Newbie Switch question

[Nil8er]

I am interested in having a Street Fighter Style cp, but I want to add a 4-way Joystick in the middle.  I read that I should probably wire the Player 1 8-way Joystick and the 4-way joystick into the same place on the interface(IPAC4).
I'd like to be able to have a switch that will allow me to disable the one Joystick when the other is in use.

The switch would have to have 4 poles which run to the interface, 4 poles which run to the Player 1 8-way Joystick and 4 poles which run to the  4-way Joystick.

Does anyone know if this kind of switch exists and where I might be able to get one if it does?

[Sprucemoose]

I'm not an expert electrician, but I think that if you open the circuit by turning one of the joysticks off then neither of the joysticks will work.  You could always try and see what happens.

[Nil8er]

I'm not an expert electrician, but I think that if you open the circuit by turning one of the joysticks off then neither of the joysticks will work.  You could always try and see what happens.

In the picture below, the circles are the joysticks, the long rectangle is the interface, and the center box represents the Switch that I am looking for:

[Tiger-Heli]

I am interested in having a Street Fighter Style cp, but I want to add a 4-way Joystick in the middle.  I read that I should probably wire the Player 1 8-way Joystick and the 4-way joystick into the same place on the interface(IPAC4).
I'd like to be able to have a switch that will allow me to disable the one Joystick when the other is in use.

The switch would have to have 4 poles which run to the interface, 4 poles which run to the Player 1 8-way Joystick and 4 poles which run to the  4-way Joystick.

Does anyone know if this kind of switch exists and where I might be able to get one if it does?

I "think" (80% sure) this will work, but I'm not certain.  Wire all the positive switch leads up normally.  Daisy chain all your button grounds and run to the I-PAC gnd.  Use a separate wire to daisy chain the P1 8-way joystick grounds and run to the ON- Terminal of a SPDT (Single Pole Dual Throw) switch.  Use a third wire to daisy chain the 4-way joystick grounds and wire to the other ON- Terminal of the SPDT switch.  Use a fourth wire to run from the center (common) terminal of the SPDT switch to the I-PAC gnd terminal.

Hopefully that made sense.

BTW, you will probably want an ON-ON switch, but you could use an ON-OFF-ON switch instead.  (Wiring would be the same).

Also, I think you can do what you described, but the method above is simpler/cheaper, assuming it works (and I think it will )  To do it your initial way, you would need a 4PDT (4-pole, dual throw, Quad-pole, dual throw, QPDT???) switch, but I don't think they make such a thing.  You could however use 2 DPDT slide switches and gang them together (mechanically) so they both activated at the same time, but like I said, this gets to costly and complicated.

[Nil8er]

Thanks Tiger-Heli,
Is there any way that you could illustrate/diagram what you meant?  I'd really appreciate it.

[Tiger-Heli]

Thanks Tiger-Heli,
Is there any way that you could illustrate/diagram what you meant?  I'd really appreciate it.

I'll work on it.  Give me a couple of hours and I'll try to put something up after lunch.  (Although, I'm only somewhat sure it will work.)

Wish me luck, art is not my strong point.

[Tiger-Heli]

Lame attempt at sketching this out shown below:

The rectangle on the left is the I-PAC.  The big rectangle to the right of it, with the circle in the middle is the P1 8-way joystick (looking down from above the panel).  The four little rectangles attached to it represent the 4 microswitches.  The similar object on the far right is the 4-way joystick.  The object at the bottom with the blue, black, and red wires connected to it is the SPDT switch.  I have shown it as a toggle switch, but they also make slide, rocker, or rotary switches which would work.  Finally, the rectangle between the I-PAC and the SPDT is the microswitch on a pushbutton.

The teal wire connects the NO (Normally Open) terminals on the joystick UP microswitches to the I-PAC.  The orange (brown?) wire connects the NO terminals of the joystick Right microswitches to the I-PAC.  They can be one wire or separate, it doesn't matter.  There would be additional wires for the left and down terminals, but I didn't show them to avoid crossing more wires than I already did.

