Question about light switches

[scotty]

Trying to make a Pole position controller for Mame on the cheap...  As cheap as possible for a proof of concept.   As far as a gear shift, being that is just high and low, is there any reason that a standard home light switch wired to an encoder do the trick?

 

 

Also, wouldnt a light dimmer switch connected to an analog encoder work for pong paddles?

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by scotty

[DanBoris]

7 hours ago, scotty said:

Trying to make a Pole position controller for Mame on the cheap...  As cheap as possible for a proof of concept.   As far as a gear shift, being that is just high and low, is there any reason that a standard home light switch wired to an encoder do the trick?

 

 

Also, wouldnt a light dimmer switch connected to an analog encoder work for pong paddles?

 

The light switch would work fine for the gear shift. The dimmer is a little more complicated. There is more electronics in a dimmer then just the potentiometer (variable resistor)  so hooking it up directly would not work. You could potentially use the potentiometer inside, but it would have to be the same resistance value as the one in Pong. 

7 hours ago, scotty said:

 

 

[mr_me]

Maybe a double pole light switch might work, otherwise the off position does nothing.  Mame typically works with momentary switches.  Will it work with a switch that's continuously on.

Edited May 3, 2020 by mr_me

[Cebus Capucinis]

9 hours ago, mr_me said:

Maybe a double pole light switch might work, otherwise the off position does nothing.  Mame typically works with momentary switches.  Will it work with a switch that's continuously on.

I'd think with a proper encoder it would be fine - it would have to be something like "IF the encoder is getting X volts = switch is on = HI gear, IF the encoder is getting 0 volts = switch is off = LO gear" - provided the encoder is sending the right data, I'd think MAME wouldn't know the difference. You might have to get the encoder to just send a single burst of code then nothing rather than a continuous stream indicating status, but that *should* be do-able? (Beyond my skills though!).

[Bruce Tomlin]

I like the idea of using an old light switch for a gear shift, partly because I have a bunch left after replacing every one I could with decora-style switches. You could even glue on a handle of some sort, maybe from a couple inches of small PVC pipe. The only real limitation is that with DC, you can't switch nearly as many volts or amps without worrying about arcs, but for controller use there's no problem. (I've also considered using a couple of contractor boxes worth of decora switches to make huge toggle switch panels for retro computing!)

 

As for the dimmer, I think the ones that aren't electronic usually use a wire-wound rheostat, which isn't going to have the resistance you need for a paddle. If you can gut it, you could install a regular potentiometer, then use light switch plate parts to mount everything together. The ones that are electronic and have a knob, I guess if the potentiometer has the right value you could gut them and just use that, but they're probably like 20 bucks.