Cheap USB button and joystick controller

[lesthegrngo]

Hi all, I am a big fan of Leo Bodnar's products and I have quite a few of them, however they are a premium product and as such can be a bit of overkill for some projects.

I made a new gearbox for my race sim, which just needed a total of ten buttons / switches, and didn't need to be sophisticated due to the simple nature of the device being built. I also wanted to build in the controller to the physical unit so that I only had one USB cable running from it, and wanted that to be captive to simplify things as much as possible.

As a result I looked around and found some alternative USB devices, similar to the ones here

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255477290031?var=555431485326

Well, I can report that they work great for switches, and are also really small form factor (50mm x 30mm) so are easy to make fit in. They have connections for 4 way digital (not analogue, so no pots or hall sensors) for joystick control. I have tried them with Hall effect switches, and unfortunately they are not supported, so for my gearbox I will have to continue with the Bodnar controller. But if you are looking for something to control up to 16 switches, these are a cheap, workable solution 

Hope this helps

 

Les

Edited April 22, 2024 by lesthegrngo

[No1sonuk]

There's always the Arduino Pro Micro...

[Johnny Dioxin]

Clearing out space for our new heat pump installation, I came across a big tub full of Bodnar boards, wires, switches, containers etc etc from my "box" making days. All that ended when the Rift CV1 arrived!

Looks like they are heading for the dump now. Just can't bring myself to do it, though.