Hello LFS People !

So, I've built an H shifter, with a clutch, about 3 months ago. It was working nicely until about a month ago, when nothing would happen when I was going through the gears. Nothing was detected. I did some tests, the part that failed was the PCB I used from a Playstation2 wheel. So... I decided I would change that PCB. So, Somebody gave me a Logitech wingman wireless gamepad . But there is a problem... The PCB on that is a nightmare. There is nothing identified, it's tiny to weld on, and... I don't know which side is the ground.

Can anyboy help me ? here are 2 pictures of the PCB, front and back.


Oh, if you wanna see the shifter, here's an album containing the progress

Quote :

I don't know which side is the ground

You could have a problem in that, there is a trick to multiply inputs so you can get (for instance) 64 buttons using 16 pins (8x8), there is a schematic of it on this page.

You can use what you have but unless you can trace back to a common ground it would be safer to use 2 wires for each switch back to either side of the contacts, file the tip of the soldering iron to a point and its not to bad once you've done 1 or 2 (tip, no coffee )

The mjoy project in the link would be good to look into if your into making up your own hardware (nice job btw, like the magnets for the detent) as it gives you loads of options for the future but its kind of tricky to set up and might not work on a different PC as its a crude method of talking to the USB system. It's also kind of obsolete now, this would be a better option as it has USB built in. I'm coding the same chip atm, if you want to go that way I can send you the code to run it, no charge as it's more or less ready to run with the usb framework I'm using (LUFA).

EDIT if you do want to go that way check what microchip PIC USB boards are available too, I never got on with them but they are another popular hackers chip and you may find them easier to get on with than AVR's if you ever need to modify code.

I see, you got a common ground for all your micro switches. Best you could do is measure all 13 fork like contact patches with a multimeter. Than just solder your signal wire to the signal side of the fork.

Thanks for the replies guys ! But finally... I've managed by myself to make it work again. And now my clutch, instead of being a button, is on an axe ! I'm super happy, I might make a post of my full simulator, what do you guys think ?