Please help me make my own 5200 Y Cable...

[Mark Wolfe]

I am SO @&*$ing fed up with these controllers. I just want ONE controller so I can finally enjoy the AtariMax multicart my wife bought me for Christmas.

 

I have taken apart one of the f'd up controllers and taken the cable out of it.

 

What I want to do is wire it in to a 2600 Y cable so I can plug in a WICO and a number pad and get a nice controller working from it all. I can not afford the wico pre-made stuff that is out there and as hard to find as hen's teeth. I just want to hack my own damn cable together.

 

Can anyone guide me through the process? I have a ton of other stuff I can use to take apart or hack together if need be.

 

I have 2600 sticks I can take apart, I have a 2600 style 2 female to 1 male Y cable. I have a couple of number pads, whatever I need I'm sure I have here with the exception of some instructions.

 

hook a brother up

 

-MW

[bohoki]

I am SO @&*$ing fed up with these controllers. I just want ONE controller so I can finally enjoy the AtariMax multicart my wife bought me for Christmas.

 

I have taken apart one of the f'd up controllers and taken the cable out of it.

 

What I want to do is wire it in to a 2600 Y cable so I can plug in a WICO and a number pad and get a nice controller working from it all. I can not afford the wico pre-made stuff that is out there and as hard to find as hen's teeth. I just want to hack my own damn cable together.

 

Can anyone guide me through the process? I have a ton of other stuff I can use to take apart or hack together if need be.

 

I have 2600 sticks I can take apart, I have a 2600 style 2 female to 1 male Y cable. I have a couple of number pads, whatever I need I'm sure I have here with the exception of some instructions.

 

hook a brother up

 

-MW

 

i'm confused what your problem with the controller is is it the fire buttons,or the direction stick

 

i cannot recomend using an atari plug as they are not all wired to the plug

 

i would check out

 

http://emu-docs.org/Atari%205200/Controllers/5200cont.html

 

for pinouts

 

i made a few of my own controllers and i get by with just the 2 firebuttons and start

 

so you would just need a 15 pin d female (strip off the metal shield and glue the front and back together) and a 9 pin male d

 

and wire up one pushbutton between pins 4 and 7 on the 15 pin(start) and connect the pins from the 9 pin d to the 15 pin d according to their pinouts

if you want a reset then wire another pushbutton between 4 and 5 on the 15 pin

 

yes the buttons are very annoying in their carbon dot/tined plastic heck my tv remotes are lucky to last 5 years all these contollers are pushing 25

[Mark Wolfe]

that definitely points me in the right direction, thank you. The issues was, one controller had working fire buttons, but the stick would not move anything to the right and the other controller has a working stick but no fire buttons. I took apart one of the three to see if I could combine them, I did make one sort-of-ok controller but it's iffy at best and I'm sick of the 5200 sticks anyway.

 

It sounds like what you recommend will work fine. what games actually make use of the number pad? I was referring to this combo I've seen for sometimes hundreds of dollars on ebay:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/BOXED-ATARI-5200-WICO-...mes_Accessories

 

hey, is there any way to wire an Atari Jaguar Controller to the 5200? Is there perhaps an easy cable swap I can do? seems like that would solve the problem right there. has anyone done that yet?

[bohoki]

that definitely points me in the right direction, thank you. The issues was, one controller had working fire buttons, but the stick would not move anything to the right and the other controller has a working stick but no fire buttons. I took apart one of the three to see if I could combine them, I did make one sort-of-ok controller but it's iffy at best and I'm sick of the 5200 sticks anyway.

 

It sounds like what you recommend will work fine. what games actually make use of the number pad? I was referring to this combo I've seen for sometimes hundreds of dollars on ebay:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/BOXED-ATARI-5200-WICO-...mes_Accessories

 

hey, is there any way to wire an Atari Jaguar Controller to the 5200? Is there perhaps an easy cable swap I can do? seems like that would solve the problem right there. has anyone done that yet?

