Daytona Steering Pot Question

srarcade80

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First of all- i did use search before making this and did not find my answer. I know theres like a million daytona steering threads.

Got 2 questions on steering pots. Got a dual, player one is spot on, player two has funkiness. If you try to center the pot at 80, close as you can get is 7F. The next value exactly after 7F is C0 on the screen, but the driver board says 80 which is correct. If I rotate the wheel right, the driver board continues to count up correctly all the way to D2 at max. But on screen, it goes from center 7F (cant reach 80),C0,C1,C2..to..FF then jumps to B1 and then is in sync with the driver board again at B1. So it is impossible for the game to read 80 to AF which explains why the wheel goes nuts if you let go. Same thing happens when I turn it left, it jumps from 7F to 40. Is this a bad pot or WRONG pot? Any way i can tell by the housing of the pot?

When I am in game, i have the wheel turned almost 1/3 to the left when the driver board says 80 and the motor shuts off.

Second- there are two pots behind the wheel. I am adjusting the bottom one. It is changing values on both the motor drive board and the BD TEST screen. The top pot does not seem to do anything when i rotate it. I removed the gear and rotated the flange with no effect on screen or driver board. What should change when I move the top one? I'm going to assume its dead possibly? EDIT - Looked at manual, says top is Game Board, bottom is Drive Board.. but the bottom controls both... I wonder if someone hacked this thing up somehow.

Lastly- What does the VR knob do on the driver board?

Thanks!
 
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i only have an upright right now, but i remember the twin sitdown w/ force feedback has two pots and the one you think is unused or dead is most likely the force feedback centering pot. if this is out of alignment, the wheel & motor will fight you at the wrong time -- you could be driving straight, but the motor is trying to pull you to one side. also, it really sounds like the main pot has carbon dust inside it from a long life of use. just like a dirty volume control that gives you loud static from the speakers when you turn it, the steering pot is doing something similar. you'll want to change it out. my upright gave me erratic control and jumped around on the Input screen until I replaced it. you can get an original sega replacement pot online, but people will be looking to get $20 for it. you can also install a 5k pot from radio shack ($2), but you'll need to hacksaw the shaft down (takes 5 seconds) and it's missing the little tit that helps it install securely, but if you tighten the nut down good, it'll work fine. this is what i've done for most of my sega games and they run great.
 
Thanks for the tips. What you explained about the force feedback motor is spot on! Any tips to centering that top pot? There's no identifiable readings anywhere to know if its centered.

I was about to pull the pots and go to the electronics surplus store here and pick up some new ones and hack them like you said. And do the pedals while I'm at it.

Thanks
 
Ok- so i picked up some new 5k pots from radio shack as you suggested and trimmed the ends down. They fit good. However, my problem has not gone away! Although the pots seem to be a good improvement over before, my mismatching board and cpu pots are still there. The driver board says 80, the screen test "handle vol" reads C0.

I ended up putting it in game mode. Set the driver board to say 80. I then used the pot to center the car so it went straight as an arrow. I drew lines on both pots to know this is my center. This seems to have been the most effective way to tune it. I still would like to know why the handle vol value is incorrect. Maybe a bad interface board?
 
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The harness for the pots must have been hacked by somebody who doesn't understand how the game is set up, as that cannot happen. One pot is for feedback only as read from the drive board, and the other is for steering only, as read from Input Test -- it seems like you've figured this out.

There isn't much to rip apart. Pull the panel out from the front by removing the 4 security torx and 2 [usually missing] hex bolts, and just bend up the tabs on those small metal brackets rather than split the cabinet apart just to remove those 2 small screws that hold it on. You can still get access to the wiring from the back as well so you can at least inspect it.

IIRC, each pot goes through it's own 3-pin connector on the CP's harness so you can swap them to check things out.
 
Ok player 2 all back together. So here's the fix!! I'm gonna just put my entire issue formally for anyone in the future (including myself) who needs to fix it.

