Posted by Slim Jim on 3, 2000 at 4:12 AM:
In Reply to: My New Cabinet and some Jamma/wiring questions posted by Dr D on 1, 2000 at 9:54 AM:
Nice Cabinets (save the cheap controls, but replaceable). I like the sit-down ones too, with rotatable monitor. Most don't like them due to the non-retro classic look and being short, but for sitting at home in a desk chair, you can't beat them. Looks like a cabinet from arcadestuff on ebay? That cabinet, and the guitars in the background look familiar.
Anyway...
1: The voltage label will not matter. You'll see appliances listed U/L 100/110/120 if you look around. Its an alternating sine wave, and can get complicated. But its fine. The Isolation transformer in the cab (if required) along with the power supply and fuses are protection for any kind of overvoltage to critical parts. Plus you can tell the difference between a 110 V / 240 by the plug. (Your clothes dryer at home good example of this). And these 2 voltages pretty standard for household lines. For US/Jap cabs, the 110 standard (I still comment it as 120).
2:) No telling on that. Needs to be on for safety, so its good you stuck it back on. May have just pulled out, got stepped on and broke then removed, or the guy just took an easy route and pulled it to plug it into an older 2 prong outlet. Simply there for safety reason. I wouldn't touch working on electronics unless I knew it was properly grounded, so I would even triple check it. (current will travel least resistance if something bad happens, and if grounded right, it'll take that route, before you :) )
3:) My advise.. Don't splice a thing, or alter your cab in anyway. no need to do any cutting on the Jamma harness. Take the link the other guy gave, and construct a fingerboard/Jamma setup. And that's including the video/control interface/audio amplifier (or PC speakers) /etc. just run all that, into your Jamma cable, to plug and chug.
4: No. If you wire it up right, and don't have any complete circuits you don't need.. you should be ok. IE, step 3 above. If you do it right, if there's a power circuit you don't need.. make sure the wiring circuit is broken (harness). you sure wouldn't want a 12 volt lead running into your video card for example.. so read up on schematics... draw out what you want done before you begin. much much easier. You still need to power that arcade monitor anyway
: I just picked up a Taito Sit Down Jamma cabinet with a rotatable 29" monitor. Great picture and sound. I bought a cheap Jamma PCB on E-Bay and tested everything out and it works great ! (Needs some better quality joysticks and buttons)
: There have been a few other threads about these types of machines for MAME and I'd have to agree. I was originally going to build a cabinet, had the wood, bought a 19" VGA monitor and and purchased a some controls, but in the end I changed my mind and went with this model. Much larger screen and it will be easy to convert. Luckily my employer will buy my VGA monitor so I'm acutally going to come out okay.
: I'll post more pics as I make progress.
: Here's my questions:
: 1) It is a Japanese unit and the voltage says 100v not 110v. Do I need to get something to step down my 110v or is this going to be okay?
: 2) The ground was broken off from the wall plug so I cut the old one off and wired up a new one with ground. It almost looks like they cut it off intentionally. Why?
: 3) I've got a finger board and I'v got an I-PAC so I think the controls and video will be pretty easy. Is the Jamma pinout set up for stereo audio? I haven't found a good description of how to connect that up. I don't want to wire directly into the wires so that I can still use PCB if I want.
: 4) I've read that the internal cabinet power supply should be disconnected when it is a MAME machine. Is this necessary?
: It came with a manual but it's all in Japanese. At least it has some pictures.
: Thanks for anyone help !