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Arthrimus

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Interest check is open now. Getting ready to produce some of these. Get on the list if you want one.

I'm planning on picking up a Vewlix soon and I already know it will likely be equipped with a FASTIO. I will definitely need a JVS IO for it but I'm not too keen on the $250+ price of these Taito JVS IO boards. Instead I plan to use a cheap Sega Type 3 IO and for that I will need an adapter for the Vewlix IO harness.

I am aware of the official Taito harness adapter, but I've not seen one for sale anywhere, and I'm skeptical about whether it would work for adapting a Sega IO to a Vewlix cabinet. It seems to me that it's designed to do the opposite, adapt a Taito IO to a SEGA cabinet. The problem with that is that SEGA IO boards need +5V power to work, and Taito IO boards only need +12V power input because they have a built in voltage regulator for +5v. Therefore as far as I can tell the Taito adapter would not be able to supply the needed +5v to a SEGA IO.

My solution is to integrated a +5V regulator into the adapter board in the same way that the Taito IO has an integrated +5V regulator. I've gone with a TPS5430DDAR 3A switching regulator which takes +12V input from the Vewlix IO Power harness and outputs +5V to the SEGA I0. The adapter board also passes +12V to an output connector to provide +12V to the SEGA IO also. Otherwise the IO adapter simply converts the Taito 60 pin harness pinout to the SEGA 60 pin harness pinout.

aIjLbam.jpg



I'll be ordering some prototypes next time I do a run of PCBs. Hopefully I get a Vewlix soon so I can run the design through it's paces. If you are a Vewlix owner let me know if I missed anything important here.
 
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First off I want to thank you for making this happen!

I cant tell from the design picture but a few things to note, if you weren't already aware.

1.) On the Sega JVS I/O, pin 1 needs to be pulled high to enable digital inputs, this is usually done by looping pin 1 and pin 3.
2.) you will likely need to do something to adapt the coin meters ( Pin 49 and Pin 50 ). Usually these are pulled high with a 100ohm resistor, in order to trick the I/O board into thinking coin counters are connected.
 
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Awesome idea, Niko and I were just discussing the use of a Sega JVS IO Type 3 on the vewlix and how nice it would be if we had some nice harnesses made. Your solution with the added harness should sell pretty darn good.

If you were to sell this board along with the required harnesses (the harness does not need to be very long since the board can sit side by side, I could see this sell for say $100 easy.

Do you have the measurements of the studs were this board would mount on the taito io plate?
 
If you were to sell this board along with the required harnesses (the harness does not need to be very long since the board can sit side by side, I could see this sell for say $100 easy.
Idk man. The ones that go in the other direction are just $20, and that's from Taito who overprices everything. @theoddtech and I were going to make our own until we found out how cheap they were..

At 100 you may as well just buy the real deal because between that and the Sega IO you're coming close to the price of a *brand new* Taito JVS IO, and then there's no real point. :/
 
If you were to sell this board along with the required harnesses (the harness does not need to be very long since the board can sit side by side, I could see this sell for say $100 easy.
Idk man. The ones that go in the other direction are just $20, and that's from Taito who overprices everything. @theoddtech and I were going to make our own until we found out how cheap they were..
At 100 you may as well just buy the real deal because between that and the Sega IO you're coming close to the price of a *brand new* Taito JVS IO, and then there's no real point. :/
Maybe I’m overpricing :P :D Because I find making harnesses so annoying. we’ll just let Arthrimus dictate his pricing.

@Arthrimus Put me down for 5 sets of these boards if you make them :thumbup:
 
At 100 you may as well just buy the real deal because between that and the Sega IO you're coming close to the price of a *brand new* Taito JVS IO, and then there's no real point.
It's kinda true guys, I didn't want to mention it because I like that this is getting made...
But yea, once you factor in the price of the Sega IO (assuming you don't already own one) and this adapter (if priced at 100$) you'll almost be at the price of Taito's JVS IO.

Extra offensive because a good share of these new Diamond Black purchasers (2k$ sale) are asking me how to run JAMMA in the cab...
Aka they don't even care about actual JVS and are just buying the IO to use with @invzim 's Jammafier.
 
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Again, $100 is me overpricing. How much is a Sega Type 3 io going for?
 
I'm seeing about 120~150$ for the Sega Type 3... Maybe I just don't know where to look?
 
