Guitar Hero drums - hi-hat pedal

I have been trying to figure out how to get a hi-hat pedal working in a program I'm writing on PC with my GHWT Drum Kit (Wii version) and have had a bit of success. The unmarked 3.5mm mono jack (above the one for the pedal) on the back of the drum kit is actually for a hi-hat pedal (it says HAT on the circuit board next to this plug).

Using a C++ Wiimote library I've been able to have a bit of a look at the data sent by the Wiimote when I plug things into this pedal, and it seems you're supposed to connect a variable resistor to it. The problem I'm having is that the data is delayed by around 35ms, and the messages are not always sent. The information I've found out is at [wiibrew.org].

Does anyone have any idea how normal electronic drum kit hi-hat pedals work, or any theories about what I might be doing wrong?

Hi,

I am very interested in the information you have gained on the unmarked 3.5mm jack. Sorry I do not own a wii however I do own a GHWT drum kit for the xbox and have been wondering what that jack was for. In the xbox manual it states it is an external trigger but I have found no other information about it untill your post. I measured the voltage and found it was ~3V with no resistance. Could you confirm if you measure the same voltage on the wii?

I am currently at work but I will try your suggestion of a 20K Pot to see if I can find a data field which is changing in response to the resistance changing.

I agree if any one has experience with electronic drumkits and how or what they use to sense the position of the hihat that would be good information. Unfortunately I have no idea what they use....

cheers,

sb

I measure around 2.4V (probably because my batteries aren't great in the Wiimote), and a resistance of 80K ohms.

Did you have any luck using the 20K pot with your drum kit?

I'm a bit late replying but I stopped checking for replies after a while.

My family got a Wii Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock video game for Christmas and I have since become facinated with the drums. There are two purple jacks for two foot drum pedals and one that is silver; all unmarked. I haven't taken the set apart yet to see if the silver jack connects to "HAT" circuitry but if it does it will probably require a maintainable short, i.e. using a microswitch instead of the piezo device in a foot pedal. I wonder if you have resolved this issue since the last post in '09? Please let me know if you have.

Seeing as both the users in this thread have no other posts on the forums I don't think they come here anymore...