing, I though there's gotta be a better way to do this. That coupled with my intent to resurrect my SF Alpha that suicided as a result of one of those battery replacements, I figured, why not make it a clean and (somewhat) mobile setup that could be put away as an entire unit, and not have to be disassembled and put away every time, with a likelihood that something will eventually break in the assembly disassembly process, something will get mis-placed, etc etc.

To start, I got a piece of whatever kind of wood this is, and a power strip, from work. We just moved into a new building, and these were both things left behind by the former tenant.

My arduino and sainshield screen showed up today, so I promptly got the arduino programmed for the task (following the instructions at http://arcadehacker.blogspot.com/). In the process, I realized it wouldn't be convenient to run a USB cable wherever the arduino might be set up for the job. A quick bit of reviewing the arduino data sheet, and I found a power supply that works perfectly, stored away in some dark corner of my garage, with a 10/100 network switch that I'll probably never use again, and am not even sure it works.

This is just the bare beginnings. The rest of the setup will consist of:

1) HAPP 15A switching power supply
2) JAMMA harness - power leads wired to PS, RGBS wired to a spare RGBS-to-Composite converter that I have, and audio wired to a single RCA audio male connector
3) Free small TV with composite and audio in, from craigslist (I'm checking daily, they are common)
4) Eventually, I will integrate a joystick and buttons, maybe even hack a cheap fight stick like my recent mayflash mod, but with no PCB in it...just wire it direct to the JAMMA harness. Therefore, add minimalist supergun functionality on the cheap.

So, that's the idea. I am doing it on the cheap to start, and have actually been very lucky to find spare parts in my stash that will work, like the power supply, and some connectors that will work to complete the desuicide setup. There is certainly room to scale up as time goes on (and my finances can sustain it).

More to come....



 
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Got all the pieces together yesterday, and went to town until around 1 in the morning. The only snag in startup was the pin header I ordered for the Arduino needed 7 pins, and I somehow ordered one with only 3. :( Thankfully, the local Fry's has strips of the exact correct pin headers in stock, for less than $2 for 3 stips of 15 pins each. Of course, while I was there, that $2 turned into $40....but hey, the extra tools and the finer point solder tip proved necessary for the project. :p

Once that little snag was resolved, everything went pretty smoothly with the JAMMA side of the equation. FYI, a garbage disposal power cord works great for giving AC power to a switching power supply. No need to re-purpose an otherwise perfectly working extension cord.

Switcher in place, starting to plan out the entire layout


All components in place, power leads thoroughly tested to ensure the right power is going where it needs to.


 
I still need to wire audio to a male RCA plug.

The arduino/de-suicide side of the equation has not proven successful yet. Tried de-suiciding my SF Alpha board, and it is still in suicide mode. Everything appears to work correctly (the arduino appears to program it), but no joy yet. I'm probably doing something wrong. It was late when I started testing that, so more effort is probably needed there.

One other oddity, maybe nothing, buy hoping to get feedback from others. Below are the values I read with my multimeter, at the JAMMA connector, with power on, CPS-2 board running and RGBS encoder pulling +12V from the switcher.

+5v = 5.1v
-5v = -5.8v
+12v = 13.5v

Do these values look acceptable? I'm worried about -5v and +12v. I have only the one adjustable dial on the PSU, which appears to have a linear affect on all rails.
 
It seems I spoke too soon. My Alpha board is now resurrected. The battery in my multimeter was dying, and as a result, giving some "off" readings. The above values that I measured at the JAMMA board are from after replacing the battery and after re-adjusting the power supply. However, I believe that the +5v was off enough last night (too low) that re-programming the encryption key wouldn't take. It is either that, or not strictly following the order of 1) provide power to game board, then 2) provide power to the arduino, affected the successful programming of the encryption key.





 
That is awesome! Was so cool reading about the finding that you could resurrect a board, but seeing it work for the end-user is even better. Congratulations man!
 
I finished building out the JAMMA test setup. Added audio and some minimalist controls. Video here:

https://youtu.be/A_hwQvO-dgE

I started working on the audio last night, with 'speaker +' and 'speaker -' wired correctly to a female RCA connector. But, it was producing some weird "frequency-like" noise (for lack of a better description). Thankfully, doing some research this morning, I found a post from 2012 about taking JAMMA audio out to normal speakers, and Ken Layton's advise of disconnecting 'speaker -' from the RCA connector did the trick.

Also, as I like to learn things the hard way: if bundling a bunch of unused connectors, make sure you pull the protective jackets over them, so they aren't potentially shorting to each other. :/ Thankfully, nothing was harmed by my learning curve.

 
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Just got the Gonbes 8200 in, and pulled the cheapy composite/S-video encoder I started this setup with, and replaced it. The Gonbes is sweet, and especially for the price tag (under $25 shipped). It looks great on this old VGA computer monitor I had lying around.

I also added the "on-board" speakers earlier in the week, pulled from a TV. For monaural sound, there is no noticeable quality difference compared to the speakers in any of my cabs.

I broke down and ordered an undamned USB to JAMMA decoder, too. Once I knew I was going VGA out, which my main gaming display has an input for...well, it's time to go supergun. More on that soon.




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I broke down and ordered an undamned USB to JAMMA decoder, too. Once I knew I was going VGA out, which my main gaming display has an input for...well, it's time to go supergun. More on that soon.

I use the Undamned USB decoder on my Jamma test bench with an Xbox 360 controller, works great.
 
I use the Undamned USB decoder on my Jamma test bench with an Xbox 360 controller, works great.

Nice. Good to know. I've got a couple sticks with cthulhu boards in them, and supposedly the undamned decoder was designed specifically to work with them.
 
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