The unofficial custom arcade stick customizing thread

[Shin Ace]

I've started this thread in order to answer certain questions regarding specific non-standard arcade stick work. Examples of this would be having a stick that supports multiple consoles AT ONCE, adding realtime led's so that you can physically see when a button is sticking, understanding how the pad recognizes that the button is open or closed. Power requirements(proper voltage, sufficient current).
An idea a friend came up with was to have 2 boxes, one for the controls, another with the pads and actual electronics inside. This is a great idea, since there would be a cord attaching the 2, of any length you want. So you could finally sit 30 feet away from that big screen without having the DC sitting in the middle of the room. And it would allow for a very clean controls box.

For example, I currently have 2 joysticks. One supports DC and USB, and draws about 10 mA when playing. The other draws anywhere from 30-70mA depending on how many led's are lit. They look very similar but have vastly different specs. One has the start button right above jab and medium punch, and can be hit when mashing, so it has an on-off pushbutton switch mounted on the side of the stick.

Basically, this thread will deal only with the theory of customizing custom arcade sticks. Please, no beginner questions like: how to solder, how to wire a P360, or any common query.

led example:
http://www.geocities.com/alainprice/ownzord1.jpg
and
http://www.geocities.com/alainprice/ownzord3.jpg

[armad1ll0]

The idea of using project boxes is old and has been around for quite some time. There are many examples of them actually.

Maybe the need for a second thread isn't as useful as you can may imagine.

People will always keep on asking the same questions over and over. I've only been active on this board for a short time and I've seen the buttons, P360 vs. Micro switch, Which Happ stick argument way too many times already.

Standard vs non-standard
Official vs Unofficial
who's all to say anyways...

[Shin Ace]

Good input.
I've seen the projects you're talking about.
One was for a joystick supporting DC only, but the pad was seperate from the human controls, connected with a DB-15. I think their incentive was to able to plug in a memory card without having holes on the joystick box.
The main reason for starting this thread is to discuss theoretical ideas. Joystick selection is obviously a matter of taste and there is no right answer.

[armad1ll0]

I can think of almost half a dozen people that made external modules for the encoders. I myself wanted to only see a cord go to the console so I decided on the flip-top method. I like the fact that I can put away all of my cords without pinching them when done. The case acts as a box for all of my encoders when put away.

It's by far the most "usable" methodology for multiple consoles IMHO.

I just think that theres not so much content to separate everything into multiple threads. These things aren't that complicated actually and only the same topics keep on creeping up. The only things that I've gleaned off of here lately are those french manufactured project cases. aluminum and ABS... can't wait for mine to come.

[coN]

Im think about going into the joystick selling business, but using a different approach than everyone else... Using the ABS cases i found or a modified wooden laptop desk... I dunno though, since every builder has a different specialty. Im skeptical about doing it though...

*shrugs* I should post pics of my stick... Its a modified wooden laptop desk that was sanded, then Bondo (yes car body filler) all over, sanded down, then painted. I still need to finish up my underlay though... Just been too lazy to do so...

[Shin Ace]

My boxes have always used MDF, except for that one box I made from plywood(prototype). Using 3/4 wood and dimensions of 4.5 x 9 x 13, I end up with a 12 pound joystick.

I'm a little worried that ABS will be too light. You would need some VERY soft rubber feet to hold it in place.

Armadillo, for you and I, treating a gamepad just like any other electronic device and being able to workaround whatever gives us the impression that this is easy. And for any electrical engineer, it damn well should be. But that doesn't stop me from seeing posts like "I blew my DC controller port fuse and twisted the leads together. Now I'm gonna plug in the stick that blew it in the first place. Anything wrong with this."
We would obviously say "YES". But then again, we would not need to ask these questions on the boards.

One thing is for sure, I've yet to see anyone accurately describe the function of a simple action button on a pad. Do you know why there's about 3v when the button is not pressed? That's right ladies and gentlemen, it's called a logical high. That means you can use it as an input or output to a combinational circuit. You could potentially do some fancy electronics and come out with a joystick that performs a massive combo when certain combinations of buttons are pressed.

Just a thought. I wouldn't do it myself, I'd rather learn the combo and use my logic IC's for other stuff.

[Dreaded Fist]

Since you know alot about voltage and what not, Shin Ace. Do you know if the size of the wire matters? Or type of wire. I wan't to know if there is a stipulation where the wire will work, but the signal will be slower, or weaker.

