Easiest way to make an AV switchbox?

[TheChodja]

I have an old Pelican A/V switchbox that crapped out on me. I've jumped back into a few games across several systems and it's getting annoying to switch manually. I tried the switchbox and only one port is working which, ya know, renders it useless.

I would prefer to do it in a way that reuses the connectors and switches from the Pelican switchbox. It pretty much has everything except the circuit board is trashed.

What I mainly want to know is how do I rig those inputs (really only the Red, Yellow, and White ones for now) directly into the switches already in the box. I was told using wires would do it, but I don't know the combinations.

 

[TheChodja]

Here are some pictures of the insides to help out a bit.

 

[XCVG]

Most likely it's the really important and hard to find part, the switches, that are busted.

 

[TheChodja]

Most likely it's the really important and hard to find part, the switches, that are busted.

I'm fairly sure it's not the switches, thankfully. I'd like to reuse the switches if I can. They have about 18 connections each.

I'm sure it's not the switches because the three inputs on that back panel will work if the Red RCA jacks are moved in a certain way. Usually to the left, looking at the jack head-on. Sometimes it'll work if I push the yellow and the red toward each other. I'm certain that the back panel in some way is busted, despite the output still working.

But, what I want to do is connect the RCA jacks, as they are, to the switches and to the output (sans circuit board). This can be done, right? I'd just need wire and the right pin combinations on the switches, as well as a bus to carry it to the output? I got the general idea down (if I'm even right), I just don't know exactly what to do...

 

[TheChodja]

So, I guess what I'm asking alongside the "Easiest way" is:

Using the 18 pin switches, can I use a hard drive cable to splice connections between the RCA jacks and the switches? I just need the pin-to-jack combinations for the Red, White, and Yellow only. Considering it's my first time, I really want it simple, and the basic three are all I need right now.

After splicing them to the correct pin to each switch for each input, how do I get them all to connect to the output? And can this be done without a power source (this old one doesn't require a power source)?

 

[XCVG]

Actually, it sounds like the jacks themselves, or possibly the solder joints, are busted. Try checking the solder points and if you don't find anything wrong, change the jacks.

 

[TheChodja]

Actually, it sounds like the jacks themselves, or possibly the solder joints, are busted. Try checking the solder points and if you don't find anything wrong, change the jacks.

Well, the solder points are loose, and it looks like the points are rising up off the board. Like, the green circuit sheet is torn and coming off.

 

[Snipeye]

Could we get pictures of all sides of the circuit board, out of the enclose completely? It would help a lot.

 

[TheChodja]

It's cool. I've already got it under control.
I took off all the RCA jacks and got me a 3PDT switch and made me a make-shift AV switcher. It only switches between two inputs, so I really only gained one extra input, but one was really all I needed (for now).

I took some hard drive cable and soldered the wires to the RCA jacks, both ground and hot connections, and then ran that wire to the switch. Easy stuff, but very limited. I wanted to reuse the switches from the old switchbox, but they were momentary switches. They didn't clicked down and stay down without that metal piece surrounding the switches. I messed up the metal piece, so they became useless to me. =\

What I want to do next is get some bus switches and make a solid-state switchbox. That would be pretty sweet.

Bus switch Integrated Circuits require power, don't they? Like, actual AC current?