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ColecoVision Roller Controller General Maintenance

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ColecoVision Roller Controller inside (ColecoVision.dk)
Inside a Roller Controller: the ball on its two rollers, the slotted discs on the roller shafts, the logic board, the mode switch and the four action buttons (ColecoVision.dk, credited, not freely licensed).

Connection, power and care for the ColecoVision Roller Controller, Coleco's 1983 trackball for the ColecoVision. It has its own logic board, powered from the console's supply through a plug-through adapter, and its ball turns two rollers whose slotted discs pass through photo-interrupters.[1][2][3] Fault-finding is on ColecoVision Roller Controller Troubleshooting Guide and its capacitors on ColecoVision Roller Controller Capacitor Replacement Guide.

Power

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The Roller Controller has no supply of its own. Its power adapter plug goes into the power supply socket on the back of the ColecoVision, and the console's supply plugs into the back of the adapter plug.[1] Its logic runs from +5 V, brought in on a black-and-white lead with a plain black lead for ground.[2]

On the Adam the memory console's power socket carries the printer cable, so Coleco supplied an ADAM adapter with two outlets:[1]

  1. Unplug the printer's power cord from the wall.
  2. Fit the hand controllers into the Roller Controller's wells and plug the WYE cable jacks into the memory console's controller sockets.
  3. Take the printer cable plug out of the memory console's POWER socket and fit the ADAM adapter there.
  4. Plug the printer cable into the adapter's POWER socket and the Roller Controller's power adapter plug into its ACCESSORY socket.
  5. Plug the printer back into the wall. The adapter can stay on the memory console afterwards.

Wikipedia records that Coleco mailed this adapter to owners of both units who complained that the Roller Controller would not fit.[4] Unplug the console's supply from the wall when you have finished playing, as Coleco's manual asks.[1]

Hand controllers and cables

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  • The ColecoVision hand controllers clip into the two wells and plug into sockets inside them. The jacks fit one way only; do not force them.[1]
  • The WYE cable jacks are numbered 1 and 2 on top. Jack 1 goes in the console's rear socket and jack 2 in the front socket, numbers facing up. Swapped jacks make the roller respond backwards.[1]
  • Set the mode switch to ROLLER for cartridges written for the roller and to JOYSTICK for joystick games. In ROLLER mode the hand controllers do not respond.[1]

Cleaning and care

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  • Do not drop or bang the Roller Controller, and do not press the keypad or action buttons with anything sharp.[1]
  • Keep it away from heat and moisture, never immerse it, and wipe it with a soft, slightly damp cloth after switching the console off and unplugging the supply.[1]
  • The ball sits on two rollers set at right angles, and each roller shaft carries a slotted disc that turns through a photo-interrupter.[3] Coleco's manual gives no procedure for opening the case or cleaning the ball.[1]

Capacitors

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The board has two small polarised 2.2 µF capacitors on its 4528 monostable; the others are non-polarised. The list, and the disagreement between the two schematic redrawings over two of the values, is on ColecoVision Roller Controller Capacitor Replacement Guide.[2]

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Coleco Industries, Roller Controller Owners Manual, model 2492, Guide No. 91950, 1983: hooking up, pp. 2-3 (hand controllers in the wells, WYE connector jacks 1 to the rear socket and 2 to the front socket with the numbers facing up, the power adapter plug in the console's power supply socket, the console supply's jack in the back of the adapter plug, the mode switch); care, p. 3; troubleshooting, p. 4; Supplement No. 14310 for the ADAM (unplug the printer's power cord first; the ADAM adapter in the memory console's POWER socket; the printer cable plug in the adapter's POWER socket; the Roller Controller's power adapter plug in the adapter's ACCESSORY socket; the adapter can stay in place afterwards). Hosted here as File:ColecoVision Roller Controller Owners Manual Guide 91950.pdf.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bruce Tomlin, Colecovision Roller Controller schematic, revision B, 24 March 2004, published by ColecoVision.dk (retrieved 2026-10-19): all ten CMOS chips on +5 V; supply leads BLK/WHT (+5 V) and BLK (ground); optical sensors OS1 (N-S) and OS2 (E-W) with their LEDs fed through 100 Ω 1/2 W resistors; 2.2 µF polarised timing capacitors on U5 (4528); 0.047 µF and 0.22 µF non-polarised capacitors.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 ColecoVision.dk, photograph of the inside of a Roller Controller, on "ColecoVision Technical" (retrieved 2026-10-19), hosted here as File:ColecoVision Roller Controller inside (ColecoVision.dk).jpg: the ball on two rollers at right angles, slotted discs on the roller shafts, the logic board and its chips, the mode switch and the four action buttons.
  4. ↑ Wikipedia, "ColecoVision" (retrieved 2026-10-19), used for history only: the Roller Controller's power connector not compatible with Expansion Module #3 and Coleco mailing an adapter to owners of both who complained.


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