Thanks.

[Shin Ace]

No, the size of the wire will make no difference. I use 22 or 24 gauge solid wire personally because it's easy to strip. You could use 30 awg, or even 18 awg. Whatever your comfortable working with.
The pad itself senses the voltage on one wire. Either it's HIGH, about 3v, or LOW, 0v. It's not like a traditional switch where the current is interrupted.

[junker]

the led thing is very impressive.
would you say it's hard for a beginner to hook up?

[Shin Ace]

Nah, the pcb for it is about 2"x3" and there are only two 14 pin IC's. The pain is soldering the 11 wires for inputs(from switches) and 11 wires for outputs(to led). Then you still have to daisy chain all the grounds for the led's. Let's just say the inside of this box is a mess.

The theory is easy. Use a 74ls04 or 74ls05 hex inverter. Just a chip that converts 3.5v to 0, and 0v to 3.5. Each IC has 6 gates, so enough for 6 buttons and 6 led's.
To wire it all up, you'd have one ground going to all the buttons and also each IC. Then you need to tap into the 5v to power the IC's. After that, it's as easy as crimping two wires in each disconnect and running one to the pad, and one to the IC. Repeat for each button.
A wire from each button(the signal wire) is connected to the input of each gate. On the output, we solder a small resistor to limit current to the led, and then a wire from there to the light.
Each IC also needs a ground and 5v connection. They share these with the pad or pcb.

A fuzzy pic of the board without any wires, just the IC's and resistors soldered in place:
http://www.geocities.com/alainprice/dcrepair/inverterboard.jpg

pin 1 is marked with purple, 5v with white, ground with black.
inputs are green, outputs are red. Seeing the bottom wouldn't help you much, either, just a lot of solder points.

If you measure with your multimeter, you'll see that each wire for a button carries about 3v when not pressed and goes low to 0v when the button is pressed.
In a sense, the negative edge is the first edge and the positive edge is when you release the button. So we use an inverter to convert an active low circuit to an active high circuit. At the same time, the IC will be able to supply enough current for an led.

I used super bright red's and each is getting 3 mA.
A 74ls05 is an inverter with open collector ouputs, it allows you to get each led up to 20 mA, although this will only tax your console.

To mount the leds, assuming you used 3/4" mdf, simply drill a 5mm from outside to inside(cleaner hole) and push the led in from the back. Seeing the light shine off the wood of the hole is a better effect than having an led blind you midgame.

[Cthulhu32]

Are you sure a 74ls04 chip will work? The 74ls05 has open collector gates, but the 74ls04 doesn't have the open collector gates, it just has gates outputting the specified voltage. I'm not an EE major, but I know a little bit about electronics, so feel free to correct me, I'm interested to know what the difference is between the open collector gates compared to the regular gates, so if I'm wrong in my reasoning, definitely explain as much as you know.

[Shin Ace]

Am I sure it will work?? yes, yes it will.

For a USB only pad, I'd probably go with some 7405's and get the full 20 mA per light. But like I said, a 74ls04 will work at 3 mA per led.

Also, this can be implemented(one stage) with NOR, NAND, NOT and XOR gates. All of these will drive an LED, but the 74ls04 is perfectly suited for our purposes.

[Cthulhu32]

Ahhhh alright, so the 7404 is capped at 3 mA per LED, as where you can get up to 20 mA with the open collector gates. Btw, are those 3 resistors that are brown instead of blue a different resistance? or are they just a different brand cause you ran out or something?
-btw its awesome to see some real electricians here, a lot of stick builders don't know a whole lot about what is going on with the hardware they're messing with, although it doesn't matter too much.

[Shin Ace]

Frankly, I'm surprised at how few people understant the basic operation of these things.

I used 2 values of resistors. 560 ohm for red(and blue), 330 for green. Green leds seem to require more current to get a good color and brigthness. At least 10 mA, unless you're using a really good super bright green led.

This is not identical to the board I have in my stick. The pic is a spare I have laying around. My joystick itself has normal red leds, super bright reds and a couple greens. Only the super bright reds get a 560 ohm resistor.

It's as simple as taking a 5v supply and trying different resistor,(while measuring current) to find the right one.

[Burningfist]

Very nice idea with the LED mod..if I could find some decent clear buttons I'd do a light up button mod for the new psx stick I'm trying to make.

