Fixing a Colecovision Driving Controller

[Evad97]

Has anybody ever had any luck with this? (I know that taking them apart was being discussed a while back but I can't seem to find the thread ...)

 

Basically, the foot pedal works fine but I can't make the car steer. I've tried new batteries and I've actually used the colecovision "power pack" (or whatever it's called) to provide power.

 

I've opened the case up and ... well, after that, I'm at a loss. The disk with all the holes is turning when I turn the steering wheel but it's not being read by whatever is supposed to read it. Is it possible that something has broken off?

 

If anybody has advice, or can point me to a thread where this is being discussed, I'd really appreciate it.

 

E.

[accousticguitar]

That's the exact same problem I have. I hope someone here can help you out.

[Uzumaki]

I don't have the steering module at hand but if it uses IR emitter and detector pair, it may be clogged with dust. Try cleaning those sensors.

[Prodos8]

First, I'd clean the connector on the CV expansion port and the steering wheel. I recommend an old toothbrush with alcohol and scrub the contacts good.

 

Second, the steering wheel controller is basically an overgrown (from what I've read as I've never owned one) 2600 driving controller so the rotary encoder may need a good cleaning as well. It may be possible to spray some sort of contact cleaner from the outside into it to clean it or you may need to take it apart.

 

Anyway, Longhorn Engineer has a good write-up on cleaning a driving controller so it may be useful for this as well.

 

http://www.longhornengineer.com/Howto/Driving

[Evad97]

Many thanks for the suggestions and the site ... I'll give these options a try.

 

E.

[Evad97]

Thanks for all the suggestions ... unfortunately, I couldn't make it work and finally decided to return it to the shop where I picked it up. As something of an aside, I did discover that the fire button on the atari driving controller works as the gas pedal on the coleco controller. My suspicion is that it might be a relatively simple hack job to make the Atari Controller work with the Colecovision. I'm not prepared to sacrifice mine for the experiment, though ... at least not at this stage, anyway.

 

Thanks again

 

E.

[Evad97]

Whoops ... Double Post.

Edited October 6, 2007 by Evad97

[AussieAtari]

Does any one know if you can source battery covers for the Driving Controller?