5200 Joystick fix on the cheap !

[8bitbasslines]

Thank this guy for posting this on youtube

because it really does work

and I kinda feel like 4 jays charged me 40 bucks to "rebuild" my controllers

when in actuality they probably just went at the contacts with an eraser

 

How can I tell if they really put in rev 9 circuit boards?

 

I did this quick fix on my second 5200 that I put in my old room aka studio annex

and I noticed that one controller erased had gold contacts

the other had silver

they both work fully now after the erasing but I will say the one with the silver contacts

works better which seemed odd to me because I thought gold contacts would be better

 

Anyway

I was playing Pole Position and some other carts last night with these newly fixed controllers

and plan to fix the other joysticks I have and if I find out 4 jays meerly erased my contacts

they will be hearing from me

 

 

Anyway

everyone who does not want to pay to have your controllers rebuilt

or do the rev9 ting this has been working for me

I will let you know if there are any problems

Anyone know of any with this method?

[shadow460]

Yeah, I have it along with foil dots. It worked great until the old flex circuits cracked and peeled up. That's the reason for the rev 9 flex circuits.

[8bitbasslines]

Yeah, I have it along with foil dots. It worked great until the old flex circuits cracked and peeled up. That's the reason for the rev 9 flex circuits.

 

ok that makes sense

because they did seem kinda flimsey

but I bet they last for a long time

until I have to replace them

 

But how do I know that 4jays put rev9 in my rebuilt controllers?

what do I look for ?

[Charlie_]

Yeah, I have it along with foil dots. It worked great until the old flex circuits cracked and peeled up. That's the reason for the rev 9 flex circuits.

 

ok that makes sense

because they did seem kinda flimsey

but I bet they last for a long time

until I have to replace them

 

But how do I know that 4jays put rev9 in my rebuilt controllers?

what do I look for ?

 

Should say REV9 on the flex circuit.

 

http://chazbeenhad.tripod.com/5200joy/

[bohoki]

Yeah, I have it along with foil dots. It worked great until the old flex circuits cracked and peeled up. That's the reason for the rev 9 flex circuits.

 

ok that makes sense

because they did seem kinda flimsey

but I bet they last for a long time

until I have to replace them

 

But how do I know that 4jays put rev9 in my rebuilt controllers?

what do I look for ?

 

 

down by the keypad there should be a little "rev 9" written on it

 

Edited March 1, 2010 by bohoki

[8bitbasslines]

Ok turns out 4 jays did give me REV9

one controller works great

the other

the joystick is all off

I tried opening it up to make sure those little calibration things were at there correct positions

but it did not make a difference

the black wire does seem to be in the way of the joystick making the full rotation

but I think that placement is normal

 

Anyway

I do not mind the 5200 joysticks that much

once there working

I do not regret sending the joysticks I did to 4jays

but the eraser trick seems to work just as good

 

I do have the joystick ad on's that allow me to use the big button classic joysticks

in conjunction with the 5200 joystick start buttons

 

Still have yet to try the wico ones

[jetset]

Good info for those who don't know about it already. I did the tin foil fix long ago and they've worked great ever since.

 

Truth be known though, it's NOT at all easy putting the controllers back together. Prepare to be a little pissed off and frustrated at first. Takes practice but well worth the results.

[8bitbasslines]

Good info for those who don't know about it already. I did the tin foil fix long ago and they've worked great ever since.

 

Truth be known though, it's NOT at all easy putting the controllers back together. Prepare to be a little pissed off and frustrated at first. Takes practice but well worth the results.

 

Much easier than a colecovision controller in my opinion

 

speaking of which anyone have any quick fixes for those?

[Prodos8]

The tin foil fix along with a rev. 9 flex circuit have been good for me since 2006. If you take them apart a few times you'll get good at it, I can take mine down easily now, in case I need to clean or replace some foil. On my first one I actually used hole-punched pieces of a coke can 'cause I didn't have any foil, I super glued it to the keypad/fire buttons. I steel wooled the flattened out can before punching it out. They still are working good.

[atariksi]

Good info for those who don't know about it already. I did the tin foil fix long ago and they've worked great ever since.

 

Truth be known though, it's NOT at all easy putting the controllers back together. Prepare to be a little pissed off and frustrated at first. Takes practice but well worth the results.

 

Much easier than a colecovision controller in my opinion

 

speaking of which anyone have any quick fixes for those?

 

Yeah, colecovision controller sucks but a quick fix would be to use A2600 controller as long as keypad isn't required for the game or make sort of a switch between the DB9 connector for the two. Better yet, buy a 2600/5200/7800 and get rid of the colecovision.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

 

Better yet, buy a 2600/5200/7800 and get rid of the colecovision.

 

BLASPHEMY! Some of us love Colecovision!

[Divya16]

 

Better yet, buy a 2600/5200/7800 and get rid of the colecovision.

 

BLASPHEMY! Some of us love Colecovision!

 

Smurfs Rescue seems to be done differently on Colecovision (and easier) but mostly games are better on Atari systems.

[coyo5050]

I have about 8 5200 controllers either not working or partially working so I figured I would try this method. The second one I opened that didnt function at all had a Rev 9 circuit board. So this was a standard part from Atari?