HudsonSoft Turbo Controller fix

[sconley666]

Alright I have about had it with feeBay.  I got a Hudson Controller with the turbo function....everyone I would hope knows what I am talking about, and everything works, except when the turbo is totally off of the A button, it doesn't do anything.  The dude I have dealt with was a total asshole about shipping, and I wrote him an email basically telling him I won't give negative feedback, but don't plan on any, and if he has a problem with it I will give neutral and call his shit out. 

I took the controller apart and cleaned all of it cosmetically and connections, ie the pads and the spots on the board, looked at all the rubber bits and they aren't torn or anything.  I bent the slider pieces out a bit so they made better contact and they were tighter fitting (less sloppy) but to no avail.  Any ideas?  I can certainly take pics if you would like.


PS: After all this I WONT buy ANY Hardware off of ebay ever again.  It has been a nightmare. I would prefer to buy from people I am a little more aquanted with and have some sort of responsibility to the group that brings both buyer and seller together.

[fredJ]

Controllers can be very difficult. It bothers me selling controllers, because for a buyer a little problem will be very annoying, and it can be hard for me as a seller to test and fix every small problem.
I have spent hours trying to fix the controller on my turbo twin famicom. I hade to tape a piece of metal wire on the connections on the board. Still, the B-button may let loose if you press it a bit on the side, and that can lead to deaths in a game such as super mario bros when you press the A-button...

Funny thing is, I worked on a Hudson turbo controller a few days ago. It didn't make good contact with the turbo controller. I found that when I pressed on the controller slider, it made contact. So I put a piece of electrical tape on the inside of the controller, by the slide, to move it a little downwards. Now it seems to work very well. I used electrical tape because it is sticky and thick. You can try whatever you have at hand.

[sconley666]

Super easy fix.  So I took the controller apart again and I was looking at the board.  Where the traces are for the turbo slider for the A button where the turbo would be set to normal where the pins on the slider are you could see where it traveled over the board.  So over time the slider actually *cut* the trace for the normal setting.  So basically all I did was took just a *drop* of solder and jumped the tiny crack in the trace.  I made sure I didn't have a cold solder joint and it worked!  I re-assembled the controller and it works like new now. 

I thought I would share this information because I am certain that this is from normal wear and tear so at some point if someone uses this controller it will happen theoretically.   Thought it might be good information.  I do realize that is will have to be repaired again at some point but now I know how to do it and what is wrong so we will see.

[80sFREAK]

Super easy fix.  So I took the controller apart again and I was looking at the board.  Where the traces are for the turbo slider for the A button where the turbo would be set to normal where the pins on the slider are you could see where it traveled over the board.  So over time the slider actually *cut* the trace for the normal setting.  So basically all I did was took just a *drop* of solder and jumped the tiny crack in the trace.  I made sure I didn't have a cold solder joint and it worked!  I re-assembled the controller and it works like new now. 

I thought I would share this information because I am certain that this is from normal wear and tear so at some point if someone uses this controller it will happen theoretically.   Thought it might be good information.  I do realize that is will have to be repaired again at some point but now I know how to do it and what is wrong so we will see.

On, Man, you've done very difficult job . Look ALL faults in electronics based on unwanted open circuits(your case) or shortcuts. Sometime it's hard to find - cracks in PCB's and cold soldering joints, so just retrace it or resolder.

[sconley666]

Super easy fix.  So I took the controller apart again and I was looking at the board.  Where the traces are for the turbo slider for the A button where the turbo would be set to normal where the pins on the slider are you could see where it traveled over the board.  So over time the slider actually *cut* the trace for the normal setting.  So basically all I did was took just a *drop* of solder and jumped the tiny crack in the trace.  I made sure I didn't have a cold solder joint and it worked!  I re-assembled the controller and it works like new now. 

I thought I would share this information because I am certain that this is from normal wear and tear so at some point if someone uses this controller it will happen theoretically.   Thought it might be good information.  I do realize that is will have to be repaired again at some point but now I know how to do it and what is wrong so we will see.

On, Man, you've done very difficult job . Look ALL faults in electronics based on unwanted open circuits(your case) or shortcuts. Sometime it's hard to find - cracks in PCB's and cold soldering joints, so just retrace it or resolder.

cold solder joints are the ones that are the hardest for me....sometimes i have to just stop and come back to it and start all over.

[Drakon]

You should have seen the ac adapter pcb I repaired for my digital camera.  Due to a crappy connection to the 120v pins the traces had bubbled and burst.  I guess hudson or whoever made these controllers used really cheap pcb material as a lot of older pcbs I look at don't have issues like that.

[80sFREAK]

You should have seen the ac adapter pcb I repaired for my digital camera.  Due to a crappy connection to the 120v pins the traces had bubbled and burst.  I guess hudson or whoever made these controllers used really cheap pcb material as a lot of older pcbs I look at don't have issues like that.

Ah, that one pressed paper with phenol based epoxy or whatever the name. That's real crap.

cold solder joints are the ones that are the hardest for me....sometimes i have to just stop and come back to it and start all over.

start all over.

Good strategy actually - working faster and more reliable.

[Drakon]

80sfreak basically the problem with the ac adapter wasn't what they made the pcb out it.  The problem was it was one of those plugs that could flip out and fold away the prongs when it wasn't being used.  However the prongs were only connected when rotated outward.  As you would imagine a loose connection for 120v isn't such a great idea.  Eventually the connections between the prongs and the pcb started not being so great so as you would imagine 120v where ground periodically disconnects = slow pcb damage.  After repairing the pcb I hard wired in a wall plug and never had the issue return.

