It's crazy-ass project time once again...

[nodtveidt]

Yeah... time for another crazy-ass project idea of mine. It's not directly PCE-related so I figured I'd put it here for everyone to laugh at.

So the idea is to take an arcade PCB and turn it into a console. Sure, people have done this with the MVS time and time again, but not me... and I'm not converting an MVS either. For this, I'm going to use a converted suicide board... Mitchell/Capcom's "Poker Ladies". Why? Coz I love that game.

So I've got the plan already... I will use a rigged Delta DPS-160QB A power supply which was pulled out of a broken PC that magically appeared in my mother-in-law's car one evening. Hopefully the power supply still works, as it's tiny and will work great for this.



Using this site as a general wiring guide, I've partially prepared the PSU for the project. I will pick up a switch today that I can attach between a ground wire and the green wire to signal the mofo to turn on. For load, I have a 12V DC fan, as pictured above. The site gives the details for adding a power LED with a 330 ohm resistor between the gray and a black wire... that will be the "power on" indicator.

The PCB requires a -5V input. Well, this PSU only has -12V. So, I can likely deploy a 7905 regulator and make sure that sucka's heatsinked properly. However, thesteve and bust3r seem to be in disagreement as to the amount of amperage the -5V source requires... thesteve says that this power supply's 100mA is adequate, but bust3r says that the PCB should be given at least 500mA. Well, fortunately, it just so happens that I have another small power supply (though not quite as small) kicking around here that has -12V at 500mA, just in case this doesn't work.

For video signal, the PCB outputs 15kHz CGA. BlueBMW is going to supply me with one of these so the machine can put out a VGA signal. He says that the board he has doesn't have a power supply. Well, that's ok, I should be able to use this existing power supply to run that too.

The fun part... the controls. The documentation is a bit wishy-washy as to the wiring matrix, but I'll get that figured out eventually. The other fun part is the casing itself. bust3r suggests that the PCB is about 12x16 inches. Finding ready-made plastic cases that large is a nightmare, and having one custom-made is out of the question. So what else can I use? ...how about wood! I'm damn good with woodcrafting, and since arcade cabs are wood already, the PCB will feel right at home.

Back to the controller temporarily. I want to make this seem like a real console, so the controller will be independent of the console and will plug into it like any other console does it. I haven't decided on a plug interface just yet though. There are eight main buttons, plus the coin sense... I do believe that I will put them all on the controller.

So yeah... that's the rough plan. So... crazy or not?

[Bernie]

How in the hell do you find time to do all this, help run a store, raise kids, AND code games???  lol

[nodtveidt]

I do this kind of stuff on insomnia nights, when one of the kids is up all night.

[Frank_fjs]

Why not just use a Vogetek supergun? They only cost around $30 and provide power, video, audio and inputs.

[Tatsujin]

i did my first arcade console system back in 1996

[nodtveidt]

Why not just use a Vogetek supergun? They only cost around $30 and provide power, video, audio and inputs.

First of all, that takes most of the fun out of it. Second of all, it's JAMMA, and this PCB isn't.

[ProfessorProfessorson]

This has been done before, but just in case you were wondering, older ATX and AT power supplies put out -5 volts. If you decided to go with one though you'd need to try to make sure to get at least a minimum of .5amps. If the board is large it may even need more then that.For wiring up controllers and all you can use DB15 ports and get a hold of a DB15 Game/midi port cable to hack apart.

[BigusSchmuck]

Did some digging for you:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817129006
I'm not what the wattage you need, but for $30 you can't go wrong.

[nodtveidt]

Cool, thanks for all the info y'all.

If the Delta power supply isn't enough, I do have a Dell NPS-210AB C here as well that puts out -12V at 500mA that I could limit to -5V with the 7905. Of course, finding a supply that puts out -5V would be preferable, but I don't really trust older supplies. If I have stuff already that will work, I'd prefer to use that instead... not that I'm opposed to buying more stuff for this or anything.

[nodtveidt]

Charles pointed me to a power supply company that makes new supplies that directly supply -5V but he says that they are flaky so it'd be a real crap shoot. Also, the PSUs are a bit big and I might have to put it in an external casing... which would be ugly but functional.

[nodtveidt]

http://na.suzohapp.com/powersupplies/80021000.htm

That's the power supply I need.

[Charles MacDonald]

It doesn't do -12V though?

[nodtveidt]

I don't need -12V, just -5V. Was gonna step down the power from a -12V supply, but if I can get -5V natively, then that's the preferred method. Looked into inverters, but didn't find any rated for 500mA... best I could find was 100mA. Figured I'd just use an inverter on the standby line, which is 5V at 500mA.

[kazekirifx]

Are you gonna make a custom case with the Poker Ladies logo and artwork?

[Tatsujin]

I don't need -12V, just -5V. Was gonna step down the power from a -12V supply, but if I can get -5V natively, then that's the preferred method. Looked into inverters, but didn't find any rated for 500mA... best I could find was 100mA. Figured I'd just use an inverter on the standby line, which is 5V at 500mA.

There are some simple to use switching converters from national ect.
They do the same as a 7905 but with like a 90% plus efficiency factor.
So not much heat there at 500mA. Used them in the past.