Response from Jonathan: Mark,

Thanks for writing in. Let’s see if we can answer your questions…

> 1.  Most kits come with a 450W switching supply.  I’d rather not run that much power if I can avoid it.  Any insight to a different supply (that would work, automatically powers on/off, etc.) with less wattage that I could use?

You should be able to use any power supply that has the standard 4 pin Molex adapter used in most PC ATX style power supplies. You could even use a standard arcade switching power supply if you wired a 4-pin Molex to it. Just remember to get something that will come on when the cabinet powers on.

> 2.  I’m not good with wiring, but I think I could handle everything else.  If I decided not to light the marquee, could I just plug in the new power supply and not plug in the original arcade power cord?  Phrased differently, does everything (monitor, etc.) run off of the new switching power supply, except for the marquee light?

Nope, unfortunately arcade monitors usually run off of an isolation transformer that has an input/output of 120 VAC. The switching power supply only really supplies power to your board. Now you could tie the input of your isolation transformer into the AC lines on your switching power supply which would supply power to the monitor. Of course, this still wouldn’t be supplying power to your coin lights or marquee and it would be about the same amount of effort as tying into your cabinet’s current AC voltage lines. In other words, it’s pretty much the same amount of work to tie the switching power supply into the existing AC voltage lines in the cabinet and use the original arcade power cord.

Hope that helps. Thank you for your question and good luck with your project.