Arcade joystick retrofits aren’t usually that interesting. This one sent in by [Jock] caught my eye for one reason – using those cheap RadioShack reed switch relays to adapt the joystick output to the 360 controllers Dpad. Personally, I think I would have thrown some opto-isolators at it – but the one’s that RS (sometimes) has are pretty crappy.
it’s nifty, but i just can’t believe this is actually usuable for more than 1 hour. c’mon, who wants to play with some WOODEN console..
the idea is nice, but it’s not easier/better/ligther/stronger than the original pad.
it’s certainly nicer and i have to admit that building a relay from a reed switch is a nice hack. it’s just not.. ergonomic..
Posted at 4:26 pm on Jul 7th, 2007 by matthijs
first off, unless im missing something, the relays are jsut your standard rat shack types, second off, he should’ve been able to tap the 360 buttons directly, as I can’t belive they’d be anything other than active high or low, in the worst case scinario, in which the joystick is polarized (ie, cannot be rigged to switch the ground), and the 360 buttons are active low, he’s still be able to do it with transistors, which would be cheaper, small, tougher, and would last longer.
Don’t get me wrong though, the setup as a whole looks really solid, (the only other thing I would add is some steel weights to keep it steady)
Posted at 9:42 pm on Jul 7th, 2007 by Wolf
my question is, since that was a regular xbox controller to begin with why couldnt he just cut the cable and splice in a usb male end. you wouldnt have the guide button but do you really need it?
Posted at 12:25 am on Jul 8th, 2007 by Blaine
i built a board from scratch with no relays and everything works fine. wired right up. looks like someone over thought the whole thing.
Posted at 8:30 am on Feb 28th, 2009 by duh
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Pretty nifty.
Posted at 2:44 pm on Jul 6th, 2007 by Frank