Need help identifying spinner

[klippoth]

I bought this arcade spinner on ebay, and was hoping to connect it to an opti-pac, but neither I nor the seller seem to be able to figure out what game this is from. I really am trying to figure out what pins are what on the board, but I am at a loss. Does anyone know what game this is from, or even better, which pins are what on the optical encoder board?

It has an identical knob to Tron, but painted orange on top, and is extremely heavy and rugged as old-school spinners were...

[Green Giant]

No idea what it is from, but there is always the hack a mouse method.  All the hardwork is already done for you.

[klippoth]

I already own a new opti-pac that I am using with a Happ trackball, and it would be a total waste for me to do the hack-a-mouse method when I have that. Already thought about that idea, but no, I just want to use the pre-existing hardware if possible.

[klippoth]

Just for clarification, here is a pic I just took of the optical encoder board removed from the spinner frame:

[CheffoJeffo]

The mounting assembly doesn't look like Tron, but the optic board looks like Tron, except for the different pinout and it doesn't say Midway Mfg like the Tron boards.

I dunno ... 

[Kevin Mullins]

http://www.quarterarcade.com/Game.aspx/4469?c=   

[CheffoJeffo]

OK -- that was impressive! 

[Fozzy The Bear]

http://www.quarterarcade.com/Game.aspx/4469?c=   

 

We'll have to rename you Sherlock.... LOL

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[u_rebelscum]

Cool info.

IIRC, the tron board doesn't output the same as most arcade spinners; that chip in the middle is a 10 bit counter.  IOW, it interprets the quadrature signal from the sensor, counts the teeth/gaps changes, and (I'm guessing) sends pulses on the pines.  Most spinners just squared and maybe debounced the quadrature signal, if anything at all, and let the MB do the counting.  So, AFAIK, you can't just wire it to the optipac (which counts and sends the info over USB or PS/2).


OTOH, I never played with any of these boards, and there are enough pins to output raw quadrature as while as the pulse count.  I doubt it, but.

But the easy way out is replace the board.  Times like this I wish Oscar still sold the oscar sensor board.
Othewise you'll have to modify the board.

If you replace the board, could you test its output and post the info, or sell me the board?

[Paul Olson]

There are tutorials to modify the tron spinner, but I di not get mine to work. I can't find the link right now, but it should come up in a search of the forums. One of the members sells optic boards that will work, but I think he is still waiting on new stock. Here is the link to his BST post.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=48855.0

[klippoth]

I appreciate all the help from everyone, sorry to hear that this board won't work on it's own. I'm not technically savvy enough to attempt any kind of modification, so I guess I'm going to be on the lookout for a replacement board. If fixumdude starts selling some more of his boards, then that would work perfectly. Thanks a lot though, and once I find a new board, I'm sure I can part with this one no problem.

[klippoth]

Although I do know how to use a soldering iron and get busy if that walkthrough on modifying tron spinners surfaces. I actually ended up with 2 spinners from the auction, the one I showed, plus one definite tron spinner, but without optic board. So since the old optic board won't work (at least without modding), I may just use the actual tron spinner instead. It seems to have a smoother spin to it. Thanks!

[Hoopz]

The boards sold by fixumdude are great.  Plugged it right into my Opti-pac and my Tron spinner worked like a charm.

I think it was gl.tter who had the Tron spinner mod. 

Found it:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=41803.0

The link to his tutorial isn't there though.      Didnt see it on his website.  May have to check the wayback machine.  I tried his tutorial on my spinner and couldnt get it to work.  I'm not great with soldering so it may have been that or the board was bad before I got it.