HA-8-3 Wireless Remote Joystick/Pushbutton Controller & Receiver
XBee 802.15.4 RF modules are used to make a wireless connection between a remote game controller and a receiver wired to the HA-8-3 Color Graphics card. The receiver supports up to 4 channels (controllers). Each remote controller supports an X-Y analog joystick, two pushbuttons, and two LEDs. This configuration was chosen to mirror the four joystick connectors on the HA-8-3 graphics card, each of which has two analog inputs, two digital inputs, and two digital outputs. If a digital (switch) arcade-style joystick is preferred, the MicroPython code running in the receiver is easily modified to produce a binary output signal rather an analog one. The remote transmitter PCB uses Molex KK254 headers for all connections to off-board components, so different joysticks, pushbuttons, or LED indicators can be used without any board modifications.
The XBee MicroPython code was developed in the PyCharm Community Edition IDE with the DIGI add-in.
(Rev A Receiver Board shown, with no XBee RF module installed)
(Rev A Board Receiver installed in case, with cover removed)
(Rev A Transmitter PCB)
(Assembled transmitter. Hand-wired prototype shown on right.)