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Arcade Collecting => Miscellaneous Arcade Talk => Topic started by: trajan05 on January 05, 2011, 06:43:33 pm

Title: Trackball misbehaving
Post by: trajan05 on January 05, 2011, 06:43:33 pm

Hey all,

I inherited a mame cabinet with 2 and 1/4 Happ Trackball. I have it wired into a OptiWiz interface which is connected via PS2 to the computer. In Windows, the mouse works fine horizontally but vertically it doesn't move down. Additionally, when I move it horizontally, it slightly moves the mouse up.  I checked the wiring on the OptiWiz and it looks fine, no food or stuff on it but some of the wire components are missing for one of the wires that lead back to vertical controls.

Today, I've swapped out the optical board with a replacement but I have the same problem. Is this something that can be fixed? I don't want to buy a new trackball if I don't have to.


Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Title: Re: Trackball misbehaving
Post by: CheffoJeffo on January 06, 2011, 07:07:23 am

Quote from: trajan05 on January 05, 2011, 06:43:33 pm

I checked the wiring on the OptiWiz and it looks fine, no food or stuff on it but some of the wire components are missing for one of the wires that lead back to vertical controls.

No food ?  ::)

Pics would be very helpful.

Title: Re: Trackball misbehaving
Post by: trajan05 on January 06, 2011, 10:23:07 pm

Sure thing, this is the best one I have.

The blue/purple wires trace back to the sensor that takes the vertical movement. I am not sure why the connections are glued, again, this is the way I got the cabinet.


I forgot to mention that the trackball physically moves fine, there isnt anything with moving it in any direction. So, I havent bothered to open it up all the way and see if there are squirrels are in there messing around. :)

Title: Re: Trackball misbehaving
Post by: trajan05 on January 09, 2011, 10:34:54 pm

Im going to just redo the wiring for the blue and purple, it cant hurt to try if its not working. if its not the wiring, it could be the interface.

Title: Re: Trackball misbehaving
Post by: BobA on January 10, 2011, 06:44:27 pm

The mount looks like a real piece of work.  I would worry about the metal screw shorting something if the board moved but maybe that is why all that glue is there.   If you are working on the wires then make sure there are no filaments shorting the input for the black and blue wires.   If you have it off the trackball try it without the screw thru it to make sure it is not touching any traces.   Don't worry about the missing wires they are for the z axis.  When you replaced the circuit board could you see that the encoder wheel was turning properly when you spun the ball?

Title: Re: Trackball misbehaving
Post by: trajan05 on January 13, 2011, 07:54:09 am

I took the OptiWiz off and had the same behavior. I've even switched the optic sensor boards to see if that was the issue. Same issue again.

I have a second interface on the way to me in case thats the issue too.  The wires didnt have any filaments touching each other after checking a bit ago.

Thanks for the tips so far.

Title: Re: Trackball misbehaving
Post by: trajan05 on January 16, 2011, 02:37:40 pm

Just an update  - Ive hooked up the replacement opti wiz ( USB this time) to the trackball and everything works as expected now.

 :cheers: