Mouse button intermittently functional

[Steam Ranger]

I have a typical Amiga mouse. It mostly works fine and there's not visible damage, except that the left mouse button only sometimes works.

I've attached images of the PCB.

Does anyone know why this is happening and how I can fix it?

[giantclam]

Replace button switch (at a guess) ~ test case is to remove/swap switches and see if the behavior moves to RMB

[Daedalus]

Yep, fair chance it's just that the switch is worn out. I wouldn't even bother swapping them around, just swap the two of them out for new ones because even if the replacement is a 100% match, it'll feel funny compared to the worn original switch on the other button. You'll need to find one that's 100% identical in terms of size (there are several different sizes of plunger for example), and ideally with a similar actuation force (a decent weighing scales can help here - press the switch down on it and see how many grams it takes before it clicks).

There's also the possibility the cable is damaged. You can tell by shorting out the switch pins on the PCB and wriggling the cable to see if the button input stays active. AmigaTestKit is useful for that.

[ElectroBlaster]

Typical worn out Amiga mouse, very rarely do you get a good one unless it has already been refurbished, new buttons fitted etc.

I always aim to replace the switches on any mouse I have no history for, they usually have been ragged to death and I have such a mouse here right now that needs looking at.

Also when looking for switches, always try and get he best quality ones you can! I once bought a bag of them and found they were total junk and lasted a few days, back to square one and wasted time.

Panasonic is a good brand to look out for.

[Daedalus]

Yep, good point. You might be able to get 50 of them on eBay or Ali Express for the same price as 2 good ones from Mouser etc., but what will you do with the other 48?

Any well known brand should do, Cherry and Omron are brands I tend to go for personally.

[LordCrass]

Why people continue to subject themselves to the physical and psychological abuse of using an original Amiga tank mouse is something I cannot understand.

These things are absolute junk and always have been. Legendarily awful even amongst other ball mice. Do yourself a favour and get an adaptor to use a modern optical mouse. It is so much more pleasant.

[Matt_H]

Originally Posted by LordCrass

Why people continue to subject themselves to the physical and psychological abuse of using an original Amiga tank mouse is something I cannot understand.

These things are absolute junk and always have been. Legendarily awful even amongst other ball mice. Do yourself a favour and get an adaptor to use a modern optical mouse. It is so much more pleasant.

You're not wrong, but using a bad, authentic Commodore mouse is part of the Amiga retro experience.

[LordCrass]

Understood, the look and hand-crippling ergonomics of the device are one thing, but it's the internals that really twist the knife. So many times when playing some mouse-driven game such as Cannon Fodder the ball would skip, slide, or otherwise fail to register a lateral change in direction, or the mouse button would emit an impotent, mushy response instead of an actual click and yet another "Game Over" screen materialized, I just wanted to throw that thing across the room.

At least swap the innards with that modern replacement kit.

Amiga users don't deserve this kind of shabby treatment.

[pandy71]

You should also verify if there is no cold joint or corrupted, cracked PCB solder pad - i saw few times that solder pad was cracked around switch pin... replacing switch is probably recommended anyway, original was quite poor quality.

[Steam Ranger]

What models of buttons should I be looking for?

[giantclam]

https://amigakit.amiga.store/commodo...hes-p-786.html

edit: or match dimensions -- https://au.rs-online.com/web/c/switc...ons=4294965904

[modrobert]

Originally Posted by Matt_H

You're not wrong, but using a bad, authentic Commodore mouse is part of the Amiga retro experience.

Agreed, and it has ball(s).