A different type of Power Supply question....

I know different Systems require different psu's...

But are all of the systems internaly the same (in respect to power requirements)???

For instance can I attach a +5v wire somewhere in my... Late model JPN AES and power it?

Well yes, all systems work with 5V of course. Later systems (those that require PRO-POW3 power adapters) have a step-down voltage regulator (a LM2576-5) that takes the 10V or 11V supplied by the power adapter and converts it into the 5V needed by the board. So if you want you can bypass the voltage regulator and supply the board with 5V directly. Incidentally, the LM2576 has a very wide voltage input, ranging from 7V to 40V. I normally power my PRO-POW3 system with the 12V rail of an arcade PSU but I tried with a 30V PSU and it works just as well. SNK simply chose 10V and 11V for their official PSUs but it's just two of the many possibilities you have between 7V and 40V.

cool...

I got a question then....

Could you just run the +5v rail of an arcade psu (with a fuse of course) to the +5v pin of the av connector?

Actually 5V systems have a few transistors (and resistors) after the power switch Sometimes later systems have the LM2576 removed and the transistors added:

http://img22.photobucket.com/albums/v65/nassivera/AES35.jpg
(see the stuff to the left of the reset button and the silver rectangle where the LM2576 was)

Conversely, early machines (originally made to work with 5V) have the LM2576 added (by SNK) so they become PRO-POW3 machines:

http://img22.photobucket.com/albums/v65/nassivera/propow3system.jpg
(see the small daughterboard with the LM2576 above the cart slot)

I haven't tried what you suggest but if you want to run your PRO-POW3 system on 5V (from whatever source) you'd be better off modifying it in accordance with original 5V systems.

DON'T run 5V to the 5v point on the av connector.. that's a voltage output, not meant to power the system.