Trackball problems

[joeybastard]

Last night my beloved 5200 trackball stopped registering right/left movement. I opened it up and cleaned out a little dust, it worked for about a minute and then no right/left. The cord is kind of stiff so I'm thinking perhaps there's a broken wire inside it. I have an extra cord from a 5200 stick but I noticed that the trackball has 2 extra wires. 1 is an extra orange which I'm assuming is just another ground but on the connectons to the trackball part there is an extra white/brown wire. Anybody know what this is for? Can I not use a joystick cable as a replacement?

 

Anybody have another working 5200 trackball they want to sell cheap? I don't care about boxes or anything like that.

[PacManPlus]

The other wire is a +5V feed. It's needed for the trackball but not the standard controllers

[joeybastard]

The other wire is a +5V feed.  It's needed for the trackball but not the standard controllers

1025359[/snapback]

 

That's what I was afraid of, so I can't try a joystick cable then. Thanks, I guess I'm in the market for another trackball.

 

Maybe I'll try making an arcade stick out of this one

[+Mitch]

Pick up a PC joystick extension cable and use that, it should have all 15 pins wired.

 

Mitch

[JB]

Pick up a PC joystick extension cable and use that, it should have all 15 pins wired.

 

Mitch

1025427[/snapback]

IF it's fully-compatible.

 

Remember, there's 15-wire AND 7-wire variants, owing to the original spec of the IBM gameport.

[joeybastard]

I was trying get off easy. I can just buy the parts and wire my own cable if I need to. I just thought I might be able to get away with the spare joystick cable so I figured I ask the experts.

 

I guess a trip to Radio Shack(shiver) is in order.