HOW TO CALIBRATE YOUR DAYTONA USA STEERING AND FORCE FEEDBACK:

PROBLEM: Force feedback is not in sync with the wheel direction. Wheel pulls left or right while you go straight OR you need to tilt the wheel to go straight.

REASON: There are 2 pots (variable resisters) that are directly controlled by the wheel. One is for the force feedback pull, the other is to point the direction of the car. These two need to be aligned correctly so they are in sync. If either one or both become misaligned, you get the results above. Another reason is the pot went bad and can't give a good reading or any reading at all.

PARTS:
Option one is Happ sells the direct replacements for all Sega pots for Daytona. They are 5k ohm and have a special length shaft. They are $22.99 ea.

Replacement 5k Pot Sega
220-5373 / 220-5374 / 220-5484

Your second option is to go to Radio Shack and go to their tiny parts area and buy a volume pot of the same size (5k ohm, bring your old pot to compare). These cost $3.19 ea. You can then use a hack saw to shorten the shaft to be Sega's length.

REPAIR STEPS: (Photos coming after i do player one later tonight!)

1) You need to disconnect your front panel with the wheel, VR buttons and shifter knobs. Its all one big unit that slides out like a big tray. There are only 6 bolts holding this in.

2) On the front of the game facing directly at you, on the left and right sides of the control panel, there are 2 security bolts on the top and bottom of the panel. These need to be removed with the proper security bit driver. You can get the security bit (a whole set) at Harbor Freight tools cheap if you have one by you.

3) Under the control panel directly in front of you are 2 bolts driving up into the bottom of the panel, these needs to be removed.

4) Once all 6 bolts are removed, the entire panel assembly will pull forward. NOTE: There are 6 connectors that you can disconnect to pull out the entire panel! You can easily undo these from the back. PULL THE PANEL OUT SLOWLY! You don't want to yank any of these connectors if you are leaving them in tact to test with. You'll also need to open up the compartment in front of the pedals to get access to the motor driver board.

5) On the back of the steering column there are 3 plastic gears aligned vertically. The middle gear directly connects to the steering wheel and does not get removed. The top gear is connected to the GAME CPU and CONTROLS THE CAR STEERING. The bottom gear is connected to the FORCE FEEDBACK MOTOR DRIVER BOARD and controls when the motors tug on the wheel.

TO CHANGE THE POT (VARIABLE RESISTER)
6a) ONLY IF YOU NEED TO REPLACE THE POTS: Using a phillips screwdriver, unscrew the 2 screws in each gear on the top and bottom. Remove the plastic gears. Keep screws with the gears, they are a special size.

6b) IF YOU DO NOT NEED TO REPLACE THE POTS: Using a phillips screwdriver, partially unscrew the 2 screws on the top and bottom gear. DO NOT REMOVE, leave them loose so you can rotate the flange behind the plastic gear left or right. There is a small amount of space on the plastic gear where the screw is to allow this. This is all you should need in order to tweak the game. GO TO STEP 12.

7) Each pot is mounted to a angle bracket. Unscrew both the top and bottom brackets by removing the 2 screws. Keep these together they are also a special size.

8) With the brackets loose, you can access the flange that is attached to the pot that the plastic gear screws to. Using a 1.5mm allen head wrench, there are 2 allen screws in the sides of the flange that secure it to the pot shaft. Once these are loose, you can pull the flange off the pot. It takes a little force.

9) With the flanges removed, you can now remove the pot by using a pair of pliers and unscrewing the nug around the front. There is a lock washer and another flat washer below the nut, don't loose these.

10) With the pot removed, you can unsolder the wires. TAKE NOTE WHERE THE WIRES GO. If you forgot to, you can always look at the other pot, they go in the same order. You don't have much room to cut and splice new wire here. Remove the old heat shrink and try to salvage as much length as you can on the wires.

11) Cut some new heat shrink and put around each wire before you forget. Solder on the new pot and put back on the heat shrink.

