xbox to dreamcast wireless controller problem (power drain?)

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Macabre
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xbox to dreamcast wireless controller problem (power drain?)

Post by Macabre » Fri Dec 31, 2010 3:09 pm

I've been fiddling with making the perfect wireless dreamcast controller. My current setup is a total control adapter and an xbox-to-ps2 adapter, with the popular Logitech wireless controller.


It works, very very well. It works so smoothly, that this controller has become my favored dreamcast controller to use in many games. (the trigger buttons did need to be rewired to the black-white buttons).

But i'm having a problem. I think the two adapters + receiver are drawing too much power from the system.

Current problems;

1.) While the vmu port on the total control plus does power up & reads the memory card, and the receiver of the xbox controller does light up when turned on, the controller doesn't function. The only way that this controller works is if the memory card is removed.

2.) If more than the double adapter + receiver is plugged into the dreamcast at the same time, nothing works, so I can't even use an official controller to load a save game file from, and use the wireless setup.

Basically, its the pair of adapters + receiver in the system for one single working controller, with zero memory card support and no other ports functional.



I'm no expert, but this looks like the two adapters + receiver are taking up too much power for the controller port to do anything else, even just reading a memory card.

I know that each port is supposed to supply 5volts for official dreamcast controllers, and the xbox port is supposed to supply 5volts for the xbox controller. A ps2 controller has the slight difference, but when using this total control adapter with wireless PS2 controllers, some work very well (original old logitech, licensed "katana," ect).

Important note: I removed the two controller port resistors in my dreamcast - there is a common problem of them blowing out when too much is drawn, as they were Sega's way of making a "fuse" to keep the system safe. The sister controller port pcb has had these two resistors removed and I bridged their connections (soldered a wire in each resistors place). This shouldn't be a problem related to this current topic's problem - as this was a fix of a previous controller power-drain issue with PS2 logitech wireless controllers, but possibly a place where something can be done to help fix this issue?

What can I do to fix this? There are three different LED's, one in each adapter, and one in the receiver, that I can easily remove, if that would preserve just enough voltage to make the memory card work, although I'd like to keep at least one active (the receivers) to make sure that the setup is actually working properly when in use. I also (obviously) don't need the xbox receiver's memory card ports, if there is any way to abuse those empty sockets.

Thanks in advance for any help!
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brian233
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Re: xbox to dreamcast wireless controller problem (power drain?)

Post by brian233 » Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:54 am

Im no expert myself and I have a little bit of basic study and training from tech school.
To me it Sounds as if you need those resistors you removed but try a higher value
to slow the Current. Where are you getting power for all of this? You need to check all your grounds
and voltages to make sure you didnt fry anything Hope I helped

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