[question] use of old GB PCB

[Fleder]

Hello there,

this might be a ridiculous question to some, but electronics is still a closed book to me
and i wanted to be sure before i have to spend more money to correct my mistake.

The old PCB or the board of a SNES controller, that is used for the buttons,
would it be possible to just do this (button inputs) with bare wires or do we use more of the PCB than just the conducting paths?

I am asking because i am using the board of an ols SNES controller and i have to cut it down to fit it into the case.
If it is just a neat way to have a path to the teensy, then i may cut it down and ignore all the resistors and stuff on it,
but if we use more, I ran into some difficulties.

I hope i was able to communicate well, what i wanted to know.

TL;DR: Could I, theoretically, just connect 2 wires to the Teensy (1 GRND and 1 the respecting pin) to emulate a button press?

Thanks in advance.

[yves1984]

Adafruit also use a SNES controller and its works
so i think its also okay on this part with the gameboy


https://learn.adafruit.com/pigrrl-raspb ... y/overview

[Fleder]

Adafruit also use a SNES controller and its works
so i think its also okay on this part with the gameboy


https://learn.adafruit.com/pigrrl-raspb ... y/overview

Yes, but they do not use a Teensy, which is what i am worried about.

[chiz]

@Fleder

The primary reason why I wanted to use the controller board itself is because it comes with the USB chip built-in and I don't have to the Teensy (assuming that I didn't fry my game pad), which means reducing the need for another board inside the case.

Theoretically, and others have been successful at this, you can cut all the traces (but not the components!, e.g., resistors, caps, etc.) leading to the button pads and still have the game pad work, except of course, there would be no inputs until you have the button traces' connections restored.

My original idea is after cutting the controller board, I will be arranging and gluing them together using a supporting plastic sheet -- the same sheet I used in my chiz-built common ground pcb.

I still did not ditch this idea and I plan to do this is a later built once a get hold a controller board that is easy to hack. Probably the reason why I fried my controller board is bec. I had to desolder a ceramic capacitor to relocate it. After soldering back to a different place in the board, Windows spits a "Error loading USB device" message.

[Fleder]

@chiz

Thanks. So i would also be able to just use the contorller board as a traces board only?
Like, desoldering all the resisters and stuff and only use the traces?
So the Teensy would also accept 2 wires (1 GRND, 1 Signal Pin) touching as a button input?

I am asking because the part where the Start and Select buttons are located, is pretty big and would lie on top of the other 2 boards, which is kind of bad in terms of space and such. Thats why i wanted to cut it down in size so it fits better, but then i would have to desolder and cut away some components on the board. But i guess, from what you've just said, those are only required if you do not have a teensy, right?

[chiz]

You are correct. Use the game pad board only if you don't plan to use a Teensy or the GPIO pins.