Modifying joysticks allowed?

[Vin]

Having issues getting the PSoC board running, and need to add a button to our control station... Is there any rule prohibiting us from hard-wiring an external switch directly into the joystick? (ie: the switch would be wired directly across one of the switches in the joystick and the driver station would just see it as if the joystick button was pressed.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Nope. There are teams that have completely disassembled joysticks to customize them as an HID input device. If you want more than one button, knob, etc. you might try the Custom Control Interface from E-Stop Robotics.

[F22Rapture]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

Nope. There are teams that have completely disassembled joysticks to customize them as an HID input device. If you want more than one button, knob, etc. you might try the Custom Control Interface from E-Stop Robotics.

What's the difference between the CCI and the FirstTouch board (besides how they interface with the DS)? I'm assuming you can use all of the same switches with it?

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by F22Rapture

What's the difference between the CCI and the FirstTouch board (besides how they interface with the DS)? I'm assuming you can use all of the same switches with it?

CCI is an input only device. You can use outputs on the PSoC FirstTouch board. They're otherwise similar in the input devices you can attach to them. The other difference is that the CCI is spoofing a joystick, so you can have up to 4 of them attached to your DS. The FirstTouch is its own thing with its own drivers and its own interface to the DS, so you only get the one. I've also heard of driver and compatibility difficulties with the FirstTouch. Haven't heard of any with the CCI.

[apalrd]

We've used the U-HID, it's similar to the CCI and does not require drivers.

Highly recommended.

Before that, we used the inards of a joystick and it worked well also, but it was a lot more work.

We also previously used the FirstTouch thing and it was awful. Highly not recommended. Too many driver stability and install issues.

[kenavt]

Originally Posted by apalrd

We've used the U-HID, it's similar to the CCI and does not require drivers.

Highly recommended.

Before that, we used the inards of a joystick and it worked well also, but it was a lot more work.

We also previously used the FirstTouch thing and it was awful. Highly not recommended. Too many driver stability and install issues.

We used the U-HID last year and it worked alright, although it was a little fragile we found. (EDIT: I should note that we just plugged into the header pins and didn't solder).This afternoon, to complement the U-HID, we soldered to a Teensy 2.0 with a little bit of code written in the Arduino environment. Working well so far!

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

Nope. There are teams that have completely disassembled joysticks to customize them as an HID input device. If you want more than one button, knob, etc. you might try the Custom Control Interface from E-Stop Robotics.

Thanks. I saw that and another I/O board, but that's yet another thing to figure out (after issues with CAN and this PSoC board). The modified-joystick option seems so in our control to make workable. We also don't have the budget for another board.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Vin

Thanks. I saw that and another I/O board, but that's yet another thing to figure out (after issues with CAN and this PSoC board). The modified-joystick option seems so in our control to make workable. We also don't have the budget for another board.

CCI really isn't anything to figure out. It'll work the same as your modified joystick solution. It is something additional to wire up that you don't have in hand, so carefully modifying a joystick is probably the quickest option.

[F22Rapture]

Where do you guys source the buttons, switches, and analog inputs?

[Vin]

Originally Posted by F22Rapture

Where do you guys source the buttons, switches, and analog inputs?

I happen to have a bunch of stuff at my office, or was planning to pick these up from Digikey, but I happened to stop by a local surplus electronics store and found most of what I needed. You should look at surplus online stores such as mpja.com , bgmicro.com , etc.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by F22Rapture

Where do you guys source the buttons, switches, and analog inputs?

I usually have a bunch of this stuff at my office, or order from Digikey, but in this case I found some nice switches etc at a local surplus electronics store near me. You should find what you need at online surplus places such mpja.com, bgmicro.com, allelectronics.com .

[Vin]

Hmmm... I replied to this twice yesterday, and neither showed up. This is a test.

[F22Rapture]

Originally Posted by Vin

Hmmm... I replied to this twice yesterday, and neither showed up. This is a test.

It showed up.

So... where does everyone get the buttons, switches, and analog inputs for the custom control panels (including the CCI). We're seriously looking at doing one now.

[vhcook]

Originally Posted by F22Rapture

Where do you guys source the buttons, switches, and analog inputs?

When we did this we got all our switches from Radio shack or an auto parts store (the one down the block from my office has a surprising selection of switches).

Electronics supply, digikey, and most of the usual suspects for electrical parts are good choices.

[ToddF]

We used switches and buttons from:
https://www.estoprobotics.com/estore...ewCat&catId=18
https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/145