Jump to content
IGNORED

DIY 7800 Arcade Stick Help


SabertoothRetro

Recommended Posts

It's raining this weekend so I've decided to camp in the garage and build a pair of arcade sticks for the 7800. I have a Happ Competition and some arcade buttons that I've wanted to do something with for a while. I've used a terminal block and cable from a broken Proline to test wire before I build the box. The directional works fine but the fire buttons are wonky. I put 560 ohm resistors inline to each button from pins 9 (yellow) and 5 (red). Pin 6 (orange) is run direct to each button. 2600 mode seems fine but in 7800 mode the buttons engage automatically - almost like auto fire. For example, when I start up Xevious it goes through the player select screen and immediately starts firing until I hit my buttons. I know that a lot of folks here have built sticks. Any suggestions?

 

TIA!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm, could be the resistors, or you have something wired wrong. Did you follow this diagram?

 2600/7800 pinouts:
 _________________
 \ o5 o4 o3 o2 o1/
  \ o9 o8 o7 o6 /
   \___________/
 
 pin #  2600 control     7800 control
   1    WHT- Up          WHT- Up
   2    BLU- Down        BLU- Down
   3    GRN- Left        GRN- Left
   4    BRN- Right       BRN- Right
   5    unused           RED- Button (R)ight (-)
   6    ORG- Button      ORG- Both buttons (+)
   7    unused (+5v)     unused (+5v)
   8    BLK- Ground(-)   BLK- Ground(-)
   9    unused           YLW- Button (L)eft  (-)
 
 
 2600 control (button)
 
 pin 6 ORG(+) --------------()------------BLK(-) pin 8
                       Button
 
 7800 control (buttons)
 
                                        /----------YLW(-) pin 9
                             Button L  /
                       /---------()---| YLW splits
                      /                \----///-----\
 pin 6 ORG(+) -------| ORG splits           620 ohm  |---BLK(-) pin 8
                      \                /----///-----/
                       \---------()---|     620 ohm
                            Button R   \RED splits
                                        \----------RED(-) pin 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, that's the diagram that I used. I read on the forum before I got my parts that resistors in the 500-600 range should work. They didn't have 620 ohms at Fry's so I went with 560.

 

The ground for the buttons are daisy chained to the joystick. Perhaps I need to splice a separate line for the resistor to the ground instead of placing the resistor inline. Also, what about polarity? Maybe I need to add a diode too. I'll try that and see what happens.

 

Thanks!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Very cool. Looks great. Thanks for sharing. I've wanted to build something like this for a long time.

 

Are you still using the diodes?

Thanks! I left the diodes in from 5 and 9 to their respective microswitches. I know others here haven't needed them but it seemed to cure the weird behavior I was getting. I also ran separate ground wires (w/ resistors) from each button to pin 8 instead of including them in the daisy chain with the joystick ground. I'm a total novice so there was a lot of trial and error but I had fun with it. ;)

 

Good luck with your project if you build your own!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I finished the Player 2 "Super Pong" stick this week. I hope the the picture of the rat's nest helps someone with their project. ;)

 

Note: The first joystick is a Happ Competition. The second stick is an IL Competition ("Eurostick"). I definitely recommend the IL over the Happ. It's much more responsive and way better on diagonals. I'm going to switch the Player 1 stick to the IL version when I get a chance.

post-26371-0-84706100-1389469858_thumb.jpg

post-26371-0-72417200-1389469879_thumb.jpg

post-26371-0-07068200-1389469902_thumb.jpg

post-26371-0-32426500-1389469930_thumb.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

A couple of questions:

- Did you use a project box for the enclosure or is it home built?

- Are you using an extension cable to connect the joystick to the console?

A:

 

1) I built the boxes.

2) Yes, I'm using extension cables to connect to my console. It makes it easier for me to store/display the sticks and I didn't have to scrap a proline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

I never understood the purpose of the diodes. My custom 7800 controllers worked fine without them. And yes, I used 560 ohm resistors in all my 7800 projects. I also came up with a schematic (not tested) that adds an extra button for SMS and 2600 homebrew that access the third button. It uses a diode to pull pins 7 and 9 high in SMS mode. A DPDT switch is needed to swap modes.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/241814-universal-joystick-schematic-for-2600-7800-sms-untested/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...