12) At this point you will want to TEST! With the game turned on and controller all connected, if you look at the motor driver board you will see a LED readout counter displaying a 2 digit hexadecimal value. This value should change when you rotate the motor pot. The zero value for this is 80. Rotate your pot until it says 80, this is home base. Draw a line with a marker so you can reference later if you like. In TEST mode, under DRIVE BD TEST, look at the HANDLE VOL. This *should* also read 80. If it does not, no worries, mine doesn't either, but completing these instructions the game works fine for me. Go back into game mode and start a game. Use the steering pot to confirm the car turns. If the car steers you're good, both your pots work. Turn the game back off now.

13) Reassemble the bracket to pot with flat washer, lock nut and then nut. Place on the flange but do not tighten yet.

14) Secure the brackets back on the unit but do not tighten. Grab the plastic gear and fit it around the flange but do not screw it on yet. Have your gear mesh (teeth meeting each other like locking fingers) meet up so the larger gear is in full contact of the teeth of the center small gear. Once your position is set, you can now tighten down the flange with your 1.5mm allen head.

15) With the flange tight, once again place on your plastic gear and now find your bracket vertical position so the gear mesh is tight. With the plastic gear in place, tighten down the pot bracket to the unit. Now take off the plastic gear.

16) With both pot brackets and flanges tightened back on the unit, turn the game on again. While the game is starting up, when you hear the motors engage in the self test, you need to rotate your motor pot (the bottom one) left and right by hand in order for it to pass the check or it will disable (LED on driver board will be flashing if this happens). After the test is over and the motors stop, if your LED is solid red, you are good. Rotate your motor pot back to home base at 80. Now put on your plastic gear and tighten down. Make sure when its completely tight, it still reads 80.

17a) If you test mode settings read 80h for the steering pot and 80 on the drive board, you are probably good to go. Try playing the game and if it works you're set to put everything back. Otherwise, go to 17b.

17b) If your steering pot was having trouble in test mode registering 80 or near it, you can do the following: Now go to TEST mode, change the game mode to ENDURANCE in game settings. Go to back to GAME MODE and start a game on the advanced track where there are some straights.

18) This next part is easiest with two people. Have one person hold the unit and push the gas pedal lightly but do not touch the steering wheel. The other person can rotate the steering pot until the car is driving perfectly straight. (Imagine testing your car's alignment by letting go of the wheel while driving to see if it goes left or right). Once you car is going straight AND you gear motor LED says 80, you are in sync!

19) Now is the time to tighten down the 2 screws on steering gear taking great care not to throw off the pots while doing so. You need to watch the car on the screen as it goes straight to know its still correct.

20) Play the game and test it all out. If you need to make changes, you don't have to pull the gear screws completely out at this point. You can loosen them and you do have some room to wiggle the gear left or right to fine tune your values. If you're happy, get some Loctite red thread locker and put a drop on each screw on the gears AND the pot brackets. This will make sure they won't loosen up or move later.

21) Reassemble the panel bolts and you're done! Enjoy your calibrated Daytona USA!
 
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I'm sure many people just figure this out on their own anyway, but just for future reference of anybody that might read this: srarcade80 is making this unnecessarily complicated.

Don't remove the 8 carriage bolts from inside the back of the cabinet -- It's much easier to leave that bracket in the cabinet. Remove the 4 security-torx bolts on the front L/R edges and the 2 bolts on the underside of the panel; there are only 6 bolts holding the panel in. The 2 on the underside are often missing anyway, and could be hex head or s-torx. The small metal brackets on the outside of the cab held in by 2 small s-torx screws have a tab that holds the top corners of the panel.. either remove them or bend the tabs up to pull the panel out.

