Marq's Homemade Metal Pad!

-Scorpion- · Trick Member Joined: 16 Feb 2005

No problem@help

No, you probably can't fix it. There was an error in a whole series of Controlboxes which caused them to fry after some time. It's possible to fix that error manually, but if one of your button circuits is already fryed it's too late. If you still have warranty on that Controlbox, you could try to get a new one for free

Scorpion

MinN_Limited · Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 11:41 pm Post subject:

Man...I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with this pad, it pains me to see this go down.

It is probably the control box, but not for certain; there is still a chance that it could be the cause of static. The problem might be that the ground wires themselves may be recieving static and it may not be able to remove the staic quick enough by itself through its common ground wire, and so protecting the control box is doing nothing because it is not even anywhere near where static is being produced and recieved...

My final suggestion would be to ground your pad via an external ground source rather than through the controller. This can be done by wiring your pad (and the controller's common ground) to the screw of a wall receptacle or the 3rd prong of an outlet. This will provide a faster way for static build up to escape.

Again, it still may just be your control box, however.

-Scorpion- · Trick Member Joined: 16 Feb 2005

@MinN_Limited
Note that it is his control box because of static! I connected 3 of my gamepads to earth(not ground!) from a wall outlet and it did not help whatsoever. You're probably right with the assumption that static is building up too quickly.

Many people never encounter these problems because their arrows on their homepads are made of wood. Wood is a strong isolator and therefore protects the button circuits from static buildups.

Scorpion

FoxFireX · Trick Member Joined: 07 Dec 2003

Just to throw another idea out there, when I built a homemade Pop'n controller, I had some random misfires of the buttons that I couldn't really figure out the source of. I thought it might be static, though, and tried to remedy it by adding in some 10 ohm resistors on each button's line. After putting those in, the ghost presses disappeared for me. I certainly can't guarantee it'll help, but it shouldn't hurt anything. Just helps to stabilize the signal ever so slightly.

Edible Bondage Tape · Trick Member Joined: 26 Jan 2002 Location: Kerri

Marq(uistadorous) · Trick Member Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Location: Arvada, CO

So if I figure out how to use my pad with my controll box from my old pad, do you think it'll work fine? Or do you still think it's static, cause I don't. I grounded everything and did all this stuff and it didn't help at all

All I know is that I NEED TO GET IT WORKING!!! I'M GOING INTO DDR AND ITG WITHDRAWL!!!!!!!

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TrueFlog · Trick Member Joined: 17 May 2004

-Scorpion- · Trick Member Joined: 16 Feb 2005

Yes it'll work and as I already mentioned, grounding a normal Gamepad did not help me either. Don't worry about debouncing, it's usually already handled by the Controlbox.
If you need help connecting your controlbox, here is the Pinout for the TX1K/2K:

02= X button
04= O button
11= Right
12= Left
13= Down
14= Up
15= Ground

Scorpion

Marq(uistadorous) · Trick Member Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Location: Arvada, CO

Great, but is there a pic of the pinpoints labeled? I don't know where each number is on my control box. And do I just solder the wires directley to the pins where the dance pad connects to the control box, or do I have to open up the control box

thanx
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-Scorpion- · Trick Member Joined: 16 Feb 2005

The easiest way is to get a 15 Pin female connector at Radioshack and then solder onto that. If you closely look at the connector, you can see that the pins are labeled from 1 to 15.
Otherwise, you could open your contro\lbox and solder onto the PCB directly. However, I can't tell you where the soldering points on it are located.

Marq(uistadorous) · Trick Member Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Location: Arvada, CO

FINALLY!!! MY PAD IS WORKING, AND WORKING GREAT. I ended up just soldering to the control thing from my old soft pad! I recommend doing it this way. It is MUCH more simple than using a metal pad control box or a controller. I'll start working on the bar tommorow, so i'll have new pics soon. And thanx to everyone who helped me

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Marq(uistadorous) · Trick Member Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Location: Arvada, CO

Now that Ive played more than 2 easy songs, I'm having some problems with it. 1st of all, the start button randomly activates, which screws up alot, and I dont even have a start button on my pad or anything! 2nd, when there are mildly fast steps in a song, I get many misses and way offs, so that needs to be fixed. CAN ANY ONE TELL ME WHAT THE PROBLEMS ARE?!?! thanx
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MinN_Limited · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:14 pm Post subject:

You must have the worst luck I have ever seen when it comes to this stuff, these aren't even common problems anymore. I'd go over your solder points and make sure they're all connected securely and only touch the parts they're supposed to so nothing is being shorted. Other than that, these problems just seem random and unexplainable to me.

