Interface for wheels?

[jelwell]

I'm planning on building a control panel with 2 360 wheels and 1 270 wheel. As well as 3 pedals.

I'm wondering what combination of opti-pacs, a-pacs, wiz's, aki interfaces or whatnots would be the cheapest, and conversely the best, solution?

I get the impression that the opti-pac is my only choice for 360 wheels? Or are there other spinner interfaces I'm overlooking?

Joseph Elwell.

[Flinkly]

you could get a minipac which is 39.99.  but whatever you choose for your interface for your 360 wheels, your gonna need an a-pac or aki board.

[jelwell]

you could get a minipac which is 39.99.

[Flinkly]

360 wheels, spinners, and mouses are all usually the same thing.

[jelwell]

no offense to you, but you might want to read up on everything you want before you dive in and get stuff.

I did. That's why I'm asking.

The minipac you suggested doesn't say anything about being compatible with Steering Wheels.

The A-pac mentions steering wheels and pedals but doesn't say whether they're  360 or 270 wheels. It also says it has 4 analogue spots, that would imply to me that I could have 1 270 wheel and 3 analogue pedals. I'd still need soemthing for the 2 360 wheels though.

The optipac only supports 1 360 steering wheel in USB mode (unless using Analog mame+). 2 in Serial Mode but my serial port is already being used for my Happs Trackball. Can I get a serial splitter?

Joseph Elwell.

[Kremmit]

The A-pac mentions steering wheels and pedals but doesn't say whether they're  360 or 270 wheels. It also says it has 4 analogue spots, that would imply to me that I could have 1 270 wheel and 3 analogue pedals. I'd still need soemthing for the 2 360 wheels though.

The optipac only supports 1 360 steering wheel in USB mode (unless using Analog mame+). 2 in Serial Mode but my serial port is already being used for my Happs Trackball. Can I get a serial splitter?

You've got the A-Pac part right.

The optipac will happily support 2 360 degree wheels in USB mode, without Analog+.

A 360 degree wheel = 1 axis = a spinner = 1/2 of a mouse = 1/2 of a trackball.  They're all the same thing, electronically speaking.  Mice and trackballs have 2 axes, wheels and spinners have one axis.  They can all be interfaced with a mouse hack, mini-pac, or opti-pac. 

[unclet]

If you can solder/desolder a circuit board, I would recommend hacking the Microsoft Dual Strike USB Sidewinder.  Each sidewinder has two 5K pots which can be removed and substituted with an arcade control 5K pot connection. The sidewinder also allows many buttons to be connected as well..   I hacked 6 of these USB sidewinders for my 6-panel rotating driving cabinet.  I also hacked a USB mouse to connect to my 360 steering wheel.  All USB components connect to a central USB hub.

If each of your three pedals are 5K pots, then you would need the following to get everything you want connected:

   270 wheel and one pedal = 1 Dual Strike Sidewinder ($5 to $15)
    Two other driving pedals =1 Dual Strike Sidewinder ($5 to $15)
             360 driving wheel  = 1 USB mouse (free to $5)
 Connect everything at once = 1 USB Hub (free to $15)


<Edit>
I just saw an Ebay auction ending in 2 hours for 5 Dual Strike Sidewinder controllers for $10.  Each has a problem .... which means the trigger button probably broke or the directional stick broke.   However, it is great to find ones which are broke like this, since the Dual Strike will be hacked anyway and the computer board inside most likely works fine.   Too bad I could not find 5 at one time for $10 (plus shipping of course) when I did mine.   All of the sidewinders which I purchased for my project cost me an average cost of $11.60 each.

Another Ebay auction has one for $4.99 and free shipping ... great deals

Good luck....

[jelwell]

I did the keyboard hack for my original control panel. Now that I've "been there, done that" I'm far too lazy to do it again. And I've since upgraded my control panel to a 4 player layout with an ipac4.

SooOooooO..

It sounds like I need an A-pac for the 1 270 wheel and 3 analog pedals (since I hear I can use analog pedals just fine in digital pedal games).

I'll also need an optipac for the 2 360 Steering wheels.

I just realized in reading an old thread by Minwah that I need to figure out button layout as well as Stick Shifts! Eek, this is going to take a bit of thought.

Minwah's post:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,28960.0.html

Joseph Elwell.

