I've thrown together an SOCD cleaning board and have kits up. I just wanted a thread for anyone to ask any support questions that may come up, or read about it.
Q: What is it?
A: Its a small kit made to make using an all button controller easier to use. If you have a proper joystick in your arcade stick, you don't need this at all. This board sees which of the direction buttons have been pressed, and 'cleans' it if you have SOCDs ( Simultaneous Opposite Cardinal Directions) pressed. So if you press Left and Right at the same time, the SOCD Cleaner will tell the joystick electronics that NIETHER is pressed. So, Left+Right=Neutral. Since most electronics assume that both left and right cant be pressed at the same time, the result can be random, and not what you wanted. The SOCD Cleaner makes the inputs work the way you want them to, so you'll be up to speed on using your all button controller even faster.
Q: What about Up?
A: There is a small solder jumper on the bottom of the board that needs to be shorted with your desired setup. If you solder the two pads closest to the 'U+D=N' text, then pressing Up+Down will be Neutral; niether Up nor Down is told to your main electronics. If you short the two pads closest to the 'U+D=U', then pressing Up+Down will be Up. If you dont know which way you want it, it is very recommended you use the 'U+D=U' option.
Q: How do I wire it up?
A: The labels on the board should be fairly self explanatory. The right side of the board has 6 spots on it along with the 'To PCB'. Connect those spots to the matching spots on the main electronics of your board. So, if you were to connect this to a Cthulhu, Chimp, or PS360 board, you would connect the 'VCC' point on the SOCD Cleaner to the 'VCC' screw terminal. Ditto for the four directions and GND point.
The labels on the left are where you connect your buttons. Your 'Up' button should have one wire going to the 'Up' point, and the other wire going to the 'GND' point next to it. Repeat for the other three directions.
Q: How do I assemble it?
A: The kit comes with four resistors. Insert and solder down these four resistors in the spots with the resistor pictures on the board. The two chips each have different numbers on them that should match the text on the board itself. Place each chip in its matching spot, verify the numbers on the chip match the numbers written on the board, and the 'notch' at the end of the chip matches the 'notch' drawn on the board, and solder them down. Solder the jumper on the bottom for your U+D setting, and you're done.
Q: What can I use it with?
A: It will work on any common ground electronics, including lower voltage setups like Playstation 1+2 or Wii-mote based boards. It will not work on non-common ground electronics like an AXISdapter or HRAP EX pcb.
Q: How about with a PS360?
A: This should work just fine on a PS360, but I would like to make one suggestion. If you are going to use the 'U+D=U' setting, then assemble the board as normal, but do NOT pit in the resistor labelled R1. If you are going to use the 'U+D=N' setting, then DO put in the R1 resistor like normal.
Q: Any tech details I should know?
A: The connecting spots on both end are 0.1"/2.54mm pitch, so you can use regular header pins to connect things if you want, or even 2.54" pitch screw terminals. Hole diameter is around 1mm, so try to stick with 0.9mm or less diameter posts. Mounting holes on either end accommodate #4 bolts best.
Please let me know if anyone has any questions.
Q: What is it?
A: Its a small kit made to make using an all button controller easier to use. If you have a proper joystick in your arcade stick, you don't need this at all. This board sees which of the direction buttons have been pressed, and 'cleans' it if you have SOCDs ( Simultaneous Opposite Cardinal Directions) pressed. So if you press Left and Right at the same time, the SOCD Cleaner will tell the joystick electronics that NIETHER is pressed. So, Left+Right=Neutral. Since most electronics assume that both left and right cant be pressed at the same time, the result can be random, and not what you wanted. The SOCD Cleaner makes the inputs work the way you want them to, so you'll be up to speed on using your all button controller even faster.
Q: What about Up?
A: There is a small solder jumper on the bottom of the board that needs to be shorted with your desired setup. If you solder the two pads closest to the 'U+D=N' text, then pressing Up+Down will be Neutral; niether Up nor Down is told to your main electronics. If you short the two pads closest to the 'U+D=U', then pressing Up+Down will be Up. If you dont know which way you want it, it is very recommended you use the 'U+D=U' option.
Q: How do I wire it up?
A: The labels on the board should be fairly self explanatory. The right side of the board has 6 spots on it along with the 'To PCB'. Connect those spots to the matching spots on the main electronics of your board. So, if you were to connect this to a Cthulhu, Chimp, or PS360 board, you would connect the 'VCC' point on the SOCD Cleaner to the 'VCC' screw terminal. Ditto for the four directions and GND point.
The labels on the left are where you connect your buttons. Your 'Up' button should have one wire going to the 'Up' point, and the other wire going to the 'GND' point next to it. Repeat for the other three directions.
Q: How do I assemble it?
A: The kit comes with four resistors. Insert and solder down these four resistors in the spots with the resistor pictures on the board. The two chips each have different numbers on them that should match the text on the board itself. Place each chip in its matching spot, verify the numbers on the chip match the numbers written on the board, and the 'notch' at the end of the chip matches the 'notch' drawn on the board, and solder them down. Solder the jumper on the bottom for your U+D setting, and you're done.
Q: What can I use it with?
A: It will work on any common ground electronics, including lower voltage setups like Playstation 1+2 or Wii-mote based boards. It will not work on non-common ground electronics like an AXISdapter or HRAP EX pcb.
Q: How about with a PS360?
A: This should work just fine on a PS360, but I would like to make one suggestion. If you are going to use the 'U+D=U' setting, then assemble the board as normal, but do NOT pit in the resistor labelled R1. If you are going to use the 'U+D=N' setting, then DO put in the R1 resistor like normal.
Q: Any tech details I should know?
A: The connecting spots on both end are 0.1"/2.54mm pitch, so you can use regular header pins to connect things if you want, or even 2.54" pitch screw terminals. Hole diameter is around 1mm, so try to stick with 0.9mm or less diameter posts. Mounting holes on either end accommodate #4 bolts best.
Please let me know if anyone has any questions.