djdaveoc Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 I just bought the stand-up version which is in the top-left of the attached file. I believe the monitor works. I'll need to gut the cab besides that and figure out what hardware I'll need to connect this dual-frequency monitor to a PC running Windows. I don't know if I'll need a graphics card, and if so with what type of connectors. I don't know how I'll power the monitor. I supposed once I pull out the guts I'll get a better idea on the connector types. However a lot of the wiring seems like molex or something similar. I'm not really familiar with electronics very much or the connectors that would be found in an arcade cab. I'm going to remove the front handlebars and either install an X-Arcade Tank Stick, or find someone who can build me 2-player arcade controls. I'm not an engineer, programmer, or carpenter. So this will be a tough project for me and I really have no experience with something like this. I'm planning to clean up and paint the cab and and get some kind of retro graphics for the sides. I'm just hoping that the monitor works so I didn't pay a bunch of money for just a cab. But if I did, I guess it's not that big of a deal. I paid less than what one of those X-Arcade cabinets costs on Ebay and those seem to be made out of cheap particle board. We'll see how it goes. If anyone has done a project like this and has recommendations on where I can start as far as hardware and connectors I'll need, please let me know. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdaveoc Posted September 27, 2014 Author Share Posted September 27, 2014 Pics of the cab. I ripped out everything except the monitor. http://s36.photobucket.com/user/davidpoggi/slideshow/ 1 of the pics shows 2 green connectors. The one on the left is 4 pins it looks like and is marked as "Mains" I believe. The 1 on the right is 6-pins and is marked as "signal". So I'm guessing I'd need a cable that is VGA on 1-side so it can plug into the Ultimarc ArcadeVGA5000 and converts to whatever connector that is on the monitor itself. I don't even know if this is possible. This is an Italian CRT so I'm nut sure how I'll power it or get video to it. Any suggestions are appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdaveoc Posted September 27, 2014 Author Share Posted September 27, 2014 Really, nobody here knows how to help? Come on forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mameman Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 I think I always used Jpac's in the past for using real monitors . However if you don't know if it works either maybe an expensive test. Have you considered pulling the arcade monitor and simply switching to a crt TV? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazzardActual Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 I think the connection that goes into that monitor is called a CGA. If you want to use that monitor you'll either need to get a VGA/CGA converterboard or buy something like an ArcadeVGA board. As far as power goes its prolly already hooked up so you shouldnt need to worry about it. If theres any inkling that the monitor might not work, just buy a flat screen to putt in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert_c Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Ooh, glad you decided to refurb a CRT based cab, but this is one of the more tougher cabs you could have picked up as a project partly because you don't know for sure if the monitor works and partly because it isn't JAMMA standard (dead give-away is the non-standard controls). Hope you didn't rip too many things out. See if you can power it up at all. If not, check the fuses with some sort of meter if you can, if you don't have one handy do the eyeball test which isn't too reliable. And if you just want to be sure, replace all the fuses. They cost less than 5 bucks. If it turns on, and you get picture, then you are in good shape. If you get no picture, but the back of the monitor fires up and begins to glow, then your transformer works and your monitor likely works. Now you just need to send it a signal. Perhaps the PCB board doesn't work, or it could even be a different issue. But since your cab isn't JAMMA standard this is where it gets difficult. You have to send your monitor a 15khz signal. You can do this in one of two ways: 1. Rewire it with a new JAMMA harness and either interface your PC to it with a J-pac or an arcade PCB/game if you 2. Hack a VGA cable to send it a 15khz signal. This isn't hard to do. You will need a video card that can output a 15khz signal. Either buy an ArcadeVGA, or if you have an order Radeon card handy (HD4000 series and older), you can use the Calamity drivers to do this. If this was my cab, I would forgo wiring it up as JAMMA standard. It's just an added expense and you'll save money on the JAMMA harness and don't need to buy the J-Pac this way. Plus I don't need to switch arcade boards out since I am using HyperSpin, so no need for a JAMMA edge connector. I would hack a VGA cable and splice it into the video input leads. I would also use the Calamity drivers with a Radeon HD4000 series card because I have used an ArcadeVGA before and they are difficult to get working and are expensive shipped all the way from the UK. Once the monitor is interfaced, the rest is easy. Joysticks I would interface to the PC with the XinMo dual pcb or two Zero Delay Encoder boards which can be picked up for $20 on Ebay. Then sound can be wired with a $20 Lepai amp. Lastly is the marquee light which I would buy a new LED ATX powered light. First things first, get that monitor going. Check if it is in good shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdaveoc Posted September 