Connection of digital plunger

[Calafati]

Hi there,

Is somebody able to tell me how those plungers, for example 

 

https://germangamingsupplies.com/Pinscape-analouge-Plunger-Set

 

1) are usually are connected respectively how the connection looks like AND

 

2) wether the one shown could be connected with a simple USB-decoder (for example the one from EG STARTS I have in use) or if there is more specific pinball hardware required? If so, what do i need in addition? As I am still play in desktop mode only I would like to keep my hardware-setup as small as possible.

Many thanks for your answers and advice.

Cheers

Klaus

 

 

[deadmanworking]

You need a controller board like Pinscape or Dude's Cab that can interpret the input from the potentiometer, so no, you cannot do that with your USB button encoder. 

[Calafati]

I understand. As I read the description of the dudes cab card you linked, I found that this one should be able to handle both my buttons and the plunger, right? But ist it also able to "stand/work alone" (means for example is it Power supplied itself) or does it requires other components ? Sorry for asking I know there is lot of dochmentation but my technical english is not that fine 🙈

[deadmanworking]

Dude's Cab is connected by USB-C so you won't need anything else, it also has a powerful and easy to understand config software, I found the installation very easy. Yes you can connect 32 buttons and you'd have nudge capability as well.

I would recommend you order the POTAR board + connection cable + 3d printed mount as well, then you can connect any kind of plunger you like. Don't know if it would also work with the Pinscape board you linked, with POTAR it's plug and play. 

[tjaf]

If you don't mind a little DIY, in my cab, I use an Arduino micro to read the potmeter. It is extremely simple to do and works great. You connect the VCC and GND pins to the potmeter power pins and the ADC input pin to the wiper pin. Coding is pretty straightforward (if you are familiar with Arduino or chatgpt) using the ArduinoJoystickLibrary (https://github.com/MHeironimus/ArduinoJoystickLibrary/tree/version-2.0). You then just plug it in via USB and Windows will automatically recognize it as a joystick and it will work right away in VPX. 

 

There are many online tutorials, but this is a good place to start (https://www.instructables.com/Create-a-Joystick-Using-the-Arduino-Joystick-Libra/), and you really only need to implement a single axis joystick.