 

 

i would love a jag controller but the design to use its direction pad is beyond my skill

 

but it would be a great start/pause/reset button keypad for use with a wico

 

some people mod a 2600 star raiders touchpad(like me) btu it doesnt have start pause reset so i made my own controller ust search my posts for pics if you care

 

all games use the num pad but often you never need to since most are for 1-2 player and skill level generally the * and # button

 

good luck

 

i can give you lots of tips but you need to come up with components

[Mark Wolfe]

for some reason I can not edit my post... sorry for the double post.

 

I looked at the pinout link and I just can't make heads or tails of it. I'm also unsure of why I need a 15pin din. I have the 5200 female cable stripped from a 5200 controller. is there a guide for how to just splice a wico controller to a 5200 cable? I'd need wire colors, not pinout. With the pinout I have no way of knowing which wire is which because of the molding, the only thing I do know is the color of each wire. there are afew loose that connected to the joystick pots and then a molex that attaches to the keypad portion and I assume also carries the fire and start buttons.

 

is there any way to do this using a wire color coder rather than a pinout? otherwise I'm lost.

 

and scratch the jaguar controller question, seems it has been done and requires some work to convert from analog to digital. there's no easy splice,

[Phantom]

Link on how to fix 5200 controllers

 

Here is what I use to guide me to fix any issue I am having with my 5200 controllers.

I spent a good bit of money to get my set of 4 working again as they were all broken when I first got my 5200 but when I had a problem with one of them a few years later,

I found this guide and it has helped me everytime and I can barely use a screwdriver.

Im not saying it will fix your controllers for certain, but it sure wouldnt hurt trying and if you are further along than this and arent as mechanically challenged as I, I apologize.

I am just trying to help and this worked for me thus far as far as keeping my 5200 stock controllers working. Goodluck

Edited February 14, 2009 by Phantom

[Mark Wolfe]

@bohki: I do have a star raiders touchpad too, a few of them in fact. so you're saying you have posts here that are a guide to how you did you controller hacks? I'll have a look, thanks edit: I seem to be blocked from searching member posts. it keeps saying I have to wait 10 seconds to search but it never stops... ugh

 

@phantom: this is helpful. I definitely do NOT want to spend any more money on this 5200 stuff. but this cleaning is worth a shot. Ultimately though I hate the 5200 controller even when it works and I want a replacement. I have an extra 7800 stick. I understand that with the proper Y cable you can use a 7800 stick with the star raider touch pad to a 5200 Y cable and you get a perfect replacement which is why I was hoping for a splice guide to making a simple Y cable. something that has the wire colors not the pinouts. pinouts are useless with this molded plug, I need a wire color guide.

Edited February 14, 2009 by Mark_Wolfe

[bohoki]

@bohki: I do have a star raiders touchpad too, a few of them in fact. so you're saying you have posts here that are a guide to how you did you controller hacks? I'll have a look, thanks edit: I seem to be blocked from searching member posts. it keeps saying I have to wait 10 seconds to search but it never stops... ugh

 

@phantom: this is helpful. I definitely do NOT want to spend any more money on this 5200 stuff. but this cleaning is worth a shot. Ultimately though I hate the 5200 controller even when it works and I want a replacement. I have an extra 7800 stick. I understand that with the proper Y cable you can use a 7800 stick with the star raider touch pad to a 5200 Y cable and you get a perfect replacement which is why I was hoping for a splice guide to making a simple Y cable. something that has the wire colors not the pinouts. pinouts are useless with this molded plug, I need a wire color guide.

 

 

i havent heard of a way to adapt a 7800 to the 5200 without some fairly complex circuitry

 

sorry i cant help with the colors as i have no way to be assured that they always used the same color for the same pin

 

if you can get a little ohm meter(multimeter) you can test each wire and mark them with tape as to which pin they connect

if you can find a harbor freight tools near you they are really cheap like $4 when they are on sale

 

it is very difficult to make a controller that works without components

 

you could make the altoids controller if you want to make a trip to radioshack and buy some pushbuttons you need 5 no buttons and 2 nc buttons 2 240kohm resistors 2 330kohm (you can skip the 10k in my diagram)

 

 

i need to know what our assets are if you want me to come up with a plan

if we only had a wheelbarrow

Edited February 14, 2009 by bohoki

[Mark Wolfe]

d'oh, ohm meter, of course. that works, I have a radio shack standard model.

