Mayflash Arcade Stick Mod

[master_debater69]

Hey guys, I'm looking to mod my Mayflash arcade stick (specifically replacing the joystick). I've been looking at other forums and they mention some joysticks being "common ground", making it harder to add to the Mayflash PCB. I don't know if my Mayflash is common ground or not and I don't fully understand this concept, being a noob, so I was wondering if these joysticks I found would work well on my Mayflash, or if they're common ground:

 1) http://m.ebay.com/itm/NEW-100-HAPP-JOYSTICK-COMPETITION-8-WAY-BLACK-ARCADE-MAME-JAMMA-MULTICADE-/221131882780?nav=SEARCH

2) http://m.ebay.com/itm/Happ-American-Competition-Style-Arcade-Joystick-BLACK-4-8-Way-Elliptical-Handle-/231116392261?_trkparms=aid%253D222007%2526algo%253DSIC.MBE%2526ao%253D1%2526asc%253D20150519202348%2526meid%253De82d3825dc994da383e0c7a6c00f37fe%2526pid%253D100408%2526rk%253D1%2526rkt%253D16%2526mehot%253Dpp%2526sd%253D221131883314&_trksid=p2056116.c100408.m2460

[PL1]

Welcome aboard.   

"Common ground" or "daisy-chained ground" is the way most arcade encoders are wired. (example here) 

 - In plumbing terms, picture all the drops of water (electrons) coming from one bucket (ground), flowing through several decorative fountains that switch on and off (circuit), and returning to the bucket.

"Isolated grounds" is the way that the Mayfair encoder is wired.

 - In plumbing terms, there are several buckets of dyed water.  Each bucket has several decorative fountains.  If one bucket's fountains are supposed to pump red-dyed water and another bucket's fountains are supposed to pump blue-dyed water, you don't want the red and blue water to mix or the fountains will all pump purple-dyed water and you won't be able to tell which color it is supposed to be.

There's a pretty good example of how to mod a Mayflash here.

The "common ground" joysticks you refer to are the ones with a PCB and 5-pin connector. (4 directions + 1 ground)



The Happ Competition sticks have no PCB so each microswitch NO and COM tabs can be wired to the desired direction and desired ground.

Hopefully, there is enough room in the case for the stick.



If not, you might want to look at the Zippyy stick as a budget alternative to the Sanwa sticks.


Scott

[Jamesbeat]

If you want to use a joystick with a pcb as pictured above, but don't have the confidence to figure out which tracks to cut, you could simplify it by cutting all of the tracks on the 'arms' of the pcb that hold the switches.

This will isolate the switches from each other, and you can then just solder the appropriate wires directly to each switch .

[master_debater69]

So based on the fact that the Happ has no PCB, I'm guessing it would be much easier to install than the Sanwa? That would leave the only problem to be getting it to fit and I think the technique in this picture can fix that: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2062/1914716778_2e4cf100ee.jpg?v=0
I REALLY want that Happ stick (low price + battop handle = win), so once I know for sure that it would work, I'm ready to buy it.

[master_debater69]

Never mind, guys. So I contacted the person selling the Happ joystick and he said it probably wouldn't be able to fit and told me more about those Zippy joysticks mentioned in this post. I looked up reviews and they seem pretty good, actually. I think I'll go and buy the Zippy joystick instead. Thank you guys very much for your help, you guys really clarified so many things I was confused on.

[PL1]

You may want to check out GGG or Paradise Arcade since they have the Zippyys.

Also seriously consider the "less clicky" upgrade switches. (GGG offers them as an option on the Zippyy page and Paradise has the switches here)




Scott

[master_debater69]

Hey guys, here's an update. So I ended up finding a Zippyy joystick for $13 on Amazon. I just got it in the mail yesterday and I finished soldering it in. I haven't tried it on my PC yet, but it works perfectly on my PS2. There was no PCB for the Zippyy so I simply soldered the wires to the Mayflash PCB and it works great! I don't see why it wouldn't work on the PC, so I think I'm good. Thanks for all your help, guys!