[Cthulhu32]

I finally found the link! These two tutorials could go hand in hand pretty easily:

http://erikruud.freeservers.com/arcade/buttons.html

As long as you're not afraid to do a little drilling on your pushbutton, that would be a pretty awesome setup, it'd look like your controller was having a seizure when you do a AHVB.

Shin Ace - yeah it makes sense bout the resistors if you have different colors on your joystick. Every color of LED requires a different amount of voltage to start getting the electrons to flow and illuminous in that waterfall thing they do *Greater energy drop, or power required to light the LED, means a greater frequency range aka a higher frequency color such as blue and green.
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/led2.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/light3.htm

Btw, for anyone who's interested I've started up a LED resistance Calculator program in Visual C++ .NET last night, I have to finish another program for my programming class, but when I get that done I'll try to work on the calculator program a bit.

[Shin Ace]

BTW, if you decide to use a 74ls05, you'll need to install pull-up resistors(to complete the transistor circuit). But since your pullup resistor pulls to 5v, it's kind of futile to do all that work just to get a led slightly brighter. You'll need to do some research, as I'm not interested in wasting time on that. My advice is to use a 7404 and be done with it.
Generally, an open collector is used to match output voltages. It can function as a 5v logic device, a 3v one, even a 12 volt digital circuit.

[masterofking]

hey I have a quick question about a mas pcb is there a place were I can buy a mas pcb with psx gg dc and neo geo ect
thanks in advance

[Shin Ace]

I always avoid answering questions that end with etcera.

And I've only used a MAS, never bought one.

[Cthulhu32]

www.massystems.com
s m r t

[masterofking]

Originally posted by Cthulhu32
www.massystems.com
s m r t


hey thanks alot

[Hellfromabove]

Originally posted by Shin Ace
Nah, the pcb for it is about 2"x3" and there are only two 14 pin IC's. The pain is soldering the 11 wires for inputs(from switches) and 11 wires for outputs(to led). Then you still have to daisy chain all the grounds for the led's. Let's just say the inside of this box is a mess.

The theory is easy. Use a 74ls04 or 74ls05 hex inverter. Just a chip that converts 3.5v to 0, and 0v to 3.5. Each IC has 6 gates, so enough for 6 buttons and 6 led's.
To wire it all up, you'd have one ground going to all the buttons and also each IC. Then you need to tap into the 5v to power the IC's. After that, it's as easy as crimping two wires in each disconnect and running one to the pad, and one to the IC. Repeat for each button.
A wire from each button(the signal wire) is connected to the input of each gate. On the output, we solder a small resistor to limit current to the led, and then a wire from there to the light.
Each IC also needs a ground and 5v connection. They share these with the pad or pcb.

A fuzzy pic of the board without any wires, just the IC's and resistors soldered in place:
http://www.geocities.com/alainprice/dcrepair/inverterboard.jpg

pin 1 is marked with purple, 5v with white, ground with black.
inputs are green, outputs are red. Seeing the bottom wouldn't help you much, either, just a lot of solder points.

If you measure with your multimeter, you'll see that each wire for a button carries about 3v when not pressed and goes low to 0v when the button is pressed.
In a sense, the negative edge is the first edge and the positive edge is when you release the button. So we use an inverter to convert an active low circuit to an active high circuit. At the same time, the IC will be able to supply enough current for an led.

I used super bright red's and each is getting 3 mA.
A 74ls05 is an inverter with open collector ouputs, it allows you to get each led up to 20 mA, although this will only tax your console.

To mount the leds, assuming you used 3/4" mdf, simply drill a 5mm from outside to inside(cleaner hole) and push the led in from the back. Seeing the light shine off the wood of the hole is a better effect than having an led blind you midgame.

Yo Shin Ace, thanks for all the help with this man but one thing still troubles me. I don't know what to wire where the red and the green dots are. What outputs and inputs are you talking about? If you could take a pic of the bottom or/and the inside of your stick that would be a big help. Thanx.

-See Ya!!!

[Shin Ace]

On the microswitch, one tab goes to ground, the other goes to start(for example). We'll call ground cold and the other hot. So when you hack a pad, you've got about 12 hot wires and 1 ground.

The green dots are for hot wires. Think of it like this. We begin with the start switch. One side is daisy chained into ground, the other is crimped into a connector and then goes to the pad. What you do is crimp 2 wires in that 'hot' connector. One goes to the pad, the other goes to a green dot on that inverterboard pcb.
So when you press the switch, the signal is passed onto both the pad and our custom pcb.
The white dot is a 5 volt power lead. I tapped into the DC's 5v lead from the wire leading to the console. The black dot is a ground connection.
The red dots go to the + lead of an LED. Then the - lead of the LED goes to ground. Since the resistors are neatly soldered on the pcb, the only extra parts missing from the picture are wires and LED's.