[80sFREAK]

I can imagine that - very common fault for all sorts of devices.

slow pcb damage.

fast, if it is switch mode power supply - capacitor after rectifier will convert this cold soldering joint into welding machine. Common fault actually, also similar for Hblank transistors and Vblank IC's in CRT systems, where heat, weight of heatsink and current pulses playing together against solder.

[Drakon]

well it was a pretty massive trace that broke.  But after I hard wired in the prongs I never had the problem again.

[sconley666]

well it was a pretty massive trace that broke.  But after I hard wired in the prongs I never had the problem again.

You know coming from a family where my dad made a ton of protoypes I saw that the difference between my dad's protos and the production version  was alarming.  There is something that can be said for custom made / handmade electronics over mass produced.  When I was still making guitar effects pedals and amps, I made a clone version of a production amp and my clone I made sounded a lot tighter deeper and the highs were clear while the mids were no where as muddy as the original because I used better quality parts and the amp was all handwired  pots to the turret board as opposed to the production version had a PCB with surface mounted pots.  I used all the same values for all of the passive / active components as the production version but in the end my buddy was really happy with it and quit playing his production version and only used it as a backup guitar head.

[sconley666]

well it was a pretty massive trace that broke.  But after I hard wired in the prongs I never had the problem again.

You know coming from a family where my dad made a ton of protoypes I saw that the difference between my dad's protos and the production version  was alarming.  There is something that can be said for custom made / handmade electronics over mass produced.  When I was still making guitar effects pedals and amps, I made a clone version of a production amp and my clone I made sounded a lot tighter deeper and the highs were clear while the mids were no where as muddy as the original because I used better quality parts and the amp was all handwired  pots to the turret board as opposed to the production version had a PCB with surface mounted pots.  I used all the same values for all of the passive / active components as the production version but in the end my buddy was really happy with it and quit playing his production version and only used it as a backup guitar head.

You definately have very good background, dude. Mass product is usually cut-off of prototype to drop the production cost. Lets say, you can match parts for both channels(feedback circuits) more accurate(who will do that in mass-production?) and use, for example, 1% resistors instead of 10% for mass-production.

Yeah the tolerance can make a HUGE difference especially when it comes to sound.  I mean if your circuit is designed to run a certain way and you have to use a specific value to "hit the spot" you need, then why the hell would you ever choose a component that isn't necessarily going to operate at the specifications.  UNLESS YOU ARE CHEAPING OUT!!! 

I do know that in reality there are some applications where it wont matter as much but I know from experience that with sound, you go 1% on everything just because it will change the sound so much.  Caps can be the same way  when used as a cut-off on a tone pot or something similar.  You can really change where the highs or lows are at.  A lot of high-pass filters or low pass-filters on guitar/bass/music equipment is controlled via an orange drop cap (when it is a quality piece of equipment) and surface mount capacitor if it is a mass produced piece.

[fredJ]

May I ask, what is your opinion on cables and RCA connectors? I try to avoid the cheapest ones but not sure how  useful it is to shop for the most expensive ones , gold plated and shielded.
I'm using for AV-video and sound out for video consoles such as famicoms.

[80sFREAK]

well it was a pretty massive trace that broke.  But after I hard wired in the prongs I never had the problem again.

You know coming from a family where my dad made a ton of protoypes I saw that the difference between my dad's protos and the production version  was alarming.  There is something that can be said for custom made / handmade electronics over mass produced.  When I was still making guitar effects pedals and amps, I made a clone version of a production amp and my clone I made sounded a lot tighter deeper and the highs were clear while the mids were no where as muddy as the original because I used better quality parts and the amp was all handwired  pots to the turret board as opposed to the production version had a PCB with surface mounted pots.  I used all the same values for all of the passive / active components as the production version but in the end my buddy was really happy with it and quit playing his production version and only used it as a backup guitar head.

You definately have very good background, dude. Mass product is usually cut-off of prototype to drop the production cost. Lets say, you can match parts for both channels(feedback circuits) more accurate(who will do that in mass-production?) and use, for example, 1% resistors instead of 10% for mass-production.

Yeah the tolerance can make a HUGE difference especially when it comes to sound.  I mean if your circuit is designed to run a certain way and you have to use a specific value to "hit the spot" you need, then why the hell would you ever choose a component that isn't necessarily going to operate at the specifications.  UNLESS YOU ARE CHEAPING OUT!!! 

I do know that in reality there are some applications where it wont matter as much but I know from experience that with sound, you go 1% on everything just because it will change the sound so much.  Caps can be the same way  when used as a cut-off on a tone pot or something similar.  You can really change where the highs or lows are at.  A lot of high-pass filters or low pass-filters on guitar/bass/music equipment is controlled via an orange drop cap (when it is a quality piece of equipment) and surface mount capacitor if it is a mass produced piece.

Right. High(low)-pass filter is kinda precision circuit, so have to be done proper way. And there is no audiophilic bull shit - just accuracy. Matching all components will give you expected result, that's all.

I try to avoid the cheapest ones but not sure how  useful it is to shop for the most expensive ones , gold plated and shielded.

keep trying, it's good - cheapest one have almost no shield and wires are so tiny. For that sort of cables i have big bucket in the corner of my shack. I buying  cables in a bulk from secondhand shop, so once i stripped top insulation i can say will it go to live in the mod or will make "last flight" to the bucket(should post some photos here). Sometimes i am lucky and can get real Panasonic/JVC/Sony japanese made cables for only 100yen. Main difference - they are more robust.

gold plated

i thought to comment this first, but deleted LOL Just stay away from audiophilic crap and you will be fine.

On the left side cable i dug out from "big bucket" - you can see(if you can ) shields wires have oxydation and insulation of the core does not match in color. On the right side is right cable, where the core is much thicker and shield is shield. Also RCA connectors are more robust

[Drakon]

I have a 12 foot s-video cable that causes interference just because it's crap.