Hi guys. Im new to pad hacking, and I’ve selected the Hori Fighting Commander (not the pro, the newest model ps4-044u). I’m basically ready to get it done but I have a question about common ground. I understand the theory, but my question is: if I don’t have a daisy chain, could I do multiple grounds? I.e. A ground for the Joystick and buttons separately? The pcb has several grounding holes, I just wasn’t sure if I necessarily had to chain all the grounds together, or if I could do two (one for the stick and one for the buttons. This issue comes up particularly because I’m using a sanwa JLF that has the switches mounted to a pcb, and a 5 pin harness that attaches to the pcb. If I need to just buckle down and do a daisy chain I can.
Don’t have a daisy chain?
Make your own, it’s not that hard.
It just take a little bit more time, but less time and materials than to run individual ground wires.
And yes you can have the buttons have a different ground wire compared to the joystick harness.
Also, pro tip
- Test your pad before taking it apart
- Have a multi meter, it will help you map out your ground solder points.
1 Like
Thank you for the help!
1 Like
Hello sorry to butt in, but I have a very specific design, where any input could equal any function. For most systems and multi console pcbs a single ground is all you need. But an Edladdin ColecoVision PCB requires two grounds, (which are called something else if there are more than one).
Since my ground depends on which button is which function,. I decided to have a db37, with 18 inputs (just enough for Nintendo switch) 18 separate individual grounds, and one voltage / other.
For any system that has a single ground, which is most,. I could tie the grounds at the point we know but the system is going to use a single ground which is just before it enters the PCB unify the 18 grounds as a single wire and connect them in the single ground port.
But hopefully if I theory is correct, if I have two grounds,. Then after the button reconfig, and just before it enters the PCB, you combine the browns and the two groups, the ones that go with ground A and the ones that go with Ground B.
In theory I could have a separate ground for each controller. And probably 18 buttons are the most buttons that most fighting games and other games playable with a joystick will probably use.
I’ll tell you later if it works, when we test the ColecoVision.
In the meantime does my theory sound sensible and theoretically sound? some people thought my weird way of ambidextrous signal joystick was weird but Stan told me it works with every Cthulhu system that he could have tested with. Maybe my instincts are not that wrong after all.