Trackball not quite working

[Rex Dart]

So I just picked up a CX-80 trackball. Very nice construction, seems to be in great shape except that the ball movement seems a little... gritty. Maybe that's how these are though, I never used one before. The problem is that everything works fine except that won't move right. It moves left instead. I can move up, down, left, and left.

 

What should I do? Don't tell me to play Freeway, I hate that game.

[Benzman66]

Wiggle the wire where it enters the control as well as near the plug into the console while you are moving the ball. Sounds like a short in the wire somewhere.

[CRTGAMER]

So I just picked up a CX-80 trackball. Very nice construction, seems to be in great shape except that the ball movement seems a little... gritty. Maybe that's how these are though, I never used one before. The problem is that everything works fine except that won't move right. It moves left instead. I can move up, down, left, and left.

 

What should I do? Don't tell me to play Freeway, I hate that game.

Take it apart and clean the rollers. Just like a ball mouse, it can build up gunk where the trakball contacts the rollers.

[Rex Dart]

Thanks, I'll look into both suggestions.

[SlowCoder]

Before you attempt surgery, maybe try to check functionality on another 2600 or 7800. That will give you a better idea where to start.

[Rex Dart]

Would/should it work on a sega genesis? That's the only other console that I've got that accepts that plug.

[tz101]

Sounds like my success rate buying Colecovision controllers off ebay lately. I bought a steering wheel/pedal that registers absolutely no left-right movement at all. I also bought a roller controller where the ball registers no movement. Both were sold in the dreaded "as is" condition so I am out the money.

 

Knowing the makeup of these things, I am fairly certain that the optical sensors have gone bad in both, and have not found any viable replacements online.

[Rex Dart]

Sounds like my success rate buying Colecovision controllers off ebay lately.

 

That's what I was hoping to avoid by buying from the AA Marketplace

[Rex Dart]

Well, I took the thing apart, cleaned up the contacts where the spade(?) connectors clip on the PCB, re-soldered every connection, and the behavior's the same. What's next? I assume I'll check to see if left & right are shorted out anywhere, but if that turns up nothing, what should I do?

[CRTGAMER]

Well, I took the thing apart, cleaned up the contacts where the spade(?) connectors clip on the PCB, re-soldered every connection, and the behavior's the same. What's next? I assume I'll check to see if left & right are shorted out anywhere, but if that turns up nothing, what should I do?

Maybe gum buildup where the ball touches the internal rollers? With the ball removed try spinning the rollers and see if the game reacts to it. If that does not work, maybe the cable is broken inside where the plug connects to the 2600. You could check continuity of each contact from the plug to the internal connection with an OHM meter.

[Rex Dart]

Good idea. Works the same when manually fiddling with the rollers, sadly. No matter the speed I roll 'em at, the behavior's the same. Funny thing... the Up direction gives Down if I roll it slowly enough. Wonder if that's related.

 

I poked around with a continuity tester, and found that the purple wire has continuity with the blue and grey wires. They don't correspond to your standard 2600 stick wiring colors as far as I can tell, so I don't know what's for which direction. My probes don't find in the plug... could I maybe use paperclips? Gonna try that later tonight.

 

Thanks everybody so far for your ideas. I really want to get this working, and it's in such nice physical shape it'd be a shame to have to get rid of it. Oh yeah, and I'd be out ten bucks too.

Edited July 27, 2011 by Rex Dart

[CRTGAMER]

Good idea. Works the same when manually fiddling with the rollers, sadly. No matter the speed I roll 'em at, the behavior's the same. Funny thing... the Up direction gives Down if I roll it slowly enough. Wonder if that's related.

 

I poked around with a continuity tester, and found that the purple wire has continuity with the blue and grey wires. They don't correspond to your standard 2600 stick wiring colors as far as I can tell, so I don't know what's for which direction. My probes don't find in the plug... could I maybe use paperclips? Gonna try that later tonight.

 

Thanks everybody so far for your ideas. I really want to get this working, and it's in such nice physical shape it'd be a shame to have to get rid of it. Oh yeah, and I'd be out ten bucks too.

How many wires come out of the insulation at the trakball cable end? A chance all nine pins are not used. If there are say six wires coming from the trakball cable, you should have six hot pins at the plug. Some wires shorting with each other that might be okay, could be part of the PCB layout. To confirm, you may have to desolder the cable wires from the PCB, note which color goes where. Verify that there is no connection between the purple with the blue and grey wires or any of the other wires.

[Rex Dart]

How many wires come out of the insulation at the trakball cable end? A chance all nine pins are not used. If there are say six wires coming from the trakball cable, you should have six hot pins at the plug. Some wires shorting with each other that might be okay, could be part of the PCB layout. To confirm, you may have to desolder the cable wires from the PCB, note which color goes where. Verify that there is no connection between the purple with the blue and grey wires or any of the other wires.

 

 

There are 7 wires being used. I'll try that later when I get home; would be lucky if I just needed a new cable.

 

For what it's worth, the PCB appears thusly:

The rightmost three connections at the top are violet, blue, grey respectively.

[SlowCoder]

Shiny ... black ... ball

[CRTGAMER]

How many wires come out of the insulation at the trakball cable end? A chance all nine pins are not used. If there are say six wires coming from the trakball cable, you should have six hot pins at the plug. Some wires shorting with each other that might be okay, could be part of the PCB layout. To confirm, you may have to desolder the cable wires from the PCB, note which color goes where. Verify that there is no connection between the purple with the blue and grey wires or any of the other wires.

 

 

There are 7 wires being used. I'll try that later when I get home; would be lucky if I just needed a new cable.

 

The rightmost three connections at the top are violet, blue, grey respectively.

Two wires on the right should not have continuity.

following the PCB traces, the right two wires in the pic looks to be for the right fire button pad. The far right wire might be the common return ground due to the size of the trace feeding off to different solder pads below the fire button pad.

 

Strange the ground trace on the right and left edges of the PCB seems corroded away, you may have to add some jumper wires to the various ground solder points.

 

Interesting, the black trakball, mine is the white ball. Actually all my console trakballs are cue ball white.

Edited July 27, 2011 by CRTGAMER

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Have you tested it with e.g. my Missile Command Trakball hack? Maybe only the joystick emulation is broken.