Paddle Jitter - no way to completely fix?

[funkwad]

Hey all -

 

Is it possible to fully eliminate minor paddle jitter for games like Breakout / SuperBreakout?

 

Been trying to knock this one out through various means, and have had some good conversations with a few folks on the Facebook page as well Best Electronics/

 

I'm trying to remedy what I would say is very minor jitter on a self-modded Vader unit with RGB.

 

Here's an example of it with regular "Breakout":

 

I started off with paddles that came with a Flashback unit, and then bought the "Lifetime Pots" from Best Electronics - only to find that the pots I bought would not fit the Flashback paddles (slight variation on those paddles)

 

So I bought new-old-stock paddles, and immediately replaced them with the "Lifetime Pots". This didn't address the issue.

 

So basically, with two sets of pots, one that have been modded with "lifetime pots" and another that came new with a flashback system - I get a slight amount of Jitter.

 

Talking with Best Electronics and another individual on the Facebook page, there was suggestion to see if this may be hardware issue (I/O controller etc). But since i'm able to test two system and two sets of paddles, this seems to be maybe something that cannot be fixed. And may actually be inherent to the design of the hardware / software. As for the Lifetime pots, l was advised 'not to perform any type of cleaning as this would void the warranty".

 

I've tried other games too (Super Breakout, Kaboom!), Kaboom seems to be stable, until you click the button for the bombs to start dropping.

 

I'm guessing this has been discussed to length somewhere before, but thought someone may know offhand?

 

Any info appreciated.

 

Thanks

Edited March 8, 2017 by funkwad

[rjchamp3]

Call brad they should be able to fix it

 

you can try wd40 as well

Edited March 9, 2017 by rjchamp3

[Jeremy Popp]

Any info appreciated.

 

Thanks

I haven't gone to such great lengths as you, but I have refurbished quite a few 2600 paddles. Funny you bring this up, because I tested some paddles on breakout recently and have the same issues as you do. They appear to have minor jitter occasionally, and so I figured maybe I didn't clean them very well. But upon testing other paddle games like demons to diamonds and warlords, they work perfect. Maybe there is something specific about Breakout, I have multiple consoles and paddles, as well as an rgb unit so I can do more testing if you're curious.

[R.Cade]

That is normal.

[+save2600]

Always figured the paddle in Breakout just liked to do the boogity-shoop once in a while in certain positions. Probably just an early programming thang. Wonder how many people throughout the years felt they needed new paddles because of it? lol Kind of like all those unsuspecting TI users that *still* don't know about the Alpha-lock key.

[funkwad]

oh wow - this is normal? Ok ...thanks everyone..much appreciated

[AtariBrian]

I notice it in Kaboom also but not that bad . But as long as when you move the paddles and it is smooth then they are working properly .

[Atarian7]

Kaboom! has a TINY bit of jitter on the sides that is part of the game and not the paddles.

 

And I think it only happens when the game is slow in the first few rounds. At top speed I never notice any jitteriness.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Atarian7