I need some help!

[professormurder]

Alright so I bought my first Atari anything about a month ago at a flea market for $40. It was a 5200. It's a 4 port, and it came with all of the hookups, a VCS adapter, 2 original 2600 controllers, and 2 off brand 2600 joysticks. I also grabbed 9 5600 games for $20 from some other seller to add to the few until then useless 2600 carts around my house.

 

I get the thing home and realize I DON'T HAVE 5200 CONTROLLERS! So I start looking on ebay and picked up 2 "untested" ones for about 20 bucks with shipping. They show up yesterday and OBVIOUSLY don't work... being 5200 controllers.

 

They are cosmetically in nice shape. Then I opened them up (one screw was completely stripped so my friend brought his power drill over haha). So I cleaned all of the contacts with an eraser and cloth. Put them back together and a whopping 2 whole buttons work on just one controller (the # and *).

 

So getting to my question is there some way to jimmy rig new contacts without buying a new circuit? Aluminum foil around the button contacts? Any other suggestions? I really don't want to put much more money into them, buying new circuits is a last resort.

 

Also, the VCS adapter works perfectly on my 4 port, looks as though no modding was done, and the serial number doesn't have a star in it. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT? Is that crazy?

[82atari5200]

Alright so I bought my first Atari anything about a month ago at a flea market for $40. It was a 5200. It's a 4 port, and it came with all of the hookups, a VCS adapter, 2 original 2600 controllers, and 2 off brand 2600 joysticks. I also grabbed 9 5600 games for $20 from some other seller to add to the few until then useless 2600 carts around my house.

 

I get the thing home and realize I DON'T HAVE 5200 CONTROLLERS! So I start looking on ebay and picked up 2 "untested" ones for about 20 bucks with shipping. They show up yesterday and OBVIOUSLY don't work... being 5200 controllers.

 

They are cosmetically in nice shape. Then I opened them up (one screw was completely stripped so my friend brought his power drill over haha). So I cleaned all of the contacts with an eraser and cloth. Put them back together and a whopping 2 whole buttons work on just one controller (the # and *).

 

So getting to my question is there some way to jimmy rig new contacts without buying a new circuit? Aluminum foil around the button contacts? Any other suggestions? I really don't want to put much more money into them, buying new circuits is a last resort.

 

Also, the VCS adapter works perfectly on my 4 port, looks as though no modding was done, and the serial number doesn't have a star in it. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT? Is that crazy?

You'll have to buy new circuits from Best Electronics or someone else. It's been my experience that the eraser trick does not work on 5200 controllers, but actually erases the carbon that made them work in the first place. If you had just left them alone and super glued punched out pieces of aluminum then it should have worked.

Edited December 21, 2008 by 82atari5200

[jetset]

Alright so I bought my first Atari anything about a month ago at a flea market for $40. It was a 5200. It's a 4 port, and it came with all of the hookups, a VCS adapter, 2 original 2600 controllers, and 2 off brand 2600 joysticks. I also grabbed 9 5600 games for $20 from some other seller to add to the few until then useless 2600 carts around my house.

 

I get the thing home and realize I DON'T HAVE 5200 CONTROLLERS! So I start looking on ebay and picked up 2 "untested" ones for about 20 bucks with shipping. They show up yesterday and OBVIOUSLY don't work... being 5200 controllers.

 

They are cosmetically in nice shape. Then I opened them up (one screw was completely stripped so my friend brought his power drill over haha). So I cleaned all of the contacts with an eraser and cloth. Put them back together and a whopping 2 whole buttons work on just one controller (the # and *).

 

So getting to my question is there some way to jimmy rig new contacts without buying a new circuit? Aluminum foil around the button contacts? Any other suggestions? I really don't want to put much more money into them, buying new circuits is a last resort.

 

Also, the VCS adapter works perfectly on my 4 port, looks as though no modding was done, and the serial number doesn't have a star in it. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT? Is that crazy?

You'll have to buy new circuits from Best Electronics or someone else. It's been my experience that the eraser trick does not work on 5200 controllers, but actually erases the carbon that made them work in the first place. If you had just left them alone and super glued punched out pieces of aluminum then it should have worked.

 

Why wouldn't tin foil still work? TBH I never heard of erasing the carbon altogether?

 

Prof, before you spend money try using tin foil. I did on my controllers (all 4 of them) and they've worked fine ever since.

[+remowilliams]

Why wouldn't tin foil still work? TBH I never heard of erasing the carbon altogether?

On the flex circuit side you can certainly erase the carbon traces right off.

[Charlie_]

A penic eraser does work most of the time if the flex circuit has metal traces. I believe most do.

I've had some that it didn't help, some that worked for a couple weeks before not working again.

I've repaired many controllers for the 5200 with super glue and aluminum foil and those controllers have worked for years and still work today.

 

If you really dont want to buy new circuits try gluing aluminum foil dots to the back of the buttons.

Only thing lost is some time and glue, right?

 

However it is true that the flex circiuts with the carbon traces are ruined by pencil erasers.

[MIKE5200]

Why wouldn't tin foil still work? TBH I never heard of erasing the carbon altogether?

On the flex circuit side you can certainly erase the carbon traces right off.

 

Probably rev 6 or 7. I had problems with them