Drift-free Industrial Joysticks for Ultimate Arcade

Ultra-high-quality direct replacements for the Ultimate Arcade's original joysticks. They sense movement using magnetic fields with no internal moving sensors completely eliminating drift with higher precision and accuracy. These same joysticks can be found controlling heavy equipment like cranes and are very similar to the ones in your power wheelchair.

Each Ultimate Arcade requires two. Scew holes on UA2 enclosure must be widened 1.5mm outward, and 4 wires soldered to those of the old joysticks. Contact us to Refurbish your Ultimate Arcade to better than new with these Joysticks + replacing any sticking buttons and new Sip-n-Puff Switches  (USB / main control board must still work) or get a new Ultimate Arcade 3.

Drift is the bane of modern game controllers. Whether you’re a Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft console user, there’s a good chance at least one of your controllers will develop drift during its life. Hall effect sensors can solve that permanently.

How Does the Hall Effect Solve the Drift Issue?

The Hall Effect, named for Edwin Hall, is a measurable change in voltage caused by a magnetic field interfering with the flow of electricity in an electrical conductor. Hall Effect sensors in joysticks use permanent magnets and an electrical conductor that never physically touch. As the magnet moves relative to the conductor, the change in voltage is measured and translated into positional data.

Drift is the bane of modern game controllers. Whether you’re a Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft console user, there’s a good chance at least one of your controllers will develop drift during its life. Hall effect sensors can solve that permanently.

What Is Drift Exactly?

When a joystick develops “drift” it means that the controller is picking up inputs when you aren’t providing any. It’s a false reading that results in a character that keeps moving or a camera that just keeps spinning, even when your thumbs are off the sticks.

Why Do Joysticks Develop Drift?

The analog sticks in these popular controllers use “potentiometers” to provide positional data to the video game’s computer.

Potentiometers are cheap devices that are effective for use in joysticks, but they have a major downside. The mechanism wears out as the contact arm moves up and down its track repeatedly. Eventually, the resistance level becomes unreliable as the resistor and contact arm wear on each other, which manifests as unwanted input