Best small trackball? 4"x4" housing max

[aldub516]

Im looking for a small trackball to complete a panel. Its a metal panel, with 4x4 inches of room to play with on the mounting. The guy originally had a trackball but didnt like it. the housing on that was 4x4 so im hoping thats univeral for smaller size trackballs. I found a few but can find either no reviews, or no dimensions. On any front, whats a good minitrack ball?

[JDFan]

Haven't actually received it yet (Ordered May 2nd) but I recently ordered this one (figured at $16.75 shipped it was worth trying) - It's currently on the Post office truck for delivery so should find out if it is any good soon. From the description it shows the package as just under 4x4x6 inches and the ball is about 2" so should fit in the space you have.

In the description it says :

The Trackball housing measures just 100mm x 100mm so is ideal for smaller control panels or for those looking to save space.

Which would make it 3.94" so would fit but it has a ps2 connection so not sure if it would work for you (depending on the PC you are using and if it has the older ps2 mouse/keyboard connector on the MOBO.

[aldub516]

I'd love to hear how it works when it arrives. I came across quite a few trackballs that look like that. As I said he actually had a trackball for it. For what ever reason he didn't use it so I assume it was crappy. I shall await your review sir

Also would it have any issues with a ps2 to usb converter?

[JDFan]

I'd love to hear how it works when it arrives. I came across quite a few trackballs that look like that. As I said he actually had a trackball for it. For what ever reason he didn't use it so I assume it was crappy. I shall await your review sir

Also would it have any issues with a ps2 to usb converter?

Might take a couple days to find time to test but will let you know -- As far as the adapter I'll see if I have one somewhere in the junk box ( I know I have USB to PS2 but not sure about the reverse - though do have extra ps2 extension cable and USB cables so can probably test by making one using the PS2 extension so it doesn't require any changes to the trackball ! ( Seems that it is just a matter of swapping the wires properly ( USB uses data+ and data- while ps2 has Data and CLCK but from looking it seems Data+ is CLCK and DATA - is Data)


Will test and report back in a day or 2.

[ppv]

Thanks for that link, that is super cheap! I paid 40$ for mine 2 years ago... Works quite well, but only recommended for casual, non-hardcore trackball gamers...

[JDFan]

Got it in the mail yesterday and was surprised how well packaged it was (the cardboard box the unit was in was placed inside a styrofoam cube designed to fit it that took a bit of a beating in shipping but the inner box was untouched. It only took 12 days from placing the order to receiving it from China (so much quicker than I expected)

Had a small amount of time to test by placing it in a cardboard box with the 3 buttons (it comes with 4 wires for the buttons ( 1 ground loop with 3 connections and 3 single wires for the buttons all with 0.187 connectors which fit the Happ buttons perfectly.) which work as mouse left, right and center buttons connected to the computer with the ps2 connection.

took about 5 minutes to connect in the box and then plug into the PC ( remember to turn the PC off to connect or it will not be detected until next boot as ps2 is not hot swappable !)

Once connected it worked with no further drivers (was seen as a ps2 compatible louse in device manager) - In MAMEUIFX64 just had to turn on "ENABLE MOUSE INPUT" in the default game options - controllers tab and it worked fine.

Played a few games of missile command, centipede, millipede, and some bowling game and they all performed decently - as ppv mentioned the size is a bit small so not really for hard core trackball gamers and I probably need to adjust the movement sensitivity a bit to get it to take less rotations to move across the entire screen, but it works well for what it is ( considering it was mounted in a thin cardboard box and not really secure ) - the thing is actually pretty well built and movement is smooth just will take some getting used to the size ( 2" is a bit small when used to the 4" Missile command ball ! ) but it is definitely much better than trying to use a joystick and well worth the price !!

Here's a pic of the inside of the unit and the box I placed it in for testing. ( couldn't find a ps2 to USB adapter so didn't test USB connection) - as you can see the ball rests on 3 rollers - 2 of which have the sensor to pick up the x and y axis movement and it rolls fairly stable on them

[aldub516]

thats good enough for me.. with all the help youve given me i trust your assessment of the trackball. Realistically its not like i have a ton of options, and the happs are just not in my budget for this one. Im gonna order it.. ive spent 16 bucks on worse. thanks guys!... also, if and when you get a moment, can you possibly measure the exact diamater of the housing? just the length and width of the internal box. This is the project im doing. My friend got a japanese street fighter for a customer who wants it mame'd. Basically just swapping out the crappy panel it had and throwing a pc in it.. no major damage. Im just a guy who makes things for people that pay me. This is the panel i did. Note, i personally hate the multicolor buttons and that blue ball top.. He wanted the kit to keep it cheap and so thats what i got him. The small track ball will go right in the middle. i made a little mock up of how it will look to. thanks again for the help. i ordered that trackball.. first time using aliexpress.. lets see..

cab with original panel, the mocked up one, and the finished panel minus trackball.







pic upload

[aldub516]

i see for 8 dollars more they have an illuminated version, but its kind of stupid because the ball lights up green normally, and then flashes red when one of the "mouse buttons" are pushed.. eh.. I wonder if i can jump some wires and switch it to red in standby mode, as i wont even have the mouse buttons hooked up.

[JDFan]

i see for 8 dollars more they have an illuminated version, but its kind of stupid because the ball lights up green normally, and then flashes red when one of the "mouse buttons" are pushed.. eh.. I wonder if i can jump some wires and switch it to red in standby mode, as i wont even have the mouse buttons hooked up.

Would think it should be fairly easy to just either swap out the lights or wires on them to swap them so red when on and green when button pressed.

EDIT :

Light information

On background lit version, there are two light diodes mounted on the PCB inside trackball.
One is for constant light, and the other one lights up when buttons are clicked.

The diameter of the trackball is 4.5cm, the whole trackball size is 9.5cm

looks like they are soldered into the PCB so would require removing them and resoldering to the other connection

[aldub516]

i got this 

thanks for the help and suggestions as always.. just waiting for it to arrive to install, and off it goes.

[JDFan]

i got this 

thanks for the help and suggestions as always.. just waiting for it to arrive to install, and off it goes.

Did a quick measurement for you and it comes up 3.75" x 4" ( the one side has the 2 hinge pieces that hold it together so is slightly wider if you include them in the measurement )

[JDFan]

Also would it have any issues with a ps2 to usb converter?

Just wanted to follow up on this question -- I went ahead and ordered a $4 USB to PS2 Adapter for keyboard and mouse ( SInce I have one of the $99 kangaroo PC's that I might use in a build soon so wanted to see if this trackball would work with the USB adapter. Bought this type rather than just the cheaper single adapter for the mouse and ordered from an amazon seller located in Texas for $3.99 + $0.25 Tax rather than wait for the $3.15 one from China.
 

Received the adapter today - Hooked it up and It did not work ( Made the USB device plugged in sound but then failed to load any driver and said it was an unknown device) - Figured it wasn't going to work - so decided to take the thing apart to see what it actually looked like and also to see if the USB connector and ps2 connectors were worth salvaging for the parts box -- Upon taking the PCB part in the cable apart the insides were badly corroded and the corrosion had shorted several of the solder pads --- Took out an old toothbrush and small solder cleaning tool and cleaned things up - put it back together and when I retried it the thing worked fine ( came up as soon as it was plugged in no driver install needed) !!

So seems the trackball will work with a USB converter and is hot swap-able when used this way (doesn't need to be connected prior to boot like the PS2 devices do) - but you need to make sure the converter actually works !!

[aldub516]

Thanks for that follow up! I'm waiting for mine in the mail as we speak