Saturn 2.4G Wireless controller kit

[Gunstar]

EDIT: RECEIVER IS NO LONGER PROVIDED WITH THE PCB KIT. SOME ISSUES FOUND WITH RANGE AND SYNC

I found this on yoycart whilst looking for something else recently: https://www.yoycart.com/Product/539345986855/




hugo19941994 from the Retro Game Boards mentioned it looked like it was using the wireless module mentioned in this NFG thread, the NRF24L01+ by Nordic Semiconductors.



The description mentions that you have to solder your own bumper buttons which doesn't seem like too much hassle. Current price is $ 54.30 shipped. Just wondering if anybody has one or has come across any impressions? Hopefully, the Retro-bit releases deliver but might be something to explore if those pads aren't up to scratch perhaps.


Edit: wrong credit, NFGgames thread

[Dochartaigh]

I would definitely be interested in these...but not until there's some substantial feedback from users on them –– $50+ is too much to waste if it's garbage and I'm not being a guinea pig!

[SNK-NEO-GEO]

Looking at the wireless board and battery that seems to be what the wireless panzer use which is great and the battery last a very long time..

[Gunstar]

@Dochartaigh - Yep, I'm still undecided if I want to gamble on this but I'm more inclined now that I've realised that Retro bit aren't putting out an original form factor Bluetooth pad and those pads are chunky (they could still feel nice to hold to be fair). There's a possibility that the 2.4g kit is perhaps a board being manufactured for someone else that is being sold 'under the table' and will be seen in some upcoming announcement? pure speculation on my part.

@SNK-NEO-GEO - thanks for the info! good to know about the quality of those two particular parts. I guess lag is the only real question left hmm

[hugo19941994]

I was really interested in these PCBs but decided to wait for the retro bit announcement before buying one. I'm sure the retro bit controllers will be nice, but I want the original form factor.

I would definitely be interested in these...but not until there's some substantial feedback from users on them –– $50+ is too much to waste if it's garbage and I'm not being a guinea pig!

Don't worry! I'll be the guinea pig. I just bought one of them with the EMS shipping so they should arrive in a couple of weeks. I'll report back and post my impressions.

[bigbadboaz]

Retro-bit products looking low-tier and disappointing.. unfortunately not surprised.

The 2.4 kit is promising but yes, way too much $$$. And at this point there is also the issue of the age of the rubber internals on any genuine Saturn pad you might still be able to find - the very reason for the interest in Retro-bit's offerings.

[Gunstar]

I was really interested in these PCBs but decided to wait for the retro bit announcement before buying one. I'm sure the retro bit controllers will be nice, but I want the original form factor.

I would definitely be interested in these...but not until there's some substantial feedback from users on them –– $50+ is too much to waste if it's garbage and I'm not being a guinea pig!

Don't worry! I'll be the guinea pig. I just bought on of them with the EMS shipping so they should arrive in a couple of weeks. I'll report back and post my impressions.

The hero we deserve! Thanks for taking a gamble on one of these.

[hugo19941994]

The kit arrived on monday but I didn't have time to assemble it until today. It honestly works great, just like Krikzz's Joyzz or the Wavebird. I was able to beat the arcade mode of Sega Rally with it. If a 240p test suite ever comes out for the Sega Saturn i'd test the input lag with it.

However, unlike the battery in the original photos, the one I got looks like it's a bit shorter. This means that it doesn't really fit neatly in between the top of the controller and the start button. It has too much room and if you shake the controller you can hear it move around.

On the emitter side there is an extra cable, but it doesn't do any harm to be honest. I guess if you have the translucent controller you might dislike it though.

There weren't any shoulder buttons, no surprises there. Both the controller and the receiver have a green led when they are on. Also one of the chips is scratched on top, not really sure why.

I'm happy with the purchase. It was what I expected. Nothing more, nothing less. As for the battery moving I guess you could put a tiny bit of glue to solve it, but then you are stuck with that shell so I'd rather not do it.

