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need help with my Betson Imperial trackball

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Zkam:

Hi.

I found an arcade control panel with a Betson Imperial trackball. The joysticks and buttons are attached to a mini-pac. A cable connected to the trackball was cut off at the end. The joysticks and buttons work pretty in mame. I'm sure what I need to do to get the trackball working. Will this Betson Imperial trackball work with the mini-pac? Also the sensors in the trackball does not line up with diagram of the mini-pac. Thanks.

PL1:


--- Quote from: Zkam on June 26, 2024, 12:53:21 pm ---Will this Betson Imperial trackball work with the mini-pac?

--- End quote ---
It should.


--- Quote from: Zkam on June 26, 2024, 12:53:21 pm ---Also the sensors in the trackball does not line up with diagram of the mini-pac.

--- End quote ---
From what I've read, the pinout is in a different order, but first we'll need to figure out how those boards were originally connected.

1. What wiring did it come with?

2. Did you take any notes or pictures of the wiring before you disconnected the connectors on J1 thru J4?
- With four 4-pin connectors that can easily be swapped/reversed it's a lot easier to get it wired right if we know how it was originally.

3. If you don't know exactly how the wires were connected, we can talk you through reverse engineering the connections for the lower board from the HT6523 (PS/2 mouse IC) datasheet here, then figure out the upper board connections from there.

Instead of using the HT6523 as your optical (mouse) encoder, you'll need to connect 5v, ground, and the four optical data lines to use your MiniPac as the optical encoder.
- Both boards will need 5v and ground.
- You don't need to wire anything to the pins that lead to HT6523 pins 6 and 7 (clk and data) because they were for PS/2.


Scott

Zkam:

I do not remember the order and placement of wires. The end parts of one group of wires were connected to buttons of cabinet. I will attempt to send a photo of the wires. My post keeps failing for some reason. Thanks.

PL1:


--- Quote from: Zkam on June 28, 2024, 06:49:45 pm ---I do not remember the order and placement of wires.

--- End quote ---
The cut cable was the PS/2 cable.
- It may have also been able to connect to USB.   :dunno
- This connector was on J2.

Looks like the 6 QDs were for left/right/middle mouse buttons and 3 grounds.
- You may not want mouse buttons on your control panel.  Guests can cause all kinds of trouble getting into right-click menus.   :embarassed:
- This connector was on J1.

There should have been another 4-pin to 4-pin jumper to connect the two boards together.
- This jumper was from J3 to J4.

There probably should also be a green or green/yellow Frame Ground wire to bleed off any static change generated by the ball rolling on the rollers.

There are two possible approaches to getting the trackball working:

  1. Replace the PS/2 (USB?) cable and use that for the trackball inputs.
- You'll need to fabricate the 4-pin J3/J4 jumper.  J3 pinout is clearly marked, but you will need to figure out the correct pinout for J4.

  2. Rewire the trackball so the optical circuits connect to your MiniPac.
- This approach will involve cutting some legs on the IC and soldering some wires for the Y-axis data lines.  You can probably cut IC pins 6, 7, 13, and 14 then jumper the Y-axis data lines to the CLK and Data lines that lead to J1.
- You won't need to fabricate a J3/J4 jumper, but you will need to figure out the correct pinout for J4 so you can connect the X-axis via J4 to the MiniPac.

Which approach do you want to use?

Either way, it's time to start the reverse engineering process.

Please post a few more pics:
- Another pic of the board with the IC so we can clearly read all the markings for J1, J2, and J3.
- A pic or two of the backs of both boards so we can follow the PCB traces.
- A pic of the boards in the trackball housing.  Orient the housing so the wires come out the near/lower right side (standard installation direction) and adjust the shot angle so viewers can tell which board is on which axis.

After that, it'll probably be multimeter time.


Scott
EDIT: Accidently had J1 and J2 swapped.   :embarassed:

Zkam:

I would like to Replace the USB cable and use that for the trackball inputs.

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