Here's another secret. Do the same thing to have multi console support. The hot connector of each switch now gets 3 wires, gnd still only has 1. Take the gnd from all 3 pads, connect them together and then that becomes the common gnd. Then daisy chain that gnd to all the switches, pcb and LEDs.
The hot wires go to the 2 pads and the LED pcb. No protection or anything like that needed. No resistors.
The tricky part is this. When you want to play on DC, you have to power up everything. So we take the 5 volt from both pads and connect them together. This is fine as long as you DON'T PLUG IT INTO 2 CONSOLES AT ONCE( AND HAVE THEM BOTH TURNED ON). The difference in voltage between the 2 consoles would create a serious surge of current, blowing a fuse, or even worse.

Workaround for this is to get 2 diodes. 1n4001, 1n4004, 1n914. Basically any diode( NO ZENERS). The wire that goes from the console to the pad is going to have about 2 inches of inner wires exposed. Snip the 5 volt for each pad. Now we have a 5v from the console, and a 5v to the pad for each pad. Take the 5 volt from the console and connect that to the + side of a diode. Repeat for each pad. Take the - side of all diodes and connect them together. Voila, you now have a common 4.5 volt supply. Connect this to the "5v to the pad" for each pad, 5 volt for the LED pcb and you're done.

Sit back, crack open a beer and have a seizurrific game.

As mentionned way above, Happ buttons have a 5mm spot on the bottom where you could easily drill it out and insert the led. Unfortunately, I only have black and white buttons. I haven't bothered for the white buttons. I've also seen translucent buttons on coinopexpress.com's site.

Cheers, and pass on the knowledge. This shit is pimp.

[Hellfromabove]

Ah thanks a lot man, makes sense now. I'm gonna pull this off on at least 1 stick, hopefully 2, by the time EVO comes around and show it off there. Thanx.

-See Ya!!!

[Hellfromabove]

Hey Shin Ace. I went on Radio Shack's website but can't seem to find any of the parts. I mean when I type in the 74ls or whatever it is like 500 matches come up and nothing fits. Also I didn't find any 3.5v to 0v converters. If you could give direct links I would be greatly appreciated. Thanx.

-See Ya!!!

[Shin Ace]

It's called a hex inverter, because there are 6 inverters(5v to 0v, 0v to 5v) on one chip. It's a 14 pin chip, 7 pins on each side, just like my picture. Pin 1 is marked usually with a little dot in the plastic.

To order parts call 1-800-843-7422 or visit your local RadioShack store.

Reference # Cat.No. Description NP Part #
------------------------------------------------------------------------
U9 11389525 IC 74LS04 DIP 14 T HEX IN 74LS04

[Shin Ace]

For a multi console setup, the hack for power would look a little something like this:

www.geocities.com/alainprice/multihack.bmp

The little boxes with + and - marked are the diodes.

[Cthulhu32]

If you merge the two powers from a DC and a PSX controller, do you still run into the problem of the DC's ground sucking power out of the psx? I've had this problem a few times in the past when hacking a psx and a dc pad together, and either I would wire a switch or a better method was putting a diode on the dreamcast ground so it couldn't steal the power off of the other pcbs.

[Shin Ace]

A switch works great, but I only use a switch if it's a psx/5v system. If all pads are 5v, use the diodes.

BTW, you cannot suck power from a ground. It's a 0v reference point. However, if you want a multi pad system to work, you need to supply 5v power to all pads connected to the buttons for it to work. Each pad used a tiny amount of power. I'd have no fear of making a 4+ console stick. If you have 2 pads plugged in but only one is getting power, you'll probably get all buttons being pressed at once. All 4 directions pressed at once, I wouldn't be surprised if it stopped recognizing the controller at that point.