[Dochartaigh]

Thanks for the review! I might pick one up now. That extra wire is probably the antenna.

What do you mean by no shoulder buttons? Looks like it has the button for the original shoulder buttons to hit, right?

[Lostdotfish]

They scrub chips to make it harder to clone stuff. You can't copy a device if you don't know what it is....

[hugo19941994]

Thanks for the review! I might pick one up now. That extra wire is probably the antenna.

What do you mean by no shoulder buttons? Looks like it has the button for the original shoulder buttons to hit, right?

Nope the PCB didn't come with those shoulder buttons. You have to desolder them from another controller and solder them here. That's what I did anyway. Maybe someone sells replacement buttons.

[Gunstar]

Thanks for the pics and the impressions, it sounds really cool and I'm glad it's not a dud. In one of those links to a forum, it was mentioned the battery was 1200mah giving you 50hours of reported use, I believe that was for the v2.0 which it could be why the one you have is shorter. I read 30hours being the playtime in some post which I'm speculating is what you'd get from the v3.0. It should be possible to mod this with a 1200mah, right?
v2.0 pics:



If you can find the specific receivers the pad will work on PS3/MD/SFC too which is neat and requests to the creator are asking for PCusb, NGC and XB1 of which he said he was looking into (although that was back in 2016).

[Dochartaigh]

Nope the PCB didn't come with those shoulder buttons. You have to desolder them from another controller and solder them here. That's what I did anyway. Maybe someone sells replacement buttons.

Gotcha. That kinda stinks, but no problem for me to solder them. Did you have any problems getting the angle (of the part you soldered on) exactly right so the shoulder buttons worked like they should?

[hugo19941994]

Nope the PCB didn't come with those shoulder buttons. You have to desolder them from another controller and solder them here. That's what I did anyway. Maybe someone sells replacement buttons.

Gotcha. That kinda stinks, but no problem for me to solder them. Did you have any problems getting the angle (of the part you soldered on) exactly right so the shoulder buttons worked like they should?

Not really. They fit in pretty snugly. Desoldering was more of a pain though.

[bigbadboaz]

That's a pretty crazy omission from a retail kit.

I take it that Saturn controller, which looks to be well-worn, is holding up well after all this time?

[Dochartaigh]

Not a big deal, but that are the specs of the charger? I'm wondering if we can switch in a micro USB port like everything else charges with (actually on second thought, it's usually the board itself which shuts off charging when the battery is full - but who knows, it might be the charger itself so it might be safer to stick with their stock charger).

[Dochartaigh]

Ordered! We'll see how it is when it gets here in 15-45 days lol (I wasn't paying like $28 for the faster shipping!).

I'm torn between installing it in a USA/black controller or one of my gray/Japan style ones...probably black so it matches the console

[mario64]

Does this kit work with the larger US Saturn controllers or the smaller Japanese controllers?

[korpse413]

Anyone mind posting a picture of the Saturns receiver pins to the console? The shell that is being used looks a lot like a third party extension cord that I've bought in the past. The cable works, but its like cheap-o contact paper (think cardboard with foil pads)

Otherwise, looks sweet!!

[hugo19941994]

Not a big deal, but that are the specs of the charger? I'm wondering if we can switch in a micro USB port like everything else charges with (actually on second thought, it's usually the board itself which shuts off charging when the battery is full - but who knows, it might be the charger itself so it might be safer to stick with their stock charger).

I don't know if a micro USB would fit through the hole at the back of the controller without trimming a bit of plastic. These rounded DC connectors have a smaller footprint.

Does this kit work with the larger US Saturn controllers or the smaller Japanese controllers?

I don't think it would work with the larger controller version. If it serves as a reference I installed mine using a MK-80313 shell, from a PAL region.

Anyone mind posting a picture of the Saturns receiver pins to the console? The shell that is being used looks a lot like a third party extension cord that I've bought in the past. The cable works, but its like cheap-o contact paper (think cardboard with foil pads)

Otherwise, looks sweet!!

