2600 Paddle Repair

[Nostalgic]

The right-player paddle in one of my sets of paddles just stopped working yesterday, right in the middle of a game of Demons to Diamonds.

 

It had started acting up a couple of days before. It felt as if the knob itself was coming loose and the player would stop moving briefly, but if I gently pushed the knob back down, the paddle would work again.

 

I did unscrew the paddle to look for something amiss, but I didn't notice anything. Then again, I wouldn't know what to look for.

 

Maybe it's just age - I've had this set of paddles for almost 20 years - but I'd like to revive them if possible. (Someday I do want a four-player game of Warlords! )

 

Does anyone have any suggestions? Please keep them in layman's terms, as my experience and skill with electronics is nil.

[Genki]

Also try some cleaning solvent inside the pot (do not use WD-40) as dirty pots are a common source of paddle failues(jittery movement, choppy movements, or no response at all)

 

If that doesn't work at all your pot may be failing.

[ubersaurus]

what happened with mine is that the white part that sticks up into the knob itself fell off, and when i tried putting it backon, it just fell into the controller. finally I opened it up, pushed that plastic part up, and held it for my knob to go back on. try that.

[Nostalgic]

I opened up the paddle again, moved some wires around, scraped off a bit of what looked like corrosion, and then tried to put it back together. I had some difficulty putting the paddle trigger back in the right spot. In the end, I got the paddle working again, and celebrated by scoring over 7000 points in game 1.

 

I'm not sure what I did right, but thanks for your suggestions!

[TunnelRunner]

While you have the paddle apart (to clean the pot with tuner cleaner) be sure the lock nut securing the pot is tight. I've never seen a CX30 pot fail, but it could also be the connectors in the cable end (I have a couple NOS spares).

[Comptech25]

I had a simmilar problem. The other day my paddle stopped working. After reading this thread I opened the paddle. This is a newer set. I got rid of the original set that stopped working (when I was much younger). This new set has the word Gemini stamped on the top above the wheel (if that is what it is called). Inside, there is the metal stick that fits into the wheel and sits on top of the circut board. On the under side of the board, there is a curved metal prong. Laying loose in a metal casing that holds this whole thing together is a piece of black plastic that has a curved metal piece attached to it. The plastic piece had broken in half. I've glued it back together, but do not know how this piece fits in the paddle Any ideas?

[paulvonscott]

Hi Guys. I'm an electronics idiot and know little about it but my brother fixed mine for me. Inside is something called a potentiometre (i think) and you could probably get one at your local electronics shop (maplin/radio shack). there are two typs aparantly, ones that go expenonetially and ones that don't. You want one that doesn't. I'm sure if you take that plastic stick thing from inside they'll know what you mean. We had to file the stick bit to the right shape but it works great. There is NOTHING really in those paddles. Just this potentiomtre thingy. Hope that helps, if it doesn't I'll ask my lickle brudder.

[Junie]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Atarion:

Hi Guys. I'm an electronics idiot and know little about it but my brother fixed mine for me. Inside is something called a potentiometre (i think) and you could probably get one at your local electronics shop (maplin/radio shack). there are two typs aparantly, ones that go expenonetially and ones that don't. You want one that doesn't. I'm sure if you take that plastic stick thing from inside they'll know what you mean. We had to file the stick bit to the right shape but it works great. There is NOTHING really in those paddles. Just this potentiomtre thingy. Hope that helps, if it doesn't I'll ask my lickle brudder.

---

 

Well the spelling is close for "potentiometre". To make it simple everyone just uses the word pots, saves on typo's.

 

I personally fixed my paddles by using other paddles. If a pot gives jerky movement I switch it from a set of paddles with a good pot but bad case. For example if a set of paddles has a broken knob but the pot is good, use it for a good controller with a bad pot.

 

Switching the pots requires unsoldereding the 2 wires and soldering 2 wires back. If you noticed the parts used in the paddles can vary, I have many with white stick pots and some with black--The wire colors also vary inbetween the two.

 

Make sure to test the controller once you re-wire to the pot, that way you solder it correctly the first time.

 

I have a total of 4 perfect sets of paddles and one for parts. I just picked up a set at a local thrift store for $2.00 and they appear to have very little use, almost like brand new. Perfect movement and the controller plastic is perfect, and the labels are bright and look new. Very good find

[paulvonscott]

Well it was better than my spelling of exponentially, I type faster than I can be accurate. After the first repair, I too found it easier to pick up a new set of paddles, it's worth having two sets anyway for games like Warlords, which I absolutely love. Also I get a certain amount of 'twitchiness' with paddles sometimes but it sometimes calms down after I've used them a bit. This twitchiness also occurs playing some paddle games and not others. Weird. When I was a kid I never had any paddles