Replace Caanoo Analog With A Psp Fat Analog

[pato]

hi guys.

i need some help and i was wondering if some of you guys might be able the aid me.
my problem is my caanoos's analog controller it worn out, so i though (did think?) about buying one from here , but the shipping cost $100 to my country (chile) and thats almost 2/3 of cost of a new caanoo from play asia. so a friend of mine suggest me to try to replace the caanoo's analog ctrl (this one ) with a psp fat one, i was reading about the psp analog ctrller schematics and pinout (here) just to find out that... i don't understand anything, as a dentistry student , my electronics level is just about enough to turn on and off the caanoo XD. not that lame really, but basic, but i know how to use a SOLDERING IRON so soldering is not hard for me. knowing what and where to do it is really the problem.

Can some tell me if it's even possible to do it? i know both controllers ar resistive ones, (caanoo uses 10kohms and psp uses 5 kohms)can i do it directly or is some kind of circuit necesary to make it work?
please HELP me, i miss my caanoo so much!!! and if you can provide some kind of schematics would love it.



THANKS IN ADVANCE PEOPLE!!!

please excuse my english. let me know if you don't get what i tried to explain

 

[Exophase]

Others will probably be able to answer a lot better than I can but I'll give it a shot..

Caanoo's stick has two potentiometers, which are probably wired to be used as variable voltage sources. So it probably puts in a fixed voltage and gets out a variable one that's read by an ADC. PSP's nubs look like they work the same way; put in power and ground and get a variable voltage. The problem is going to be matching the voltage. Unless Caanoo is using a 2.5V source like the PSP you could have problems. It's possible the PSP nub will still work with a different voltage (like maybe 3.3V?), I guess you'd have to see if anyone can confirm this..

That's not to say you won't have mechanical problems fitting it on the board comfortably.

The shipping sounds outrageous, ~$95 to ship a very low weight $5 part? Is it possible to get a more reasonable rate from any other shipping service? I have some CTS 254s lying around at home, but are you sure Caanoo uses them and not something bigger? I've never held a Caanoo but these still seem way too small..

 

[pato]

)hi exophase,

i just was told that there is a different online store wich has the controller,with better delivery rate (prices?), "only" $56 usd aprox. (check the pic i've attached if you don't believe the rates)
when i bought the caanoo the shipping cost me only 35 dollars from China in a high priority delivery, i can't understand the us rates for this small packages, to put in pespective , i did send a bag full of clothing to a cousin in italy, for about $3usd

thanks for your advice, i guess i won´t lose anything if a try to change it directly.

 

[Exophase]

Can you make some measurements to determine the dimensions of Caanoo's joystick first? You should confirm that it's really the right part..

 

[pato]

Can you make some measurements to determine the dimensions of Caanoo's joystick first? You should confirm that it's really the right part..

i'll do it asap

 

[Akabei]

If I remember correctly, Le Chuck used a Playstation 2 analog controller for one of his micro arcade conversions(I didn't find the post, but here's an example http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/63097-micro-star-wars-caanoo-hack/page__p__966043__hl__star%20wars__fromsearch__1&#entry966043, because it uses 10kOhm as well. I guess, you could modify your Caanoo case to fit the controller

 

[pato]

thanks for the hint! i know a ps2 analog controller can be attached to a broken psp, so i guess a psp one might work just fine.

 

[Exophase]

.. okay I thought I made a post about this but apparently I didn't..

I confirmed from ED's teardown pictures that CTS 254 is the right part (although for some reason they had one with a black plastic shell). However, this comes in two variants, the "B" type has a longer stick than the "A" type. So you want to make sure you get the right one of those two. I'd also get the highest performance part in terms of tolerance, although it probably doesn't matter that much.

 

[Le Chuck]

Pato, just about any dual axis 10k pot will work however size is going to be an issue. You can certainly desolder one from a psx or ps2 controller but you'll have to do some significant modding to the cannoo body to get it to fit. That said it will work. You just need to desolder the stock unit and line up the pins. The voltage differential I've found to be negligible for this application. What's great about pots is that if you wire them wrong the worst that will happen is that your caanoo will just shut down. You won't do any permanent damage to the unit or the pot; however, the way these are designed there is only one way you can put them in (pins along adjacent sides ) so you shouldn't have any issues providing you don't short any traces when you're soldering.

About shipping, USPS quotes a padded envelope to Chile at between 8 and 16 USD. The part is 5 USD. If digikey is ripping you off on their shipping rates perhaps there is a forum member willing to purchase and ship if you can paypal the cost.