Happ pedals > PC + Xbox

[Minwah]

I have a Happ dual pedal setup in my cab, using 5k pots interfaced to the PC with an AKI board.

I recently bought a Fanatec ForceShock wheel & pedal setup for the xbox.  Obviously I don't want to use the plasticky xbox pedals so I looked into a way of using the Happ pedals for the xbox too.

Basically what I did was remove the wiring & pots from the xbox pedals, and mount the pots to the Happ pedals alongside the standard pots.  Luckily there is space for 2 sets of pots without modifying the Happ pedals at all - there are pre-cut holes already.  Also luckily the gears on the xbox pots seem to mate nicely with the toothed part in the Happ pedals.

The only problems I had were:

The xbox pots were too short so I bought some replacements of the same value (10k),
The pots I bought were a bit too long so I had to cut them down,
The pots I bought didn't have a flat 'key' so I had to file one in (for locating the gear),
The brake pot in the xbox pedals was mounted to opposite way around so I had to swap the wires on the outer pins of the pot.

It seems to work great

[hatrick]

Great mod! That leads me to another question...
I have a couple of the old school Happs microswitch pedals. Is there any reason that they couldn't be rigged up for dual duty with both the existing microswitch and have a pot added? That way they would function for either digital or analog games.

Anyone done this?

[Silver]

No reason that wouldnt work, although you would have to install gears to make sure the pot turned the correct amount for a full press of the pedal (although you could get round a lot of this in software, so long as the pot did not completely turn before you completely depress the pedal. The hard bit would be mounting the pot on in the right place.

Having said that, Mame does an extremely good job of using Analog pedals for digital games (its the other way round that is almost useless) - and you can adjust the threshold point I believe. So its simpler and easier just to use analog pedals - although obviously in your case you already have digital.

[Minwah]

What Silver said...you could ditch the microswitch if you can rig the analog part up.

[hatrick]

So its simpler and easier just to use analog pedals - although obviously in your case you already have digital.

  Figures...I allways end up with the stuff that that takes more work to make it function the way i want.  Oh well, that's what makes this hobby fun. I guess I'll watch for a good deal on Anolog pedals while I attempt to modify the ones I have.

Thanks for the replies guys.

[gammelgam]

How do you like the Happ pedals?

I have already modded a Happ Wheel to work for my XBOX (see http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=30721.0) using the same method you used for the pedals (switching pots), but I am using the pedals in their unmodded state (plastic fantastic!). The mix of arcade robustness (steel wheel) and plastic pedals is *no good*.

How is the ergonomics? The plastic pedals I use are designed for sit-down use and causes some ergonomic problems when used in a stand-up fashion. Both ugly and uncomfortable.

Clean cab u got there. Dig the pedal setup.

/g

[Minwah]

I have already modded a Happ Wheel to work for my XBOX (see http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=30721.0) using the same method you used for the pedals (switching pots), but I am using the pedals in their unmodded state (plastic fantastic!). The mix of arcade robustness (steel wheel) and plastic pedals is *no good*.

That wheel looks great ...I agree with you about the part arcade/part platic thing.  I'm still using the xbox wheel un-modded and it's not nice after being used to arcade controls...need to get myself an arcade wheel tho - not sure if I can hook up the psuedo force-feedback or not...

How is the ergonomics? The plastic pedals I use are designed for sit-down use and causes some ergonomic problems when used in a stand-up fashion. Both ugly and uncomfortable.

Yes I found the plastic pedals I had to be unpracticle.  They would slide about the floor and had a rather large gap between throttle & brake.  Also they just didn't feel too good (probably due to standing up).  The Happ pedals ( http://www.happcontrols.com/driving/50806001.htm ) I have feel great to me...I've been using them with my 360deg wheel up to now - no complaints so far

Clean cab u got there. Dig the pedal setup.

Thanks, drivers are pretty important to me so I planned incorporating them before I started building the cab.

[rchadd]

so...what your xbox driving game of choice?

mine is Burnout 3 or TOCA2

[Minwah]

so...what your xbox driving game of choice?

mine is Burnout 3 or TOCA2

Hmm...atm Forza Motorsport - really good sim.  Burnout 3 & RalliSport 2 are my other faves...OutRun 2 is great fun too.

TOCA2 is on my 'must get' list, as well as Colin McRae 2005 & Burnout 4.

I did like Project Gotham 2...but it seems to have been really put to shame by some of the others now.