Thread: Need Help Wiring Joystick

it is not much complicated then buttons at all. ive done it with the same controller... the xbox controller uses a USB interface. all you need to have it working as a joystick is get the joystick drivers for it, they are called xbcd

then if u want to use just one thumbstick u need to extend it away from the controller board by removing it from the board and connect it back with wires, as far as i remember its 6 or 8 wires...

then you need another software thats called joy2key which is used to map joystick actions to keyboard shortcuts... then just map it to whatever keys or shortcuts you want to use it for, make sure that the software you are using will recognize these shortcuts and perform the needed operation.

the way i put it to use ... its mounted on the dashboard to the left of the monitor, and operates : up-down=vol up-down, left-right=previous-next track, push=mute/unmute...

yeah i have xbcd (used that before 360 even came out for emulators). joytokey is awesome software but doesnt work in making one joystick direction into different things, but i downloaded something god of cpu (i think thats his name) created that works.

I didnt realize there were wires under the joystick though, never even thought of that as a possibility. thanks.

There are 3 pins on each potentiometer for each axis. Center is the A/D input, outer 2 are ground and 5V. There was a long thread on hooking it up by god of cpu a few years ago. I used to use a joystick with my TA but found it to be a lot more trouble and noisy than a real A/D converter like FusionBrain.

^ i saw the thread but i think its different for usb? idk im new to electrical things, and i dont see why we need a diode for constant power when the controller is read with no buttons/joysticks pressed. resistor makes sense i guess.

also, how was it loud? its just wires. unless something was activating the rumble in the controller lol.

Originally Posted by Flaring_Afro

^ i saw the thread but i think its different for usb? idk im new to electrical things, and i dont see why we need a diode for constant power when the controller is read with no buttons/joysticks pressed. resistor makes sense i guess.

also, how was it loud? its just wires. unless something was activating the rumble in the controller lol.

noisy in an electrical sense.

Instead of getting say 3.3v out of a button, you would get something like: 3.3, 3.4, 3.35, 3.1, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.2, 3.5, 3.4

That jumping around is called noise...

personally i havent experienced any problems with the xbox joystick ... it works great, does what its suppose to do... heres my setup... you can see the joystick mounted on the left of the monitor...
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...undra-sr5.html

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

noisy in an electrical sense.

Instead of getting say 3.3v out of a button, you would get something like: 3.3, 3.4, 3.35, 3.1, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.2, 3.5, 3.4

That jumping around is called noise...

Oh ok. I've heard of "noise" as in an electrical interference that changes the signal in a wire, just not like that where software cant read it right. God of CPU's software does have a tolerance changer so I'll see how it goes. I dont have the money to do anything else lol

since the controller is USB i dont so how it would have any change in output voltage...
its already regulated through the USB port...
the only think is you might want to set the key bindings to where the joystick reaches the end of each axis...this way you wouldnt have a situation as for example when you move it to the left with a slight decline it wouldnt read the Y axis unless you move it ALL the way down...

also depending on the way you position it, make sure to calibrate it, as if its vertical it would always have a slight decline in the Y axis, while if its mounted horizontally it might be slightly off the 0 point on either of the axis