Star Tech Journal

Atari Badlands Foot Pedal Mod
Doug Hutton
Heavenly Amusement
Poway, California
PROBLEM
SOLUTION
Atari's Badlands utilizes a pressure transducer
in the foot pedal assembly instead of a potenti-
ometer; and although, in most cases, this
transducer will easily outlast the potentiometer
-but, if the plastic ribbon leads break off of the
transducer they cannot be reconnected.
Since most players use the all-or-nothing tech-
niquewhenapplyingthegas, we have found that
a lever-arm microswitch can be an adequate
solution. The switch can be easily mounted in
about 10 minutes into the existing foot pedal
assembly.
We found the replacement part to be a two week
special order item which costs about $12. The
side of the game affected is completely non-
functional without the gas pedal.
• Remove the cover to the pedal
assembly by removing the hinge
pin with an allen wrench (page 1-
4 of your Badlands manual).
• Ref er to figure one of this article
and position a lever-arm type
microswitch (1-1/2" lever) to the
top of the left inside side of the
pedal assembly as shown.
• The leading edge of the switch
body should be l" from the rear of
the pedal bracket. The switch
body, not the lever, should be
positioned flush to the top. Mark
the position of the switch mount-
ing holes. Remove the mi-
croswitch and drill the bracket
holes.
• Refer to figure 2 and connect an
820 ohm resistor from the com-
mon terminal to the nor. nally
closed (NC) terminal of the mi-
croswitch. This value produces
proper full throttle resistance
when the switch is closed.
• Attach the two leads that were
previously attached to the
transducer to the normally closed
and normally open (NO) terminals
as shown. Complete this step be-
fore you mount the microswitch.
• Mount the microswitch to the
bracket, being sure to place the
heads of the bolts on the outside of
the bracket so that the cover will
close smoothly when reas-
sembled.
• Insulate the microswitch and
resistor leads from the pedal
bracket with silicon rubber (this
will also prevent the nuts on the
microswitch bolts from working
loose).
• Reassemble and test. Bend the
switch-arm lever upward near the
tip as necessary.