Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: PS2Man on December 26, 2002, 07:16:59 pm
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I need some help on this. I can make out where to solder on the directional pad and start/select, but the other buttons, I am not too sure of. I have taken a look at "Lanzer's Joystick Building Guide" and axelb's site about soldering wires onto the PS2, but when I looked, the points where they soldered were in different locations. I am using a PS1 controller by the way. Does anyone have a picture of exactly what to solder to what? Or anything going in depth about wiring the pad. If you have actually seen the sites I mentioned, it might be easier to just tell me what each arrow that he is pointing to corresponds to on the PS controller.
Thanks.
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Ok, first of all do you have a 3rd party or a Sony brand of ps1 controller. Yes, it makes a difference, because sony makes their controllers dAMN hard to solder to compared to such controllers as Mad Catz and Pelican/Gamestop *same thing now.* First of all, if you're trying to figure out which point is the ground, look at the green traces that go around the board, there should be one connecting from ground to ground, so essentially looping the entire controllers, and then going into the chip, and if it's the positive side, then it should be going straight into the chip with no side routes. If you're still suck, here's what you can do:
-Plug in your psx controller with the frame all off so you can see the contact points into your playstation/playstation2
-Take a long piece of wire, and strip both ends enough so that you can press each of them onto a suspected solder point, so you can essentially do what the button does and short the connection.
Now for the fun part, I suggest fighting games for this because it's the easiest to see which button is being pressed, and therefore go into Practice/Training mode, load up a character (you might need another controller for this), and set it up so your characters standing still and so is the enemy. Now, if you're having trouble knowing which is the ground and which is the positive, here's the easy but tricky part that will tell you what you need to know:
-Press one end of the wire onto one side of the button you want to test.
-Press the other end of the wire onto the other side of the button you want to test.
If the character punch/kicks you know you gotta button, and you're half way there. If nothing happens, either A: you're not touching it hard enough or slipping, or B: that ain't a contact point.
Now here's the test: while holding one side of the wire to one side of the contact point, place it onto another known contact point's POSITIVE end (not ground.) If that button is activated then you know the wire you're holding is a ground. If nothing happens, then the other wire you were holding earlier is the ground. You can test this by switching your original suspected ground's contact point's wire that you were first holding and keeping the other wire on that known POSITIVE contact point. Do this with all your buttons, and you will soon know which is the ground, and which is the positive side.
-Very primative, but works great, and doesn't cause any harm to the controller. Just don't attach the otherside to like a battery or something.
-Good Luck
-CthulhuLuke
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Yeah, I have the Sony PS1 pad...thanks for the help. I'll have some fun with that tomorrow.
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Warning: poking around inside an exposed controller (with it plugged in and turned on) could result in you blowing the controller port fuse (and screwing up your system). Read CtulhuLuke's words carefully...he is saying just to connect the wire between the two button contact halves directly underneath the buttons (you may also have to scrape the black contact material off). You should also be extremely carefull handleing the pcb while its plugged in and turned on (your thumb alone could ground out a power source, give you a little shock, and blow the controller fuse.
My suggestion is to actually learn what the heck you are doing. Learn a little bit about how circuits work (Radio Shack has these great cheap little books on electronics 101). Also buy a digital multimeter. It will pay for itself in saving you from blowing up consoles because you poked around with that wire in the wrong place and grounded out a power source. A multimeter will help you trace connections/wires/grounds and tell voltages of said connections.
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I have hacked original sony ps1 pads....
not exactly the easiest thing to hack....
I do have a couple of pictures....
(but after I double checked my soldering, I pour those general white glue to help secure the solder points...)
the circuit board have those "thingy" covering the solder points... I have to scrap away those brown thingys...
that will expose the copper connections for me to solder...
(and those solder points are not very big....)
http://www.geocities.com/hyiu/pics/DigiCam/psx_circuit_board.jpg
try this link... if it doesn't work...
try this...
http://www.geocities.com/hyiu/pics/DigiCam
then click on the file....
oh.... btw... ps1 uses common ground... and the L1/2, R1/2, those buttons are already wired... so is the common ground... so.. less soldering to do...
hope it helps...
(if you need more pics.... I can try to take more pics...)
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Thanks for the pic, that actually confirmed to me places where I thought I'd need to solder. It was just that 2 different sites had different locations with arrows pointing every which direction with no explanation, that it was confusing.
Dave_K: thanks for the heads up. Surprisingly, as clueless as I seem to be on this thread, I do know about the precations and stuff (EE is my major). And my parents were EE and CE majors...exciting huh?
I actually think I can figure it out without plugging it in. I just took a hard look at it. I've been too caught up waiting for the stain to dry up on my box so I can make another coat. >:( (still waiting...)
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i found as long as I had the pcb in my lap, and was not applying power to the contact points, the gunho method works on 3rd party psx controllers. Also the controllers were only worth 5 dollars (and you can tell by the bubble chips they use) I'd say the most important thing you gotta watch out for is making sure not to cook the chip that's on the PCB by soldering too close to it for too long, and keeping yourself grounded so you don't short out the chip by exposing it to your static electricity.
-Just a few thoughts, but I'm glad he didn't try this with a real Sony brand ps controller, because I have 0 experience in them, except that they are harder to solder to.
-CthulhuLuke
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Yes, the rumors are true. The Sony PS controller is a pain to solder. I started today and finished today, tested it, and everything worked perfectly. w00t.
I thought I was home free when I started with the L1 and R1 buttons, but then I realized I was in trouble when I got to the main controls. I couldn't solder directly ono the chip since it wouldn't hold, so what I had to do was drill holes for every direction as well as all the buttons (except for the shoulder buttons). The problem with that was, the smallest bit I had was 1.6 mm, and I needed a 1 mm bit. I searched half a day and couldn't find one. So I had to improvise. I got an IC PC Board from Radio Shack, and did it that way. Drilled the 1.6 mm holes next to each, and scraped off till copper for each button (not using the copper that PS controller already has visible - I used those to test with a multimeter that all my connections were correct). I only need one hole for the ground, because of the IC PC Board, so I guess it worked out better that way. Took a while, got burned 4 times while soldering, but everything is all good now. THanks for the help.
Waiting for my last coat of varnish to dry >:( . Now I have a joystick to beat up when I am playing Marval vs Capcom 2 and all my other fighters. Thanks for the help.
EDIT: Anyone know where I can get a looser spring for my Competition Stick?
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I am in the process of wiring up two PS1 controllers (The Game Pad Colors ones, I think InterAct makes them). The problem I am running in to is with the Turbo/Slow/Clear additional buttons on the controllers. When I ran my dry test last night, one of the controllers was locked in "Slow" mode (constantly hitting start). I'm going to test tonight to see if hitting the "clear" button will take it out of Slow mode, and if it does I'll probably solder that button closed (again, if there are no negative consequences to doing this). Is anybody out there familiar with these controllers? Am I on the right path? I'll run some other diags on the system to make sure it isn't a wiring problem.
Also interesting to note: I've opened up four of these controllers so far, and I've had three different PCB designs on the inside. They're roughly similar, but there are a few key differences here and there. Most notably, the L1/L2 R1/R2 contact points in the corners are reversed on one of the PCBs from the others. But other than that and the Slow mode issues mentioned above, they're great pads to hack.
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EDIT: Anyone know where I can get a looser spring for my Competition Stick?
therealbobroberts perhaps? Or you local true value/Aces/hardware store?
rampy