I couldn't find a way to easily remove the shroud which protects the contacts. However these photos might be helpful. I will say that the receiver doesn't fit as nicely as a stock controller plug, but I leave it plugged in 24/7, so it really doesn't bother me.

[korpse413]

Not a big deal, but that are the specs of the charger? I'm wondering if we can switch in a micro USB port like everything else charges with (actually on second thought, it's usually the board itself which shuts off charging when the battery is full - but who knows, it might be the charger itself so it might be safer to stick with their stock charger).

I don't know if a micro USB would fit through the hole at the back of the controller without trimming a bit of plastic. These rounded DC connectors have a smaller footprint.

Spoiler

Does this kit work with the larger US Saturn controllers or the smaller Japanese controllers?

I don't think it would work with the larger controller version. If it serves as a reference I installed mine using a MK-80313 shell, from a PAL region.

Anyone mind posting a picture of the Saturns receiver pins to the console? The shell that is being used looks a lot like a third party extension cord that I've bought in the past. The cable works, but its like cheap-o contact paper (think cardboard with foil pads)

Otherwise, looks sweet!!

I couldn't find a way to easily remove the shroud which protects the contacts. However these photos might be helpful. I will say that the receiver doesn't fit as nicely as a stock controller plug, but I leave it plugged in 24/7, so it really doesn't bother me.

Spoiler

Perfect photos, thank you!! As long as they are working that is all that matters! This will be going on my holiday wish list

[Dochartaigh]

Does anybody else carry this? Yoycart.com said 3 weeks just to ship it (guess they're out of stock), then another 1-2 months to get here...

[jay@equineform.com]

So I ordered this kit, and my experience has been different and frustrating. It takes about 2 months to arrive. It arrived and the ground wire to the battery was not soldered in, no big deal. Removing the old shoulder buttons and replacing no big deal but, for the price it should have come with buttons.

A tip: use double sided auto body trim tape to hold the battery secure. If it can hold trim on a car at 90mph it will hold the battery while you bounce it around. I use it in a lot of mods instead of hot glue. Holds things nice and secure, and comes out easily with a little leverage. Also, be sure to clean the pads from the old buttons before installing. Seems afterwards the response was much tighter.

But the real pain was the signal. No matter what channel I put it in; I couldn't get more than 4 feet away from the receiver before it lost signal. Changing channels isn't hard; but takes several cycles to figure out the process due to the google translations.

So, looking at the pictures in the post; mine didn't have the antenna wire. It had a stubby piece soldered to a trace in the board that wraps around the entire thing. So removing the stubby wire and adding a wire like in the pictures I went from 4 to 6ft.... But the sofa is 10 ft from the system.

What eventually worked; was taking the receiver and adding 4 or 5 inches of antenna wire to it just like the controller pic. I just fed the wire out the light hole, and stretched across the cabinet where the system sits.

Not really the experience I was looking for, as it took several hrs to figure out the root issue; and now has a funky wire hanging out the front of the receiver.

If anyone else orders a kit please post back what you find.

I myself will probably be ordering a Retro-Bit Bluetooth one when they come out early next year.

[milesmccloud]

Sorry to bump the old post, but I ordered two of these kits based on the review here and am having some issues with them.

For anyone else that may have these, how is the range?

The range on mine is terrible, with frequent disconnections even across the room to where I normally sit to play. The site's Chinese description says they have "Effective distance: 5-8 meters" but I'm barely getting 2.5 meters away before they intermittently lose signal. Also, they're really sensitive to physical objects passing between the controller and the receiver, like they're using older IR tech instead of 2.4G. I have other 2.4 controllers around (like Krikkz Joyzz and 8bitdo products) and they work great, so I don't think there is any interference causing the problem either.