 

as for "components" I'm not sure what you mean other than control sticks like a wico with buttons, and from your diagram, that would fit a 7800 controller because it has a stick and two buttons, so why not splice that with my 5200 cable?

 

I already have other controllers I can gut, like a wico or a nes pad or a genesis pad, just about anything you can think of I have an extra of I can gut.

 

I am am 90% certain there is a kit or instructions or something out there that combines a 7800 stick with a star raiders touch pad using a simple Y plug to make a fully functional 5200 controller. there are Y plugs out there on ebay, 2 female 2600 to 1 male 5200 but they cost a fortune and I know it is just a simple wire splice job, this is ultimately what I want so I don't have to solder the hell out of anything

 

but yeah, maybe I can figure it out using the pinout guide and my ohm meter. hmmm

Edited February 14, 2009 by Mark_Wolfe

[bohoki]

d'oh, ohm meter, of course. that works, I have a radio shack standard model.

 

as for "components" I'm not sure what you mean other than control sticks like a wico with buttons, and from your diagram, that would fit a 7800 controller because it has a stick and two buttons, so why not splice that with my 5200 cable?

 

I already have other controllers I can gut, like a wico or a nes pad or a genesis pad, just about anything you can think of I have an extra of I can gut.

 

I am am 90% certain there is a kit or instructions or something out there that combines a 7800 stick with a star raiders touch pad using a simple Y plug to make a fully functional 5200 controller. there are Y plugs out there on ebay, 2 female 2600 to 1 male 5200 but they cost a fortune and I know it is just a simple wire splice job, this is ultimately what I want so I don't have to solder the hell out of anything

 

but yeah, maybe I can figure it out using the pinout guide and my ohm meter. hmmm

 

 

ok knowing that you have the ohm meter a 5200 controller wire a video touchpad(that you can sacrifice)and a wico 5200 joy

you now only need one pushbutton and 2 9 pin male plugs to attach to the wico and touchpad

 

you will want to attach a puchbutton on the wire that conducts to pins 4 and 7 on the 5200 controller cable(this will be the start button)

 

you will attach the 9 pin male (intended for the wico) first pin will be the 5200 wire to the pin

 

so wire from pin 12 to plug 1 ,15 to3, 14 to 4, 13 to 5, 11 to 6, 9to 7, 10 to 8

 

 

for the touchpad you must open the touch pad and cut or unsolder one resistor wire any one of the 4 legs of the 2 resistors is fine

 

the you will attach the wire from the 5200 plug to the corresponding pin on the 9 pin male inteded for use with the touchpad

(first number is the 5200 pin wire

7-1,6-2,5-3,8-4,3-5,1-6,2-9

Edited February 14, 2009 by bohoki

[Mark Wolfe]

what about using a 7800 controller which already has the extra button? I do have some 9 pin male plugs I can get off of a bad 2600 motherboard, will that suffice? also, can't i just splice in to the 5200 cable and forgo the male 9pin plugs?

 

and what about forgoing the number pad for the time being? just get a simple controller with 2 buttons, like the 7800 controller, do you think that would be possible?

[Mark Wolfe]

I'm starting easy right now, going to fully clean one of my 5200 joysticks, maybe I'll get lucky for now. I'll try doing a mod using either my wico or my 7800 controller next week

Edited February 14, 2009 by Mark_Wolfe

[Mark Wolfe]

sorry, the board won't let me modify my posts. this has been happening on and off for the past few weeks. very odd. I also get a lot of search engine errors, where it blocks me from searching saying I have to wait 10 seconds but it never works no matter how long I wait.

 

anyway, the cleaning worked. I used a pencil eraser and some alcohol based contact solvent and it seems to have really fixed the fire buttons.

 

I'm gonna try it on a second controller and then next week I will make a wico based alternative. thank you for all your help bohoki & Phantom, I really appreciate it. I'll chime back in after I make the wico mod.

[atariksi]

sorry, the board won't let me modify my posts. this has been happening on and off for the past few weeks. very odd. I also get a lot of search engine errors, where it blocks me from searching saying I have to wait 10 seconds but it never works no matter how long I wait.

