5200 controller fire button dots

[RangerG]

I have some free time finally and for awhile I have been wondering about adding the extra dots to my 5200 controller fire buttons. The rebuilt controllers have three dots (is this correct?). Does this make any difference or would I be wasting my time adding them? The next question is would anyone be willing to sell me any (hello Mr. Retrogamer because I can't place an order with Best Electronics for just fire buttons. I would need enough to redo three controllers (two regular and a paddle) and I could Paypal anyone. Thanks!

[MrRetroGamer]

Check your PM, Randy!

[IceCold]

This thread is *kind of* relavent to what I was going to ask. MrRetroGamer, what causes the fire buttons not to work? Is it the fire button, or the thing going to the firebutton?(flex circuit ). My fire buttons barely work on my paddle, and I'd like to change that if I could . Just tell me which parts I need, and I can paypal you the money

[RangerG]

Thanks for the speedy reply (I sent you a pm). ! I will order with Best Electronics. By the way, do you think it is worth it to get the fire-buttons?

[Video]

The three dot fire buttons work a lot better than the one dot buttons. For one, it doesn't matter where you push the button, it's more likely to make contact, where the old ones needed to be pushed hard in the middle.

[MrRetroGamer]

This thread is *kind of* relavent to what I was going to ask.  MrRetroGamer, what causes the fire buttons not to work?  Is it the fire button, or the thing going to the firebutton?(flex circuit    

 

I'd say it is a combination of both. You can get by sometimes with a cleaning of the flex circuit, but that is usually only a temporary fix. It also helps if you have the Rev 9 circuit and not an earlier revision. The conductive ability of the carbon dots deteriorates over time and with repeated useage, and in combination with the dirty, hazed over flex circuit contacts it's just a recipe for failure! The triple dot fire buttons give a bit more contact area for each button press, but I find if I replace the buttons and NOT the circuit, or the circuit and NOT the buttons, you still have a high failure rate - so I always replace the circuit and the fire buttons, AND the Start pad too, just to be sure! The numeric keypad seems to wear out slower, probably due to much less overall useage, so those parts, with a good washing are usually OK to reuse.

 

Some people have had luck with putting little round pieces of foil onto the buttons to "repair" the loss of conductivity. If you use a hole puncher on a piece of aluminum foil, you can make nice circles and then glue them onto your old dots. This is certainly the budget option, but it probably works OK if the dots stay put!

[joeybastard]

I cleaned and then did the tinfoil trick to my 5200 controllers. It worked really well. It will have to do anyway until I can scrape up some dough for new flex circuits and buttons.

[IceCold]

This thread is *kind of* relavent to what I was going to ask.  MrRetroGamer, what causes the fire buttons not to work?  Is it the fire button, or the thing going to the firebutton?(flex circuit    

 

I'd say it is a combination of both. You can get by sometimes with a cleaning of the flex circuit, but that is usually only a temporary fix. It also helps if you have the Rev 9 circuit and not an earlier revision. The conductive ability of the carbon dots deteriorates over time and with repeated useage, and in combination with the dirty, hazed over flex circuit contacts it's just a recipe for failure! The triple dot fire buttons give a bit more contact area for each button press, but I find if I replace the buttons and NOT the circuit, or the circuit and NOT the buttons, you still have a high failure rate - so I always replace the circuit and the fire buttons, AND the Start pad too, just to be sure! The numeric keypad seems to wear out slower, probably due to much less overall useage, so those parts, with a good washing are usually OK to reuse.

 

Some people have had luck with putting little round pieces of foil onto the buttons to "repair" the loss of conductivity. If you use a hole puncher on a piece of aluminum foil, you can make nice circles and then glue them onto your old dots. This is certainly the budget option, but it probably works OK if the dots stay put!

About how much does it cost to replace the fire buttons and get a new flex circuit?

[joserb]

About how much does it cost to replace the fire buttons and get a new flex circuit?

 

How much do you have

 

The last time I ordered parts, the six dot fire buttons were $2.50 each and the Rev 9 flex circuits were $2.75.

 

I've rebuilt about a dozen CX52's so far with new fire buttons, flex circuits and start-pause-reset buttons, and it makes a huge difference. You can actually use them, they're reliable, and the amount of cussing during 5200 game play decreases dramatically.

 

I have a few rebuilt CX52's sitting around that I'd be willing to sell for $$$ or trade for games I don't have, if anyone is interested.

[Charlie_]

I have always used a standard paper hole punch on tin foil to make small dots. Then I super glue them to the carbon dots on the buttons. Works great. I don't know if that will work on the carbon trace flex circuit boards though. As soon as I see one of those I rip it out any way and replace it with a good metal trace flex card.

 

Good working buttons makes 5200 Joust that much better :-)

 

Charlie