Will someone please summarize which trackballs do/do not have board problems

[unclet]

A while back there was a lot of discussions involving people obtaining Happ trackballs which had bad boards ......  something about red (or green) boards .... or possibly something related to the Happ "USB" trackball vs. the normal Happ wire harness trackball?

Anyway, I am confused as to which trackball to purchase.  I do not want one which has bad boards obviously, so any information you can provide which explains to me how to avoid a "bad" trackball would be nice.

Also, I am looking to get a Happs 2-1/4" trackball to replace my current 2-1/4" hacked trackball mount.   A USB 2-1/4" Happ trackball would be ideal so I can just plug it in would be ideal ..... but I have no idea which trackball models are going to cause me trouble .....

[Daniel B.]

From what I understand, the models with the green "optic boards" were the bad ones. I guess the red are the new versions. I'm sure some of the happ resellers will let you know for sure though.

[northerngames]

I have both red and green boards on the happs 3" trackballs i got them from menace I believe and I have not had any problems with them at all.

[unclet]

Well this does not make it any more clear ..... 

[u_rebelscum]

Happs comes in arcade optic boards (old "green" vs new "red"), and PC optic boards (ps2/USB ready).

The red vs green is arcade only, and only apply to the TBs you need optipac, optiwiz, or mouse hack to work on a PC.  IME, there is very little noticeable difference between the two, even though happs claims the reds are better.   (I have both.)

The PC ps2/USB boards, OTOH, have had a couple versions that AFAIK are not noted by color.  The old PC boards, if you've been read here for a while, seem to have a fairly high failure rate.  (This is compared to all other TB boards; the total rate might still be low like 1% of all old versions failed, but people have been posting these board far more than any other board here.)  Some of the failures occurred after a period of time of working fine, others were bad from the start.  Happs now has a version 2 of these PC boards, and people haven't posts failures of this yet. 

The way to tell the difference is the new PC boards say "ver. 2" and the old ones don't; there is no color difference. (Can someone verify this? I only have the arcade boards.)

I think the confusion is between the arcade boards and the PC boards, and the different versions of each.  Basically, don't get the old PC boards, which can be hard to tell since they don't have a different color or say "These board suck!" on them.

[unclet]

Ok ... .thanks

[Cero21]

I just got a 3" USB Happ Trackball from dm.  They have green boards

Board:
1) 55-0302-00 PCB "B", other corner says Rev B
2) 55-0301-00


Are these the good boards?

[u_rebelscum]

Since you just got them and knowing DM, and since those parts are the USB boards, and since they say "Rev B" (instead of "ver 2" like I guessed), I'd guess you have the new (and thus good) USB boards.  Remember, color does not matter for the USB versions.

DM?  Anyone else with the new USB boards?

[unclet]

I just re-read this post and wanted to confirm that if I get a non-USB (which means arcade style) 2-1/4" Happ trackball (see link below) with green optic boards then the trackball should function correct if I hook it to my PC via a USB mouse hack.

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-1-4-HAPP-SOLID-WHITE-TRACKBALL_W0QQitemZ120439915152QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0ac74290

I just wanted to make sure I understood what your comments were in relationship to the green vs red boards before I made this purchase.  Please check out the trackball in the link above and tell me if you think I should be alright with this purchase since it is an arcade style trackball.

[isucamper]

I got a USB board from Divemaster a little over a year ago and have been using it since with no issues whatsoever.  There  havent' been many complaints about these issues lately, so I'd say you're probably safe as long as you buy new.   

[northerngames]

You will be fine mine were non usb and both the green and red worked and as u_rebelscum mentioned prior the difference in the two is hardly noticable if at all.

mine was a ps2 mouse with a usb adapter though if I recall you should be fine though as long as it is not a laser mouse and has and actual ball in it.

I recently had sold them so I cannot look for ya