Opti-Wiz Wiring Help

[Vicious Burger]

Got my Opti-Wiz to connect my Happ trackball via the interface cable,but no documentation came with it to say which pins the plugs attach to,nor can I find any of this info on Groovy Game Gear's website.  I've taken close-up pics of the opti wiz and the plugs with their markings,so can someone tell me which plugs go on which pins please,as there are 10 pins (A to J) but only three 2-pin plugs on the interface cable. See the pics below ......

[RandyT]

Flip over the plugs.....  Then look at the Opti-Wiz Docs. 

Did we miss marking these?

[Vicious Burger]

Flip over the plugs.....  Then look at the Opti-Wiz Docs. 

Did we miss marking these?

Nope,no docs came with it,like I mentioned above !!!  I looked at the other side of the plugs,and to the naked eye there is nothing visible,not that i could tell anyway,so just for giggles i took a macro pic of it,and x and y magically appeared on 2 of them. Still does not tell me where they plug in though. I guess I need to get docs from somewhere.

[RandyT]

Hmmm....you should have received a copy.  I'll have to remind the person packing to make sure they put in a copy of the spiffy doc sheet with these.  It's been very busy, so it probably was overlooked.

One of those connectors should also have  a red mark to indicate the 5v connection.  If not, it's the one with the arrow on the unmarked connector.  That one goes on the 5v connection.  The other two are as follows;

X = A/B
Y = C/D

Normally, these go Arrow => A and C, but you can flip them to reverse the axes if necessary.

Let me know if you need any other assistance.

RandyT

[Vicious Burger]

Thanks Randy,I'm going to try to get it done today once i've bolted in the trackball !

[Vicious Burger]

Got everything hooked up,but I'm having problems getting windows or mame to recognise the trackball.  The trackball has a green wire which i think could be ground. I tried screwing it to the case of the PC but no luck. Any ideas? Checked that power is going through the adapter cable,which it is,5v on the red wire.

[Searcher7]

It would be a good idea for all third party hardware sellers to have a doc online. Not just a doc, but something that gives clear step-by-step instructions with visuals.

I've been sitting on a spinner and some controllers for several years because I can't do anything with them.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

[RandyT]

Got everything hooked up,but I'm having problems getting windows or mame to recognise the trackball.  The trackball has a green wire which i think could be ground. I tried screwing it to the case of the PC but no luck. Any ideas? Checked that power is going through the adapter cable,which it is,5v on the red wire.

Best thing for you to do would be to take this to support email.  You should have everything you need at this point, so unless you are hooking things up incorrectly, or the HAPP trackball is defective (is it new?), it should just work.  The green wire is pretty much optional, so that isn't the cause of your issues.

I've been sitting on a spinner and some controllers for several years because I can't do anything with them.

Most of these devices are very simple and the documentation provided is substantial regardless.  If you are having difficulty using hardware made by us, you should try the support email address and you will get help.  If it's from somewhere else, you might want to try contacting them or posting a new thread about it instead of inferring in this one that there is an "industry wide problem" base solely on your particular experience with that vendor.

RandyT

[Searcher7]

Got everything hooked up,but I'm having problems getting windows or mame to recognise the trackball.  The trackball has a green wire which i think could be ground. I tried screwing it to the case of the PC but no luck. Any ideas? Checked that power is going through the adapter cable,which it is,5v on the red wire.

Best thing for you to do would be to take this to support email.  You should have everything you need at this point, so unless you are hooking things up incorrectly, or the HAPP trackball is defective (is it new?), it should just work.  The green wire is pretty much optional, so that isn't the cause of your issues.

I've been sitting on a spinner and some controllers for several years because I can't do anything with them.

Most of these devices are very simple and the documentation provided is substantial regardless.  If you are having difficulty using hardware made by us, you should try the support email address and you will get help.  If it's from somewhere else, you might want to try contacting them or posting a new thread about it instead of inferring in this one that there is an "industry wide problem" base solely on your particular experience with that vendor.

RandyT

An "industry wide problem"? Be careful with your quotes. You're taking a suggestion not directed toward any company in particular and treating it like it's a personal attack.

What I wrote was appropriate for this thread. The original poster had received no documentation and I "inferred" it would be a good idea for all manufacturers to have their documentation online. So why would I start another thread just to say that?

