Perfect 360
Odds are you've heard of this joystick, but you've got some questions. This page attempts to shed some light the Perfect 360.The Big Deal
Unlike standard joysticks which use switches the 360 uses optical sensors. This works similar to a computer's mouse.
The advantages of this are accuracy and greatly reduced wear and tear. The only moving parts in the 360 are the stick itself and the spring. The stick never makes contact with anything but it's pivot point.
If fact, with the stick removed from the base you can move your finger around inside the ring (without touching anything) to trigger the sensors.
5 Volts of Power
This thing requires a power source for it's sensors. Typically this is not as big a deal as people tend to think. It's simply new to them.
Allow me to ease your worries. Anything using USB and most other systems will supply the needed 5V. PC, Xbox, PS2 and DC all supply 5V.
Power is connected with two wires. A ground (black) wire and a positive (red) wire. These wires are included with the 360 and already soldered on. All you have to do is connect them. The Ground wire typically connects with the same point that all of your other controls are grounded to (see details for the hack your using to be sure). Positive connects to the 5V source from your PCB.
Note, If your using a power supply or some other source for the 5V be sure to connect the ground to the same device. i.e. If you purchase a power supply, connect the Ground and Positive to that power supply's Ground and Positive. Do Not connect Ground to the gamepad's PCB and the Positive to a different board/device/power supply.
Connections
The directional connectiosn are pretty straightforward. There's connections for up, down, left, right. Simply connect the corresponding wires from your PCB.
Quick disconnects (.187) can be used for this or you can simply solder the wires directly.
Note that if you solder to these, they get hot very fast and may wobble from the 360's own PCB. This is not a problem as long as you hold it in place. It's solder will hold it fine again once it cools.
Parts
For some reason Happ's website does not have a breakdown of the 360's parts (like they do with other sticks). So here's my version. If you purchase a 360 you will get a card with a breakdown and instructions.
From left to right you've got the stick itself. This looks identical to a Happs Ultimate except the steel shaft is slightly thicker.
There's a plastic washer to keep people's hands out of the hole for the stick. This one is smaller then most.
A steel 1/2" bushing goes onto the stick's shaft as a spacer for the pivoting bushing.
The pivoting bushing is wider on on side, be sure the wide end is facing down.
Next would be the surface of your controller, then the base assembly.
The spring I got with my 360 is a hard spring (most sticks come with a soft spring). I've been using soft spring sticks for years so I switched mine out with a soft spring. Note in a 360 this will feel even more soft then in other sticks. This is just my preference.
The base assembly comes preconstructed so you won't need to mess with the spring unless you wish to (remove the four screws to get at the spring).
A reversible actuator (see bottom image) goes on between the base assembly and an E ring (which secures it). With a hard spring this can be a pain in the ass to get on. You'll need to compress the spring by pressing the joystick's handle and the actuator towards each other untill you see the groove which the E ring snaps into (this will make more sense when you do it). If you think that's tough, try removing it (I suggest you do Not assemble the stick before it's mounted to your controller)!
