Paddles TOO sensetive

[Adam 12]

I bought a set of broken Paddles.  When i tested them, the better one wouldn't work at all except for the button.  The other, which had a smashed case, would jitter sometimes at best, but mostly also didn't do anything.

 

So, I disassembled and cleaned them.  The good one had more grime than ive ever seen on any electronic device ever!  9 q tips to clean it.  The smashed one was surprisingly pretty clean.  Easy peasy.  Constructed a new back casing for the smashed one from scrap plastic and electrical tape, reassembled, and tried them out.

 

Still nothing...

 

Wondering what the next most likely cause could be, I dipped the controller connecter I alcohol, and went to work with a stiff clean paint brush.  A bit of grime came out, and I was hopeful.

 

Tested again, and got a very different result.

 

Instead of jittering or not working at all, the paddles, both of them, now jump from one side of the screen to the other with the tiniest turn.  I was completely unable to get either to stop anywhere on the screen but the extreme left and right, and there was but a hairbreadth difference between the two.  Tested in game 2 on Breakout.

 

When I tried it on my Harmony cart, all it would do is countinuously scroll down pages.  Couldn't navigate at all.

 

Is there perhaps an adjustment I could make to get my paddles to be less sensetive?  Could I have perhaps damaged something cleaning them?

 

Another thought, since both have the exact same problem, could it be something wrong with my left joystick port?  Any paddle games that use the right port so I can test this?

 

Thanks!

[jhd]

14 hours ago, Adam 12 said:

Another thought, since both have the exact same problem, could it be something wrong with my left joystick port?  Any paddle games that use the right port so I can test this?

 

Warlords and Video Olympics both support two sets of paddles, so (presumably) you could try them in the right controller port.

 

[Adam 12]

Results of further testing:

I couldn't figure out which game was 4 players In Video Olympics.  In Warlords, the paddles did nothing whatsoever in the right port except the button.  They only did extreme left and right in the left port.

 

In Breakout, same thing.  Though it seemed ever so slightly better today, on the left port, it may be my imagination.

 

I tried a 3rd party Genesis Controller that I had always assumed was incompatible.  In Pac Man, on both ports, if I held down B while resetting, everything worked except left.

 

This Genesis Controller does the same thing on the Harmony Cart menu as the paddles.  Keeps scrolling through the pages.

 

My new hypothesis is that my paddles work fine and my Genesis controller is in fact compatible, but when they're connected, they constantly act as if right is being pressed.  Which is either something wrong with the ports, or, more likely since it's both, something wrong with the circuitry that handles controller inputs.

 

So, I guess I'm stuck with Joystick games only until I either get this fixed or get a new console.  Glad I haven't gone through the trouble of modding this one yet...

 

Maybe I'll get a light sixer, and combine the cases into a Six Switch Vader!

 

Any advice on how I might go about fixing these issues?

 

Thanks!

My I'll probably make a new post with my new theory that better describes my problems.  This one is now misleading.

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by Adam 12
typos

[danny_galaga]

Does anyone know the range of the pots in the paddles? I'm toying with the idea of making some

[Adam 12]

Follow up topic is here

 

 

 

 

Please continue to use this topic to dicsuss oversensitive paddles and potential solutions.

 

I think swithing out the pot is the simplest solution.  I dont know if youd want higher or lower numbers, not sure what the numbers mean.

 

Or get 3rd party paddles that already use different pots

[+Stephen Moss]

One possibility is that the carbon tracks on the pots has worn to the extent that when you turn them the wiper no longer makes contact the the track, if the behaviour you are seeing is the same as when no paddle controllers are connected then this may well be what is happening. If you look at the schematic here you will see the controllers use 1M (1 MegaOhm, pots). so if you think the pots are bad replace them with one's of same value.

 

If you look at either 2600 schematic here, you will see the pots charge some 0.068 capacitors (69nF, assuming value shown is in Farads). The time it takes to do that is how the position is determined,  consequently another possible cause the your issue would be if the capacitors have gone open circuit (or disconnected due to a bad solder joint).

 

 

  

[hizzy]

Best Electronics makes some great paddles. Their joysticks are amazing, too!

[Shawn]

22 hours ago, danny_galaga said:

Does anyone know the range of the pots in the paddles? I'm toying with the idea of making some

 

1 meg