I've tried changing to multiple channels using the method described on the site (running through google translate) but can't seem to get enough range to make them reliable even from my couch. I really hope there is something I'm missing because I really want these to work! The Saturn is my favorite system so I didn't mind plunking the cash down for these, but they're unusable the way they are right now. I would suspect I might have a defective kit, but I have two and they're both the same.

Also, the kits I received are slightly different than the one pictured here, mine are identical to the one pictured in the current yoycart listing. There's no extra wire on the back of mine, but I think that's just a ground?

EDIT: Just now seeing the post ahead of mine. I added the antenna wire like the earlier version had, as well as a receiver wire. Works from across the room perfectly now. Thanks so much for sharing your solution. Don't know what they were thinking changing the design up like that, but at least it works now.

[hugo19941994]

Huh. Well that definitely sucks. That wasn't my experience... What a bummer. I've actually replayed Sega Rally and some Street Fighter Zero 3 a couple of weeks ago without a problem.

However I must say that I was playing pretty close to the console. I tried playing today from 4 meters away or so, without direct line of sight, and the controller went haywire, having to re-sync it. As you said, adding a bit of wire in the receiver module makes all of the difference. I've managed to tuck it away inside the spare space in the receiver and it seems to work fine. But again, while playing closer, in my case it worked fine.

[mario64]

A word of warning to everyone. I ordered one kit, received and installed it no problem. Ordered a second one for another controller and then the problems began. First they tell me it will take a month to get in stock despite stating "in stock" on their web site. Ok no problem. I wait. Next thing I know they start messaging me with a picture of just the controller board (no receiver) asking if this is what I need. I responded no. I need everything pictured including the receiver. They come back asking me what the receiver is supposed to look like. I respond telling them to check the pictures on their own web site! They respond with a picture of what appears to be a Dreamcast Toro box asking if this is the receiver. At this point I am getting angry and fed up. Finally I told them to cancel the order because clearly they have no idea what they're selling and what should be included. I'm not sure what happened between my first purchase and now but I would be VERY leery ordering from these clowns..

[Gunstar]

Looks like they've removed the receiver now, price is a lot less too :/

[mario64]

Looks like they've removed the receiver now, price is a lot less too :/

That makes no sense at all. The kit is worthless without a receiver

[LDigital]

Steer clear. I ordered mine days after this thread was created and have been eagerly waiting since August for it
Here is my conversation with support, it’s a joke that they are sending these without even a receiver now

I am going to get a refund one way or another as this has been a total mess around

[Dochartaigh]

I got mine a week ago, just installed it, and they won't pair to each other (receiver LED blinks, and doesn't register any button presses). Here's the instructions from this page, can anybody explain this to me better (my notes are in bold)?

1. Close the handle (hold start + L and R Shoulder button until it turns off) and unplug the receiver.

2, press and hold the wireless handle START [Do not put] open the handle, after 3 seconds (during the green LED flashes)

The wireless handle green light is off! The red light is on! At this time, the handle has entered the FM setting mode.

Do not press any button at this time!

3. Plug in the receiver, the receiver will automatically enter the FM mode when it is powered on. At this time, the LED of the receiver will flash quickly! (mine flashes about once a second - don't know if that's "quickly" or not)

4. Set the receiver channel on the wireless controller, press any corresponding channel button until the receiver LED light Exit the fast strobe state, become a slow second flash state, and the receiver settings are completed. (I've tried pressing every button and nothing happens - the receiver LED never changes the speed which it blinks. The LED on the controller never changes from red either, fyi)

5, the handle presses the button with the same channel as the receiver + handle START button, the handle is set and exits the setting mode (I can press Start+whatever button I choose and the LED on the controller will change from red to green..but the receiver is still blinking)
Enter the work mode, the setup is complete.

6, all of the above settings will be automatically saved, no need to repeat settings.

PS: Receiver LED light, if it is a second flash state (about one second flash), it means not connected to the handle!

Just in case it was antennae problems like others have posted about, below is the stock config, and the second pic is the antennae I added (just in case - didn't help).