Oooff, yeah, I thought much less cause you don’t really see demand for these outside of using them with a Ringedge I think in most cases.

@Arthrimus if you need help verifying measurements, etc... on the vewlixs let me know.
 
I bought 3 for $120 a while ago. So yeah, 30-40. But when the group buy has brand new Taito ones at 180, that's only $40 from used Sega IO with adapter to getting a proper Taito one.
 
I do think ~$40 is a more fair estimate of value.

Sega Type3's go all day for like ~$20 on YAJ. I bought two of them a few months ago for like $36. Hell there is one up right now with a VS. Kit for $9 and no bids.

The problem with the Taito I/O is that their about $100 ~ $150 WHEN they are available. I havent really seen one popup on YAJ in more than 3 months.

So even if this was priced at $100. You could still get a whole setup for about the same price as a Taito JVS I/O and not have to deal with a buggy I/O that reports the wrong number of inputs.
 
Pricing aside, I’m excited to see this project happen. Maybe the timing is poor literally right now, since taito seems willing to run another batch and there are potential group buys happening. But what happens when they decided to not run the next one? Even if they have stock, on a normal day their price plus EMS is pretty steep.

The project has real value, and real costs, and as such it will cost something. If it’s not worth the price to you, just don’t buy it!

But I will say I also am a lazy bastard and would love to see a harness solution too besides me making one...

And I’m happy to measure anything on my FC. Easy mounting would be a win.
 
The other important take-away is I overpaid for my Type 3's T_T.

It's a good project, and I'm excited to see what happens, pricing aside.
 
Gonna have to make some type of simple adapter to mount these Sega IOs to the Taito plates. 3D print something or a piece of laser cut acrylic??
 

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Idk man. The ones that go in the other direction are just $20, and that's from Taito who overprices everything. @theoddtech and I were going to make our own until we found out how cheap they were..
I'm shocked that Taito is selling their adapter for $20. The 60 pin Hirose connector is ~$8 alone. I'm sure they get a nice bulk discount but still, the margins have to be razor thin on it. Do they include harnesses?

I can say this, the BOM cost for one of my boards is over $20. That's just for connectors and power regulator components. Then there is PCB manufacturing cost and assembly time, not to mention making harnesses. On top of that there are payment processing fees and tax liability. I don't know exactly where the total cost will land for me to make these, but I can't imagine charging under $75 for a kit. Anything less wouldn't be worth the time investment.

Now I do want to make sure to stress the reason that this is a better solution than using the official Taito adapter. My board will be completely plug and play. The Taito adapter is only meant to allow Taito IO to work in SEGA cabinets. This means that it does not generate the necessary 5V power that the SEGA IO needs in order to function. With the official adapter you will need to modify your Vewlix wiring and tap into 5v somewhere else in your cabinet to power the SEGA IO. My board generates the 5V to power the SEGA IO so you don't need to modify your cabinet's wiring at all.

Gonna have to make some type of simple adapter to mount these Sega IOs to the Taito plates. 3D print something or a piece of laser cut acrylic??
I figured that adhesive standoffs would probably be the simplest solution. Although a laser cut acrylic plate to hold both boards would be nice. Probably not cheap though.
 
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I figured that adhesive standoffs would probably be the simplest solution. Although a laser cut acrylic plate to hold both boards would be nice. Probably not cheap though.
The standoffs will definitely work and is a simple cost effective solution. Since I have a laser cutter at home, gonna make something up quickly to see if it works out.
 
No harness included in that. Just the cost of the PCB.

To be fair though it's silly to say that yours is a better solution than what Taito offers, because they're solutions to two entirely different problems.
 
The standoffs will definitely work and is a simple cost effective solution. Since I have a laser cutter at home, gonna make something up quickly to see if it works out.
The hole spacing on my board is 37.5mm x 120mm and the board outline measures 48mm x 130mm. Hopefully that helps you plan your design file.


No harness included in that. Just the cost of the PCB.

To be fair though it's silly to say that yours is a better solution than what Taito offers, because they're solutions to two entirely different problems.
It's not at all silly to explain why my design is better suited to this particular application. Unless I'm misunderstanding you, you are the one saying that someone should opt for the official adapter as if it's an interchangeable solution to the same problem. I'm just pointing out the shortcomings of using the Taito adapter in that way.
 
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