USB SNES Controller PCB help

retroisbest

Hi there,
I have a USB SNES Controller that i would like to use the controls from and recycle the PCB to use with my retropie project.
I would like to dremel the PCB into its sections but one question is whats the best way to find out what ground is? I know its probably a simple question.

Hopefully these photos should explain it a little better
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what i want to cut out

I would like to solder straight onto the traces, to my RPI2

Thanks for all your time and help

senkun

the buttons are easy to tell which is common ground, the large pours are common. The dpad side is a bit fudgy, is this a single sided board?

Far as I can make out, good luck.

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retroisbest

Thankyou Senkun for the reply,
Yeah it's a single sided board, the reverse has no traces.
I will cut the board and refer to your pic (thanks for that!)

Going to squeeze it all into a gameboy dmg-01 case!

(using a pitft 2.8" screen which is running nicely)
just these controls im unsure of.

mrbwa1

Word of advice: these cheap controllers get really spongy feeling if the PCB isn't help down tightly.

My NES clone doesn't have screws through the PCB on the bottom and the D-pad fells pretty terrible. My SNES clone looks like this, but I can remember if it screws through the PCB or just has plastic pins to hold the PCB in place.

I would recommend mounting the PCB as solidly as possible.

Also keep in mind that the controller chip is capped with epoxy, so if you cut up the PCB, you will need to be able to solder leads to jumper each ground plane together and to jumper each small trace back to the controller chip.

retroisbest

@mrbwa1

Thanks for the advice, my plan was to use adafruits retrogame software, im basically going to attach each control to a gpio pin, retro game then takes over, very simmilar to the pigrrl setup failing this method i do have adafruits gamepad board which takes tactile switches, unfortunately it doesn't line up with the dmg-01 case so mounting the switches could prove difficult.
(this is the product Adafruit Gamepad PCB

It is a cheap SNES USB controller which is why i didnt mind recycling it, but if the results are going to be spongy i think i will go down the gamepad PCB route and try and mount the switches some how.

I have the battery charging circuit sorted , the screen, and everything else....just need these controls and i will be finished, i would like to use the shoulder buttons but i don't think i will have space for the original SNES buttons, so i may have to substitute them for normal ABXY buttons.

retroisbest

@mrbwa1
This was what i was planning to do:-

SNES PCB Recycle

mrbwa1

@retroisbest Have you looked at this setup?
http://store.kitsch-bent.com/product/common-ground-dmg-button-pcb
It has the right form factor and has the individual pinout

I like experimenting as much as the next guy, but this might be a case where the right part is best.

If you were building a Pi-Arcade cabinet, I wouldn't hesitate to recycle the controller (maybe add a couple extra screw holes.

]Also, y'all are making me regret basically giving away my original gameboy a few years back.... I would totally build out a handheld if I still had it.

retroisbest

I'm in the UK so just reading up to see if they deliver, if they do then im going to order one and just use a couple of the RPI2 gpio pins directly for the shoulder buttons and the extra X and Y buttons the snes controller has. the fact it fits perfectly for the DMG-01 is ideal for me. Thanks for the suggestion!

mrbwa1

@retroisbest said in USB SNES Controller PCB help:

I'm in the UK so just reading up to see if they deliver, if they do then im going to order one and just use a couple of the RPI2 gpio pins directly for the shoulder buttons and the extra X and Y buttons the snes controller has. the fact it fits perfectly for the DMG-01 is ideal for me. Thanks for the suggestion!

I like the plan of using the shoulder buttons. Hopefully you can find a UK supplier that doesn't price gouge.

I'd probably add a usb port or 2 so I could plug in an external controller (reminds me of the time I hooked an N64 to a Casio portable TV.... Really only a 1 player solution, maybe 2 player)

senkun

Cut it up, scrape off two traces, wire em up, test it and see, if it works no point wasting any money. Should be an easy solder job as there are large solder points already provided, you just need to scrape some soldermask off for the ground, and don't forget to scrape off copper to separate those buttons on the dpad side (shown as white lines). G'luck.

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And do please keep us updated on progress and pics, loads of pics! We love pics! :P