Trackball (via MiniPAC) - Y axis reversed??

[stuzza]

I've just connected my Happs 3" Highball trackball to my minipac and for some reason the Y axis seems to be reversed - ie.  you push up and the mouse cursor goes down, push down and the cursor goes up?  This happens in both Windows and MAME.

I have made sure the trackball is mounted correctly in the panel, with the writing which says "monitor ->" definitely pointing up to the monitor.  The X-axis is fine, but the up down on the Y is reversed?  The cables coming from the minipac can only be connected one way also, so I don't think that is the problem?

Anyone have any ideas?

[wakerlet]

stuzza,

I remember seeing a couple of posts regarding this.  I think Kelsy (Oscar Controls) may have the answer for you but here are the two things I remember reading:

1.  The Atari and the Happ molex connector have the y1 and y2 wires in opposite positions.  That is, the y2 wire on the Atari TB connector is in the same position as the y1 connector on the Happ TB.  This could be the problem (with the MiniPac or the TB)

2.  You can use jeweler's tools to swap the pins on the connector so they are matching up correctly (saw this post in the last week or so)

Good luck and post your resolution for the other BYOAC members when you have one.

-Todd

[drunkatuw]

I was using a happ's golden tee trackball with my mini-pac and I did have to switch the two center wires on the y-axis to correct the problem.  

But even after the problem was fixed, I still had the problem with the cursor going backwards when I hit the trackball really hard.  I spent the $25 to get oscar's mouse hack and happ's trackball harness and couldn't be happier now!

[stuzza]

Thanks for the info.  I'll try switching those two wires and see how it goes.  

I would have thought that if the minipac was designed for a happs trackball it would be round the right way to begin with?? Weird.

[drunkatuw]

I emailed andy and he seemed to think it was just a mix up...but it's simple enough to fix.

[stuzza]

I just reversed the TY1 and TY2 connectors (Pin 35 and 36) going into the minipac and it worked like a treat!!  Up is now up and vice versa!  Yay  

Thanks for all the help guys!

One more quick question, do I need to connect the Green (ground??) wire coming out of the Happ trackball to something?  Or is it safe to leave it unattached?

[Lomar]

I'm dying here!

I've been looking all over for how to get this dern trackball to work.

I have the Happ Trackball with the Mini-Pac and I have "no clue" how to connect it.  I have the happ wiring harness and I plugged in the only two wires that seem to fit into the trackball ... nothing.  I swap the wires ... nothing.

WHAT am I missing?!?  How come I can't find anything about this?!

Help!!!

[Tiger-Heli]

One more quick question, do I need to connect the Green (ground??) wire coming out of the Happ trackball to something?  Or is it safe to leave it unattached?

Green wire is a chassis ground designed to keep static from the spinning ball from affecting the electronic circuits.

I have seen posts saying you could leave it unconnected.

If you do connect it, you want to connect it to earth ground (i.e., the metal case of the computer or better yet, the lower prong of the AC line into the Power Supply or the ground cable at the wall socket, not the GND terminal on the encoder).

Although shouldn't the GND terminal on the encoder feed back through the PS, which then goes to the lower wire GND so it does the same thing either way???

[dema]

I just reversed the TY1 and TY2 connectors (Pin 35 and 36) going into the minipac and it worked like a treat!!

[markrvp]

According to Ultimarc's diagram, pins 35 & 36 are the two that need to be swapped.

Before you do that, is the trackball's Y axis reversed in Windows?

[dema]

In addition to needing to swap the wiring I also needed to replace the trackball because the y axis isn't reading at all. I had a spare trackball and I got it working once I switched the wiring.