Finding where to solder on PCBs

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Trump111
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Finding where to solder on PCBs

Post by Trump111 »

Hi everyone,

I'm making two sets of mod kits for the Dreamcast Twin Stick and one involves a cheapo Gamestop pad (which was not that cheap) and my question is what way is there for me to find the right spots to solder my wires onto?
The official pads have been mapped to death, but these cheap pads are not documented anywhere.

For the D-pad it was simple enough as that area was pretty clean and easy to follow by eye, but the other stuff is messier...
I can post pics if needed, though I don't really know how.

Thanks for any help!
Testament/Seven7
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Re: Finding where to solder on PCBs

Post by Testament/Seven7 »

on the back of the controller, outter casing, there should be a Madcatz model number, search that instead...
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MentholMoose
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Re: Finding where to solder on PCBs

Post by MentholMoose »

Yeah, a lot (most? all?) of those Gamestop pads are rebadged MadCatz controllers. Check the slagcoin.com Joystick Controller - PCB and Wiring page to see if one of the MadCatz controllers pictured matches yours.

In any case, for the face buttons (ABXY, start, back, and guide) and d-pad on those MadCatz controllers, you can just solder to the points where the buttons/directions were (assuming you don't want to maintain the original controller functionality). This is how I did it, and my modding threads in this forum have pics to get you started. If you do want to retain the original functionality, then your best bet would be a basic multimeter.

For the bumper buttons, there should be two connections for the button, and by looking you should be able to tell which one is ground (i.e. it's connected to ground everywhere else) and which one is the signal (i.e. it's not ground). The same goes for the "click" buttons, although they will have four connections instead of just two (so there will probably be two connections to the signal and two to ground). For the analog trigger buttons, it will vary by the control pad, and I can't help you if someone hasn't modded it already and posted the info.
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Trump111
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Re: Finding where to solder on PCBs

Post by Trump111 »

Thanks guys,

But looks like I need more help now.
I found this:
http://www.joystickvault.com/data/507/m ... dfront.jpg
and this:
http://www.joystickvault.com/data/507/m ... edrear.jpg

By using a piece of wire, I've confirmed that the pad does indeed seem to have five or so sets of grounds.
Connecting START-ground to X-signal gives nutty feedback like A + X + Rght Click.
Does this mean it's impossible to mod this with MentholMoose's method?
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MentholMoose
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Re: Finding where to solder on PCBs

Post by MentholMoose »

Trump111 wrote:Connecting START-ground to X-signal gives nutty feedback like A + X + Rght Click.
Does this mean it's impossible to mod this with MentholMoose's method?
Wow, that's surprising. In that case I would recommend finding another controller to mod since using the one you have now will be much harder than my mod.
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Trump111
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Re: Finding where to solder on PCBs

Post by Trump111 »

Thanks a lot for the quick reply!

I'll go down to Walmart and get a Microsoft one.
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MentholMoose
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Re: Finding where to solder on PCBs

Post by MentholMoose »

Trump111 wrote:Thanks a lot for the quick reply!

I'll go down to Walmart and get a Microsoft one.
No problem! Let us know how it goes, and good luck!
MentholMoose
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