Sinistar opto joystick repair

chas010

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Hey guys is the joystick repaiable similar to the tempest spinner? can I just buy new opto sensors? does anyone have or no where to get these?
Thanks Jason
 
Yeah, but I don't think bad optos are all that common... usually the logic chips go... you can test the optos pretty easily so do that before swapping 'em.
 
Take a q-tip to them with a little windex on it. I thought I had a bad opto, it turned out to be dust + cobweb.

ken
 
I tried Q tips but no luck, the controller only recognizes left and right it wont do anything up and down. Are the logic chips seperate for side to side and up and down?
 
Thanks for the suggestion Dokert, I tried it and the fire button on the right side actually worked better but still no up and down.
 
There is only one IC chip on the joystic board, but it controls both up & down as well as left to right. It is a 4011B CMOS Quad 2 input NAND gate. Shouldn't be too hard to find one and swap it in for the one on the joystick.

If you bring up the switch test and ground pins 1,2 or 3 on the I/O connector you should see up & down registering. If you ground pins 4, 9 & 15 you should see left & right registering. If you see L&R but not U&D then it may be the I/O board and not the joystick.

ken
 
I would bet that your widget is causing your problem and not your stick. Ken has given you the answer to tell which one is at fault.
 
Really strange what I have found so far, with the switch test screen up the right to left motion shows three prompts R/L a, R/L e and R/L c. These prompts drop off as you move the joystick through its R/L range until only the R/L a is left onscreen. Well when you move the stick through the up down the U/D e prompt never leaves the screen. So I guess im saying its mid point is always stuck on unless I unplug the I/O board nothing appears onscreen. :confused:
 
Try a jumper wire from ground to the pins on the I/O card. You should see some change if you try that. That will tell you if you are looking at repairing the joystick or the I/O board.

ken
 
Hey Ken, when I jumper individual pins I get one prompt on the screen at a time so I think the when opti is stuck registering closed somehow?:confused:
 
Hey Ken, when I jumper individual pins I get one prompt on the screen at a time so I think the when opti is stuck registering closed somehow?:confused:

Just to make things easier, take the stick apart and test w/ the opto board only, so you don't have to worry about what 'state' each opto's in... with the board apart, all will be open, so all the 'switches' should show up as open.

Check the voltages on either side of R1-3 to make sure the LEDs in the optos aren't blown. You should be getting 5V on one side and ~3V on the other.

Then check the voltage on either side of R7-9. You should get 5V on one side and ~0V on the other if the opto's working. If you block the opto, one side will get pulled up to a higher voltage (prob ~1-2V)

then check the voltage on the cathodes of D1-3... with the optos open, they should all be getting pulled high by the resistor pack, but will get pulled low if you block the opto.
 
Ill check those voltages tomorrow thanks! I just reread the manual and it looks like when I call up the switch test screen there shouldnt be any switch prompts on at all? Ill read it again but mine has six prompts onscreen without touching anything unless i unplug the cp then the screen is clear.
 
It's been a while, but as I recall there are some switches on when the joystick is centered.

But if I read your response correctly, when you have no pins grounded, you get no prompts and when you ground each individual pin you see one prompt at a time? IF that is true, then the problem is with the joystick, not the I/O board. That may not sound significant but it just eliminated a pile of troubleshooting.

Now it is just down to 1 logic chip or 3 optos. Occam's Razor comes into play and would seem to indicate it is less likely that all three optos went south simultaneously. So unless the voltages referenced in HA's posting are off, I'd break out the desoldering gun and swap that chip out (socketing it in the process in case it goes south again).

ken
 
Now it is just down to 1 logic chip or 3 optos. Occam's Razor comes into play and would seem to indicate it is less likely that all three optos went south simultaneously. So unless the voltages referenced in HA's posting are off, I'd break out the desoldering gun and swap that chip out (socketing it in the process in case it goes south again).

At least look at the schematics before making ridiculous and erroneous comments like this.

The 4011 is just wired up as an S-R latch to generate the direction bit, and (unless it's shorting out its inputs) won't affect the opto outputs that it's connected to....

...and it's not connected to Opto #2 at all...
 
Ok tons of diagnostic metering tonight, im going to try and sort through this data. R1-R3 5.02V ONE SIDE 1.16V OTHER, R7-R9 5.02V ONE SIDE (R7 .19V) (R8 .66V) (R9 .21V) OTHER. Opto 2 and 5 do not register anything when blocked, opto 1, 3, 4, 6 all work as they should when blocked. D1 AND D3 4.93 when open .2 closed and D2 is stuck at .82 no matter what. I followed that wire back to the joystick board and it was .82 all the way. As soon as you unplug the control panel connector from the joystick board that pin has 4.94 but when connected it loads down to .82 :(.
 
Use the diode test feature on your meter and check you diodes. You may need to unsolder them to get a correct reading. It sounds like D2 is bad to me.

Those appear to be the right opto's, but I think you can get them cheaper at www.marcospecialties.com IIRC.
 
Hey it works! Thanks guys, I tested all the diodes switched the 1 and 2 opto with one another to try and move the problem and bam then they both worked! so Itried it with the 5 and 6 opto and then they both didnt work :(. I looked close at the origional no 5 opto and it has a different part no on it. I put the no 6 back in his spot and left the 5 spot empty and the game plays great but I couldnt change the letters for my high score at the end.
 
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