I'm hooking up a genesis controller to the parallel port and I'm having trouble with getting power. It needs 7v to run and I got that by doing this (http://www.hardwarepub.net/guides/voltage_mod) but some of the buttons won't work without having a ground. And I'm not sure where it goes. The controller looks something like this (http://www.geocities.com/mutarules) right now. The gray wire is supposed to be the ground, but I need it to get 7v. How can I get 7v from a molex and still have a ground wire?
Welcome to Bit-Tech, loddie. Your best option is to use a 317 or 317T regulator on the 12v molex supply to get the 7v needed. On the basic circuit shown here, making R1 220 ohms and R2 1k ohms (no need for the pot VR1) will give you a stable 7v output with a proper ground. If you need more than 100mA use the 317T version.
That stuff looks Japanese to me... Any...umm...simpler ways? Or could you try and explain that page for me a bit? Thanks.
Take the 12v line and hook 7 1N4001 diodes in series (one following the other) each one will remove 3/4 of a volt leaving you with 6.75 volts. Hook that to the +7v, and hook a ground to the ground. and I would check around for other places before making it, thats a parallel port and there isn't even 25 pins, so you never know if your getting it right.
It depends on the voltage drop, hook take a DMM and measure your 12 line with it, then put the diode on the line, and measure the voltage between the cathode of the diode and ground. The difference is the voltage drop.
You seen this? http://www.angelfire.com/sk2/Bratwurst/segacont.htm Or this? http://www.hardwarebook.net/connector/userinput/genesiscontroller.html How do you know it needs 7V?
Yeah, I have. The parallel port wasn't puuting out enough power to use the diodes, so I had to splice into a molex cable. And I was told it was 7v by someone experienced in the whole controller wiring scene. I though it was 5v at first, but I'm 90% sure it's 7v.
