Controller Breakage

[Poopopyo]

I was wondering, was the main problem with the 5200 controller the buttons, the joystick, or was the whole controller just an unstable pile of garbage. The buttons on BOTH of my 5200's controllers just broke.

[NoahsMyBro]

I've been a 5200 owner since I got mine brand-new as a gift, in 1983 0r 1984. At this point I probably have a couple of dozen controllers for the system.

 

I've NEVER experienced the joysticks breaking.

 

What fails are the buttons. And they DO fail. The cause, workarounds, repairs, etc... have all been discussed to death on this and other forums.

 

The saving grace of the system and the controllers is that as long as you've got at least one working Start button, you can play Space Dungeon!

[Ransom]

Over time, you may get drift in the pots used for the analog joystick. But that's mostly correctable by using the adjustment pot on the motherboard.

 

Depending on what's on your hands when you use them, you may also have the joystick boots crack over time.

 

But mostly, the problem was with the buttons. The carbon dot backing will wear down and/or the flex circuit will corrode. The first is fixable by applying tin foil to the back of the button, while the second is fixable with an eraser.

 

Flex circuits may also break, of course, which is a bit harder to fix.

 

The long term fix that I chose was to buy the Best Electronics gold controllers. Haven't had one fail on me yet.

[bohoki]

yea there is the 2 problems you always hear from the crapscreamers

 

a the anlogness causing trouble in games that are want to play with a 4 way or 8 way controller

 

 

and the sudden button death which is the main problem if start doesnt work there is no way to know if any other buttons work

 

the resistance of the buttons and what it takes to trigger is an unknown on my old dry pads some buttons are up to 1 meg resistance i figure the system will register a button with about 12k or less

 

so back in the day before i knew anything i would pop the top 3 button bezel off and use a penny

[Video]

The Joystics will never give you a problem (unless you put a controller back together wrong) but any of the buttons can (and will) fail. I've had dozens of controllers and all have had various buttons fail. Of course, the fire and options seem to fail more (probably due to being used more)

[+jsmith73]

Over time, you may get drift in the pots used for the analog joystick. But that's mostly correctable by using the adjustment pot on the motherboard.

 

Depending on what's on your hands when you use them, you may also have the joystick boots crack over time.

 

But mostly, the problem was with the buttons. The carbon dot backing will wear down and/or the flex circuit will corrode. The first is fixable by applying tin foil to the back of the button, while the second is fixable with an eraser.

 

Flex circuits may also break, of course, which is a bit harder to fix.

 

The long term fix that I chose was to buy the Best Electronics gold controllers. Haven't had one fail on me yet.

 

I just rebuilt two of my controllers using the Best Electronics parts. They work like new. If you are even slightly mechanically inclined, I would highly recommend a rebuild with new flex-circuit, buttons, and keypads.

A new harness isn't a bad idea either.

 

The rebuild instructions on the website are very easy to follow. Good Luck.

[tz101]

I took my pots apart and lightly sanded the contacts and cleaned them with alcohol. Afterward, my man on Dig Dug moves up and down alright, but side to side motion is difficult to impossible. I am probably going to order new pots through Best.

 

Also, if the flex circuit contacts become oxidized/corroded over many years, simply use fine grit (1000 or better) sandpaper very lightly on the button contact areas of the circuit membrane. Then clean each of these button contact areas with alcohol. Finally, use a tiny dot of superglue to attach a punched out aluminum foil dot (single hole paper punch works great for this) to the back of each and every rubber button. Make certain the aluminum dots are attached to the metal plug, not the actual rubber. Allow the superglue to dry thoroughly for maybe a half hour (takes longer with super glue on metal surfaces), reassemble the controller, and enjoy the results.

[Bruce Tomlin]

I've seen almost every part fail, but the main problem is the buttons. Oxidation on the flex circuit seems to be the main problem. Back in the '90s when I was finding lots of 5200 stuff, the only controllers I found that didn't need repair had a V8 flex circuit with carbonized contacts.

 

The most effective way I found to fix them was to stick foil onto the rubber button pad dots. Back in the day I had to use double-sided tape, but they now sell foil tape at Wal-Mart. Use a hole punch to make circles, then just peel and stick them onto the dots. (The foil tape is also good for EPROM window covers.)

 

The other main problem I had was wire breakage. There are fifteen wires in there, and any one of them going bad is going to make something not work.