Dual sytem stick

[Joshb]

I searched the archieves to see if this had already been talked about but I couldn't find any specific threads. I'm sure it has been talked about many times before, so if anyone can direct me to previous threads that would be cool too.

Anyway, what I'm trying to do is create a single arcade stick that can be used on both a dreamcast and Playstation 1/2 without converters, a converter is how I currently do it. . I want to wire up a Sega DC gamepad and PS pad (digital or dualshock, depending on which one will work better).   

I have heard it isn't possible to do this and then I was told it was,  but the article I found was very vague.
Here is what the article said.
1. Hack both pads as normally done and connect pad controls to the buttons and joystick
2. Both pads need voltage at the same time, so connect 5v from both pads together.
3. Daisy chain the ground as normally done, BUT you need to split the ground among the 2 pads. Each pad needs to have 1 ground that connects to the daisy chain ground.

Is what this article says the correct way to do it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[shmokes]

I'm no expert, but I think you need to put doides on the wires so the electricity only flows one way.  Do a search for "dreamcast diodes" (without quotes) and see if that pulls up what you are looking for.


edit:  Heh...I just did the search and I found this which is a more expensive, but much easier way of accomplishing what you want: 
http://www.xgaming.com/byoarcade.shtml

Still, that search should pull up pages explaining what you need to do if you go the diode route.  Also, you'll be able to see people who have already done it (I haven't) and PM them with questions.

[Dave_K.]

If those are the instructions of the article you read, then I bet the title was "How to fry two consoles at the same time".  If you try to send power to both sticks at the same time, you will surely short out one or both console ports.

Short answer is you can't have both sets of hacked pads hooked up to the same controls at the same time.  You can use molex connectors or a switchbox.  Here are some threads:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,18174.0.html
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?board=15%3baction=display%3bthreadid=17200

Regarding the grounds, I was the one who suggested running seperate  grounds for each player side.  This is to make the molex connecters "standard" so you don't have to worry about which hacked pad had ground or not.

If you want to see an example, here is my control panel with 15 pin molex connector (grounds wired seperately per player). I have both DC and PSX hacked pads that hookup to those same connectors.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,28845.msg241020.html#msg241020

[Dave_K.]

FYI, the diode method was mainly to enable people to hookup multiple grounds from multiple sysytems at the same time (so one ground voltage can't flow back into another systems ground).  Using connectors are safer bet.

[spiffyshoes]

Is this the article you were refering to?

http://www.shoryuken.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1572132&postcount=23

You want to connect the grounds from the two pads together and then daisy chain them to the buttons.

As long as you don't plug both Pads in at the same time in theory you don't need the diods.

[Joshb]

I ran across this on the Shoryuken website, it describes how to make a dual stick. I'll give this a shot when my parts arrive this week. It looks like theres at least a handful of us who want to make a dual stick.

http://www.shoryuken.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78549