joystick wiring for multi consoles

[Strider77]

I have a joystick I've made.

I used a PCB from a old universal joystick. It's chip will take the joystick and buttons switches then convert those leads via chip, out to either a snes, genesis, ps1/2 or saturn. it came with the proper cords ect to fit on the back of the joystick for each console.

My question is this. Right now the joystick and buttons are going to that one controller PCB. If I add a seperate set of leads from the buttons and joystick, that lead to a seperate port, will that work ok and not screw with the PCB?

I want to add another port on the back of the stick with direct leads to the joystick/buttons, no PCB involved on this set of leads. This will be used for my supergun/neo-geo... neither of these requires a controller chip. But when it's plugged into the supergun/neo.... that PCB that's in there now, will still be in the loop.

I would imagine it would just send the button and joystick commands to both the PCB and supergun/neo ports. The PCB will not be connected to a console when used for the supergun/neo, I'd imagine it wouldn't:

A: not damage the PCB when used on the supergun/neo
B: the PCB would not interfere with the signal being sent to the supergun/neo

in lamemans terms... i have a joystick with a controller PCB that also has another port with direct leads to the joystick/buttons.

BTW: the controller PCB uses a common ground for the buttons and then another for the joystick.

[stuntman]

BTW: the controller PCB uses a common ground for the buttons and then another for the joystick.

You could probably join the stick and button grounds together on a single wire and fit an on-off switch, isolating the controller PCB (just to be safe) when you want to use your Supergun etc.

Just an idea... I'm no expert, so if anything gets fried it's not my fault!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

BTW: the controller PCB uses a common ground for the buttons and then another for the joystick.

You could probably join the stick and button grounds together on a single wire and fit an on-off switch, isolating the controller PCB (just to be safe) when you want to use your Supergun etc.

Just an idea... I'm no expert, so if anything gets fried it's not my fault!

That's exactly the same type of set-up my Atari Jaguar Jamma Deluxe Joystick uses. It uses a dedicated Jaguar controller PCB for direct hookup to an Jaguar console along + an DB-15 Neo-Geo controller pinout setup for use with Neo-Geo MVS & Supergun setups via a toggle switch. Tech god, Matt Ross, did the custom Neo-Geo controller mod on it and it works as promised. The Jaguar controller PCB layout is more complex than it looks with the D-pad layout + 3-dedicated action buttons and 12-button keypad layouts as well. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[dpful]

yeah, I think the microchip would screw up the buttons. Worst case scenario would be to have all the wires switched. They make big switches, though. I used to have a joystick that sent to all the consoles with switches instead of a microchip.

[brokenhalo]

this is definitly do-able, but why not just wire the stick and buttons directly to a db-15 and then use project boxes for each pcb you want to use. this way you have a truly universal joystick.

[Strider77]

because I want it to look tidy. and that pcb is incredibly useful as it. it works with genesis, snes, saturn, ps1/2, and 3DO right now all out of one plug in the back. I have a saturn/psx controller converter for DC so that's cover also.

it also has programmable auto fire for each button.

it'd be a waste to not use that board just for direct leads.

[mojo]

You really need a switch, but what sort of switch depends on the controllers. You might be able to just have a switch for the ground line (assuming common ground), or you might need one for all lines - the only way to know is to try it.

If you need to switch all lines, you could use either a mechanical rotary switch (of the type used for parallel printer port switch boxes - 25 ways or more are possible) or use an electronic one (harder, but not rocket science).

I am working on this myself. With a microcontroller, I can have USB, PSX, Sega Saturn and Dreamcast all working at once. At the moment I rely on a controller PCB for the DC interface, but it is in theory possible to use a uproc for that too.

[brokenhalo]

because I want it to look tidy. and that pcb is incredibly useful as it. it works with genesis, snes, saturn, ps1/2, and 3DO right now all out of one plug in the back. I have a saturn/psx controller converter for DC so that's cover also.

it also has programmable auto fire for each button.

it'd be a waste to not use that board just for direct leads.

sorry, didn't realize that you had the turbos that you wanted to keep. in that case you just wire up so that the buttons and sticks go to each pcb (or in your case, port), and then wire the vcc lines together and the ground lines together. there is a great picture over on the srk forums to show how this works, but i can't remember if you need to register to see tech talk or not.

anyway, the pic is in post #7 of this thread
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=146124