help needed - multi system extension project

[d8thstar]

hi all,

 

been a while since i've been on here but i just recently finished setting up my living room around a new 50" plasma and now have the set up i've always wanted with classic systems being set up out of storage.

 

i've begun VERY preliminary work on making a controller extension break out box that would cover as many systems as I could add. the thought is to have some type of box next to the couch that has plug ins for whatever systems i route to it. from the back of this box, i would have a 20 - 30' extension that woauld lead into my console collection across the room and have that split and connected to each console i choose to set up. fyi, i will be doing this only for one player but it should work for two players should anyone else want to tackle or help. here are my thoughts so far after dismantling some controller ends so far.

 

right now, the systems i am tacklng are, sega saturn, sega dreamcast, atari jaguar and 3DO. don't worry, i am a classic gamer and old school will be added as i complete my living room

 

i'll try and outline this as best as i can and where exactly i'm looking for help. starting at the user end, with all of the plug ins for the controllers at the couch...

 

1. break out box will have female plug ins for the four systems listed above via hacked extension cables; the controllers will plug into this box.

 

2. inside this box, i'll have scew type terminals to attach each lead from the stripped end of the extension cables. i will have 15 terminals in total but rarely will all be used. i.e. sega saturn will use 1 - 9, sega dreamcast will use 1 - 5 (i believe, off the top of my head at the moment), 3DO will use 1 - 9 and the jaguar will use all 15. and, as i add systems, i can add female receptacles for those systems, wire them to the terminals inside and resplit the console end of the cable to add a plug for that console. easy benefit of adding older consoles is that a good majority of them will use the 9 pin plug in of the 3D0 (classic 2600 controller plug)

 

3. connected to these terminals, leading out the back of the box, will be a long, 20 foot or so, 15 pin VGA extension cable commonly used for jaguar extension cables.

 

4. the end of this cable will lead to the four systems mentioned above. this end will be hacked, rewired and split into four ends, plugging into each consoles 'player 1' port. i have some testing to do obviously but as long as i don't have more than one console on at a time or a different consoles controller plugged into the break out box when the console is turned on, it should be more than OK to split the wires inside the 15 pin extension without frying any systems.

 

and here is where i could use some help. i'm pretty handy with a soldering iron and am a pretty decent word worker but i'd hate to end up with a wooden box for this project, even painted or varnished; wood just wouldn't seem right.

 

so the call goes out to anyone on here who may work in plastics, to either help design/mold a custom shell or help me find something that would be suitable (and offer advice on how to properly cut/modify plastic so that when completed, it looks professional).

 

as i work on this over the next few weeks in my spare time, i'll be documenting the steps involved and taking pictures should anyone else be interested.

 

so, any thoughts? any plastic workers want to help with my pipe dream?

 

t

[SRGilbert]

This may be obvious, but the first thing I'd suggest is to make sure you actually like playing your games on a 50" widescreen TV! That may sound odd, but none of those systems were designed to be played on a 16x9 hi-def display (I think the PS2 was the first that was.) That means that 4x3 games will have to have black bars on the sides, or stretched (uhg) to fit the screen. I went through this a few years ago when I got my 42" plasma, and eventually picked up a nice 32" tube TV to play my classic systems on. Honestly, it just looks better to me! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my plasma for watching hi-def TV and DVD movies, but I found the picture quality of games to be lacking. Something about trying to scale the low-res games to the screen just lost something. Now, if you have a PS2 or Xbox, that that would be fantastic!

 

Just something to think about!

[jsoper]

Make sure you add some protection circuitry so the consoles that are turned off don't see any voltages at their controller ports.

 

I was working on something similiar two years ago, but stopped midway and never got back to it. For awhile on the workbench, I was

playing an NES and SNES with a wavebird, quite fun.

[d8thstar]

thanks for the feedback so far guys.

 

SRGilbert - i don't mind so much the oldies on the big screen. i have hooked a few up and prefer the black bars on the side, no squishing! true, it doesn't look the same as on a CRT but, I'm OK with the way it looks. As for PS2 and XBOX, I do have those hooked up also, along with current, new gen systems but each of those have wireless controller already. the goal obviously for me is to not have to get my butt of the couch

 

jsoper - love love LOVE your site! lots of great info on projects! a quick question for you since you have the experience. would i really need protection circuitry if the consoles are off? for newer systems that have a stand by mode, i could see a need for the protection as they are always checking their inputs, even when "asleep". but for these older systems, i wouldn't think any input would be read while they are off? as an example, if i plugged a 2600 controller into an intellivision, or vice versa, and wiggled the stick, with the system off, nothing is read and no damage could occur.

 

i also noticed you are local to me so maybe if i had any electronics 101 questions, pints on me for an assist if i needed some guidance?

 

thanks all, looking forward to more feedback

 

t

[jsoper]

Heh, maybe I shouldn't have responded

If you connect a controller to two consoles and turn on one, the controller will carry voltage back to the off console. Let's say a standard 2600 joystick connected to a turned on 2600 and turned off intellivision. The intv logic chips that read the controller will have about 4.9v on them. And since logic chips have an ESD diode from IO to VCC, you'll be trying to turn on all the intv 5v components with 4.3v. Since the other intv supplies (12v and -5v?) are at 0v, damage could occur.

