Hacking X-Arcade to include a 360

[MrWizard]

First person to show me how to hack a X-Arcade joystick to include a Perfect 360 Joystick, using the power from the pcb board, will win a 1 Year Subscription to SRK premium member services and a set of 10 Evolution 2003 Cards.

[doujinshi_2001]

I don't even think it's possible cause I've heard there is no 5V inside the PCB. Now, if you bought an external 5V, maybe it's a possibility...

[Dreaded Fist]

just hook a 3.5v battery to it, and you're set to go. Thats the aa size. Can I have my premium membership now?

[doujinshi_2001]

Heh. I knew my amateur knowledge of custom sticks wouldn't be able to compare to you.:( :(

[ryucross]

You'll need to do some extra research on it, but apparently the black wire running from the PS to the controller carries a 5V current. But do some testing to make sure. I don't want you to blow a port/pcb/system.

[Dreaded Fist]

disreguard my post, since the batter is actually 1.5

wizard, use a multimeter to determine, which point on the pcb is connected to the 5th pin on the playstation plug, usually its the red wire. For the ground, you can share it with the other grounds from the buttons. I've seen it done this way before instead of having a seperate ground wire for the ground on the p360. just wire the 5v from the pcb to the molex on the adapter, then wire the red wire(5v wire) from the p360 to the molex connector on the stick.

[SNAAAAKE]

you can use atx powersupply for the p360.
the red wire is the +5.

other then that.
not possible to draw +5 directly from the x-arcade PCB.

an adaptor might also work.
but I gotta try that and post back.
i will be installing p360 for my panel and my pad is all hot glued so no power from the PCB :bluu:

[Toodles]

Grab the +5 off of pin 4 from the ps/2 (as in keyboard, not sony) port inside the x-arcade. This will probably only work when used with the ps/2 keyboard connector hooked up to a computer, but he didn't specify. :)

Keyboard lights (numlock, caps lock, scroll lock) DO come on when used through a xarcade and there doesn't seem to be any circuitry in the ps/2 adapter, so you may want to check with your multimeter at the DB-9 connection on the x-arcade to see if any of them give +5v. Considering all the IC's inside the xarcade, I guarantee that there is one, but without having one myself, I can't say which. I've googled like mad and not found a pinout yet. If you dont want to use the multimeter when its hooked up for fear of frying a port, unplug the xarcade, open the bottom, put one end of your multimeter on pin 4 of the ps/2 port, and check for connectivity with each of the pins on the DB-9 port. You get connection, youve found your +5v.

But, for PC, connect the crimps to ground and the four directions on the p360, crimp a piece of wire with a .187" connector, solder the other end inside the xarcade to pin 4 of the PS/2 port (looks like youd have to solder it on the underside of the pcb. The ps/2 port housing is in the way), and slip the connector onto the +5 post on the p360.

(No warranty expressed or implied. It breaks, you keep both pieces.)
*edited to reduce babbling*

[MrWizard]

Ive had zuggzugg who is famous for making arcade sticks look at the situation, and after 5 hours, he was unable to find a +5 volt connection on the pcb, thats why i was asking the SRK community to try to hack it, since i know the pcb board has power coming in from the ps2, but i dont know where it goes to.

[SNAAAAKE]

Originally posted by MrWizard
Ive had zuggzugg who is famous for making arcade sticks look at the situation, and after 5 hours, he was unable to find a +5 volt connection on the pcb, thats why i was asking the SRK community to try to hack it, since i know the pcb board has power coming in from the ps2, but i dont know where it goes to.
well the x-arcade pcb DOES have +5 but I heard there are "tricks" involved.
like hold a button some other crap I heard. :confused:

anyhey the best you can do is have zuggrugg wire you a ps pad and everything solved.

[FMJaguar]

Maybe if your in analog mode it'll show up?

[Zappa]

Ive gotten power to the p360 by just routing the power to the led light.

However the p360 sent a constant down-left motion. When the down crimp got pulled the up went constantly and left got pulled the right went.

I talked to some manager guy at x-arcade and he said something about the ground not putting out all of the carry-over voltage from the led red wire causing the rest of the voltage to get sent through the directional paths causing constant connection then he said an "L2" chip or board or something might fix it but he wouldnt be sure.

I was then abruptly interupted and transfered to the dial-tone department of the x-arcade help line.

I have been un-able to get this guy back on the phone but he sent me an e-mail with diagrams of the innards.

Does anyone else get this constant motion from there p360?

[FMJaguar]

can you post that diagram up?

[FMJaguar]

That attachment was one page lol. If you can email, email it to me @ fmjaguar@mistfiner.us and i'll put it up. Or if your on irc dcc it, or aim by the same name.

[Zappa]

K, Sent... akumaghost@yahoo.com

[Zappa]

Im going tommorow to get a transistor that will shave 2v off the 3.5v output of the directional outs cuasing the p360 to stop sending constant .004v out the directionals which makes all directions act at the same time (.001v-.100v threshold). I also cut a 5v sony cd player recharger as a power source for the p360.

