Potentiometre output to two different paths via a Switch box

Thread Starter

rmwilson1975

Joined Feb 24, 2023
2
Okay folks looking for a bit of help - I am an absolute novice home tinker' and I am trying to dabble please bare with me- I am not a electronics engineer.

I have an old arcade machine from 1996 - it has the Potentiomenters (POTS) in it ( gas, brake, left/ right for steering) what I want to do is introduce a switch box - I want to keep the original arcade game say on switch box position A and on switch box position B I want the output from the POTS to go to ardiuno circut i had made that takes that signal and sends it else whre ( for clarity it sends it to a sony playstation 4 dual shock controller) so I can play modern games on through the PS4 on the arcade from 1996 :)

Currently it works to play EITHER ps4 or to use arcade game i have to unhook it all and re-attach it what I'd like is to be able to just have a switch box that can either send the values into the arcade wire harness or switch it to send the signals to the arduino interface... Kapeash?

So questions:
1. is this doable?
2. do pot readings change if there is a switch in the circut?
3. These are three wire pots - each pot has a ground, a power, and a data wire ( for the wipe of the pot)

Is there a way I could set this up????



Screen Shot 2023-02-24 at 3.56.19 PM.png
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,176
Since you are already able to connect one or the other system, you already have the connection information for each system. So an A/B switch can certainly be created using information that you already have.
Good News is that it can be done even easier than that, though, and probably cheaper as well. If you are able to locate one of those old style switch boxes that were used for sharing printers with more than one computer. Then you will just need to buy the 3 connectors and connect the wires to that, and you are all set to do what you are asking for.
BUT it is mandatory that the soldering of the wires into the connectors be done properly. Matching the numbers will be the easy part, the difficult portion will be the quality of the solder connections, because they must all be very close to perfect.
 

Thread Starter

rmwilson1975

Joined Feb 24, 2023
2
Since you are already able to connect one or the other system, you already have the connection information for each system. So an A/B switch can certainly be created using information that you already have.
Good News is that it can be done even easier than that, though, and probably cheaper as well. If you are able to locate one of those old style switch boxes that were used for sharing printers with more than one computer. Then you will just need to buy the 3 connectors and connect the wires to that, and you are all set to do what you are asking for.
BUT it is mandatory that the soldering of the wires into the connectors be done properly. Matching the numbers will be the easy part, the difficult portion will be the quality of the solder connections, because they must all be very close to perfect.

awh yes something like this is what I was thinking ... I just don't know if it will change the readings from the pots flowing through a switch ...
 

Attachments

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,176
The original applications were fairly demanding and so if the switch box has not been subject to bad environments or lots of use they should be able to perform well enough. Also, there are stil spray switch contact cleaners available that can solve problems. With a 25 position connectors switch it would even be possible to have redundant contacts for each line. and the interaction between adjacent circuits will not be significant for such low speed data.
 
Top