yorgle Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Tired of swapping joysticks and paddles at the back of my six switch, I finally decided to do something about it. I'm sure this has been done before, but here's my finished product. While I was at it, I used an extra long cable so it serves as a cable extender as well. Now I can leave both joysticks and four paddles plugged in at all times. The DE9 connectors don't fit very snug in the console so I've got to figure something out to hold them in tighter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 That's pretty slick. I could use one of those. Do you have to switch anything to go from paddles to joysticks, or are they both just always connected and that doesn't cause any problems? I'm just getting into electronics now (halfway through the Mims Getting Started book and I've read some other stuff, need to get my tools), and this looks like a good project to get started with. Any chance you'll post instructions on how to build it, or at least some sort of a schematic? (I'm not sure I could figure it out from a schematic yet though). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Slick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lendorien Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Tired of swapping joysticks and paddles at the back of my six switch, I finally decided to do something about it. I'm sure this has been done before, but here's my finished product. While I was at it, I used an extra long cable so it serves as a cable extender as well. Now I can leave both joysticks and four paddles plugged in at all times. The DE9 connectors don't fit very snug in the console so I've got to figure something out to hold them in tighter. I have to say that what you have there is pretty cool. I'd find a way to wrape all those wires so they don't get caught on anything. Like Mirage, I'd love to see a how to on this. Does it auto switch or do you have to do it manually? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 I'd find a way to wrape all those wires so they don't get caught on anything. Yeah, one way would be the plastic/rubbery flexible tubing they sell (can't think of the name of it offhand), which would make it look just like a cord. I'm sure there's other ways it could be done as well. That's the part I could already do... the rest I'd need a how-to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Heat-shrink tubing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorgle Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 No need to switch anything, you can just leave the paddles and joysticks plugged in all the time. The joystick and paddle don't share any pins that interfere with each other. As far as building it, it's a lot simpler than you'd think. I'm a cheapscape so I just used parts I had laying around. Here's what I did: I used an old DB25 printer cable since it had 18 lines (9 for each set of connectors) and 6 DE9 connectors (4 male and 2 female). Connect a set of 9 wires to each of the female DE9 connectors. At the box end, connect the joystick lines of each set of 9 wires to a male DE9 connector. Connect the paddle lines (pins 5, 7 and 9) of each set of 9 lines to another male DE9 connector. At this point, everything will work except the paddle triggers. To get those to work, you need to solder jumpers between pins 3, 4 and 8 of each paddle DE9 to the same pins on the corresponding joystick DE9. That's all there is to it. Mount it all in a cheap Radio Shack project box and never change controllers again. PS I realize the above description is probably hopelessly confusing so I'll try to post a diagram soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorgle Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 Here is a diagram of how I wired things. Note that the pins are drawn looking at the back side of the DE9's (the side you solder the wires to). It's pretty much just a straight pin-to-pin hookup. I tested it out with various games including Adventure, Joust and Medieval Mayhem and every controller worked as it should. diagram.bmp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Cool, thanks! I'll give this a try as soon as I get some tools pretty quick here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griz Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Good idea! Could this not be accomplished with joystick 'Y' splitter cables? The DE9 connectors don't fit very snug in the console so I've got to figure something out to hold them in tighter. Are the standard Atari joystick cables missing all the required pins to be suitable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucifershalo Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Here is a diagram of how I wired things. Note that the pins are drawn looking at the back side of the DE9's (the side you solder the wires to). It's pretty much just a straight pin-to-pin hookup. I tested it out with various games including Adventure, Joust and Medieval Mayhem and every controller worked as it should. can I order you one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myworldplz Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Nice! Out of curiosity where did you get the port connectors to plug the controllers into? Links Links! Awsome by the way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorgle Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 Good idea! Could this not be accomplished with joystick 'Y' splitter cables? The DE9 connectors don't fit very snug in the console so I've got to figure something out to hold them in tighter. Are the standard Atari joystick cables missing all the required pins to be suitable? Not sure. If they have all nine wires, then yes, but all of the joystick cables I've seen have only six lines. The joysticks and paddles together use up all nine lines. Besides, as I said, I'm cheap and made this out of stuff I had laying around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorgle Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 Nice! Out of curiosity where did you get the port connectors to plug the controllers into? Links Links! Awsome by the way! They're standard DE9 (DB9) connectors that you can buy at Radio Shack, ebay or just about any electronics supplier. Just google DB9 connector and you'll find oodles of em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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