 

anyway, the cleaning worked. I used a pencil eraser and some alcohol based contact solvent and it seems to have really fixed the fire buttons.

 

I'm gonna try it on a second controller and then next week I will make a wico based alternative. thank you for all your help bohoki & Phantom, I really appreciate it. I'll chime back in after I make the wico mod.

 

You can also try this adapter here if you want to use Atari touchpad controller as keypad:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320342429140

[Mark Wolfe]

sorry, the board won't let me modify my posts. this has been happening on and off for the past few weeks. very odd. I also get a lot of search engine errors, where it blocks me from searching saying I have to wait 10 seconds but it never works no matter how long I wait.

 

anyway, the cleaning worked. I used a pencil eraser and some alcohol based contact solvent and it seems to have really fixed the fire buttons.

 

I'm gonna try it on a second controller and then next week I will make a wico based alternative. thank you for all your help bohoki & Phantom, I really appreciate it. I'll chime back in after I make the wico mod.

 

You can also try this adapter here if you want to use Atari touchpad controller as keypad:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320342429140

 

 

woah now.. see this is exactly what I'd like to make myself and what I was describing earlier in this thread... are there plans out there for how this was made? will the price of this one stay reasonable or get to outrageous levels?

 

I would love to make one of these myself

[Ian Primus]

woah now.. see this is exactly what I'd like to make myself and what I was describing earlier in this thread... are there plans out there for how this was made? will the price of this one stay reasonable or get to outrageous levels?

 

I would love to make one of these myself

 

 

There are plans in the FAQ - http://www.atariage.com/5200/faq.html?SystemID=5200 - see section 6.3. This will allow you to use unmodified 7800/2600 sticks with the 5200. Then you can also wire up the Star Raiders touch pad as described by bohoki. You'll probably also want to add Start and Pause buttons, since the Star Raiders pad lacks enough keys - but that's easy enough, the pinout of the controller is also in the FAQ.

 

Note that the Y cable on eBay does NOT allow you to use digital sticks - it lacks the active circuitry for them. It will only work as-is with paddles or a Wico analog stick.

 

-Ian

[atariksi]

sorry, the board won't let me modify my posts. this has been happening on and off for the past few weeks. very odd. I also get a lot of search engine errors, where it blocks me from searching saying I have to wait 10 seconds but it never works no matter how long I wait.

 

anyway, the cleaning worked. I used a pencil eraser and some alcohol based contact solvent and it seems to have really fixed the fire buttons.

 

I'm gonna try it on a second controller and then next week I will make a wico based alternative. thank you for all your help bohoki & Phantom, I really appreciate it. I'll chime back in after I make the wico mod.

 

You can also try this adapter here if you want to use Atari touchpad controller as keypad:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320342429140

 

 

woah now.. see this is exactly what I'd like to make myself and what I was describing earlier in this thread... are there plans out there for how this was made? will the price of this one stay reasonable or get to outrageous levels?

 

I would love to make one of these myself

 

I will give you schematic and manual free with the item if you want it or need it. Prices usually stay below $10 so it's worth it even if you want to modify it for your own work. Currently, it lets you hook up Atari paddles, Atari touchpads/keyboard controllers, and MPDOS cable (which is a PC interface cable which allows it to be used as a digital joystick).

[atariksi]

woah now.. see this is exactly what I'd like to make myself and what I was describing earlier in this thread... are there plans out there for how this was made? will the price of this one stay reasonable or get to outrageous levels?

 

I would love to make one of these myself

 

 

There are plans in the FAQ - http://www.atariage.com/5200/faq.html?SystemID=5200 - see section 6.3. This will allow you to use unmodified 7800/2600 sticks with the 5200. Then you can also wire up the Star Raiders touch pad as described by bohoki. You'll probably also want to add Start and Pause buttons, since the Star Raiders pad lacks enough keys - but that's easy enough, the pinout of the controller is also in the FAQ.

 

Note that the Y cable on eBay does NOT allow you to use digital sticks - it lacks the active circuitry for them. It will only work as-is with paddles or a Wico analog stick.

