Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Consoles => Topic started by: krion on June 30, 2005, 11:21:50 pm

Title: grounding for DC controller?
Post by: krion on June 30, 2005, 11:21:50 pm
I just finished hacking my first DC controller.  I have soldered wires to up/down/left/right and all the buttons.  Do i need to daisy chain a ground?  If so, where do I connect it to?  I am eager to test this out :)
Title: Re: grounding for DC controller?
Post by: TalkingOctopus on July 01, 2005, 01:07:52 am
Yes - you need to attach one ground wire to the controller and daisy chain it. 

http://webpages.charter.net/rbecker5/images/dc.gif

This image shows one location where you can get the ground.  There are many possiblities.  Just connect the wire to any place on the large connected part of the controller pcb. 
Title: Re: grounding for DC controller?
Post by: krion on July 01, 2005, 05:51:04 am
thanks for the reply,

I am not entirely sure where on that diagram the ground is :(
Title: Re: grounding for DC controller?
Post by: TalkingOctopus on July 01, 2005, 09:35:36 pm
It is the black plus near the scratches on the left side.
Title: Re: grounding for DC controller?
Post by: pmc on July 02, 2005, 09:09:56 am
You can solder to the ground in many places on the controller. Don't get hung up if you can't find the "right" spot. Each button has a "signal" side (to which you've already soldered) and a "common" side.  You can pick your favorite button and solder to the common side of that button. Test for continuity with a multimeter to ensure you've got a sweet spot.

Then daisy chain that wire through the common connectors on your control panel switches. I have a different ground for each controller, but I believe that you can share grounds between controllers. Read some of the historic threads in this forum to confim that.

Anyone know what happened to http://members.cox.net/joysticks/? It's one of a long line of controller hacking pages that's disappeared in the last few months. I'd be happy to host the content if we could get it back.

-pmc