Help me figure this out.

Nesagwa · Oct 23, 2005

Can you guys please explain this stuff to me in as much detail as possible. Please keep in mind that I have hardly any knowledge of electronics, wiring, and how all of that stuff works.

I want to do my cab up in a mame deal. Right now my cab is gutted, all it has in it is the moniter (Rampage cab, original moniter). All I did was unhook the connectors from the power and jamma harness. The Jamma itself was chopped to hell, so I just got rid of it so I could get a fresh one with more buttons. I also got rid of the old powersupply because it was also looking very ragid and was about 20 years old.

I want to use the J-Pac for the jamma to pc connection.

I wasnt really sure how to do the cabinet and the PC at the same time.

Someone on BYOAC posted this chart:

Is that a solution? (And what exactly does this thing even mean?)

Also something I dont know how it would work is wiring the sound. How would that work with a J-Pac and my original arcade speakers (that I really dont want to replace).

If any of you have used a Jpac, how would you wire it for 8 buttons? Would I need to make my own kickharness or what?

SpamYouToDeath · Oct 24, 2005

First off, the JPac never worked well for me. HORRID ghosting problems, etc. Even Pac-Man was unplayable.

That chart is for wiring up the power.

Nesagwa · Oct 24, 2005

SpamYouToDeath said:
First off, the JPac never worked well for me. HORRID ghosting problems, etc. Even Pac-Man was unplayable.

That chart is for wiring up the power.

Well yeah I know its for the power, but what exactly would I have to do to make that work.

Were you using Jpac with a PC moniter or a Arcade one? (And were you using the arcadevga card?)

SpamYouToDeath · Oct 24, 2005

I was using it with an arcade monitor and an old Voodoo Banshee PCI (perfect for odd frequencies), and I meant control ghosting not video ghosting BTW.

Nesagwa · Oct 24, 2005

SpamYouToDeath said:
I was using it with an arcade monitor and an old Voodoo Banshee PCI (perfect for odd frequencies), and I meant control ghosting not video ghosting BTW.

Ah. Could that have been a problem with your PC and not witht he JPAC itself?

SpamYouToDeath · Oct 24, 2005

I tried it with all three of my available PCs.

Nesagwa · Oct 24, 2005

Are there any alternatives?

Nesagwa · Oct 26, 2005

For the cool shit you guys build, you arent alot of help.

Lagduf · Oct 26, 2005

Nesagwa said:
For the cool shit you guys build, you arent alot of help.

Get on AIM i'll see if i can help you.

2bshacked · Oct 27, 2005

If you are going to use the arcade monitor then, yes you would be better off using the jpac with an arcadevga. The jpac works great. Best to start with a new jamma harness, the extra buttons can just be wired to the extra jpac outputs. As for sound you will need an amp, best to hack apart a cheap pair of PC speakers with built in amp and wire in the exsisting arcade speakers to this amp. other than the PC, the only other things that need power are the marquee light and the monitor, best to leave this wiring alone. Have a read here http://www.ultimarc.com/ for info on the jpac and arcadevga, should answer your other questions.

Nesagwa · Oct 27, 2005

2bshacked said:
If you are going to use the arcade monitor then, yes you would be better off using the jpac with an arcadevga. The jpac works great. Best to start with a new jamma harness, the extra buttons can just be wired to the extra jpac outputs. As for sound you will need an amp, best to hack apart a cheap pair of PC speakers with built in amp and wire in the exsisting arcade speakers to this amp. other than the PC, the only other things that need power are the marquee light and the monitor, best to leave this wiring alone. Have a read here http://www.ultimarc.com/ for info on the jpac and arcadevga, should answer your other questions.

I have read, and re-read the stupid FAQ at ultimarcs site.

I know what it says.

It gives a vague overview of what it does and doesnt do.

It doesnt answer what I need answered.

ki_atsushi · Oct 27, 2005

That schematic doesn't even show the J-Pac or the speakers. It won't help much. See if you can buy a mini plug adapter that will connect the speakers right into the sound card's speaker jack. For the J-Pac, doesn't it have all the conncetions labeled so you know where the wires go?

Nesagwa · Oct 27, 2005

ki_atsushi said:
That schematic doesn't even show the J-Pac or the speakers. It won't help much. See if you can buy a mini plug adapter that will connect the speakers right into the sound card's speaker jack. For the J-Pac, doesn't it have all the conncetions labeled so you know where the wires go?

The schematic isnt for J-Pac its for powering a PC and the moniter through the same source.

Stop fucking posting.

stuffmonger · Oct 27, 2005

That drawing is ripped from bob Roberts. It is a description on how to wire your cab's power. http://homearcade.org/BBBB/buildit.html

Nesagwa · Oct 27, 2005

stuffmonger said:
That drawing is ripped from bob Roberts. It is a description on how to wire your cab's power. http://homearcade.org/BBBB/buildit.html

So I would be able to follow that guide sans the power supply (following the modified chart) and it would work ok?

I mean I wouldnt really need the power supply since the PC would need the AC and there wouldnt be a Jamma board inside right?

stuffmonger · Oct 27, 2005

All right... To have this setup sans the power supply would work, or you could even wire it up so that this setup powered your pc pretty easilly as well. To wire up your speakers into a computer wouldn't be very difficult either... in fact, it's very simple... Here's my suggestion on the speakers... spend $1.50 on a mini connector, solder the two or three wires (depending on how many speakers you have) to the connector, and get an extension to plug it into your pc. For the power... you see the three wires going into the power supply? one is the earth ground (ground), and the other two are labelled "AC" (one would carry positive, and the other negative) anyways... wire those into the appropriate pins on the power supply (where you plug in the power cable), and there you go with your pc power.

be sure to test it out BEFORE the power supply goes in your computer though... last thing you need is a fried computer on your hands.