[d8thstar]

yikes, hadn't thought this thru, thanks for the clarification. i want this box to be "switchless". meaning, i don't want to have to select with a switch which controller is plugged in; that would be a project killer for me.

 

would you have any recommendations, or if it would even be possible, to have protection circuitry that would stop the wrong voltage from entering a system? i'm thinking on the console end of the long extension cable, where it's spliced and split into four ends, each of those four ends would have to have some kind of inline voltage regulator that would only allow that consoles specific voltage to pass thru the cable?

 

again, thanks for your thoughts!

 

t

[candiru]

For the case, maybe you could find an existing enclosure from some other piece of electronics?

 

Maybe even a gutted console with all the ports added in. I think the guys with the original Jaguar molds are going to be doing a run of white or clear cases. There's a thread in the Jag forum about that. I don't know if that would be big enough for you purposes though.

 

If you can build a suitable mold, there are a lot of resin products out there you might be able to use. You'd have some finishing work with sanding, polishing and painting to get it really professional looking.

 

You might also think about plexiglass. It sounds like you've got access to woodworking tools, so you'd be able to handle cutting and shaping. Use the chemically bonding plexiglass glue to put the pieces together. That stuff basically welds it together so you shouldn't have to worry too much about seams. Then just finish it up with a coat of paint.

[jsoper]

would you have any recommendations, or if it would even be possible, to have protection circuitry that would stop the wrong voltage from entering a system? i'm thinking on the console end of the long extension cable, where it's spliced and split into four ends, each of those four ends would have to have some kind of inline voltage regulator that would only allow that consoles specific voltage to pass thru the cable?

The most straightforward way would be 5v double pole relays. When a console gets turned on, the internal 5v closes the relays which connects the controller lines for that system. Most old consoles are 9-pin and the ground pins can all be connected so you would need 8/2 = 4 relays for player 1, 4 for player 2.

[BigO]

would you have any recommendations, or if it would even be possible, to have protection circuitry that would stop the wrong voltage from entering a system? i'm thinking on the console end of the long extension cable, where it's spliced and split into four ends, each of those four ends would have to have some kind of inline voltage regulator that would only allow that consoles specific voltage to pass thru the cable?

The most straightforward way would be 5v double pole relays. When a console gets turned on, the internal 5v closes the relays which connects the controller lines for that system. Most old consoles are 9-pin and the ground pins can all be connected so you would need 8/2 = 4 relays for player 1, 4 for player 2.

 

Just some general statements that may or may not be helpful to you.

 

I agree a little bit with the comment about relays. They might well be the easiest thing to work with from a conceptual perspective. But, to make it simple, your consoles would have to be capable of supplying a voltage & current sufficient to drive the relays. Such a switched power source might be tricky to pick up directly from your consoles' circuitry. You'd need a set of relays for each console.

 

You said you're handy with a soldering iron. I assume there will be some sort of circutry involved in making one controller work for all systems and since you'd likely have to build driver circuitry anyway if you use relays, you might look into building a switching device using "analog switch" IC's to provide the necessary switching and isolation.

 

They act basically like a relay in that they will conduct signals in either direction , are switched with an external signal and provide a fairly high level of isolation when they're "off". I've used this method to share a "black box" peripheral between 8 PC's on demand. Demand in my case was setting a switch at the requesting station. In your case, it could be a power signal picked off the active console (possibly from a power indicator LED), conditioned (regulated) and used as the "request" input.

 

If you don't want to hack into your consoles, you could conceivably detect the power on condition via an optical sensor that looks at a power indicator LED. (Not gonna work with the old(est) school 2600's as they have no power indicator.

[SRGilbert]

I suppose what you are looking to build is what in the recording/live music field is called a "snake." You might look into that and see if there is anything you might be able to incorporate.

 

[BigO]

By the way, you claim to be a classic gamer and yet shun the woodgrain?!

[jsoper]

I agree a little bit with the comment about relays. They might well be the easiest thing to work with from a conceptual perspective. But, to make it simple, your consoles would have to be capable of supplying a voltage & current sufficient to drive the relays. Such a switched power source might be tricky to pick up directly from your consoles' circuitry. You'd need a set of relays for each console.

 

You said you're handy with a soldering iron. I assume there will be some sort of circutry involved in making one controller work for all systems and since you'd likely have to build driver circuitry anyway if you use relays, you might look into building a switching device using "analog switch" IC's to provide the necessary switching and isolation.

 

They act basically like a relay in that they will conduct signals in either direction , are switched with an external signal and provide a fairly high level of isolation when they're "off". I've used this method to share a "black box" peripheral between 8 PC's on demand. Demand in my case was setting a switch at the requesting station. In your case, it could be a power signal picked off the active console (possibly from a power indicator LED), conditioned (regulated) and used as the "request" input.

I've used the 4066 analog switch myself to share controllers between a 7800 and 5200, but didn't want to blow the OP away with technobabble. You need a set of those for each console too though, they're only 4-input.

[BigO]

I've used the 4066 analog switch myself to share controllers between a 7800 and 5200, but didn't want to blow the OP away with technobabble. You need a set of those for each console too though, they're only 4-input.

 

Yeah, thanks for pointing that out poor writing. I see now that it looks like I was saying that would be different than with the relays. I really meant it as just another detail about the relays.