pot wires steering wheel atari

[thunder-rolling]

Hi,

I have an Atari steering wheel, pulled from a Final Lap cab. Is it safe to say: black wire = ground, red wire = 5v and brown wire = signal?

[hng]

only 3 wires?

[Kremmit]

A wheel with a potentiometer on it (270 degree wheel) will have three wires.  An optical wheel (360 degree wheel) would have four.

On a pot, it's not ground, +5 and signal.  It's ground, other ground and wiper. 

What are you planning to hook this thing up to?  Should be an A-Pac or an AKI, unless you're using a Dual Strike hack or similar.

[thunder-rolling]

I'm using a dual strike hack. I see I've got the terminology down pat..

[Zebidee]

NO!

On a pot, it's not ground, +5 and signal.  It's ground, other ground and wiper. 

For a pot, the 3 wires are:  Ground (probably BLACK), signal input (probably RED, pre-wiper) and signal output (post wiper).  Looking at the pot from the back, the three pins are:  GROUND - INPUT (ie 5v) - OUTPUT (signal, reduced voltage)

To use an apac, you'll need to determine the eletrical resistance rating of the pot by using a multimeter.

For more directions, look at the APAC page on Ultimarc.com.

[Kremmit]

Der.  For some reason I was picturing a pot wired up in more of a "balance knob" configuration.  Which was dumb, considering a steering wheel is not a balance knob.  And even at that, it's really a case of two inputs plus a wiper, not two ground plus a wiper.  Somebody smack me upside the head with a copy of Electronics for Dummies, please.