 

-Ian

 

The touchpad controller with the Digital Joystick Adapter uses the 2,5,8 keys for Start, Pause, Reset since it replaces that row with them so you don't have to install those keys separately. You won't be able to use the 2,5,8 keys but most games don't need those anyway.

[bohoki]

woah now.. see this is exactly what I'd like to make myself and what I was describing earlier in this thread... are there plans out there for how this was made? will the price of this one stay reasonable or get to outrageous levels?

 

I would love to make one of these myself

 

 

There are plans in the FAQ - http://www.atariage.com/5200/faq.html?SystemID=5200 - see section 6.3. This will allow you to use unmodified 7800/2600 sticks with the 5200. Then you can also wire up the Star Raiders touch pad as described by bohoki. You'll probably also want to add Start and Pause buttons, since the Star Raiders pad lacks enough keys - but that's easy enough, the pinout of the controller is also in the FAQ.

 

Note that the Y cable on eBay does NOT allow you to use digital sticks - it lacks the active circuitry for them. It will only work as-is with paddles or a Wico analog stick.

 

-Ian

 

The touchpad controller with the Digital Joystick Adapter uses the 2,5,8 keys for Start, Pause, Reset since it replaces that row with them so you don't have to install those keys separately. You won't be able to use the 2,5,8 keys but most games don't need those anyway.

 

 

how did you overcome the crosstalk the resistors cause in the touchpad?

 

also lots of games use a full pad i was thinking of making a joystick just to use 2,4,6,8 for frogger

 

i don't understand how you use that with your pc's and your 5200 where do you plug the 15 pin female plug?

sure sounds convoluted what is with the extra wires coming out of the plugs?

 

how do you get the plug into the 5200 ive never had luck with a shielded plug end they just never stick in there they fall right out on mine?

 

it is possible to rig start pause and reset with a touchpad if you buy 3 pushbutons and add them and use the wire from pin 7(after disconnecting the resistors) to be the wire to pin 4 on the 5200

 

 

also how can it work with paddles and the wico when they are wired differently?

 

the paddles have buttons on pins 3,4 the wico has the buttons on 4,5

the paddles have the pots on pins 5,9 the wicos are on 6 and 8

Edited February 18, 2009 by bohoki

[Mark Wolfe]

is there a listing somewhere that shows which games need the number pad and if they do, which buttons they need to work?

[bohoki]

is there a listing somewhere that shows which games need the number pad and if they do, which buttons they need to work?

 

 

depends on your definition of "play"

 

i can play just abotu everything without the num pad if i dont want to win or have access to all features

 

 

but the ones i cannot have fun playing without a pad include

 

baseball

countermeasure

spaceshuttle

star raiders

tennis

soccer

football

defender (yes 2 buttons arent enough with the shooting and superbomb you need to hit (anykey) to do a hyperspace jump)

even kaboom needs one if you want to add another bucket when you merit one

[Mark Wolfe]

is there a listing somewhere that shows which games need the number pad and if they do, which buttons they need to work?

 

 

depends on your definition of "play"

 

i can play just abotu everything without the num pad if i dont want to win or have access to all features

 

 

but the ones i cannot have fun playing without a pad include

 

baseball

countermeasure

spaceshuttle

star raiders

tennis

soccer

football

defender (yes 2 buttons arent enough with the shooting and superbomb you need to hit (anykey) to do a hyperspace jump)

even kaboom needs one if you want to add another bucket when you merit one

 

hmm, not a very long list. is that just from memory or did you get that from some listing somewhere? for my personal needs, I would not play any sports games and NEVER Defender because I have a MAME cabinet and there is just no better way to play that game. that leaves a few titles. not too bad of a trade-off and I can always swap back the original controller

 

I am very interested in this Y cable and the low price. I would like to hear the answers to the questions you raised however.

[atariksi]

woah now.. see this is exactly what I'd like to make myself and what I was describing earlier in this thread... are there plans out there for how this was made? will the price of this one stay reasonable or get to outrageous levels?