[Cthulhu32]

yah I know the ground thing and I thought the exact same thing, that's why Dreamcast seems to be such a strange case. Before you get into the theories of how grounds work, get a playstation and dreamcast pad and hook up a ground from the playstation to the dreamcast. Then plug the psx in while the dreamcast is out, and try it. Then plug the dreamcast in while the psx is in and try it. -spooky

[Shin Ace]

Let me quote myself "If you have 2 pads plugged in(connected to buttons) but only one is getting power, you'll probably get all buttons being pressed at once. If I'm reading your post right, you have only tied in the grounds together. You have made no provisions to providing the unused pad with power, EVEN WHEN IT'S NOT BEING USED. What you've done is trick the pad into thinking EVERY single button is being pressed at once, not good. This has nothing to do with stealing power, or grounds, as you've already got that down.
BTW, if one pad thinks everything is pressed, then they both do.

The buttons themselves use a 5v or 0v signal, not current. If you just take the grounds from 2 pads and twist them together, that is not enough. They also need to share a 5v power connection.

My sticks work plugged into DC only, USB only, or both at the same time. I have NO restrictions.

[Cthulhu32]

So if the reason why the Dreamcast and PSX don't work when only sharing grounds is because they need to also share the power, then how come adding a diode to the dreamcast ground eliminates this problem?
-don't mean to be hostile, asking out of curiousity now.

[Shin Ace]

Don't put a diode on the ground lead. Put the diode at the power lead. In the drawing I last did, there is no ground in the picture at all.

One system can be 5.2 volts while the other is 4.6. Putting a diode across each system's POWER lead prevents current from travelling from one console to the other. It can only go from the console to the pad.

Electronically speaking, it's the best solution. I purchased 10 diodes for about 2$. It's cheap and it avoids the need for a switch.

[Shin Ace]

...

[Cthulhu32]

well since you don't want this thread to die I can tell, I'll post a question. So happs FINALLY ships my damn Perfect360s, and I'm going to be powering them off of a playstation pad *most likely a Mad Catz digital pad, anything I can find for 3-5 bucks.* My question is can I use some diodes to reduce the current on the N/C pinout (9v)

The Playstation Controller Pinouts
LOOKING AT THE PLUG
-------------------------------
PIN 1->| o o o | o o o | o o o |
\_____________________________/

PIN # USAGE
1. DATA
2. COMMAND
3. N/C (9 Volts unused)
4. GND
5. VCC
6. ATT
7. CLOCK
8. N/C
9. ACK


so on this diagram, you take pin 3, hook up 9 - (.7 * 7 diodes) to get 5volts from the 3rd pin. I know a lot of people get the voltage from the pin 5, which I've been reading lately is usually around 3.7v, so I'd like to try to get the correct voltage for the perfect 360s. Also if I use this method, do you think psx to xxx convertors would work still? I am personally unsure if convertors power the pin 3 with anything, or if I'm better off sticking with the VCC?

[Shin Ace]

3.3 volt will likely be borderline too low for a P360.
Adapters pass the 5v they get directly to vcc, which now also becomes 5 volt. So using a psx pad with adapters and a P360 will work on just about any system except psx itself.

A diode drops(absorbs) roughly 0.5 volt no matter how much current is passing. You'll need at least 8 diodes, which is fine, but personally I would use a small 5 volt regulator. A 78L05 shouldn't cost you more than 1$, same as the diodes(likely even cheaper). I can buy one for 42 cents canadian, but that's with my old employee discount. The regulator is good for 100 mA continuous, I wouldn't even bother measuring how much a P360 draws. I really doubt they would use more than 50 mA.

For some reason I think that 9v is actually in the 7.x range. That regulator needs a minimum input of 6.7 volt(perfect). Been a loong time since I've measured the supply voltages on a psx pad. Also if you're using a pad with no rumble, it likely won't even have that connection. Just double check, that's all there is to it.

p.s. This thread die??? NEVER!!!

[Cthulhu32]

Ahh alright, yeah looks like I'll have to get my multimeter out and start testing these values. It'd be kinda shady if my psx stick only worked on dreamcast, xbox, and pc! Maybe I can rig up a system where if the voltage is under 5v, it grabs power from the pin 3, and if 5v is found *an adapter is plugged in* it grabs it from the VCC. Well there's a few ways to do this it seems like so I'll just take my time and figure a smart way to do this.
Btw, silicon diodes drop 0.7v, don't mean to be a smart ass or anything, just want to make sure we're on the same page - http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/diode.htm
Zener diodes are different, but their fixed breakdown voltage is printed on the side.

[Shin Ace]

I've never seen a SINGLE diode drop more than 0.7 volt. I had to stick a crappy one in the freezer to get it that bad. about 75% of diodes will drop .5 - .6 volts(at room temperature). They actually get better with heat, but whatever, no big deal.

