Hotrod SE goings on

[popsicle]

I have owned a Hotrod SE for a number of years, and a few years ago integrated it into a scratch built upright cab.  A few observations that might help others (and also a couple of cries for help):

1.  I was able to strip off the ugly purple with Goo Gone.  It took a bit of work, but the end result is a semi-shiny black melamine that wipes clean easily and looks pretty, pretttt-tttyyyy, pretty good. 

2.  To avoid L-ALT problems with various emulators, I used a freeware keymapper (zdkeymap, I think) and swapped ALT with another friendlier key.  This keymapper loads on bootup so the Hotrod sees player 1 button 2 as 'j' and not 'L-ALT'. 

3.  I have had trouble with buttons and joysticks registering accidental double, sometimes triple inputs.  This even happens in Notepad (I have turned down key repeat and turned off sticky keys).  I am using windows xp and running Mala, with mame, atari800, stella, fusion, epsxe, and nestopia.  It is not a problem in most gameplay situations but navigating menus and setting up UI mappings and control configs is a PITA.  For instance, each time I try to do configure a key in mame I hit the 'up' direction and it registers 'num8 num8 num8' or something similar.  From what I have read here, some motherboards don't care for the Hotrod's ps/2 keyboard I/O passthru.  Could this be the problem?  I've tried removing the keyboard (and also using a different keyboard) with the same flaky results.

4.  The Hotrod uses Happ Supers, which apparently very similar to the Happ Competitions?  They are quite clicky, but I don't mind.  Do the Comps feel different than the Supers?  I am thinking of using Competitions in my next cocktail cab, only because they are so cheap.

5.  I see where the extra 'hidden' buttons can be added.  How does a wiring noob like me attach the new button wire to the black housing?  Does it have to be soldered or can it just be stripped and pushed in?  After getting this working and daisy chaining the new ground with the other buttons, is there anything else to do, or will the Hotrod encoder simply now recognize 'esc'?  Forgive my layman(lame)-ness.   

[BobA]

If you attach your wire to the proper point on the controller and attach a ground wire to the switch the Hot Rod controller will recognize your key as soon as you use it.  The extra keys are programmed into the controller and ready to go.

If I remember correctly I think I lifted the connector off the strip and using a wirewrap tool to fasten a thin kynar wire to the base of the pin I needed and then put the connector back on.   The wire wrap wire is so thin it does not interfere with the connector. 

I have attached the info sheet that I had re the mods.

[NickG]

IIRC, those are crimp pins, in the black female connector.  You would need the pins and a crimping/stripping tool.  An other alternative is to find a prewired female connector with enough contacts of the same pitch, and just cut and solder wire to wire.  I was going to find one at the local computer junk shop and trim it to fit, but I think I ended up going super cheap and removing the header, soldering directly through/to the PCB.

[popsicle]

I've managed to steal some female crimp pins with attached wires from an unused component in an old pc I had laying around and removed them from their housing.  I'll just plug these in to the hotrod's housing and splice the wires together to the new buttons.

Thanks for the replies!