 

I would love to make one of these myself

 

 

There are plans in the FAQ - http://www.atariage.com/5200/faq.html?SystemID=5200 - see section 6.3. This will allow you to use unmodified 7800/2600 sticks with the 5200. Then you can also wire up the Star Raiders touch pad as described by bohoki. You'll probably also want to add Start and Pause buttons, since the Star Raiders pad lacks enough keys - but that's easy enough, the pinout of the controller is also in the FAQ.

 

Note that the Y cable on eBay does NOT allow you to use digital sticks - it lacks the active circuitry for them. It will only work as-is with paddles or a Wico analog stick.

 

-Ian

 

The touchpad controller with the Digital Joystick Adapter uses the 2,5,8 keys for Start, Pause, Reset since it replaces that row with them so you don't have to install those keys separately. You won't be able to use the 2,5,8 keys but most games don't need those anyway.

 

 

how did you overcome the crosstalk the resistors cause in the touchpad?

 

also lots of games use a full pad i was thinking of making a joystick just to use 2,4,6,8 for frogger

 

i don't understand how you use that with your pc's and your 5200 where do you plug the 15 pin female plug?

sure sounds convoluted what is with the extra wires coming out of the plugs?

 

how do you get the plug into the 5200 ive never had luck with a shielded plug end they just never stick in there they fall right out on mine?

 

it is possible to rig start pause and reset with a touchpad if you buy 3 pushbutons and add them and use the wire from pin 7(after disconnecting the resistors) to be the wire to pin 4 on the 5200

 

 

also how can it work with paddles and the wico when they are wired differently?

 

the paddles have buttons on pins 3,4 the wico has the buttons on 4,5

the paddles have the pots on pins 5,9 the wicos are on 6 and 8

 

Some keys get the crosstalk, but you can easily cut off the resistors from the touchpad/keyboard controller to completely remove the crosstalk. Frogger still works in joystick mode, but for keypad mode you will have to swap a wire (which is also present in the DB9 connector but not being used). Yeah, you can add the three buttons as well since the signal is coming into the DB9 but one of the wires is not being used and by default I went with keys according to the probability distribution of useage by games. That way people who are non-technical can use it directly without modifications for most games.

 

The 15-pin (DB15) plugs into the Atari 5200 or into the Wico Y cable. The DB15 does not fall out by itself; you have to pull on the cable to make it come out. However, if you plug into Wico Y cable or an extension DB15 cable, it won't come out even if you pull on it. The jumper coming out of the DB9 is unused-- I was going to put a FET switch to allow you to switch between the column (2,5,8,0) or (Start, Pause, Reset, NULL) but cable company told me cost would be double so I left it out.

 

About Wico, the auction states that it works with Wico Y cable. Instead of connecting Atari 5200 joystick to one end of Wico Y cable, you connect the Digital joystick adapter and touchpad. The other DB9 of Digital joystick adapter is mapped like Atari 800 Paddles (Pin 9 is Paddle A and Pin 5 is Paddle B and PTRIGs are also mapped exactly the same way). This DB9 has some circuit to allow digital signals and analog Paddles using the same pinouts...

[atariksi]

is there a listing somewhere that shows which games need the number pad and if they do, which buttons they need to work?

 

 

depends on your definition of "play"

 

i can play just abotu everything without the num pad if i dont want to win or have access to all features

 

 

but the ones i cannot have fun playing without a pad include

 

baseball

countermeasure

spaceshuttle

star raiders

tennis

soccer

football

defender (yes 2 buttons arent enough with the shooting and superbomb you need to hit (anykey) to do a hyperspace jump)

even kaboom needs one if you want to add another bucket when you merit one

 

I think you misunderstood me. Kaboom bucket key is * and that is available. Defender uses 2,5 keys to set medium level so you can still play but easy and hard levels. There's no way to select medium level. There's a NEW key that gets introduced when you map the START, PAUSE, RESET keys into that column of 2,5,8,0. It's the NULL key which does cause hyperspace in defender. I tried that-- the 0 gets replaced with this NEW key. Most common keys used by games are # and * and these are both available.

[atariksi]

is there a listing somewhere that shows which games need the number pad and if they do, which buttons they need to work?

 

I found a partial compilation of directions for various games here: http://www.ozyr.com/a5200/a5200.html