Replace the pot(s) if necessary, then get it as close to 80 (80h) as the gear teeth will allow and tighten the pot bracket back down, from there you only loosen the 2 philips screws on the gear itself and just move the screws (and therefore the pot) until you fine-tune to exactly 80 (80h), then tighten the screws -- the gear will be meshed with the wheel and won't move. That's it. There is no need to remove the plastic gear from it's base nor is there a need to "align" the pots while playing the game. If they're both individually centered, they will be correctly aligned in gameplay. 7F or 81 is fine, but it's usually easy enough to get them dead-on 80.

You do this with the panel supported on your lap so the harness isn't stressed, the foot plate in front of the seat removed so you can see the drive board LED display for the feedback pot (lower), and the machine in input test for the steering pot (upper).
 
pat9000 thank you for your input. I have modified my post to remove the part with the 4 bolts on the side of the game.

If you don't have to replace the pots then you're right, you don't need to remove the gears. I'll modify for that as well.
 
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Ok player 2 all back together. So here's the fix!! I'm gonna just put my entire issue formally for anyone in the future (including myself) who needs to fix it.

HOW TO CALIBRATE YOUR DAYTONA USA STEERING AND FORCE FEEDBACK:

PROBLEM: Force feedback is not in sync with the wheel direction. Wheel pulls left or right while you go straight OR you need to tilt the wheel to go straight.

REASON: There are 2 pots (variable resisters) that are directly controlled by the wheel. One is for the force feedback pull, the other is to point the direction of the car. These two need to be aligned correctly so they are in sync. If either one or both become misaligned, you get the results above. Another reason is the pot went bad and can't give a good reading or any reading at all.

PARTS:
Option one is Happ sells the direct replacements for all Sega pots for Daytona. They are 5k ohm and have a special length shaft. They are $22.99 ea.

Replacement 5k Pot Sega
220-5373 / 220-5374 / 220-5484

Your second option is to go to Radio Shack and go to their tiny parts area and buy a volume pot of the same size (5k ohm, bring your old pot to compare). These cost $3.19 ea. You can then use a hack saw to shorten the shaft to be Sega's length.

REPAIR STEPS: (Photos coming after i do player one later tonight!)

1) You need to disconnect your front panel with the wheel, VR buttons and shifter knobs. Its all one big unit that slides out like a big tray. There are only 6 bolts holding this in.

2) On the front of the game facing directly at you, on the left and right sides of the control panel, there are 2 security bolts on the top and bottom of the panel. These need to be removed with the proper security bit driver. You can get the security bit (a whole set) at Harbor Freight tools cheap if you have one by you.

3) Under the control panel directly in front of you are 2 bolts driving up into the bottom of the panel, these needs to be removed.

4) Once all 6 bolts are removed, the entire panel assembly will pull forward. NOTE: There are 6 connectors that you can disconnect to pull out the entire panel! You can easily undo these from the back. PULL THE PANEL OUT SLOWLY! You don't want to yank any of these connectors if you are leaving them in tact to test with. You'll also need to open up the compartment in front of the pedals to get access to the motor driver board.

5) On the back of the steering column there are 3 plastic gears aligned vertically. The middle gear directly connects to the steering wheel and does not get removed. The top gear is connected to the GAME CPU and CONTROLS THE CAR STEERING. The bottom gear is connected to the FORCE FEEDBACK MOTOR DRIVER BOARD and controls when the motors tug on the wheel.

TO CHANGE THE POT (VARIABLE RESISTER)
6a) ONLY IF YOU NEED TO REPLACE THE POTS: Using a phillips screwdriver, unscrew the 2 screws in each gear on the top and bottom. Remove the plastic gears. Keep screws with the gears, they are a special size.

6b) IF YOU DO NOT NEED TO REPLACE THE POTS: Using a phillips screwdriver, partially unscrew the 2 screws on the top and bottom gear. DO NOT REMOVE, leave them loose so you can rotate the flange behind the plastic gear left or right. There is a small amount of space on the plastic gear where the screw is to allow this. This is all you should need in order to tweak the game. GO TO STEP 12.

7) Each pot is mounted to a angle bracket. Unscrew both the top and bottom brackets by removing the 2 screws. Keep these together they are also a special size.

