Optiwiz Tutorial - anyone have one?

[leapinlew]

Got the Optiwiz for my Happ trackball and I'm curious if anyone has a tutorial on how to wire up the no-solder version.

I got the no solder because I thought it would have ready-to-connect plugins, but I need to either solder or use some push on connections. I'm not sure what they mean by push on connections. Do they mean jumpers? Or where would I purchase these push on connections?

[PL1]

Got the Optiwiz for my Happ trackball and I'm curious if anyone has a tutorial on how to wire up the no-solder version.

I got the no solder because I thought it would have ready-to-connect plugins, but I need to either solder or use some push on connections. I'm not sure what they mean by push on connections. Do they mean jumpers? Or where would I purchase these push on connections?

The easy way is to use the GGG Trackball cable here.

There's no picture of the cable on the site, but the "push on" connections on the Opti-Wiz are 0.1" (Dupont) headers.

Connect the 5v and Ground wires to the 5v and ground (upside-down christmas tree symbol) pins. (upper right in pic)

The X- and Y-axis data line pairs connect to pins A/B and C/D. (lower right in pic)

If the X-axis moves backward, swap the data lines going to pins A and B.

If the Y-axis moves backward, swap the data lines going to pins C and D.   




Scott

[BadMouth]

.1" connectors

Unless I'm using a housing, I usually just buy precrimped wires and splice them rather than trying to crimp them myself.
https://www.pololu.com/category/72/female-female-wires-with-pre-crimped-terminals

If you have some old PCs laying around, there might be some connectors going to the mobo you can use.

[leapinlew]

Ok, now I'm tracking. That's some good info and I now have everything working. The key for me was understanding this isn't a proprietary GGG thing and that I can use any connections. After some thinking I came up with a solution.

For anyone else who may stumble across this thread looking for the same info, hopefully this is helpful. The pins needed are the 5v\ground and the ABCD pins. In my case I had compatible pins, but a possible method to get some pins would be to purchase a zero Delay encoder like this one:


Make sure it comes with all the wires. These cost way less than the GGG cable, but will require you to do some work, but as a bonus, you now have another encoder. You may need to modify the plugs, I had to sand mine down so they were smooth on one side so I could plug in multiple pins. A picture says a 1,000 words so hopefully this answers any questions you might have:




Good luck!

[RandyT]

Yes, the .100" spaced pins are about as generic as they can be, to allow just about any similar connector to be used.  They are extremely common, and there are many options, including IDC ribbon cables from old computers, hobby wiring connectors, motherboard wire harnesses from scrapped computer systems, etc...  All are acceptable.

Our trackballs are also shipped by default with a wire harness already sporting these connectors .  The complete replacement harness for a HAPP trackball (and probably others as well), with the proper connectors, is available from us for $5.95.

[leapinlew]

Yes, the .100" spaced pins are about as generic as they can be, to allow just about any similar connector to be used.  They are extremely common, and there are many options, including IDC ribbon cables from old computers, hobby wiring connectors, motherboard wire harnesses from scrapped computer systems, etc...  All are acceptable.

Our trackballs are also shipped by default with a wire harness already sporting these connectors .  The complete replacement harness for a HAPP trackball (and probably others as well), with the proper connectors, is available from us for $5.95.

I must be missing the link to the $6 cable, cause I thought I was looking at $12.95. I don't mind the price so much, but shipping costs on missing a small item on the initial order are painful. That's not your fault, of course. I can't tell you how many times I've placed orders only to realize I missed a small item later and have to pay double shipping.

In good news, the encoder is fabulous. All I need now is recommended mame analog settings for many games (like marble madness, crystal castles, centipede, etc.)

[RandyT]

I must be missing the link to the $6 cable, cause I thought I was looking at $12.95. I don't mind the price so much, but shipping costs on missing a small item on the initial order are painful. That's not your fault, of course. I can't tell you how many times I've placed orders only to realize I missed a small item later and have to pay double shipping.

In good news, the encoder is fabulous. All I need now is recommended mame analog settings for many games (like marble madness, crystal castles, centipede, etc.)

We recently switched over to a full pre-made trackball harness, with the Opti-Wiz compatible connectors, rather than having to build our own with the 6-pin molex connection to the regular trackball harness.  As a result, the price has dropped considerably.  Anyone who recently ordered the $12.95 version, has received the full harness at the reduced price of $5.95.  Better solution, heavier wires, etc...

It can be found here.