MAME - Jpac & PC power supplies

Welease

I am finally getting around to re-fixing up my last cabinet with a proper MAME installation. The wife wants it for the kids..

It's a standard Jamma cabinet still running an arcade monitor.. PC has been connected using jpac, and used to work fine.

I would like to simplify the power situation if possible so it's a single switch rather than a PC power button plus the cabinet switch at the back of the cabinet. Has anyone merged the power supplies before? i.e. run the PC off the cabinet power supply or vice versa?

(I'm not overly electrically inclined, but if it's possible I can get a friend to do it, I just don't want to waste his time getting him to research if its not possible from the outset...)

Thanks.

Myrddin

Welease wrote: »

I am finally getting around to re-fixing up my last cabinet with a proper MAME installation. The wife wants it for the kids..

It's a standard Jamma cabinet still running an arcade monitor.. PC has been connected using jpac, and used to work fine.

I would like to simplify the power situation if possible so it's a single switch rather than a PC power button plus the cabinet switch at the back of the cabinet. Has anyone merged the power supplies before? i.e. run the PC off the cabinet power supply or vice versa?

(I'm not overly electrically inclined, but if it's possible I can get a friend to do it, I just don't want to waste his time getting him to research if its not possible from the outset...)

Thanks.

You know where you plug a kettle lead into the back of your cab, could you route the inside of that to a two way adaptor, instead of running to the cabs internal psu? Depending on how your monitor is powered, [mine is straight off the mains], you could then put a plug on the monitor cables, & plug both that & the pc into the newly installed adaptor. From there, all you have to do is power the cab, the monitor will power up & so will the pc if you configure it to via the BIOS

On mine I just moved the pc switch to an arcade button on the back of the cab.
so one click powers on and another powers off.

Welease

EnterNow wrote: »

You know where you plug a kettle lead into the back of your cab, could you route the inside of that to a two way adaptor, instead of running to the cabs internal psu? Depending on how your monitor is powered, [mine is straight off the mains], you could then put a plug on the monitor cables, & plug both that & the pc into the newly installed adaptor. From there, all you have to do is power the cab, the monitor will power up & so will the pc if you configure it to via the BIOS

Unfortunately (I'll try and get some photo's today).. it's night in impossible to get access to the lower half of the cab without removing the middle section where the boards go.. So at present it's difficult to see the connections .

Basically the power lead (non kettle lead) goes directly into the cab then routes into some form of variable power supply unit mounted inside (the spade connectors for the 12v, 5v lines etc are visible)..and from there the power gets routed around via the harness..

Thinking aloud here, it sounds as though i need to find a way of connection the pc power supply to the cabinet power in line but before it gets to the variable power supply.. I guess i need to figure out of the switch on the cabinet is also before the power supply unit (in which case the single switch will work), or not (so it switches off the power supply unit directly in which case the PC wont get turned off)..

Thanks for the input..

Welease

urbanledge wrote: »

On mine I just moved the pc switch to an arcade button on the back of the cab.
so one click powers on and another powers off.

Yeah thats my backup plan.. 2 plugs on the unit and 2 control switches beside each other (PC and Cabinet).

Myrddin

Welease wrote: »

Unfortunately (I'll try and get some photo's today).. it's night in impossible to get access to the lower half of the cab without removing the middle section where the boards go.. So at present it's difficult to see the connections .

Basically the power lead (non kettle lead) goes directly into the cab then routes into some form of variable power supply unit mounted inside (the spade connectors for the 12v, 5v lines etc are visible)..and from there the power gets routed around via the harness..

Thinking aloud here, it sounds as though i need to find a way of connection the pc power supply to the cabinet power in line but before it gets to the variable power supply.. I guess i need to figure out of the switch on the cabinet is also before the power supply unit (in which case the single switch will work), or not (so it switches off the power supply unit directly in which case the PC wont get turned off)..

Thanks for the input..

I disconnected the power in line form the cab's internal psu. I drilled a small hole then & routed in a 4 way adaptor. I put a plug on the monitor power leads, & plugged it in. Plugged the pc in as normal, the plug for the sound system & the marquee light. That's all four plugs used.

I then routed the pc power button connectors to a hidden switch under the CP. So when I plug the cab in the monitor will power on automatically, & I just need to hit the button to power up the pc.

Welease

EnterNow wrote: »

I disconnected the power in line form the cab's internal psu. I drilled a small hole then & routed in a 4 way adaptor. I put a plug on the monitor power leads, & plugged it in. Plugged the pc in as normal, the plug for the sound system & the marquee light. That's all four plugs used.

I then routed the pc power button connectors to a hidden switch under the CP. So when I plug the cab in the monitor will power on automatically, & I just need to hit the button to power up the pc.

Ahh ok.. yeah that sounds like a good solution.. and by plug I am assuming you mean a 3 pin socket plug? (so the adaptor is essentially an extension lead with a 4 plug socket board on it)?

Myrddin

Welease wrote: »

Ahh ok.. yeah that sounds like a good solution.. and by plug I am assuming you mean a 3 pin socket plug? (so the adaptor is essentially an extension lead with a 4 plug socket board on it)?

Exactly, a high quality version of one of these



And yep I wired a three pin fused plug onto my monitor cables, & the rest you just plug in as normal. To restore the cab to Jamma, all I have to do is reconnect the power supply to the kettle lead jack, & wire the three monitor cables back to the distribution point.

Welease

Excellent.. Thanks