Nateo Posted August 12, 2020 Share Posted August 12, 2020 A while ago I built my own Coleco stick out of some arcade parts and a wooden project box from Michael's. It works great, but it lacks a keypad, but it given that its rarely needed (and the player 2 keypad works the same way for most titles) I didn't worry about it too much, But now that I'm home a lot more often and with considerably less plans, I decided to try to hand wire one with some switching diodes and some tact switches. The keypad doesn't work. I followed the attached schematic I found through Google. I decided to open up one of my original ColecoVision controllers to see if there was something I may have neglected, and it appears to my eye that the schematic I used is wrong. The diodes on the actual circuit board appear to be facing the opposite direction. Is this in fact my problem? I just want to make sure I'm not replacing 22 or so diodes for nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted August 12, 2020 Share Posted August 12, 2020 8 minutes ago, Nateo said: A while ago I built my own Coleco stick out of some arcade parts and a wooden project box from Michael's. It works great, but it lacks a keypad, but it given that its rarely needed (and the player 2 keypad works the same way for most titles) I didn't worry about it too much, But now that I'm home a lot more often and with considerably less plans, I decided to try to hand wire one with some switching diodes and some tact switches. The keypad doesn't work. I followed the attached schematic I found through Google. I decided to open up one of my original ColecoVision controllers to see if there was something I may have neglected, and it appears to my eye that the schematic I used is wrong. The diodes on the actual circuit board appear to be facing the opposite direction. Is this in fact my problem? I just want to make sure I'm not replacing 22 or so diodes for nothing. The diodes are backwards on this schematic. Here is another one from ChildOfCV: StandardController.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted August 12, 2020 Author Share Posted August 12, 2020 Damn. That's gonna be a real pain in the ass to desolder those diodes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubledown Posted August 12, 2020 Share Posted August 12, 2020 I've never hand wired an entire diode array before. When I build a controller that includes a full keypad, or more than only 3 or 4 keypad inputs...I just install a donor controller PCB to wire to. If a particular controller only has, for example, the 1, 2, and # buttons, then I will just hand wire in the few diodes, and forgo the donor PCB. Additionally with a couple more wires, and a few more diodes, you can add the Purple & Blue Super Action buttons to controller too if you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted August 12, 2020 Author Share Posted August 12, 2020 9 hours ago, doubledown said: I've never hand wired an entire diode array before. When I build a controller that includes a full keypad, or more than only 3 or 4 keypad inputs...I just install a donor controller PCB to wire to. If a particular controller only has, for example, the 1, 2, and # buttons, then I will just hand wire in the few diodes, and forgo the donor PCB. Additionally with a couple more wires, and a few more diodes, you can add the Purple & Blue Super Action buttons to controller too if you want. Is there a schematic anywhere of specifically the Super Action Controller? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubledown Posted August 12, 2020 Share Posted August 12, 2020 Possibly/probably (not that I have a link to), but I just know it as: Purple button - wires 1, 2, 4 Blue button - wires 1, 3, 4 So, for example, the purple button needs connection to each of those wires (1, 2, 4), through a diode each, on one side of the switch (usually NO), and wire 5 as the "common" on the other side (normally COM). As a reference (from your previously posted schematic with the diodes show backwards), Keypad 1 needs connection to wire 4, through a diode on one side of the switch, and wire 5 as the "common" on the other side...same concept as all of the other 12 keypad buttons, as the extra 2 S.A. buttons are basically wired as the 13th and 14th keypad buttons. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted August 18, 2020 Author Share Posted August 18, 2020 Well, I finally got the hand wired keypad working! I decided to just do it over given that desoldering and resoldering all those diodes would have been way more of a pain than just starting from scratch. Now comes the question of: what should I house it in? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubledown Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Congrats on getting it working. For the housing...it really depends on what you're going to do with it. Do you want it built into a controller, or do you want to house it as a separate unit like the old Champ Adapters? Additionally are you going to use additional buttons/caps with the tactile switches...or will they be the buttons that you manipulate...as they are? How concerned are you with ergonomics...or is this just a simple test of functionality? Lots of questions...lots of options. Go nuts...and have fun! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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