There is a way to get the pad to choose between the 3.3v wire and the 9v one, it's called a switch. :p

It could be automated, but not without wasting a fair amount of power.


edit:
Avoid zeners with a vengeance. It's just a normal diode with a REVERSE breakdown voltage of it's rated voltage. ONLY use a zener if you're copying a schematic that states it needs a zener. There usually used as surge protectors. And sometimes as references.

A plain 1A 400V diode would protect you against current travelling the wrong way, up to 400V.

A 1W 12V zener can be used exactly like a normal diode, except your protection is only 12V in "reverse bias" as we say, or electricity trying to flow backwards.

Also, I'm gonna think more about a smart voltage supply switch. I'll see if there's a way to reduce it and make it manageable.

[Cthulhu32]

Hey, going way back to your original LED design, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be wiring up a little circuit board with the hex inverter, resistors, etc. I was just wondering if you know much about a perfect360's power drain? Because if the leds are running and the p360 is also draining so many mA from the circuit board, do you think there is a danger of blowing out lets say a playstation port?

[Shin Ace]

You'll be fine.

If you use a 7404 hex inverter, you'll get about 3 mA per lead. We'll say 5 mA to make it simple and be safe. If you were to run 11 lights/stick, like a DC setup, you would need roughly 50 mA. That's 1/20 of an amp, no big deal. Your DC is easily equipped to deliver 1/2 A, or enough for 10 sticks worth of leds, all on at once.

A pad uses roughly 10 mA, each led is 5, a P360 uses ???
Has anyone tested the current required for a P360 to function properly? Or even measured how much it normally uses under these conditions: idle, one direction pressed, and 2 directions pressed.

The biggest power hog is the rumble feature. If it weren't for that, all consoles would be capped at a very minimal current and we wouldn't be able to add leds. Thank the lord for rumble, although your sticks will never use it. In fact, I've never even experienced rumble on DC.

I really doubt the P360 would use more than 50 mA. You could easily test it with a digital multimeter. Below 50 and I'd drop all concerns about power. Only if the current drain is above 50 mA should you need to even consider it.

[Cthulhu32]

yo Shin Ace, got one more quick question bout the LED diagram. ok, so if I'm wiring this up for a playstation pcb and I'm grabbing the power off of the vcc right, that's only supplying roughly 3.7v, you think this will be enough to power the hex inverter 7404 properly, or will the lack of voltage not allow the chip to work properly?

[Shin Ace]

A 7404 will only start fucking up below 3 volts. I guarantee to 95% that it will work if you have anything between 3.3 and 5.5.

Basically, yeah, I've tried it on PS and it works. DC and USB pads can also function at 3.3 volt.

[Dreaded Fist]

hey shinace, I have a quick question, if you don't mind.

I just wired a stick up with a performace ps1 dualshock (since I had one lying around), and the buttons and stick seem to have a lag to them. I'm tapping jab real fast and its coming out really slow, like i would tap jab twice and it would only give me 1 jab. I was wondering what could be the cause of this. Would the pad have something in it that would cause delayed signals? I'm going to end up taking the pad out, but I was just curious as to what you think it might be.

thanks.

[Shin Ace]

Even if the pad truly did lag, and you double tapped a button, you'd get the same result. It would just happen with a delay, but would still happen.

The same thing happens on USB. The windows joystick control panel has little test lights to check buttons but the lights react slowly. Tap it a single time quickly enough and it won't register. But in mame, wolverine will stick out every jab you tap. In this case it's just the refresh rate that's much slower than the button tapping. Despite that, it's up to the USB driver to decide how often to sample.

So, here's a question for you. Are you doing this in-game? Or perhaps in some kind of training menu.

[Dreaded Fist]

I'm doing it in game.

[Shin Ace]

If you're looking to mate 2 pads on one stick, you need to find the REAL ground. There is always one common ground, but resistors may make it look otherwise.

Consult http://www.shoryuken.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67415 for more info.

edit: fixed the link.

[metrock1]

This thread is not dying yet. I'm having trouble understanding this spdt thingy. My question is if both pads or multiple pads need all to be powered at once with different voltages how does having a switch in there power all pads at once. Lets say a Dc and a psx pad. I understand how it's wired up but what postition should the switch be in. The center or to the right or the left of the center position. Well I'm assuming that it has a position for each prong on the switch or is it simply an on/off type switch? And if it is a 3 position switch what do each of the positions do??? Wouldnt having 5v on a 3.3v pad be too much power for it and not being enough power vice versa? Ok and are there any other system pads that use a diff than the 2 mentioned above.... 5v 3.3v.

