Wiring Happ Trackball to PC through Mouse interface.

By: glennbo(Atari)

WARNING INFORMATION OVERLOAD ABOUT TO OCCUR
I am not responsible for damage done to your PC, mouse, trackball or persons in any way. Proceed at your own RISK.

These instructions deal only with Happ optical pcb's found in spinners and trackballs (they both have the same pinouts). Also this is for making your own mounting plate You can choose to purchase one from Happ or suitable dealer.

Setup things You will need:

If you have a new trackball skip 8

1)   Happ trackball. (New or Used)
2)   PS2 Non-Optical PC Mouse (I recommend InterAct scroll mouse).
3)   3" inch metal hole saw.
4)   2 small buttons to replace mouse buttons.
5)   At least 6" x 6" 22 gauge steel plate.
6)   4 1" inch mounting screws for metal plate.
7)   4 3" inch carriage bolts for mounting trackball.
8)   2 4-prong female connectors (for optic pcb's)
9)   1 4 prong block w/ connector (for mouse to trackball)
10)  Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, White Orange 22 gauge wire. (Make do with what you have)
11)  Metal files.
12)  1 PC power splitter connector to hook into PC power supply
13)  Multi Meter to check voltages. 
14)  1/4" Drill bit and countersink bit for 4 corner holes.

Trackball purchased Used from NERD ENTERPRISES   http://nerd.technomancer.com/stock.html
All construction materials purchased at Home Depot.
Buttons and multi meter purchased at Radio Shack.
Wire and connectors purchased at Active Electronics.


Lets Get Started
Making a Mounting Plate:

Decide how big you want your plate. I decided I needed more than Happ asks for. http://www.happcontrols.com
they have a  6" x 6" square but I went with 6" x 8" to accommodate my extra buttons. (Alternately you can purchase a mounting plate). Cut it to proper size and you will notice that when you put the trackball against it you have about 1/2" inch to spare on each side, not much space so drilling the 3" hole needs to be exact. With that hole drilled file the edges smooth. Insert the trackball to check fit and try to scratch marks from the underside where the mounting holes for the trackball are. Get those drilled and file again. Drill your four corner holes and countersink them for a flush finish and you’re done with the plate. You can finish it however you want , paint or laminate.Drill 2 -- 1/2" holes for the small buttons (if you have them) and you’re done.



I) 2.75"
J) 3.00"
K)   2.75"
L)   .22 Sq x 8
M) 2.26"
N) 1.75 x 4
O) 6.00 x 2
P)   5.50 x 2

Wiring Harness for Trackball/Mouse.
Now for the good stuff. The pin out for the trackball optic pcb's is
        
         Left/Right                                                   Up/Down
1) Output - A  (Blue Wire)                         1) Output - A  (Green Wire) 
2) +5V           (Red Wire)                            2) +5V            (Red Wire)
3) GND         (Black Wire)                          3) GND          (Black Wire)
4) Output - B (Yellow Wire)                        4) Output - B (Orange Wire)


It is the same pinout for both sides. You must find the number one pin, there is a number one on my pcb beside the 1 pin so that helps. (My pcb # is A049-1010-00 but A052 is the same)

We will be making a harness to attach the track ball to the PC +5V power and to hook up to the mouse pcb. These will be two separate connectors. The 4 prong block (#9) will house the 4 A-B outputs 2 from each pcb (see wire colour chart) the PC power connector will split to both pcb's +5V/GND  and attach at the PC power supply.  I removed the +12V and other GND from my harness because I didn’t need it. The mating connector will have four wires of matching Output colours attached to it to go to the mouse pcb.

Two good sources of information
http://www.saltspring.com/mamezilla/happshack.htm
http://www.movielocity.com/mame/power.htm

BEFORE SOLDERING : Always ‘tin’ your wire tips with solder before you begin it makes miniature joints possible.

So we know the trackball pcb pinout what about the mouse?

 I recommend the InterAct mouse because it is fairly inexpensive and the trackball has perfect movement no funny stuff when you roll the ball hard.

We need to take apart the mouse thing right now. Inside you will also take note of which way is up/down and left/right when you move the mouse normally  these are important if you want the ball to track correctly and to make trouble shooting easier later on.

There should be an LED (Red) and a Light Pickup (Black) the black piece is what we want to find. It should be mounted with 3 prongs if not get another mouse (or find another tutorial. One prong is power the other two are our Output -A and Output -B. To find power I plugged the mouse into an abandoned PC and powered it up (no monitor) Iput my multi meter on 50v
and located the Red wire on the PS2 cable coming in the mouse and decided that would be a good start for +5V. It turned out the green wire was ground. Good +5V coming in, now we know the GND. Touch the black rod of the multi meter to this GND, Now find Left/Right Black pickup and put tape over it to cover any light movement (If you do not do this all of the prongs will have power and you will be screwed) touch each of the three prongs with the red positive rod of your multi meter one will be +5V that’s the bad one, on my mouse it was the center prong ( If you get a reverse reading switch your ground and positive wires). Carefully solder your Blue and White wires to the other two prongs (Care is needed). Now repeat those steps for the other light pickup only replace Blue/White with Orange/Green and you should be almost done. This tape must remain on the pickups or some other suitable method of blocking the light must occur to give true tracking from the new source.

The buttons

Whatever buttons you use you need mouse buttons so.....

More pcb testing. On the mouse pcb find the small click switches the mouse buttons were pressing. Get out the multi meter and someone to hold the pcb and press the switch. There should be two prongs connecting these to the pcb touch each one with the mutlimter on ohm x1k and press the switch you should see the meter rise. If not try the top of the solder. solder two wires to these prongs and attach to the proper button (left button left switch etc). Locate the other switch and you are done.


Now to plug it in.

Will my PC blow UP?
.....maybe

OK then.
Plug in the PC harness and attach our other harness to the mouse. Turn it on.

If things are not what they should be you may have crossed the output signals or the tape has come off one or both of the light readers. Check your solder connections with a magnifying glass to make sure that no joints are crossed. Double check the voltages on the trackball with your multi meter to make sure it is getting power. Did the mouse work BEFORE you took it apart? If all else fails email me with your trouble ill see what I can do.