Rc car

[shadow67]

hey guys, im building my own rc ( radio controlled ) car thru help frm internet . i read that u can use a ' cat-5 computer network cable ' to join an atari control joystick to a car and use that control as a remote to operate the motors. is that true. ??????

 

thanks

[CraigD]

hey guys, im building my own rc ( radio controlled ) car thru help frm internet . i read that u can use a ' cat-5 computer network cable ' to join an atari control joystick to a car and use that control as a remote to operate the motors. is that true. ??????

Atari 2600 joysticks are neat and useful to the electronic hobbyist. They’re very mechanically and electrically simple, As the attached picture shows, just 5 switches – one for each direction of the stick, 1 for the single button – with a common ground, for a total of 6 wires in a 9 pin socket plug (3 pins do nothing). The stick’s 4 diagonal positions are detected by 2 switches being closed – it’s mechanically impossible (without breaking the units little plastic parts) to have more than 2 of the 4 position switches closed at the same time.

 

Just stick a couple of bare wire ends into the correct sockets, and you can control up to 5 separate low power motors, light bulbs, etc. using this controller – though no more than 3 can be on at the same time.

 

As a cat 5 cable has 8 wires, it could be used to connect an Atari joystick at a greater distance than its stock ~ 1 m cord, though you’d have to fashion some sort of adapter to join the two incompatible plugs. Years ago, extension cords for the Atari controller were common, though now they’re likely more difficult to find than the controllers themselves.

 

However, if you’re goal is to make a radio controlled car (not one with a cord connected to it), the hard part will be the radio, not the switches. Unless you want to do a lot of scratchbuilding, I suspect you’ll find commercial RC transmitters, servos, and power controllers more useful than a simple Atari joystick. I’ve cobbled together the occasional odd RC vehicle, and find toy RC cars and other such things a good source of cheap to free parts – just open them up, find the wire leads to their motors and batteries, and substitute my own.

 

Good luck with your design and build. Post a picture of whatever comes of it. :thumbs_up