Now I do not know if this is an "industry wide problem" but I figured what I said was a good idea.

And since you mentioned it. I'm still waiting for answers concerning the Opti-Wiz™ Trackball and Spinner Interface", since the documentation and reviews I've read online don't address my questions.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

[Vicious Burger]

And to add to this I wasn't suggesting that there was anything wrong with the optiwiz device,as my PC seems to recognise it and tells me the device is working.
It seems to me to be an issue with the trackball if anything,which actually is a used one,even though i was assured it works. I'm looking for ideas on what I can check as far as that goes to confirm whether or not the trackball is dead or alive because i don't know how to test it.

[RandyT]

An "industry wide problem"? Be careful with your quotes. You're taking a suggestion not directed toward any company in particular and treating it like it's a personal attack.

Well, you made it in a thread where someone asked for wiring help with an Opti-Wiz.  So if you weren't directing it this way, then it was probably not appropriate for this thread.  All of our products normally come with docs.  We actually print them and include them with the products.  I don't know if we mistakenly forgot to include one,  but if we did, it's a very rare occurrence.   Regardless, they are always an email away.  And most of our products do have docs available for them "on line".  This one just hasn't made it up there yet because it's a recent hardware version.

And since you mentioned it. I'm still waiting for answers concerning the Opti-Wiz™ Trackball and Spinner Interface", since the documentation and reviews I've read online don't address my questions.

I don't see anything indicating that you are or ever were a customer, or have ever sent an email asking for information about the Opti-Wiz.  Regardless, the Opti-Wiz is a very simple device, but it has broad application possibilities.  It can be used for Steering wheels, spinners, trackballs, MPG's, video jog units, roller wheels, etc...  Obviously, it is unreasonable to expect "step-by-step instructions with visuals" for the dozens of possible devices the Opti-Wiz can be used with, so one has to expect that the individual installing one, possesses a certain amount of rudimentary knowledge about the controls they expect to hook to it.  If you click on the link to the Opti-Wiz instructions, you will see the 3 sets of two inputs which provide you with access to the X, Y and Z axes, along with power and ground.  Virtually all optical controls use this same simple set of inputs (spinners / steering wheels use 1 set and trackballs use 2), so interfacing is usually not a very difficult proposition at all, as long as the device being interfaced is actually functional.

Was there some other specific question you had regarding the Opti-Wiz that wasn't covered in the docs or the explanation above?

RandyT

[RandyT]

BTW, I just noticed this....that upper screwhead is making me nervous.  Use a smaller screw and make sure the head isn't touching any of the components.  I can't tell if it's shorting across anything, but it does look like it's touching one of the leads of the chip.  Might be the problem, might not.

RandyT

[Vicious Burger]

I actually unscrewed it from the control panel and tried it on my main computer. Same thing,it recognises the wiz when the usb cable is plugged in,but not the ball.
I checked voltages with a meter and I'm getting 5v reading on one of the curcuit boards on the trackball,but at most i can get about 0.8v on the other. I assume they should both be getting 5v. Even if one was getting power,shouldnt it register on the mouse pointer as the x or y movement?

Damn this should be so simple,plug in and go. What else can be wrong. Optical sensors on the trackball?

[RandyT]

I actually unscrewed it from the control panel and tried it on my main computer. Same thing,it recognises the wiz when the usb cable is plugged in,but not the ball.
I checked voltages with a meter and I'm getting 5v reading on one of the curcuit boards on the trackball,but at most i can get about 0.8v on the other. I assume they should both be getting 5v. Even if one was getting power,shouldnt it register on the mouse pointer as the x or y movement?

Damn this should be so simple,plug in and go. What else can be wrong. Optical sensors on the trackball?

Remove the trackball PCB that is showing only .8v from the harness (just unplug it the 4 wire molex-style connector from it) and see if the other one starts to work.  Then try swapping them.

[Vicious Burger]

OK I took off the curcuit board that was not getting the full 5v. The other one didn't work on its own. I tested the voltage at the open plug and,still get the same reading.  Also I am getting the message "A problem occured during installation. Your new hardware may not be working properly" when plugging in to the USB port.
Whether or not any of this is relevant i don't know.
I took a couple pics (click for large close-ups) The black bit is where the wheel spins through,but I dont see a sensor on it. My spinner has a little sensor that looks like a teeny weeny lightbulb,but this does not. Maybe it's inside those little slits (better seen in first pic) I see something inside there.Like i said,relevant or not,i dunno.
The guy i got this trackball from said it was tested in a Golden Tee game and was working.