I dont even know if it will work yet....

[Zappa]

CRAP! Still not working, still constant voltage i tried a potetiometer but it only took like .015VDC off the current, i need someone who can calculate the ohms. I WILL figure this out...:fury:

[Evil-Ken]

so, are you people saying that, if you bought/spent money on p360, it wont work on X-Arcade?

[FMJaguar]

If happ sent you one for free it also wouldn't work.

If you stole one it probably wouldn't work i haven't tested it tho.

The X-arcade expects switch sticks, so the electronics of the 360 are not compatible, that we know of yet.

[Evil-Ken]

shiit that sucks

[Kaioshin_Sama]

Originally posted by rsigley
i figured it out here's a diagram hope it helps
Thats the funniest goddamn shit..

[armad1ll0]

X-gaming says that "It could be done, with an IC and some electronics..." but "it's not simple or worth it"

[Ceramiclion]

Has anyone tried using a 4.8V rechargeable battery?

[armad1ll0]

I haven't done this but my theory is that you can do it by hacking in a head phone jack to the PSX, USB and the Keyboard adaptor module boxes because they all have power that will support the P360. I think that the problem is that people can't get the correct power inside of the joystick case so the reasonable solution is to put in a mono headphone jack (from radio shack) into the "X-arcade adaptor boxes" and then to connect them to the correct power source. Often hot off of the cable.

You then hack in a mono headphone cable coming out of the box and connect it up to the P360 to give it power. Just unplug and plug it into each adaptor that you want to change joystick systems to...

This is sort of a hack but it's way more elegant than putting in batteries, or running a silly wire up to your PC powersupply etc...

What do you think of that solution, Mr Wizard...

[MrWizard]

My solution was to simply sell the xarcade, what a POS it was.

[armad1ll0]

we all knew that but you really seemed to want to get a P360 in there and even offered that premium membership for it.

[MrWizard]

Yeah, but that was for hacking the actual pcb board to give the 5v power. Good try though.

[Shin Ace]

I'm sure I could hack it, but I know of nobody in the Ottawa area that has one. Obviously, Ottawa peeps reading this should PM me.

The P360 assumes the outputs are logic. Logic 1 for no action and logic 0 for action. The circuit is active low, making it compatible with any recent pad; DC, PS, USB...
Do this to test if it is compatible:
1) Bust out that mulimeter and see if you have about 3.5v between ground and whatever direction. You should also see 0v if the switch is pressed.
2) Find power. Any (POWER) lead coming in above 5v will do. if it's 12v, use a small voltage regulator to bring it to 5. Also, diodes have a constant voltage drop of about .5v. Use as many in series as needed to drop voltage.
BTW, a ps/2 port is 5v, pin 4 is the magic number.

"6-pin Mini-DIN (PS/2):
1 - Data
2 - Not Implemented
3 - Ground
4 - Vcc (+5V)
5 - Clock
6 - Not Implemented"
taken from http://panda.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu/~achapwes/PICmicro/PS2/ps2.htm

As long as you can pass step 1), you're in the clear.

[Toodles]

I already tried to get him to pull power from the keyboard, doesn't look like he went for it. He didn't specify which connection he was using :)

I don't know if I am misunderstanding what you are saying or not; You seem to be implying that the p360 uses digital logic levels ( +/- 5v for 1, way low voltage (+/-.5 or so) for 0). The p360 shouldn't work this way. The arcade cabs they are made for are expecting the wire for the direction to be shorted to ground on press, and completely disconnected when not pressed. This is why non-p360 sticks and buttons use Normally open microswitches.

Zappa, have you tried using a diode on the connections? That should cut .6v off any potential going through it. Also, using a potentiometer won't reduce voltage; it reduces current :)

[Shin Ace]

What is the x-arcade pluggin into. Ps/2, serial??? I need to know this in order to figure out the working voltage.

The joystick itself operates on an open/closed basis. We can do 2 things with this. Use it as a current switch, or a logic switch. A logic switch pulls the line to ground, a current switch simply completes a circuit.

BTW, I have 2 joysticks, both use nothing but microswitches and all 20+ of those switches are logic switches.
The P360 is purely digital, hence logic.
This is besides the point. If you can replace a microswitch joystick with a P360 in any normal case, why wouldn't you be able to do it now?

Remember, we're trying to find a 5v lead, that is all that we need to complete this.

[Shin Ace]

1) a potentiometer will reduce voltage AND current. Potentiometers were originally used as voltage potentiometers. The word potentiometer is based off of potential(or voltage).

2) You said a P360 shorts whatever direction to ground when pressed and leaves it 'open' when not pressed. Well, a TTL logic gate with it's input left 'open' is a logical high and shorted to ground is a logical low. Stop thinking of microswitches as current interruptors.