Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: rhoelsch on January 08, 2017, 10:54:05 am

Title: Grounds
Post by: rhoelsch on January 08, 2017, 10:54:05 am
I have a 2-person cab, with a joy and 8 pushbuttons for each side. The entire panel shares one ground. For one side, I hacked a PSX pad to play more modern fighters on (via console, not emu). The control output is switchable between IPAC and console pad via an A/B switch. Works perfectly.

I'd like to add another pad for the 2nd side. Must I reconfigure my ground to be separate for the 2nd side, or can I still share the 1 ground as it exists for both PSX pads? I'm pretty sure the IPAC has a 2nd ground output, so the PC part would be fine, but must I have a unique ground for the 2p side?

If that makes sense... thanks!
Title: Re: Grounds
Post by: matsadona on January 09, 2017, 05:03:12 am
The ground is always the ground... like in a car, everything metal is ground. It doesn't matter where you connect ground since everything is ground.
The PSX pads, I assume the hack is just connecting the control surfaces (direction and buttons) not including any of the serial logic circuitry?
Title: Re: Grounds
Post by: rhoelsch on January 09, 2017, 07:58:21 am
That is correct. So I can leave the entire cp daisy chained together and leave the ground on the 2nd pad alone then?
Title: Re: Grounds
Post by: PL1 on January 09, 2017, 04:54:31 pm
The ground is always the ground.
Most of the time this is true, but there are a few encoders like the X-Arcade (https://shop.xgaming.com/collections/arcade-parts/products/two-player-complete-do-it-yourself-arcade-kit) and some gamepads that use isolated grounds.

For example, if you touched an input from one wire group of the X-Arcade  encoder to the ground of another wire group, the encoder would register the input as the corresponding input from the ground-wire's group.

The good news is that if there were isolated grounds on the specific gamepads that Rhoelsch is hacking, problems would have shown up when testing the first gamepad hack. ;D


Scott
Title: Re: Grounds
Post by: matsadona on January 10, 2017, 06:09:27 am
Yeah, I was assuming that the hack was directly to the controls/switches - not via the pad circuitry/logic.
Title: Re: Grounds
Post by: Thenasty on January 10, 2017, 12:40:31 pm
the Ground I'm standing on is the same Ground you standing on and so on and so on . . . Hey we're all connected :)