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ddrenthusiast007
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Joined: 05 Jun 2005
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0.  Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 4:56 pm Post subject: How do the METAL and HOMEMADE pad circuitry work? |
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| Me and a friend are considering making our own pad and we were just wondering how the circuitry for metal/homemade pads work. |
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Promit
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Joined: 09 May 2004
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| 1. Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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| It's pretty well described in the various guides. Was there anything specific you had questions about? |
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Synaesthesia
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Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Location: Crushing all deceivers, smashing non-believers |
| 2. Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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| I wrote: | First thing to understand is how your regular PS2 controller works. On the circuit board, there are gold contact points underneath each button. In most cases, these contacts look like 2 semicircles placed close to each other (or, if you want to think this way, a full circle with a dividing line down the center). When you press the button down, on the bottom of the button, there is a piece of material which conducts electricity. Remember, current is already trying to flow through the circuit board itself. When you push the button down, the conductive button bridges the gap between the 2 contact points, and the circuit is completed. Once completed, the electricity is able to register with the processor, so on so forth (that's all you need to know about the controller).
(I'm going with the design I used) The basic idea of the DDR button is that you are "taking the button outside the controller," so to speak. When you solder a wire from each half of the contact**, hot and common, and then to the respective metal contacts, you are allowing current to pass through the contacts and the wires. When you step down, those 2 contacts come into contact with each other. The circuit is complete, and the current is able to flow to the processor, and all that good stuff. The foam core/weatherstripping between the 2 contacts allows the contacts to separate as soon as you step off the arrow. I hope that gives you a good understanding, and I (as will many others) will be happy to give you further explanation.
**Some designs say you only need all 4 wires connected together on one point on the common (incorrectly called "ground" in many explanations, but, as far as most care, it's ground.) It's true you don't have to do 8 solder points, but if you're not sure about circuitry, just stick with 8 instead of 5. Also, "hot" refers to the contact into which current is flowing; completing the circuit allows current from the hot to reach the common, and the rest of the processing stuff happens.
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That should give you a good start on the basic premise of many pads, though there are other designs.
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ddrenthusiast007
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Joined: 05 Jun 2005
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| 3. Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 9:39 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks for all the info, but im not too into the soldering etc... or messing w/ a ps controller and stuff. I was wondering if i were to use one of my old plastic pads circuitry and mold it in a metal pad how would that work? And if so does it seem to run alright? |
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Synaesthesia
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Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Location: Crushing all deceivers, smashing non-believers |
| 4. Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 10:02 am Post subject: |
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Um, I don't know for sure, but it should probably work fine, as long as you get all the wiring out intact (I assume softpads work the same way as the home-metal pad, just with aluminum foil or something). You'd still have to do some soldering onto the sheet metal contacts (the ends of the wiring), but that's not accurate/technical work, so it shouldn't give you a problem.
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XenomorphHunter
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Joined: 09 May 2004
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| 5. Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 2:25 am Post subject: |
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I'll just throw in my two cents here. I was tinkering with my Cobalt Flux and finally figured out how it worked (I'm slow and don't know anything about electricity). The Cobalt Flux itself is an extremely simple design that you might want to consider.
Basically, the base is a piece of wood. On top of that is the contact metal. The contact metal is one giant piece of sheet metal that extends underneath every single panel. In the center of the panel is the ground wire, which supplies the metal with electricity. Every panel is a square of sheet metal with a wire attatched. The sheet metal is suspended milimeters away from the bottom contact using velcro.
The ground wire supplies electricity to the bottom contact, the top contact place has a wire connected to it. The top contact connects with the bottom contact, the circuit is complete.
I hope that made some sense... I'm really an idiot, but I try. |
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Synaesthesia
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Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Location: Crushing all deceivers, smashing non-believers |
| 6. Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 7:02 am Post subject: |
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Just for your own information, XenomorphHunter, the ground doesn't supply the electricity. Current comes in through the hot, or rather, the wires attached to the top panels. Of course, if you think about it, it doesn't really matter for this pad design. As long as you have contacts either hot or common, and remain consistent with it, you're fine.
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