The blue (purple?) wire connects the four COMMON (GND) terminals of the P1 Joystick together and to the SPDT switch terminal.  (The terminals are not on the inside portion of the joystick, but it was easier to draw them this way.)  The red wire does the same thing for the 4-way.

The center terminal of the switch goes to the I-PAC GND.  The button is wired normally.

As shown, the switch connects the blue wire with the black ground wire, enabling the P1 joystick.  Flipping the switch disconnects the blue wire and connects the red and black wires, disconnecting the P1 joystick and connecting the 4-way.

Sorry for the bad art.

[Sshado]

looks like you forgot the pic  

[Tiger-Heli]

Art is HERE: http://www.fraggersxtreme.com/museum/Temp/wiringmess.png

Any idea why this didn't upload???

[MameFan]

Here's a diagram of what you need.

1) Wire all 4  NO (normally open) switches on each joystick to the IPAC. (2 wires out of the IPAC connector, 1 to each joystick per direction)

2) Buy a DPDT (double pole double throw) switch. Why double pole and not single pole?  Because we will use both poles to ensure a GOOD connection. SPDT may not make a 100% clean contact (worse with age) so we want to ensure no future problems. Better spending a few extra cents and getting a better switch and just soldering across the poles to make it a better SPDT type.

3) Connect the common/ground wire from the IPAC to the center of the switch...across both poles.

4) Connect one side of the switch (across both poles) to the 4 ground connectors on the 8 way joystick.

5) Connect the other side of the switch (across both poles) the the 4 ground connectors on the 4 way joystick.


That's it!   Here is a colorful wiring diagram for you.

[MameFan]

> 4PDT (4-pole, dual throw, Quad-pole, dual throw, QPDT???) switch, but I don't think they make such a thing.

Actually they do... They're normally in the form of a rotary "click" switch. Remember old 1970's stereo systems to select the input source?  They used these types of switches.  Radio shack still sells some n-Pole rotaries.  (4, 8, 12 pole, double throw)


However the problem in this case is easily solvable with cutting the grounds.   If you remember I posted a reverse to this question about using 2 game boards connected to one input and switching that.  In that case you have to cut the positives because otherwise you will get feedback between the game boards on the + lines since they're both sending out signals on it.   But in this case, there is no power generated by the joysticks themselves so you can just move the ground between them.

[Valence]

Why do you want to use a switch?  You could just wire it directly to the ipac. It wouldn't interfer with anything unless you start moving both at the same time.

Valence

[Tiger-Heli]

That's it!   Here is a colorful wiring diagram for you.

What MameFan said!!!!

[Nil8er]

WOW!! You Guys Are Awesome!

Thank you so much for the help!

[Sprucemoose]

Told you I was no expert.

[MameFan]

The *ONLY* problem this will give you is the following.

Lets say you have the 4 way turned on. You are pressing right on the 4 way. Then you accidentially press right+down on the 8 way at the same time

The IPAC will see the short between right+ground+down (since even though the ground isn't connected on the other joystick, the crossing of a wire that IS grounded with another one that isn't will, in effect, ground both) and send that combination to Mame..   (same for any other diagonal combination).  If you're playing a 4 way game this won't be an issue)


As far as why you need the switch at all... yes, I would agree--if the joysticks are far enough apart, you probably don't need to go thru this work. However I was just answering the question posed, not questioning why it was asked to begin with

[Tiger-Heli]

The IPAC will see the short between right+ground+down (since even though the ground isn't connected on the other joystick, the crossing of a wire that IS grounded with another one that isn't will, in effect, ground both) and send that combination to Mame..   (same for any other diagonal combination).  If you're playing a 4 way game this won't be an issue)

I never would have caught that.

As far as where to get the switch, SPDT's are available in the automotive section of auto parts stores or Wal-Mart, etc.  DPDT's are available from radio shack or on the web from www.digikey.com or www.allelectronics.com or www.mouser.com