27, 2014 Author Share Posted September 27, 2014 The monitor works. I had the guy I bought this thing from turn on the machine at his house before I brought it home. I did rip out everything inside the cab except for the monitor. So I really need to know how to get the monitor working. I need to get power to it and also signal. Basically everything you said about the cables is over my head. I have pretty much zero experience with this type of stuff. My plan was to hopefully get the most arcade-like visuals as possible. So I want to use this dual-frequency arcade monitor. Based on what I've read a couple places, the Ultimarc ArcadeVGA5000 will be able to detect the resolution of each MAME game once I've run a utility from their site that looks at each game and creates an INI file for each game that includes the resolution etc. So I will install computer in this cab with HyperSpin and MAME. I will run that utility to create the INI file per game. I just need to find a way to get that VGA output on the card to plug into the 6-pin signal connector on the monitor. That is how I understand my goal anyway. Since I'm not expert I could be wrong. I'd like to find a cable that can do this conversion so I can just plug it in. I'm not electrician or engineer and don't have experience with making cables or doing much of anything cable related other than plugging them into gear. For power, like I said I think this cab was from Europe. It was from the Spain region I think and has an Italian monitor. I need to know/find out what voltage it runs at I guess and determine if I would need a voltage converter. I know almost nothing about electricity. So I could really use some guidance here. I don't want to use an LCD monitor as someone suggested. I know that would be quick and easy, however I'm trying to get a real arcade look in this cab and I've read how different an LCD would look when playing old low-res games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougan78 Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 I ran into this issue on my gauntlet legends cab. It had a cga only monitor. I replaced it with a makvision arcade lcd with cga plug and vga. If you only have cga hook up you will probably need a converter board for vga to cga. I was able to use the existing powersupply for the new monitor and my pc has its own. I originally was going for an original look but stuck at cga max res was a huge bummer as I wanted other consoles with higher res. So it may be worth replacing the monitor imho. Either with a trimode or lcd imho. Just one guys opinion anyway. It is always a tough thing meshing old and new. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert_c Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 I just need to find a way to get that VGA output on the card to plug into the 6-pin signal connector on the monitor. When you pick up the ArcadeVGA, buy the VGA breakout cable as well. Saves you the step of making your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert_c Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 I ran into this issue on my gauntlet legends cab. It had a cga only monitor. I replaced it with a makvision arcade lcd with cga plug and vga. If you only have cga hook up you will probably need a converter board for vga to cga. I was able to use the existing powersupply for the new monitor and my pc has its own. I originally was going for an original look but stuck at cga max res was a huge bummer as I wanted other consoles with higher res. So it may be worth replacing the monitor imho. Either with a trimode or lcd imho. Just one guys opinion anyway. It is always a tough thing meshing old and new. Good luck. This VGA to CGA convertor board you speak of changes 31khz signal to 15khz. But since he will be using the ArcadeVGA, he won't need to do any signal conversion; it's already outputting 15khz. he just needs a cable to connect from ArcadeVGA to the monitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougan78 Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Good to know. Thanks albert! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdaveoc Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 Thanks albert_c and everyone else who's replied. So I guess you're saying the name of the connection on the monitor is called CGA? If that's the case, based on what you said I need a "breakout" cable that is VGA to CGA conversion. How do I find out how to power this monitor? I know it's European so does that mean it won't work on USA voltage? I need to know the easiest way to get power to it. I'll need to buy all the parts and related wiring. Any help is appreciated. My goal in keeping this thing was to get a cab and working arcade monitor for $300 US dollars which is what I paid. I'm hoping to avoid having to purchase another monitor for around $600 for obvious reasons. And I didn't want to go LCD from the start because playing the old MAME arcade games on a new LCD looks like crap. I want the closest thing I can get to original 80's arcade games as possible. If I can't keep this monitor and get it to work I'll be really bummed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert_c Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 So when this was demo'ed to you, did you get a video feed of the game at all? If so, you should rewire what you ripped out and get it back to that point where you got a video signal from the game. Then just rip out the connections to the controllers and the gameboard. Leave the power connections from the monitor to the power supply intact. Leave the video connection connected to the monitor; you can disconnect this connection from the gameboard but be sure to leave the video connection. Also, leave the