About to attempt a complicated mod and have a couple of questions about wiring

Tech Talk
#1

…my cousin and I are thinking about doing a double pcb mod on a stick. Do note, I don’t know anything about wiring, soldering or the like (which is what my cousin is going to do).

I was searching around the boards, and read that the easiest way, at least that I could understand :sweat:, was to use a barrier strip and have both PCB’s go into one end, then the wire to the corresponding button come out the other.

Which should work, IIRC, because by using the barrier strip, both PCB’s would get power when one is activated. That part of the theory, I get.

(And anyone, please do correct/expand upon/verify any of the above if need be)

My question is about the ground wire. Where exactly should it go? I know to just daisy chain or have each buttons’ ground wire connect…but then connect it to where? Would it go into another slot in the barrier strip? Or how exactly should the circuit be completed since there will be 2 PCB’s?

I’ll post more questions if any more come up.

Thanks in advanced.

  • Geronimo
#2

I think it’s a bit more complicated than that. I tried it and got completely random button pushes because the XBox PCB seemed to ground the other button somehow, so in the middle of a dash in GG I would burst. Very strange. I never bothered to dual console after that.

For the ground, I run it behind a screw on teh inside of my cabinet. I would run it through a barrier strip, but my stips only have 12 slots, and that’s how many buttons I need. I do believe it needs to be a common ground though.

#3

Thanks for the reply.

From what I’ve read…wouldn’t it be possible that you were getting random inputs because of the XB pad’s digital signal PCB (or does it have an analog signal, in which case, skip the rest of this paragraph)? Which do all kinds of crazy things when not wired perfectly ,not saying you had bad wiring or anything like that. And isn’t that also the reason why PSOne pads are used intead of PS2 pads?

We plan on doing this w/ [DC] Agetec and [PS2] DS, Series-H PCB’s. For both, a 12 slot barrier strip should work out perfectly, assuming I counted it out right.

-----------Joystick
1 - Up
2 - Down
3 - Left
4 - Right
-----------Buttons
5 - Start
6 - A/X
7 - B/O
8 - C/R2
9 - X/[]
10 - Y/Triangle
11 - Z/R1
12 - Ground(?)

Would using a ground bar (I think that’s what it’s called) connecting both PCB’s to one end, then connecting the daisy chain wire to the other would work?

Thanks again.

  • Geronimo
#4

i’ve never attempted anything like this… but i could see an issue regarding the ground wire IF you left both PCB’s plugged into their respective consoles.

however if only one were used, then the alternate path would simply be an open circuit. by having both plugged into different consoles, you are allowing two ground paths… which is just asking for trouble.

#5

Yeah, only one would be plugged in at a time.

#6

Ive done a couple of sticks that way…i have one that has dc,ps,xb,gc pcbs in it…

Anyways, it seems that the barrier strip method has gotten me mixed results. Usually its playable for a while, but then it will start to register odd things… no matter how good I feel I have grounded everything. I found that by using a D-sub 25 pin connecter, I had waaaaay better results.

Basically all you do is wire up a Dsub 25 pin connector to the stick and buttons. Making sure that you use a separate ground for each input. I know its overkill, but in doing so, you wont have to worry about odd pcbs that have multiples grounds. Everything will ground accordingly. Then do the same thing for each pcb. Just disconnect and connect the pcb dsub cord for the system you want to play and you are set. You can get the connectors from radioshack.

#7

I didn’t mess up the ground anywhere really, and my problem seems more like iMPULZE’s problem, or his initial.

Also, I use all 12 barrier strip holes because I have select as well as start.