GGG Electric Ice Trackball troubleshoot

[deadite]

I wired up a Groovy Game Gear Electric Ice Trackball but I am having trouble getting it to work. I am using Windows 10 on a newly built PC. I have the interface board wired to a power supply for the 5V. Is there a LED on the board to indicate power? In Windows I get a "does not recognize the USB device" error.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Bill

[PL1]

I have the interface board wired to a power supply for the 5V.

There shouldn't be an external 5v power supply connection.

The Opti-Wiz gets 5v from USB and uses that 5v to power the trackball optical circuits.

Before you go any farther, you may want to test if you've accidently fried the board.
- Disconnect everything from the Opti-Wiz except the USB cable then plug the cable into a USB port on your computer.
- It should show up as a USB/HID mouse.

The Opti-Wiz board should have the following connections:
- USB cable to computer
- 5v out to trackball (2 red wires)
- Ground for trackball (2 black wires)
- Data lines for the X and Y axes (4 wires)
-- Blue and purple wires for X-axis (swap wires if the axis moves opposite of the expected direction)
-- Yellow and green wires for Y-axis (swap wires if the axis moves opposite of the expected direction)

The left half of this image shows where to connect the wires.

Is there a LED on the board to indicate power?

There's no power LED on an Opti-Wiz.


Scott

[deadite]

Thank for the reply PL1. It looks like I misunderstood the wiring instructions. I tried just plugging in the USB but I could not get the cursor to move. Then I searched the forums on it and I thought it said to wire in 5V to the board to get power to read the optic, but obviously that was incorrect. I will have to do some more testing and possibly ordering a replacement board. Live and learn. Thanks again for your help.

Bill

[PL1]

I tried just plugging in the USB but I could not get the cursor to move.

Sorry if I wasn't clear about this earlier.

With just USB connected the Opti-Wiz should show up in "Control Panel -- Devices and printers" as a mouse instead of returning a "does not recognize the USB device" error.
- If Windows doesn't recognize the Opti-Wiz as a mouse, the rest of the wiring is irrelevant.
- The cursor won't move unless the 5v/ground/data lines are connected.  With both data lines at a logic low, the encoder will decode that the trackball is in the "Phase 1" position and not moving right to 'Phase 2" or left to "Phase 4".

Then I searched the forums on it and I thought it said to wire in 5V to the board to get power to read the optic, but obviously that was incorrect.

5v from the Opti-Wiz powers the optical circuit LED and phototransistor.

The way to wire it is shown in my earlier post.
- Red wire(s) from trackball to 5v pin(s) on Opti-Wiz
- Black wire(s) from trackball to ground pin(s) on Opti-Wiz
- Blue and purple wires from trackball to X-axis pins on Opti-Wiz
- Yellow and green wires from trackball to Y-axis pins on Opti-Wiz

The other connection is the trackball frame ground (heavy green wires ending in a ring terminal) to ground.  This path drains the static charge generated by rolling the trackball.


Scott

[deadite]

Thanks for your help PL1, I was able to get it working. Looks like I got lucky and didn't fry the board. I had the wires mixed up on the board, which I then thought needed power. I misinterpreted the manual where it said you will likely need power. I assumed that meant 5V from a power supply.

Thanks again ,

Bill