[RandyT]

Also I am getting the message "A problem occured during installation. Your new hardware may not be working properly" when plugging in to the USB port.

Ok, this is significant and seems to be different from what you stated earlier.  Do you get the same error on any computer you plug it into?  If it doesn't know the name of the device, then it hasn't properly recognized it.  Did "Opti-Wiz" come up on the screen when you first plugged it in?  If it did, then there seems to be some sort of issue with the OS or whatever drivers you might have installed.

The Opti-Wiz device really should just come up with the name of the device the first time you plug it in and tell you it's ready to use shortly after that.  If it doesn't at least properly identify the device, then it's not communicatng and there's a good chance it took a static hit or other damage either in shipping or during installation.


There's also a chance that a faulty trackball board took out the chip.

[Vicious Burger]

It never said the name of the device,ie optiwiz,it just said Human Interface Device. I just plugged it into my laptop (vista) and it said HID installed and ready to use. Thats the 3rd computer its been plugged into (other 2 are XP) but none made mention of optiwiz.

Also i try to be careful when handling it,only at the edges etc

[RandyT]

It never said the name of the device,ie optiwiz,it just said Human Interface Device. I just plugged it into my laptop (vista) and it said HID installed and ready to use. Thats the 3rd computer its been plugged into (other 2 are XP) but none made mention of optiwiz.

Also i try to be careful when handling it,only at the edges etc

If it wasn't communicating, it would not be able to ascertain the nature of the device as being an "HID", so I am honestly at a loss as to what is going on here.

The best bet would be for you to send me the parts in question and let me take a look at them for you.  As I said, this is something that should be done in support email.  It's a very abnormal situation, so dragging it on in a public forum won't end up being advantageous to anyone.

RandyT

[Searcher7]

An "industry wide problem"? Be careful with your quotes. You're taking a suggestion not directed toward any company in particular and treating it like it's a personal attack.

Well, you made it in a thread where someone asked for wiring help with an Opti-Wiz.  So if you weren't directing it this way, then it was probably not appropriate for this thread.

No. It was appropriate because it addressed a problem he experienced with a solution. (And again, I worded it in a general way and not toward a specific company).

All of our products normally come with docs.  We actually print them and include them with the products.  I don't know if we mistakenly forgot to include one,  but if we did, it's a very rare occurrence.   Regardless, they are always an email away.  And most of our products do have docs available for them "on line".  This one just hasn't made it up there yet because it's a recent hardware version.

And since you mentioned it. I'm still waiting for answers concerning the Opti-Wiz™ Trackball and Spinner Interface", since the documentation and reviews I've read online don't address my questions.

I don't see anything indicating that you are or ever were a customer, or have ever sent an email asking for information about the Opti-Wiz.  Regardless, the Opti-Wiz is a very simple device, but it has broad application possibilities.  It can be used for Steering wheels, spinners, trackballs, MPG's, video jog units, roller wheels, etc...  Obviously, it is unreasonable to expect "step-by-step instructions with visuals" for the dozens of possible devices the Opti-Wiz can be used with, so one has to expect that the individual installing one, possesses a certain amount of rudimentary knowledge about the controls they expect to hook to it.

You've misunderstood what "step-by-step" instructions I was referring to.(And only a single control panel lay-out would be needed for demonstrative purposes).
And here are my initial inquiries concerning the Opti-Wiz after someone recommended it: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=92050.0

If you click on the link to the Opti-Wiz instructions, you will see the 3 sets of two inputs which provide you with access to the X, Y and Z axes, along with power and ground.  Virtually all optical controls use this same simple set of inputs (spinners / steering wheels use 1 set and trackballs use 2), so interfacing is usually not a very difficult proposition at all, as long as the device being interfaced is actually functional.

Was there some other specific question you had regarding the Opti-Wiz that wasn't covered in the docs or the explanation above?

RandyT

I did send an e-mail asking if there would be a problem with creating a three button control panel with the intention of using the keybaord for coin-up and start. (Someone told me would be).

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.