Splitting/switching P1 controller port

[realyst]

So, lets see if anyone can answer this one:

I am modding a SNES mini for my portable project. I see some portable SNES mods using stuff like Retrons and SupaBoys which have both the internal controls and a port to plug in a legit P1 controller.

Is there any way to do this with a SNES mini PCB? I've tried everything from attempting to switch which port gets the 5V to railing them both and using a bus switch IC to just swap the data ports between one port and another. In both of these cases, if I'm lucky, I have one controller with partial control but that's it.

Any ideas? My Google-fu is failing to find any instances where someone else has solved this....


-------

So the issue was a near microscopic bridge between a pin and a common ground. However, for anyone else looking, this is the splitter config I went with:

* Wire all the connections as you normally would to both the external controller port pins and the internal controller connections correlating to those pins except pin 1(5V).
* Wire pin 1 (that's the one closest to the square end of the controller port) from the PCB to an SPDT switch pin. Then wire the pin 1 from the external port and internal controller to the two other pins. It should work.

I'm also working on making it into a sensor for auto-switching. If it works, I'll post here for reference as well.


-----

So here's how the sensor turned out:


Hole cut into controller port:

Switch glued in(I'll use epoxy later to reinforce):

Animation of the thing working:

 

[Fluxedo]

If I'm understanding you correctly, just have an internal controller board and make it switch between intenal and an external controller port. I imagine just having the switch switch data and ground would be enough if you're having issues. Repo SNES controllers are ~$4 on eBay so take the circuit board out of that and internalize it.

 

[realyst]

Ha, turns out it was due to a very peculiar self inflicted issue:

The pins on the controller ports were their usual stubborn selfs so to avoid(ironically) potentially tearing out the solder pad during desoldering, I used a dremel cutting wheel to carefully cut the contacts a bit over the board so I could "push" the thick contact through the hole easier.

What happened when I looked much closer(via magnifier even) was that my cutting wheel had cut into the PCB a tiny tiny bit. those pins are _all_ surrounded by a grounding contact on the top side but isolated by about 1mm and, of course, that green PCB coating.

When I had cut through, a bit of that coating had been cut with it, which a small filament of solder had bridged itself to one of the pins of the controller.

When I cleaned out the whole area, it worked!

For the switch, I just hooked up the 5V from pin 1 to an SPDT leaf switch and out to the Pin1 of both the internal controller circuit and the external port.

My goal is to use the tiny leaf switch as a sensor, so that when a controller is inserted into the P1 port the switch flicks control over to the external controller.

Thanks for the reply though!

 

[realyst]

For a better idea of what I mean, here's a pic from my spare PCB(the other one has hot glue there now)

That wasn't the affected pin(I screwed up, it was two after it, I don't think the pin in this pic even does anything), but it give an idea of what I ran into in case someone else does.

EDIT: Pic should be right size now, apparently the resize on imgur hadn't taken.