How to add a little more length

to your light-gun cable !

By: Parazythum

Foreword : I built an arcade cabinet. I also bought a light-gun some months ago . In order to be far away enough from the screen, I had to give a little more length to the Lightgun cable ! I'll try to explain how I managed to do it.

First of all, you must have a little practice at soldering. Without that, you might make your light-gun unusable. I decline all responsibility if you don't know what you're doing !

The needed stuff is :

-         soldering stuff

-         1 male-female serial cable, any length you want J depends on the use you will have of it

-         time

-         patience

First of all, here is an example of serial cable :

You can see that there are 9 pins, it's really what you need ! Choose a model with the little things on the sides to tie both ends together.

Now, cut your cable at about half-length. Also cut your light-gun cable about 10cm from the main box (you know, the cable that goes to the gun itself, no other one, I mean NOT the video cable and NOT the USB cable !)

Remove about 2 cm of all the cut cable ends. Unsheat the wires, about 3mm. Count them : you must have 9 wires for the serial cable and 8 wires for the light-gun cable. On the two ends of the serial cable and/or light-gun cable : remove the already uncovered wire (mass), you won't use it because there are 8 wires on the other cable, understand ? There's a metallic cover around the light-gun cable : remove it ! I think it's for shielding it, but it works well without it.

Now, use an electrical tester to know which wire goes to which pin.

Example (not to follow, use YOUR colors !) :

You can know the pin numbers by reading them directly near the pin themselves, written in really tiny characters.

This was the male connector, you now know which wire color goes with which pin. The female connector is exactly the mirror of it.

Now, decide which wire color of the light-gun goes with its associated pin. Example :

Pin	Pin color	Light-gun wire
1	Black	White
2	White	Blue
3	Blue	Green
4	Green	Yellow
5	Red	Pink
6	Yellow	Black
7	Orange	Grey
8	Pink	Red
9	Not used	Not used

The example given is NOT really clever : try to match the wire colors, it's better ! (e.g. red with red and blue with blue, NOT red with blue and blue with red, it's confusing).

Now, solder together each wire of the the gun-side end of the cable to the female-side cable. Use the list you previously made. Advice : before soldering a wire, make it drink a little molten solder, it's better. You can follow this link to know more about soldering : http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/solderfaq.htm

Do the same for the two remaining cables. Don't forget that the female serial connector is the exact mirror of the male connector !

Now test your light-gun, don't pull too hard the soldered wires, they could come apart ! Launch MAME or whatever program you want (House the Dead, any ? J) If it works, BINGO ! You've done it. If it doesn't, well, try to think about what mistake you made.

I finished the work by using a glue pistol to make a solid protective cover for the soldered wires. Use some black tape to cover all, you're done !

I attached the male connector to the front wood panel of my arcade cabinet, so I can plug or unplug my light-gun whenever I want !

Now, a picture is better than words !

Last remark : the light-gun becomes a little less precise on my 17" monitor at about 2.5 meters away from it. The maximum is 4 meters, it becomes a little tricky after&

Questions ? Advice ? New ideas ? You can reach me by e-mail : parazythum@hotmail.com