Thread: Joystick mods
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Unread 18-03-2008, 09:40
SteveJanesch SteveJanesch is offline
hopes he has enough oomph
FRC #1533 (Triple Strange)
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Re: Joystick mods

I've personally seen Luke's modified KOP joysticks and can tell you they're pretty sweet.

1533 has gutted USB joysticks and/or Xbox controllers for each of the last three years with good success. The trick we finally learned is to not worry about re-using an existing cable with a 15-pin end - they have infinitesimally small wires - but to use a male 15-pin connector and just solder the wires from it to the pots/switches you need on the joystick. It winds up being a pretty large bundle of wires, but the upside is that you can do your own color coding and dictate which controls on the 'stick you need and which you don't. The thing you have to pay attention to is the maximum resistance value of the pots themselves - if it's less than 100 kOhm, the minimum voltage won't get down to 0 at the end of the pot travel and you'll have to scale it in software. Finally, you'll need some sort of strain relief - zip ties or hot melt glue or some such thing - to keep the wires from getting pulled out of the joystick.

Good luck,
Steve