IPac Wiring, Speakers, And Powerstrip Hacking

I've gotten a lot done in a few days. I worked on the control panel, marquee lighting, power relay, and speakers. Here's a rundown:

I had a good idea on how to install my iPac to make the control panel modular. In the future, if I choose to change control panels, I'll have it so that I can undo a few bolts and plugin another control panel and be good to go. I'll be able to make several control panels without spending cash on an iPac for each one. Sorry Andy.

I had a project box laying around that I bought for a Winamp controller project that failed miserably. I put the iPac in the box and cut out openings for the PS2 connectors.

I also cut out two long trapezoids for a pair of female DB25 connectors. One for each player. The other existing holes in the box were from the previous project.

The DB25 connectors are setup with a soldering cup at the end of each pin for easy soldering of the wires. I used 22ga stranded wire and inserted the wire and soldered it in place. It was pretty hard to solder the joint without melting the plastic holding the pin and making it loose. I used shrink tubing and a lighter to keep things looking clean.

After all the pins soldered. I only used 14 pins out of the 25. This allowed me to space the welds out and made it a bit easier to solder. My pinout diagram and the fact that the pins on both the male and female connectors are properly labeled was a lifesaver.

[img]http://fredgolden.net/mame/images/ipac_box4.JPG[/img]

Now we're all hooked up. Ready to screw on the cover and mount in the cab.



I repeated the process twice more to make a couple wiring harnesses that will connect to all the buttons and sticks in the control panel. I'll use a premade DB25 extension cable to connect this harness to the iPac enclosure I made.






Next I tackled lighting. Behind the marquee there was a simple light fixture.


I just grabbed one of the hundred PC power cables I have lying around and chopped the female end off of it and soldered it to my light fixture. Simple stuff, piece of cake.



Behind the light was a single old speaker I ripped out. I mounted a pair of Creative 2.1 PC speakers and secured them by adding a couple strips of wood.



I cheaped out and left the bracket on them so I could zip tie them in place. Kind of a lame accomodation, I know



While I was out and about earlier today, I visited Radio Shack and picked up a 12VDC / 10Amp DPDT relay switch and installed it into a powerstrip. I used this awesome tutorial: http://spystyle.arcadecontrols.com/01/index81.htm, it was pretty darn easy.



See, it passed the smoke test!