Magnaflux · Oct 27, 2005

Buy some real hardware you dirty hippy.

stuffmonger · Oct 27, 2005

Magnaflux said:
Buy some real hardware you dirty hippy.

if you're talking about buying real games instead of dling roms, I agree 100%.
If you're talking about NOT modding things, then poo on you ;p

Nesagwa · Oct 27, 2005

I still plan on buying real games, I just want a mame cab for kicks.

Ok, so follow that diagram and guide and the moniter / pc power issue is solved.

Thats one issue down.

Im a little confused on what youre saying to do with the speakers though.

stuffmonger · Oct 27, 2005

for the audio... step by step.
buy the connector - something like this should do very nicelly > http://www.marvac.com/detail.aspx?ID=26590

In that connector there should be three prongs. one prong would be on the outer rim of the connector... this is ground. solder the ground wires from the speakers to it. the other two should be left and right (makes no difference in mono anyways

... so just solder them both on the two other prongs. If you really want to be anal about it, and get the left and right down, then go into the audio properties on your comp, play some music or something and turn the balance all the way to one side to find out which is which. If there is only one speaker in your cab, You could probably get away with making a Y adapter, but I'm not sure what it would sound like getting two signals. and you should be able to plug that connector straight into your pc's speaker input jack.

edit- I just noticed... that's a mono plug anyways, so it'd work fine I guess

... there would only be two prongs in the case that you got a mono connector (ground and signal).

UncaJJ · Oct 27, 2005

Nesagwa said:

OK, I just took a new look at this... This is set up so that you can use a regular arcade monitor and a PC with a marquee light.

So, here is how it works:

1. in the bottom left hand corner you have the power cord that comes from the wall, you cut off the end and have the hot (brown or black) go to the fuse then from the fuse to the hot side of the filter. Neutral and ground go straight to the filter.

2. Earth ground gets connected from the side of the filter to all metal parts in the cab as outlined above.

3. The hot out from the filter is connected to the AC switch, then to the power distribution block and the neutral goes straight to the distro block.

4. You connect the Isolation transformer input leads to the distro, the marquee power leads to the distro, and the cut off end of a computer power cord to the distro while connecting the earth ground line to the filter. You could then plug this end of the power cord into your computer power supply.

This is only useful to you if you are going to be using an arcade monitor and Fluorescent marquee. If you are going to use a computer monitor and no marquee, you could just throw a power strip in the bottom of the cab...

Hope that helps you understand that part better! :mr_t:

UncaJJ · Oct 27, 2005

grrrr... stupid edit restrictions.

There might be an earth ground connection on the distro that doesn't show in that pic... can't remember for sure.

Nesagwa · Oct 27, 2005

stuffmonger said:
for the audio... step by step.
buy the connector - something like this should do very nicelly > http://www.marvac.com/detail.aspx?ID=26590

In that connector there should be three prongs. one prong would be on the outer rim of the connector... this is ground. solder the ground wires from the speakers to it. the other two should be left and right (makes no difference in mono anyways ... so just solder them both on the two other prongs. If you really want to be anal about it, and get the left and right down, then go into the audio properties on your comp, play some music or something and turn the balance all the way to one side to find out which is which. If there is only one speaker in your cab, You could probably get away with making a Y adapter, but I'm not sure what it would sound like getting two signals. and you should be able to plug that connector straight into your pc's speaker input jack.

edit- I just noticed... that's a mono plug anyways, so it'd work fine I guess ... there would only be two prongs in the case that you got a mono connector (ground and signal).

Makes sense. My cab does have two speakers though.

I was looking on Happs and they have a whole section now that sells PC Cabinet parts. There is a set that includes two speakers and an amp ready made, but its like 60 dollars.

stuffmonger · Oct 27, 2005

Nesagwa said:
Makes sense. My cab does have two speakers though.

I was looking on Happs and they have a whole section now that sells PC Cabinet parts. There is a set that includes two speakers and an amp ready made, but its like 60 dollars.

Happ is a ripoff unles you buy in HUGE bulk... and my adapter will cost you maybe $5.

stuffmonger · Oct 27, 2005

UncaJJ said:
OK, I just took a new look at this... This is set up so that you can use a regular arcade monitor and a PC with a marquee light.

So, here is how it works:

1. in the bottom left hand corner you have the power cord that comes from the wall, you cut off the end and have the hot (brown or black) go to the fuse then from the fuse to the hot side of the filter. Neutral and ground go straight to the filter.

2. Earth ground gets connected from the side of the filter to all metal parts in the cab as outlined above.

3. The hot out from the filter is connected to the AC switch, then to the power distribution block and the neutral goes straight to the distro block.

4. You connect the Isolation transformer input leads to the distro, the marquee power leads to the distro, and the cut off end of a computer power cord to the distro while connecting the earth ground line to the filter. You could then plug this end of the power cord into your computer power supply.

This is only useful to you if you are going to be using an arcade monitor and Fluorescent marquee. If you are going to use a computer monitor and no marquee, you could just throw a power strip in the bottom of the cab...

Hope that helps you understand that part better!

He is trying to use an arcade monitor, so a power strip would be useless.
You don't need to wire up a marquee for this power setup... I've built two of these exact setups without anything connected except for the monitor and the gameboards (in this case, would be monitor and pc). The marquee is wired from the ac before the power goes into the power supply, so it is unnecessary. Also, with this setup, to convert to an arcade setup, you'd just need a jamma harness and a power supply.

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