Need Help - Arkanoid Spinner Optic Board Questions

[markrvp]

I recently acquired an Arkanoid PCB and spinner.  Problem is the optic board is missing from the spinner.  I have been told that the optic board on the spinner IS NOT identical to the regular green optic board Happ sells on its trackballs.  HOWEVER, I do have a Happ green optic board for a trackball.

Does anyone here know if the Happ trackball optic sensor board will work with the Arkanoid PCB?  I also have an Oscar Controls optic board that Kelsey sold with his spinners.

Both of these have four connectors:  +5v, Ground, Direction 1, Direction 2.     Was there anything special about the original optic board on the Arkanoid spinner that made it different than the ones I have?


ALSO:  Does anyone have an Arkanoid Spinner with the original optic board that they can post a picture of?

[RayB]

I have what I was TOLD was an Arkanoid spinner. It has a Wico optic.

[markrvp]

Ray:

Does the optic you have look like the light beige one?  That is one I took out of a WICO trackball.  It has a chip (microcontroller?) on it.

The green board is from a Pole Position 360 wheel.  It has no microchip on it.

[Kremmit]

Mine also has the Wico optic.  There was nothing special about it, except for two mounting holes on the side to attach it to the spinner.  The encoder wheel is a dead ringer for the encoder wheels in Happ, Wico, and Betson Trackball units, so I'm sure a Happ optic will do the job if you can get it mounted. 

Another option might be an Opti-Wiz with the optics attached, like the ones Randy ships with the TurboTwist spinner- or just add some optics to the Opti-Wiz you've already got.

edit- oh, yeah, that's right- you're hooking up to a regular Arkanoid PCB, not MAME.  Nevermind the Opti-Wiz.

I'll get you some pics in a minute.

[Kremmit]

Pics- click to enlarge.  If these aren't big enough, you can PM me for the super-giant versions.

[Kremmit]

The first time I went to hook this thing up, I went searching for the pinout of the optic board.  I found this:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=21441.0

It's hard to see what's what in his pic, but it definately shows a different optic board than mine has.

The pinout on mine is as follows:

Hold the spinner right-side-up, so that the mounting holes on the optic board are to the left, as you look at the solder side of the PCB.  The pins are at the bottom.  This is the way it's shown in my pic, above. 

From left to right:  X1, +5v, G, X2

I have just verified this by hooking mine up.  It's my scroll wheel right now, and boy oh boy, can I scroll a long web page quick! 

[dvdapex]

Kremmit,
This might sound really dumb, but did you do a mouse hack for the wiring for MAME/Windows or do you have the Optipac?

I have the same spinner/board and would like to get it working in Windows/MAME with as little soldering as possible (I have several mice for parts, but I'm not sure the best way to use them for this.).

Thanks.

[Kremmit]

I have hooked it up through a mouse hack, and through an Opti-Wiz.  I have an Opti-Pac here as well, but I don't think I've ever hooked this spinner up to it.  It should be just as easy with an Opti-Pac as with the others, though.

As for the easiest route to take, you'll do the least soldering by buying an Opti-Pac, Opti-Wiz, or mouse hack (I sell mouse hacks from time to time  ).  But if you want to do use one of the mice you've got laying around, it's really not that hard to do your own hack.  Minwah has a tutorial up here:  http://mamewah.mameworld.net/mousehack.htm