DIY 7800 Arcade Stick Help

[atariLBC]

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!

[CPUWIZ]

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

[atariLBC]

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!!

[atariLBC]

I added diodes inline and that took care of the weird auto-engage behavior. Now the the buttons are acting like buttons in a 2600 controller.

[atariLBC]

I added wires from 5 and 9 to just above the resistors on each button ground. The buttons work fine now. I'll post pics when I have it all together.

Edited December 9, 2013 by atariLBC

[atariLBC]

I finally got back to this and finished the first joystick over the long weekend. The whole case is wood and I went with a "Home Pong" inspired motif for the layout. I works as it should and is a lot of fun to use.

[griz]

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?

[Bakasama]

I was wondering, couldn't you add a third button for those 2600 games that have the two button hacks?

Edited December 30, 2013 by Bakasama

[atariLBC]

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!

[+GoldenWheels]

I finally got back to this and finished the first joystick over the long weekend. The whole case is wood and I went with a "Home Pong" inspired motif for the layout. I works as it should and is a lot of fun to use.image.jpg

Love it man, really nice look. Wish I had one!

[PacManPlus]

Very Nice!

[atariLBC]

Thanks everyone!

 

When I put together the second player controller I'll post detailed photos of the button wiring for reference. I looked at a few "instructable" type posts on other homemade controllers when I got started and think something like that for the 7800 could be useful to folks.

[atariLBC]

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.

[bikeguychicago]

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?

[atariLBC]

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.

[Wyluli Wolf]

These look great!

Can you tell me the dimensions of your box enclosure?

Did you use white wood and if so what size?

Love the design. It looks very retro

[bikeguychicago]

Did you create the artwork yourself? If so, would you be willing to share it with the rest of us?

[+Andromeda Stardust]

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/