All,
Wanted to give you a heads up on a rolling change we’re making.
We’ve had a lot of complaints from users about the phillips head screw on the battery door of the VEXnet Joystick. For the next production run of this product (and of the Partner Joystick) we are removing the phillips head screw and adding a button head with a 3/32" hex (this will allow users to use their large VEX allen wrench to open/close the battery door). In addition, the sample I approved is of a MUCH harder. It should be VERY resistant to stripping out (I couldn’t strip it, even as I ridiculously over-tightened it).
Again, this is a rolling change so it will take effect sometime over the next few months.
Let me know if you have any questions on this update.
A have a question on a some-what related note. I had heard from people that there was some wire connection on the inside of the controller or something that when you dropped the controller just once, or hit it against something hard, the wire would los it’s connection or have a poor connection. I believe it was one of the wires for the VEXnet. Have you heard about this? Any news on fixing this or is it just a matter of not being dumb and dropping of hitting the controller?
While it is never a good idea to drop an electronic component, there is no easy to break wire connection inside the VEXnet Joystick that we know of. We haven’t had many reports of: “I dropped it any it stopped working.”
Who told you this? Have you experienced this?
If you open up the VEXnet Joystick (don’t do this, I’m just telling you) everything is very robustly mounted in place.
There are 5 boards inside this item:
Main circuit board
Right Shoulder Buttons
Left Shoulder Buttons
Front Face Buttons
USB Connector
All the sub-boards connect to the main circuit board via ribbon cable and snap on connector. Dropping the joystick should not dislodge any of these connectors.
The boards themselves are all robust, and should not be damaged by dropping the joystick.
The battery box is connected to the main board via 2 wires, soldered at both ends. These are very robust in all the samples I’ve inspected. Dropping the joystick shouldn’t damage these solder joints.
Again – it is not a good idea to drop a VEXnet Joystick. We haven’t heard of a lot of failures from dropping, and I can’t readily identify anything in the design that should be improved to make the product more robust.
We use thumb screws, and we love them. I would check out this thread.
I love that VEX is switching over to hex screws for the joysticks. I’m sure we’ll keep our fancy thumb screws, and use them for any other joysticks we may buy, but hex screws coming with them should be much much better.
Use anything you want – the thumbscrews linked above seem to be a popular choice. No one is going to give you any grief at competition for switching that out.
thats a smart change but why dont you make the cover slide off or have that clip type cover like the back of most tv remotes? im just wondering not trying to criticize.
Do the regulations still allow a clip in conjunction with the screw? That would allow the screw to be removed permanently (by the customer) and the clip would hold the battery cover in place.
We found in one controller that after some use the red wire coming from the batter compartment had detached itself from the main board. We soldered this back on but would not recommend opening a controller as we still haven’t managed to get all the bits back in the correct place to shut the controller back up.
Yes, I had previously announced that all VEX screws and tools will be tougher in the future. I’m working with our suppliers to update all VEX products (this is a rolling change, so it may be a little while before everything switches over).
Will screw-in-battery-compartment-of-joystick be required at worlds, just out of curiosity? Or is it only a regulation enforced when building/selling them? (If so, i’d better find that screw if I qualify :P)
It is true , as my school have some of these VEXnet which my clumsy school mates have drop it accidentally. Some controls like the top button , The button numbered 6 have disabled totally. Also adding to that , we have a VEXnet that the joysticks tend to “stuck” . Is there any way to solve it ?
