31336haxx0r Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 One could control an LED with the 10K pot and have that LED in turn illuminate a light dependent resistor with the correct specs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kensu Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Dammit, I was hoping there would be a way to make a completely new 5200 controller from off-the-shelf components. But once again, the analog stick screws us over.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bohoki Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 i made a few controllers with off the shelf components unfortunatly i couldnt beat the comfort of a pc gameport stick conversion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kensu Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 One could control an LED with the 10K pot and have that LED in turn illuminate a light dependent resistor with the correct specs. That sounds like the way that the N64 Analog stick worked. It was bizaree how complex Nintendo made that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
31336haxx0r Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 BA-DUM! I have an idea!! The 10K pot controls the pulse width of an oscillator that in turn turns the LED on and off. Either dark, or full brightness, nothing in between. This light shines on the LDR which has a capacitor in parallel to it to smooth out the PWM signal. You'd want a small capacitor to still be able to achieve fast transients of movement. TAU [the greek letter] =R*C, R is 1M Ohm at max so you go from there and calculate the minimum frequency of the oscillator to achieve a full swing of the movement extremes in a given time. Let's assume you move the stick left-right-left-right-.... 10 times a second. You nee approximately 5 TAU to fully charge or discharge the capacitor. 5*TAU=1/10 = 0.1 seconds -> TAU=0.02 seconds. C=TAU/R = 0.02µF= 20 nF. According to Nyquist's theorem, we need to sample at least twice the amount of the frequency we want to measure, so T=0.02/2=0.01 sec. With the frequency f=1/T we get 100 Hz for the oscillator's frequency. Now here comes the electrically easy part You could just have the LED shine through a piece of plastic with varying opacity fixed to the stick. As the stick gets moved around, so does the plastic piece, resulting in different amounts of light on the LDR. Such a piece of plastic can be made by printing a dithering on it. That thing needs NO CLEANING EVER but is probably not that easy to build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bohoki Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 wow you guys are really thinking of a complex way of doing it all that electronics you might as well use a radio control and servos to rotate a 500 k pot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kensu Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Yep, it's what I thought: From wikipedia: The N64 Analog stick does not use analog potentiometers, rather using light emitting diodes and photo detectors controlled by sensor wheels. The sensor wheels are plastic hubs which produce a shutter effect allowing for an accurate direct digital read. The sensor wheels give direct correlation to the stick position, as opposed to potentiometers, which can change resistance values over time. So I suppose you could rip the assembly out and change the sensors if need be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
31336haxx0r Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Nope, those N64 sticks appear to work like an optical computer mouse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I found a somewhat recent blog post where someone built a nice 5200 compatible arcade style controller and details how it was done. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800 Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 That's pretty cool. So it is possible to run a digital joystick to it... The part where you need to use the pots in conjunction with it is confusing though. I wish I had more electronics skill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bohoki Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 you dont need much electronics skill you just have to be patient and not let a much of wires freak you out cause it is a rats nest of wires if you ever want to tackle the job i check in here a couple times a week if you need to know what goes were Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800 Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 The only issue I would have is figuring out how to wire the digital joystick to the pots. I would probably need to refer to a 5200 pinout diagram or something. The buttons are pretty straight forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bohoki Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 (edited) to me wiring the joystick to the pots was easy the matrix array was hard cause if you put one wire in wrong it will confuse the heck out of you here is how you do it you have the 3 legs of a pot (i like canabalizing 2600 paddles) also you can end up using the paddle for kaboom microswitch joystick is easy cause you can take advantage of the nc, no, common terminals for up and left you want to use the common and the no terminals for down and right you want to use the common and nc terminals assuming you have 2 wires coming out each of your u,d,l,r switches you take one left and one right direction wire and wire both to pot middle and put one on one side and one on the other repeat for the uppy downy then from your 5200 wire you will be using pins 9,10,11 take pin nine and make it 2 wires you know y off it then you will have your direction wires (ud) and (lr) wire but those wires on the outer legs of the pot this is why it looks like a freaky wiring nightmare cause you got like 12 wires all tangled around in there for the directions it can be neater if you use the wire that is a fused pair like an extension cord or earbuds or some twisted pairs from a network wire easy peasy if you can find some type of matrix keypad it looks a bit better than an array of pushbuttons Edited June 15, 2013 by bohoki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800 Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Cool man! I am copying and pasting that info onto a sticky note... Because I am definitely going to make a 5200 arcade stick at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bohoki Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 oh yea may be obvious but then the joystick is upside down the down switch is the up and the top the botton same withe the L&R since the joystick is a lever with the fulcrum in the middle i did that once and had to unsolder everything if you solder to push on blade connectors you can unplug them easier and it also is less of a chance you will damage the switch with soldering iron heat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800 Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 (edited) I was just going over your instructions, and I'm a little confused with... "assuming you have 2 wires coming out each of your u,d,l,r switches you take one left and one right direction wire and wire both to pot middle and put one on one side and one on the other repeat for the uppy downy" "then from your 5200 wire you will be using pins 9,10,11 take pin nine and make it 2 wires you know y off it then you will have your direction wires (ud) and (lr) wire but those wires on the outer legs of the pot" I not sure what you mean by this. Could you explain this again differently? Not trying to be a smartass, but If you break it down for me into separate steps, It should help. I'm trying to convert your info into a diagram. So far this is what I have... Edited June 16, 2013 by 7800 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bohoki Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 (edited) it may be best to walkthrough this in pms since i don't want to clutter up the group your mistake is that the pots are an x pot and a y pot one for uppy downy one for lefty righty its hard to make a physical diagram because it gets cluttered with jumps its better to have a schematic and know how to extrapolate from it but here it goes since they are switches it doesnt matter what orientation each pair is Edited June 16, 2013 by bohoki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800 Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 oh wow... I was way off. Looks like just one pot is being used then... Yeah, PM's would be better. If you don't mind I'll hit you up when the time comes for me to build this. Thanks dude! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 oh wow... I was way off. Looks like just one pot is being used then... Yeah, PM's would be better. If you don't mind I'll hit you up when the time comes for me to build this. Thanks dude! I actually think it is helpful to see the Q&A on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low_budget Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 If you want to use a Atari 2600, Sega Master System, or Sega Genesis controller with the 5200, use this simple circuit: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/192363-masterplay-clone/page__st__25 It can also be used as a paddle controller. I don't know the best way to get a modern analog controller to work though. That is rather complicated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800 Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I was weighing out the pros and cons of the 5200 stick... and I would probably be happy with just better fire buttons. I'm waiting for 2 new Rev 9 flexies, so when I take it apart I'm going to lube up the pots and sliders while I'm in there. I think the stick will be better once lubed... Not much room for any side button modifications though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIKE5200 Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I was weighing out the pros and cons of the 5200 stick... and I would probably be happy with just better fire buttons. I'm waiting for 2 new Rev 9 flexies, so when I take it apart I'm going to lube up the pots and sliders while I'm in there. I think the stick will be better once lubed... Not much room for any side button modifications though. You probably be more happy if you get the gold reflex and gold buttons. I like it and yes it alittle more $ but it safe you in the long run Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800 Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 I probably will down the road, I'm going to use the hole punched aluminum tape thing and see how that holds up for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JrPac Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 http://www.multigame...ontrol5200.html Allan Clay Cowgill is still around and hugely into the arcade business. I'm sure he can still be contacted about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slampam Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 I wonder how those micro switches were stuck on the controller. (1st pic) http://retrogamegirl.com/2013/03/26/atari-5200-custom-controller-build/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.