New Neogeo Wireless Joystick Controller

mikew

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wireless-proto-1.JPG

I got the transmitter boards in and made up a couple units for testing. The transmitter board can also be used as a receiver board assuming you have it wired internally like in the case of directly wiring it to a Jamma connector. It also can be used as a wireless usb joystick receiver for use on a PC. A similar board with a female DB15 is currently being made in a fab and I should have that in about a week or so. Testing has been good so far and I've been testing various ways of configuring the devices. I have a PC client which can set things like RF channel, RX or TX mode of the unit, and button configuration. This all gets stored in EEPROM so you only need to do that once. I also can set most of the same parameters with jumpers and it's likely i may just go that route for simplicity.

I'm still waiting on a lot of parts to test lithium ion/polymer batteries in the transmitter. This will require a new TX PCB if this gets incorporated in the final design. It requires a big redesign so it could be some time for this to be completed.
 

kuze

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Looks great! Thanks for the status update.
 

massimiliano

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Holy S%^T!!! Just discovered this thread, that's amazing! (especially the effort to remove delay)

Please count me on for 2 in case!
 

Yodd

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Looking good my man! :cool:


How much smaller do you think you can get the boards down to?
 

mikew

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Looking good my man! :cool:


How much smaller do you think you can get the boards down to?

Im not sure how small I can make this if I want to keep the screw terminals accessible. Since each board has the option of both screw terminals and a DB15, space is consumed regardless if the connectors are installed. If I move the modules closer together and make a aboard with just a DB15 and no terminals or just screw terminals and no DB15 there could be some space savings but then the boards becomes a lot less flexible. What size would be ideal for your application?
 

xsq

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wow, the proto already looks stunning!
 

mikew

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wow, the proto already looks stunning!

Thanks xsq. Just last night I designed a much smaller low power transmit board I hope to have made shortly. It's 5cm x 5cm and is designed to use Lithium Polymer batteries. I had to leave out the screw terminals and just used the DB15 connector for my testing. If that proves to work OK I'll design another board with just screw terminals or perhaps just pads to directly connect button wires. As it stands now that could be done by soldering directly to the DB15 pads but I welcome any suggestions.

Mike
 

Yodd

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Can the receiver be powered by just 5v?

I am thinking shrinking it down small enough to be a little dongle that plugs into the controller ports of your AES or consolized MVS/supergun. I realize the stock deeper DB15 ports on the AES/MVS boards would probably require some custom DB15 connectors on the receiver. But I really think that would be the way to go.

A second version with out the DB15 connector and just solder points for internal applications would be fantastic too. Wireless controllers for superguns? ohhhh hell yes!!
 

mikew

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Can the receiver be powered by just 5v?

Yes, the receiver can either be powered from the 5v pin on the DB15 connector or you can feed 5v regulated to one screw terminal which is on the same power rail as the db15 +5v. Lastly there's a terminal for unregulated power up to 12v.
 

jesesfbi

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Hey mike quick question, are those controllers like adruino type ones? Idk how to word it too tired hahahaha.
 

mikew

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Hey mike quick question, are those controllers like adruino type ones? Idk how to word it too tired hahahaha.

The onboard controllers on the prototypes are Atmel chips with hardware USB 2.0 full-speed support. These specific controllers are only being used for beta testing and will not make it to the final design as USB is not needed. I may release a usb version of the joystick using these chips but it seems jamma to usb joystick adapters are a dime a dozen. That said, it works quite well and has the advantage allowing you to use a neo/supergun joystick wireless to a PC.
 

purple

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i was waiting someone to figure out this, i've seen a version made for snes and other consoles. here is the youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlnmfaILCHw. thats very good man, thanks alot. this will be my next project for my supergun, so count me in. When is it going to be available?
 
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mikew

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When is it going to be available?
I'm waiting on more test boards from the PCB fab, they usually take 2 weeks and will require at least 2-3 weeks of testing. I'm figuring 5-6 weeks assuming no PCB changes are required.
 
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Jasen Hicks

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This + PFS + JCC SuperGun = Fantastic. I'd love to beta test one inside one of my cases to see how the range is when embedded in a metal enclosure. I quickly see this as a legit option in my SuperGun builds.
 

c0nn0r

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Totally awesome. Count me in for 2. Can't wait to get this. I'll be following your work with excitement!
 

duo_r

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shutupandtakemymoney_zps3bbbd52e.jpeg
 

mikew

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crap I'm late for this one, I want a couple also tho!

No problem. Just an update for the group, I have two PCB designs waiting to be shipped backed to me which were delayed by the Chinese New Years celebration. I more or less submitted both designs the moment they went on a week long break but they've since resumed production and both will be rush delivered to me once completed. Luckily the original design I had made worked and the 2 other designs are just streamlined versions of the same with one being a smaller form factor and using a lower powered chip. In the meantime I've been testing the original design which has the receivers accessible via screw terminals only so they attach directly to the Jamma connector. The firmware works well and I was testing power consumption on the transmitters using 4 AA's rechargeables. It's good for about 2 days of nonstop use. I left them on and just let it ping back and forth until the batteries died so you'll want to turn of the transmitter between use to preserve battery life. The receivers are powered form the neo so no special care needs to be taken there.
 
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