Hello All!
I am currently in the process of finding a solution for a Dance pad for the PS2, and I bought a custom built DDR Pad control box on ebay, and was curious if you all could help me identify the board and some of the components i was looking at. Is this a custom board? My solder game is on the up and up, and I will remap and possibly rebuild another if i can identify this board. See pictures below Thank you!
Bman Beastlyb out. 
Hello @beastlyb
Sony would surely create their own custom boards for something like this. Or at a minimum design the board and have their board house create it. It will not be an off the shelf board. -Robert
If this is an aftermarket DDR controller, as the eBay listing suggests, the board would very likely be custom, yes. Unfortunately part of that custom work would be programming on an MCU of some sort, likely the large DIP IC on your board, which would need to be replicated for the controller to function properly. Without access to that programming there would be no way for even a perfect clone board to properly interface with the PS2.
Are you looking to repair an existing dance pad, or to build a new one with the control device you bought?
That is a custom board, just like in 99% of all electronics sold. It is in fact a punched FR2 (phenolic) PCB which is only used for the lowest cost mass produced consumer products. That large black dot of epoxy on the back of the board is Chip On board (COB), an integrated circuit mounted as a bare die and directly attached to the PCB. It is virtually impossible to identity a COB part and it could be anything from a standard IC through a microP or FPGA to a semi or full custom IC. Can’t read enough of the DIP IC’s part number but based on the silkscreen its being used as a driver for four LEDs. If you search on the DIP IC part number you may find out what it is, but then again in low cost mass market consumer ciruits it’s fairly common for an IC to be marked with a custom number for the customer.
Dance pads are in full working order. I am looking to make new control boxes if possible for the PS2. Creating them for the PC is much easier, but the PS2 has the largest game selection, so it has been my priority. Thanks for the reply.
Thanks @PaulHutch , DIP IC seems to have a texas instruments logo followed by the following text: “38AD6KK LM324N” . Thanks for identifying that black epoxy blob that was my next question. I can see that it seems this controlled the Arrows and apparently had LEDS that blinked when the arrow was hit (sounds like it was a nice DDr pad) But i am only interested in getting the arrows mapped. Part of my remapping concern is if i removed the LED wires, will I then make then circuitry incomplete? I can break down an old softpad and solder the 1 ground plus 4 arrow wires and it works pretty well. The Mystery continues!
Ah, a good old LM324, wonderful general purpose single supply Op Amp with enough drive capability for normal LEDs. Impossible to say whether removing the LEDs from circuit will effect operation without a schematic. The LM324 circuit may or may not provide LED status feedback to the control source. Normally I’d say it’s unlikely that the control source bothers to monitor if the LEDs are connected/working. In this case where a failed LED could make a game unfair the control source might just monitor the LEDs to ensure a fair game. To figure it out I’d operate it with and without attached LEDs and see if there is a difference.