-Scorpion- · Trick Member Joined: 16 Feb 2005

Well I'm not really sure, but to me that still sounds like static electricity.
I think there are two possible ways to explain this:

-you're using the wrong ground. if you solder onto the wrong point, (eg directly to the GND wire which comes from the PS2), you are bypassing the controller's protection against static electricity. Check where the softmat's ground connects to the PCB.

-your softmat or softmats in general do NOT have a protection against static electricity. I personally never tried to hook a softmat up to my homepad, but I heard they have static protection. I always used the TX Controlboxes.

I hope I could help you

Scorpion

Marq(uistadorous) · Trick Member Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Location: Arvada, CO

Scorpion, I was gonna use my tx control box, but those pin points you gave me were wrong. I was using the black tx1000 control box and I was soldering onto the little 15 pin male connector that I got from radio shack.
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-Scorpion- · Trick Member Joined: 16 Feb 2005

Define wrong plz.
Liksang provided a pinout about the 15 pin connector, you can look it up here:
http://image.lik-sang.com/content/metal-ddr/tx2000-wiring.jpg

However, it's not very organized and according to a mod from our forum www.vierpfeile.de it's not correct. He took his pad apart and labeled them this way:

1= LED cathode up
2= X Button
3= GND for X and O buttons
4= O button
5= GND up and right
6= Anode LED right and down
7= Kathode LED down
8= Kathode LED right
9= Anode LED up and right
10= Kathode LED left
11= right
12= left
13= down
14= up
15= GND left and down

So what exactly isn't working right? Note that there are different grounds for the arrows coming from the pad to the CB, but in a Xbox CB all the grounds in the CB are soldered together so it doesn't really matter. I supppose it's the same with a PS2 CB, but I'm not sure. You could check that with a multimeter.

Scorpion

PS: Oh I just remembered I did hook up my homepad to a PS2 before and everything worked fine, so the grounds have to be soldered together in a PS2 box, too!

Marq(uistadorous) · Trick Member Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Location: Arvada, CO

"wrong" as in my pad didn't even respond. So according to the list below, I need 3 different grounds that are all connected, and if I do it like the list below, it'll work?

-Scorpion- · Trick Member Joined: 16 Feb 2005

No, the different grounds are already soldered together inside of the controlbox. As I said, my paid was working on a PS2 with a TX1K/2K Controlbox with the pinout I gave you. Are you sure that your CB is in working condition? Does it work with the TX metalpad?

You said you bought a male connector, can you even connect it then? My Controlbox has a male plug, so I had to buy a female connector.
Check your soldering points again. When the Controlbox is in front if you, you should use the upper row for GND and Arrows, GND is the upper left pin 15. Use a piece if metal and shorten GND with the pin next to it, that should active the up arrow.

Marq(uistadorous) · Trick Member Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Location: Arvada, CO

Yeah, I THINK my control box is in working condition. I mean, it works with my tx1000, but sometimes you will have to wiggle the part where the control box and the pad are connected to make the x button work, but that's it. And yes, I did need a male connector (it has the pins that go into the holes. The one with the holes is the one built into my control box. Yeah, mabey I'll try it again. And if I remember correctly, the 15th pin (ground) was on the lower right side of my male connector...weird

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-Scorpion- · Trick Member Joined: 16 Feb 2005

Ok now that's weird, my controlbox has the plug with the holes in it. We seem to have different versions!? Could you take a picture of your CB?

You could try to find the needed pins with a multimeter and your TX. Just hold one side on the arrow sensor under the plexiglas and use the other one to find the corresponding pin.