[BIG BEEF!]

hey guys how do u wireing a stick to make for both ps and dc ????

[metrock1]

bump bump bump

[Shin Ace]

This thread is not dying yet. I'm having trouble understanding this spdt thingy. My question is if both pads or multiple pads need all to be powered at once with different voltages how does having a switch in there power all pads at once. Lets say a Dc and a psx pad. I understand how it's wired up but what postition should the switch be in. The center or to the right or the left of the center position. Well I'm assuming that it has a position for each prong on the switch or is it simply an on/off type switch? And if it is a 3 position switch what do each of the positions do??? Wouldnt having 5v on a 3.3v pad be too much power for it and not being enough power vice versa? Ok and are there any other system pads that use a diff than the 2 mentioned above.... 5v 3.3v.


The basic idea behind the hack is this: All pads must share power, and they only draw power from one source. To make the pads share power is easy, you just connect the ground and power wires together for all pads. But then they draw power from ALL sources. The switch is not necessary, it's simply a safety. The way I have it wired, the pads can only draw power from one system. And the system they take power from is chosen by you, you simply change the position of the switch.

Without the switch, you can accidentally plug in 2 pads at once and have both consoles powered on. Imagine it's PSX and DC. PSX is giving 3.3 volts on the power wire, and DC is giving you 5. They will fight each other until one of them blows a controller port. Playstation's are the only systems to use 3.3 volt.
USB, DC, XBOX are all 5 volt. Feeding 5 volts to a psx pad will not harm it.

Just to remind you, if all systems are 5 volt(anything but psx), replace the switch with diodes. You just cut the power wire on each pad and put a diode in series. That way, everything is automatic and safe.

Then there's always the battery option. For my next stick, I'm using a 12 volt 5 amphour battery, the kind you find in house alarm panels. 12 volts? Hell yeah. I put 2 regulators on it, a 3.3 volt regulator and a 5 volt one. That way I can properly power any pad, without even needing a console in sight.

At first thought, it seems excessive, but I'm modifying my buttons to be optical, hence why I'm providing my own power source.

[Toodles]

I think I have this right, but I wanted to verify with someone before I risk cracking open the project box with the agetec pcb in it.
Simply, I have a line in my project box setup for 'select' and 'back' buttons, which dont have a Dreamcast equivalent. So, I want to use this wire for a taunt button (LK + Start in MvC2 and CvS2). When making it, I couldnt figure out how to do this without having start and the LK button trigger both. LK should only hit LK, Start should only hit Start, and the taunt button should hit both simultaneously. A couple of days ago I figured it out using a pair of diodes, and just want another opinion on if this will work, or if there is something silly or damaging I'm not thinking of. I did test this out on a Radio Shack electronics kit/breadboard doohickey, and it worked fine, but there may be something Im not aware of that would cause problems. Yes, this is Day 1 work on any EE's curiculum and I'm just a noob. Any feedback appreciated.
http://www.marcuspost.com/images/tauntbutton.gif

[Shin Ace]

Yep, looks good. In theory, the diode will absorb half a volt, throwing your signal off by that much. But, the DC pad will still recognize it just fine.
Another way to do it is to use logic gates, but then you need to track down some 5 volt power, and the wiring is longer. Not worth it if you just want to make a taunt button. Diodes will do the trick.

[Toodles]

Appreciated. Just to let you know, Im gonna jack your 'magnet and reed switch' idea on my stick, so it cuts the ground to four buttons and keeps me from DQ'ing myself if I mash start on accident. I'll have a magnet for 'tournament mode'.

[Shin Ace]

The only thing you need to do for tournament is disable your start button. Sure, you can't taunt anymore, but that fixes a lot of problems. On one of my old sticks, there's a single on/off switch at the back. Everyone thinks it's on/off for the stick, until I tell them it enables/disables the start button. Some friends like to play with it on(those who don't accidentally mash start), and others use the switch(fierce mashers).

If you decide to use magnetic contacts, be aware of the 2 types. One is for alarm systems, already packaged with wire leads. The other type is an actual reed switch. Reed switches can handle current, no problem. Alarm contacts however, are not designed for it. So if you have to use an alarm contact as a switch, you might need to use a relay. Or worse, a transistor as an amplifier.