rec.autos.simulators

by **Rob Ne** » Thu, 12 Dec 2002 05:35:50

Hi,

Can anyone tell me what the 4 pins are used for in the (female) connector
found on the
pedals for the InterAct V3 Racing Wheel? I bought one of these beauties in
high hopes
of converting the pedals to be used as rudder pedals for some of the flight
sims out there.

What can I say - I'm cheap and I have an innate curosity about how things
work and I love
to experiment!

From what I can tell - the connector is an S-video connector, and the two
lower pins
(holes actually) on either side of the rectangular "orientation" pin or
line-up pin
(whatever its called) appear to be:

Y-Axis (on the lower right side)
Ground (on the lower left side)

Not sure what the other two pins do? (if anything?). My meter didn't seem
to respond to them.

Support at InterAct was virtually manned by trained monkeys earning min.
wage and had
the attitude of a scorched hen. Not good.

Thanks,
Rob

by **Jone Tytlandsvi** » Thu, 12 Dec 2002 07:16:20

by **Jone Tytlandsvi** » Thu, 12 Dec 2002 07:28:59

Ouch! Wrong button...
What I wanted to say was; all 4 pins are probably used. The sensible way to
wire it is to have one wire to both pots end terminal, one wire to the other
end terminal on both pots, and then a wire to each pots wiper (the moving
terminal).
Se here: http://www.tytlandsvik.no/momo/Adapter.pdf
The wheel then applies a voltage to the end terminals and measures the
voltage at the two wipers.

It would work with only two wires, but then it would be combined axis only
and the controller had to measure the pots resistance like an old gameport
device.

Can you open up the pedals to see how it's connected?

I think the connector is called Mini-DIN

Jone.

by **Rob Ne** » Thu, 12 Dec 2002 17:23:59

----- Original Message -----

Newsgroups: rec.autos.simulators
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 2:28 PM
Subject: Re: Pinouts for InterAct V3 Racing Wheel Pedals?

> See here: http://www.racesimcentral.net/
> The wheel then applies a voltage to the end terminals and measures the
> voltage at the two wipers.

Jone,

Nice diagram - thanks for the reference.

BTW, I've left out some details. Firstly, this is analog, and hooks up to
my SB Live!
gameport. Additionally, the pedals hook up to the steering column of the
Racing Wheel via
this connector. I called it S-Video because that's what I used to make a
breakout box for the
pedals alone. I couldn't find an S-Video female, and had to buy a coupler
and cut it in half.

> It would work with only two wires, but then it would be combined axis only
> and the controller had to measure the pots resistance like an old gameport
> device.

> Can you open up the pedals to see how it's connected?

Yes - I've opened it up and this is what I see:
(Please excuse the crude diagram - I don't do this well)

POT(left pedal)
----------------------------
==0 wht (out to exterior connector)

==0 blk (connects to middle lug on pot (right pedal)

==0

POT (right pedal)
----------------------------
==0

==0 blk (connects to middle lug on pot (left pedal)
|
resistor (ties the middle and bottom lug together) 430k ohm (5%)
|
==0 blk (out to exterior connector)

It is only 2 wires. I built a breakout box and blended the pedal's signal
with my analog Joystick.
I wired it so that the pedal's signal would occupy the X-axis (pin 11) of
the 2nd joystick
portion of the 15 pin gameport connector, and the other wire went to Ground
(pin 4).
However, try as I might I couldn't get it recognized.

Question: In order to get the pedals recognized in Windows 98SE ***
Options setup applet, do
I need to somehow have voltage present? *** Options applet doesn't
recognize the pedals. I get
a 'Not Connected' when I try to hook them up.

Do one of these pins from the pedal need voltage? Say, from pin 1 of the
gameport
connector?

Is there any hope this can be converted to be used as a flight sim rudder?
Or, even better would be
to be able to wire it such that it can be used for either?

Thanks in advance,
Rob

by **Jone Tytlandsvi** » Thu, 12 Dec 2002 19:33:16

Yes. You should attach on wire to pin 11 and the other one to pin 1 (8,9 and
15 is also +5V). No wires to ground.
There are better schematics around on gameport, but I found these two:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Don't you wan't split axis for this? I'm not into flying, but there are two
rudder "fins" right? If you wan't to controll them seperatly, you will have
to solder wires from the pots so you have one connected to pin 11 and the
other one to pin 13.

If you need seperate axis you could connect the two wipers (middle lugs) to
+5V on the gameport, and the two unused terminals on the pots to pin 11 and
13. You could then use the pedals as split axis on the gameport, and use it
with the wheel as combined axis via the original cable. (Make sure you
unplugg one connector before you connect the other one :)

Jone

by **Rob Ne** » Fri, 13 Dec 2002 07:41:41

Yes. You should attach one wire to pin 11 and the other one to pin 1 (8,9
and
15 is also +5V). No wires to ground.

===

After looking over the diagram of the gameport connector, I decided on pin
9,
as it appears to be grouped with Joystick #2's set of connectors. This set
of pedals will be used as a rudder and using the breakout box it was
as good a choice as any.

I wanted to avoid using pins 12 and 15 as these are used for midi
control from my soundcard.

After melting down the hot glue (used as insulation over all the tiny
soldered
wire grafts), and unsoldering my wires, I attached the wire from
pin 9 (5V+), and pin 11 (X-axis) and then went into the Game Options
applet in 98SE. I selected the F-15E Talon by Sunncom
(as this is my joystick), and then checked the 'Rudder/Pedals'
box.

Voila! I now had the '*** red' rudder control box in the calibration
menu, and had X-axis movement (rudder control). And the Joystick remained
'OK', i.e.,
I didn't get the 'Not Connected' as I usually do. The red vertical
indicator was
somewhat in the middle. I went to calibration, pressed on the right pedal
and the
bright red block indicator went to the top of the slot. Pressed on the left
pedal
and the bright red indicator went to the bottom and disappeared.

In short, it works!

> Is there any hope this can be converted to be used as a flight sim rudder?
> Or, even better would be
> to be able to wire it such that it can be used for either?

Don't you wan't split axis for this? I'm not into flying, but there are two
rudder "fins" right?

Actually, there is only one rudder fin. Its the vertical part of the tail
that moves
from side to side. Think of the rudder on a ship. Now, I'm not sure if
these
pedals accurately reflect the way rudder pedals work in real life, but they
do
configure out properly and do seem to work. When both pedals are in
resting position, the rudder is lined up in the center position. When I
push
on one pedal or the other I get a change in direction. If I step on the
right
pedal the plane goes left, if I step on the left pedal the plane goes right.
I think that's right.

Can't thank you enough for enlightening me on some very critical points
about pedals. It really helped this project be successful. As it is, I can
either
attach the pedals to the breakout box and get a set of rudders for flight
sims,
or attach them to their native connector on the steering column and get
gas/brake pedals.

Thank you as well for presenting the other wiring options in case I ever
need to use the pedals as a split axis controller.

As the InterAct V3 Racing Wheel and Pedals are a cheap $29 at Best Buy,
and as there are plenty of folks looking for cheap rudder pedals, this
project is bound to open some doors for other brave, cash-strapped folks,
like myself. If anyone wants to know how this was done
please email me at:

and I'll give you the details. I'm very jazzed about this.

Best Regards to you, Jone, and thanks!
Rob