Guide for PS2 Style Joystick

A PS2 Style Joystick is very similar to PS2 controllers and is a thumb operated device. There are 2 potentiometers ( one for each axis and of 10k each ). It even includes a select button which can be pressed. In this tutorial, we will be using a 2-axis joystick module.

Parts Required

1. 1 x Arduino UNO ( I have used Mega )
2. 1 x Breadboard ( Optional )
3. 1 x PS2 Style Joystick
4. 1 x 1K Ohm Resistor
5. Jumper Wires

Pin Wiring

Sensor Pin               Arduino Pin

 5V                        5V
 GND                       GND
 VRx ( X Axis )            A0
 VRy ( Y Axis )            A1
 SW  ( Push Button )       3

Fritzing Sketch

You can draw your Fritzing Sketch too by downloading Fritzing from : http://fritzing.org/

Code

int xpin = 0;
int ypin = A1;
int button_key = 3;
int button_value;

void setup()
{
  pinMode(button_key,INPUT);
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
  int xval,yval,buttonval;
  xval = analogRead(xpin);
  yval = analogRead(ypin);
  button_value = digitalRead(button_key);

  Serial.print("xval  ");
  Serial.println(xval,DEC);
  Serial.print("yval  ");
  Serial.println(yval,DEC);

  Serial.print("Button is  ");
  if(button_value == HIGH)
  {
    Serial.println("Not Pressed");
  }
  else
  {
    Serial.println("Pressed");
  }
  delay(500);
}

Output

The output shows the X and Y value ranging between 0-1023 and tells whether the button is pressed or not.

Direction Control of X and Y

The following figure gives an indication of how the outputs will respond when the joystick is pushed in various directions.

What Is a Potentiometer ?

We already saw that there are 2 Potentiometers in the Joystick but how do we use a Potentiometer ? A potentiometer is simply a variable resistor that allows us to modify its internal resistance. It works by adjusting the conductor length between the central and side terminals. High resistance potentiometer is used to prevent a lot of current passing through it ( 10K ohm ). It allows you to control things or adjust settings in a program. Let us see how to use it.

Parts Required

1.  1 x Arduino UNO
2. 1 x 10K Ohm Potentiometer
3.  Jumper Wires

Fritzing Sketch

Arduino Sketch

int pin = 0;

void setup()
 {
   pinMode(pin,INPUT);
   Serial.begin(9600);
 }

void loop()
 {
   int value = analogRead(pin);
   Serial.println(value);
   delay(500);
 }

Output

Rotate the Potentiometer head to observe different readings. Inside each Aduino, there is an Analog-to-Digital-Converter ( ADC ) which converts Analog Signal values to Digital. More on ADCs will be discussed in the coming tutorials.

Final Comments

As a fun experiment, try integrating the PS2 Style Joystick with Processing ( Example mentioned in the previous tutorial : Processing Tutorial ) . Thank you for visiting the website. In case of any doubt, feel free to ask.

Saumitra Kapoor