[Tiger-Heli]

I'm still not sure you are getting this correctly, but you seem to be getting closer.

It sounds like I need an A-pac for the 1 270 wheel and 3 analog pedals (since I hear I can use analog pedals just fine in digital pedal games).

That or DaveB's AKI, or a Dual Strike Hack (or two).  Info on hacking the dual strike is here: http://1uparcade.robandmitsue.com/projects-dualstrike.html

You could also hack a standard USB joystick and replace the 270-wheel pots with the joysticks pots, or hack the wheel to the gameport, ala http://www.gunpowder.freeserve.co.uk/wheels/wiring.htm

Between DaveB's AKI and the A-pac, I think it comes down to:  AKI autodetects 5K or 100K pots, and you could use both together with it.  A-PAC can work with any value pots, but I think they all have to be the same, but there could be other differences that I am missing.

I'll also need an optipac for the 2 360 Steering wheels.

Yes, or you could get a Minipac and connect one wheel to the X-axis and one wheel to the Y-Axis, or get one of OSCAR's (http://www.oscarcontrols.com/cgi-bin/cart.pl?DT=1) pre-hacked USB mice for $9 and do the same thing.

I just realized in reading an old thread by Minwah that I need to figure out button layout as well as Stick Shifts! Eek, this is going to take a bit of thought.

Correct.

[jelwell]

I'm still not sure you are getting this correctly, but you seem to be getting closer.

Thanks. It would have been a lot easier if the information I was looking for was stated in laymen's terms on the product pages. Specifically mentioning which steering wheels are supported and the like (pedals, shifters, etc).

Between DaveB's AKI and the A-pac, I think it comes down to:

[Kremmit]

Stick shifts are digital, will wire up just like buttons.

[Flinkly]

i ordered my 4 speed shifter from ponyboy.  it hasn't gotten here yet, but i'm expecting it soon.  heres what i bought:

http://www.happcontrols.com/driving/50849600.htm

they sell 270 and 360 wheels from happs too, so you could buy it all through ponyboy from happs.  oh and i got some pedals from ponyboy too, this is them:

http://www.happcontrols.com/driving/50806001.htm

good luck with it all.

[Tiger-Heli]

Thanks. It would have been a lot easier if the information I was looking for was stated in laymen's terms on the product pages. Specifically mentioning which steering wheels are supported and the like (pedals, shifters, etc).

Product pages? (oh, okay, you mean for the opti-pac, etc.  I think Andy assumes most people were around when the products were introduced here.  And I think DaveB assumes you know what you would use the products for.)

Now you've lost me. 5K, 100K pots? What kind of pots do 270 wheels and analog pedals have?
Does it depend on the wheel? I'm thinking about trying to buy 2 super sprint wheels (360s) and the middle (270) wheel I haven't given any thought to. I want to play Hard Drivin, Cruis'n USA, spy hunter, and maybe outrun. Although if it turns out to be too expensive I might just buy a PC USB wheel and use that as my 270 wheel.

Yep, it depends, MOST arcade controls used 5K pots.  MOST PC controls used 100K pots.  That's what made the dual-strike such a popular hack - b/c it used 5K pots so the electronics worked just fine with arcade controllers.

Mmmm, minipac - yeah I didn't understand this product. I see it says it works with optical devices.

Does this all sound right?:
analog implies to me 270 wheels and of course analog pedals.
digital implies digital pedals. (buttons & standard joysticks - of course)
optical implies 360 wheels.

Now... stick shifts? I'm going to have to do some digging to see what kind I need and whether they're digital or analog.
Joseph Elwell.

Mini-pac is basically an I-PAC and half an Opti-Pac on the same board.

You have the analog-digital-optical correct.

Shifters are digital - but . . .  - here's where it gets confusing:

Take a standard Hi-Lo shifter like Pole Position.

Sometimes the shifter was centered and moving it up or down selected Hi or Lo gear.

More often, it was spring-loaded to LO and moving it put it momentarily in HI.

But . . . it might have two switches, the LO normally on all the time, and the HI on when in that position, or it might only have one switch for HI which is normally off.

And regardless of how it actually works, MAME may have set it up to work best with a keyboard rather than the authentic hardware.

Hopefully I didn't really lose you with that, but bottom line is you are probably going to have to see how the various driving games handle the shifters and then set yours up to work with them.