8) With the brackets loose, you can access the flange that is attached to the pot that the plastic gear screws to. Using a 1.5mm allen head wrench, there are 2 allen screws in the sides of the flange that secure it to the pot shaft. Once these are loose, you can pull the flange off the pot. It takes a little force.

9) With the flanges removed, you can now remove the pot by using a pair of pliers and unscrewing the nug around the front. There is a lock washer and another flat washer below the nut, don't loose these.

10) With the pot removed, you can unsolder the wires. TAKE NOTE WHERE THE WIRES GO. If you forgot to, you can always look at the other pot, they go in the same order. You don't have much room to cut and splice new wire here. Remove the old heat shrink and try to salvage as much length as you can on the wires.

11) Cut some new heat shrink and put around each wire before you forget. Solder on the new pot and put back on the heat shrink.

12) At this point you will want to TEST! With the game turned on and controller all connected, if you look at the motor driver board you will see a LED readout counter displaying a 2 digit hexadecimal value. This value should change when you rotate the motor pot. The zero value for this is 80. Rotate your pot until it says 80, this is home base. Draw a line with a marker so you can reference later if you like. In TEST mode, under DRIVE BD TEST, look at the HANDLE VOL. This *should* also read 80. If it does not, no worries, mine doesn't either, but completing these instructions the game works fine for me. Go back into game mode and start a game. Use the steering pot to confirm the car turns. If the car steers you're good, both your pots work. Turn the game back off now.

13) Reassemble the bracket to pot with flat washer, lock nut and then nut. Place on the flange but do not tighten yet.

14) Secure the brackets back on the unit but do not tighten. Grab the plastic gear and fit it around the flange but do not screw it on yet. Have your gear mesh (teeth meeting each other like locking fingers) meet up so the larger gear is in full contact of the teeth of the center small gear. Once your position is set, you can now tighten down the flange with your 1.5mm allen head.

15) With the flange tight, once again place on your plastic gear and now find your bracket vertical position so the gear mesh is tight. With the plastic gear in place, tighten down the pot bracket to the unit. Now take off the plastic gear.

16) With both pot brackets and flanges tightened back on the unit, turn the game on again. While the game is starting up, when you hear the motors engage in the self test, you need to rotate your motor pot (the bottom one) left and right by hand in order for it to pass the check or it will disable (LED on driver board will be flashing if this happens). After the test is over and the motors stop, if your LED is solid red, you are good. Rotate your motor pot back to home base at 80. Now put on your plastic gear and tighten down. Make sure when its completely tight, it still reads 80.

17a) If you test mode settings read 80h for the steering pot and 80 on the drive board, you are probably good to go. Try playing the game and if it works you're set to put everything back. Otherwise, go to 17b.

17b) If your steering pot was having trouble in test mode registering 80 or near it, you can do the following: Now go to TEST mode, change the game mode to ENDURANCE in game settings. Go to back to GAME MODE and start a game on the advanced track where there are some straights.

18) This next part is easiest with two people. Have one person hold the unit and push the gas pedal lightly but do not touch the steering wheel. The other person can rotate the steering pot until the car is driving perfectly straight. (Imagine testing your car's alignment by letting go of the wheel while driving to see if it goes left or right). Once you car is going straight AND you gear motor LED says 80, you are in sync!

19) Now is the time to tighten down the 2 screws on steering gear taking great care not to throw off the pots while doing so. You need to watch the car on the screen as it goes straight to know its still correct.

20) Play the game and test it all out. If you need to make changes, you don't have to pull the gear screws completely out at this point. You can loosen them and you do have some room to wiggle the gear left or right to fine tune your values. If you're happy, get some Loctite red thread locker and put a drop on each screw on the gears AND the pot brackets. This will make sure they won't loosen up or move later.

21) Reassemble the panel bolts and you're done! Enjoy your calibrated Daytona USA!
The best tutorial 👏👏👏 congratulations!
 
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