Building a NES Controller

chanticlair281 · Post by **chanticlair281** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:28 pm

I have a NES controller but I can not cut the board and reuse it due to space. I have what I call waffer board, (Like PC board but no metal), the IC, and tact switches. Is there anything else I would need. I traced which wire would go to which leg of the IC but it appears to be different than images I have found. I was trying to use a diagram in ben's book that I found but it did not appear to be complete (second ribbon cable was missing from diagram 7-19...F, G, H, and I.) Can I just wire tact switches directly to the IC wire some power to it and find someway to output this to my NOAC? Does anyone have a good link that they have used (or knows it works) for the IC pinouts? Thank you in advance for all of your help.

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:17 pm

Gamesx.com has a ton of great info. Read this first to get the basics of how a controller works:

http://www.gamesx.com/misctech/controltech.htm

And after read this for all the info you'll need about NES/SNES controllers:

http://www.gamesx.com/controldata/nessnes.htm

Hope this helps!

-iam7805

chanticlair281 · Post by **chanticlair281** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:42 am

the second link looks like it would be what I need however it is for two ics together. Does ne one have a link to a pinout for just one?

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:33 pm

Okay, I drew you up a pinout of the IC. Don't forget to line your notch up correctly, and note that the 5th pin down on the right and the 2nd pin down on the left are skipped. Hope this helps, and good luck!

CTFan

G-force · Post by **G-force** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:17 am

That diagram won't work without the 22K (or something, I forget the exact value) resistors, one for each button line. I know this, because I tried wiring a controller up exactly like that, and it didn't work of course. It took reading one of ben's posts to find out that those little black things on the board that look like black crap, are actually cheapie resistors. Take a look at ben's NES micro page for more info on pull-down resistors.

chanticlair281 · Post by **chanticlair281** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:20 pm

You are correct, wiring it strait like this will not work. I got it all wired up and plugged it in and nothing happened. I still really appreciate the diagram. I was looking for this but could not find it. I will try and find the page that has the resistor info.

Update:

I did find out about the pull-up resistors. It looks like each tact button needs a resistor between it and the IC. Any size between 5 and 20. Going back and looking at the book it does show 48k ohm resistors. I hope I did not fry my IC.

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:22 pm

Yeah, I was just trying to point 'ya in the right direction as far as how the chip maps. Seeing as you have Ben's book, I thought the resistor part would be easy. Thanks for covering my mistake, guys, and good luck!

CTFan

chanticlair281 · Post by **chanticlair281** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:01 pm

Do you think that I could use any size resistor as stated in the micro thread or do I really need the 47K ohm resistor that was in the book?

Post by **marshallh** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:11 pm

Pull-up resistors are just to limit current while maintaining a logic "1". So, anything from 10K-47K usually works without a problem.

chanticlair281 · Post by **chanticlair281** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:14 pm

I guess I must have fried the IC when I got to anxious and plugged the controller in without the resistors. I do not have anymore NES controllers that I can tear appart. Any one know where I can find these things on the Cheap?

nitro2k01 · Post by **nitro2k01** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 1:08 pm

chanticlair281 wrote:I guess I must have fried the IC when I got to anxious and plugged the controller in without the resistors. I do not have anymore NES controllers that I can tear appart. Any one know where I can find these things on the Cheap?

No, you haven't fried the chip because of that. The only problem about you'll encounter without the resistors is that the button a wobble when it's not pressed. (Randomly go between on and off)
However, I see an error with ctf's schematic. I've been wrong before about things, but to me the pinout of the 4021 i mirrored, all the pins on the left should be on the right side and vice versa. Also, personally I'd put a small DC filtering capacitor between V+ (White in the scehmatic) and Gnd. Type: Electrolytic, 0.47 uF, at rated for 5V or higher. The -- side of it goes to Gnd and the other to "white".
Hope that helps a bit.

TheOnlyOneHeFears · Post by **TheOnlyOneHeFears** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 1:25 pm

nitro2k01 wrote:
chanticlair281 wrote:I guess I must have fried the IC when I got to anxious and plugged the controller in without the resistors. I do not have anymore NES controllers that I can tear appart. Any one know where I can find these things on the Cheap?
No, you haven't fried the chip because of that. The only problem about you'll encounter without the resistors is that the button a wobble when it's not pressed. (Randomly go between on and off)
However, I see an error with ctf's schematic. I've been wrong before about things, but to me the pinout of the 4021 i mirrored, all the pins on the left should be on the right side and vice versa. Also, personally I'd put a small DC filtering capacitor between V+ (White in the scehmatic) and Gnd. Type: Electrolytic, 0.47 uF, at rated for 5V or higher. The -- side of it goes to Gnd and the other to "white".
Hope that helps a bit.

I thought that too about CTFan's pinout. However, I realised that he has drawn it looking down on the solder side of the board. The notch at the top of the chip is misleading as it leads you to believe that the pinout is shown on the component side of the NES controller board, not the solder side. The pinout is for the Solder side of the chip. This is why the pins appear to be reversed.
Hope this helps!

------
TheOnlyOneHeFears

chanticlair281 · Post by **chanticlair281** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 1:32 pm

just following the paths on the controller board I get the same as CT except I got the a and be switched. Currently I have it wired like the above diagram with a 47k resistor between the switch and the IC. It is not working.

chanticlair281 · Post by **chanticlair281** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:49 pm

should you be able to test contanuity (sp) of a resistor? I went back to check each wire and found that my switches were all wired wrong. There were four leads on these little tact switches and I got confused as to which is which. Anywho, I get that fix (everything is now gounded correctly) but it still did not work. I tried to test the contanuity of the other lead which has the resistor between the switch and the IC. Any suggestions?

chanticlair281 · Post by **chanticlair281** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 9:20 pm

can anyone answer this question. I think that I am so close to getting this finished but everytime I test it I get nothing. I now know that all the switches are turned the right way and that I have resistors between the positive side of the switch and the IC. All of my wires are connected to the correct pin on the IC. Please help!