speakers in place unless you plan on getting new speakers. Once you get your ArcadeVGA and the breakout cable, you may have to splice the breakout cable to the video connection going to the monitor. Reason being is the molex connector on the breakout cable might not plug directly into your monitor outright. There are only 6 connections and they should be color coded for the most part and this won't be too hard. The video connection won't be hard, but powering the monitor will be if you ended up gutting things beyond repair, which it sounds like you might have done. If at this point, you are going to have to do some Internet sleuthing to find out if you monitor can take a 110v directly (look up the make and model on the net). If so, then there are arcade monitor power cables you can buy on eBay that will get you going. If not, you will need an step down transformer that your monitor will connect to which will then plug into the wall. It may be difficult to find this, so try your hardest to salvage what you got. Good luck brutha. Let us know how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdaveoc Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 I don't think I can do what you said. Power went to some weird metal box that had about 12 different wires connected to it. That box is the brains of the game. Power and signal then went from there to the monitor. I'm not leaving that in the cab. So I need to find a way to power the monitor. I also need to find out how to get signal to the monitor from the PC with the VGA output card. I need a cable that can connect directly from the VGA out to the 6-pin connector on the monitor. I don't know what that type of connection is called and as I mentioned I have no experience with any of this. I don't know how to splice wires. I've never worked with electronics and know almost nothing about them. I guess my only option is to try and find someone who knows how to work on different types of arcade cabs locally and see if they can help me without trying to charge me hundreds of dollars. If that doesn't work I'll just have to try and find a monitor that can plug right into the VGA out on this card and can get power directly from USA AC power. I want all the hardware to be plug and play essentially and just work. Thanks for trying to help. Unfortunately all the variables you're talking about would help someone with knowledge and experience with electronics and engineering but not someone like me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdaveoc Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 I emailed Ultimarc to find out what cable I'd need and if they even have a cable that can connect the VGA out to the monitor. If they do then that's half my problem solved. Then I just need to find a way to power the monitor. I think I'll ask my Brother-in-Law for help since he's an electrician. If any kind of custom cable is needed then I'm assuming he can make it for me. I'll see if there's a way to address the VGA card and cable to plug it into the monitor first. If it looks like I have a 100% guaranteed to work solution for that, I'll worry about the power. Then I'll have to run a live test from the PC with the VGA card to see if it will really work. That's about all I can come up with. I'd really like an AC power cable that has the proper connectors on it to just plug directly from a power strip into the monitor. Then I can just turn on the monitor by flipping the switch on the AC power strip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazzardActual Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 I'd really like an AC power cable that has the proper connectors on it to just plug directly from a power strip into the monitor. Then I can just turn on the monitor by flipping the switch on the AC power strip. Ive seen a lot of arcade cabinets, never seen one that had a monitor with a 3 prong hanging off the back. but im sure someone could figure it out. What are you planning on running on this cab anyways? Just mame and other arcade emus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdaveoc Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Yeah a Windows 7 PC most likely with HyperSpin setup and definitely MAME. I'm considering doing some consoles as well but nothing that would have more than about 480 resolution. The monitor is dual frequency and I'm going to try and get it working with the Ultimarc ArcadeVGA5000 card. So I don't have to worry about bad signals being sent. I guess I just need to change the HyperSpin resolution so it's very small. I'll worry about that software stuff once I figure out if I can get the hardware working. Thanks for the links. I'll check them out when I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdaveoc Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 intervideo_vp_series.zip I've tried to upload a zip file with the monitor manual which is a PDF file. If anyone wants a look go for it. I'm basically trying to find a way to get it working off US power and from a VGA out of the Ultimarc card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert_c Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 You're probably better off asking on the other forums mentioned early at this point. More expertise there and you sort of got a little too excited with the gutting the cab for any of us HyperSpinners to be of use . Keep the parts that you gutted. Especially, this stuff: 1. Video connection 2. Isolation transformer (I think). 3. Switching power supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdaveoc Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 Yep, I did that. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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