any ideas? ( minipac?)

[toneinblack]

Just recently got hold of a cab with 2 joysticks 6 buttons each player and some extra buyttons, the player 1 joystick works ok and 1 or 2 of the buttons do but when i looked inside ,the rest of the wiring looked wrong, i think i have a minipac2 but the wires dont seem to match up ,



the purple wire at the top goes to the daisy chain but then the gap at the other end and doesnt seem to tie in with wiring diagrams, on this page

http://www.ultimarc.com/mp_inst_old.html

any help and advice gratefully recieved  

[Blanka]

I don't see a problem. The colours correspond to the wiring scheme you link to. Did you try if it worked? Just tip the daisy to the colour cables and see what the thing outputs.

[GameGeezer]

If you want to check it before tinkering: I don't recall if you can custom-programme this version if the IPAC, but if you can, then download the programming tool and see how it assigns your buttons. This is not only useful for custom-coding the key-presses, but also for debugging and testing.

Trace your wires to either the harness, or directly to your controls, then match them up with the labels on the MinIpac. Wire colour varies depending on your own configuration and controls: There is little to no standard, unless the MinIpac has hard-wired connections; I've never plaed withthis version myself, but most IPAC cards have tiny screws that simultaneously secure and connect the wires.  This looks more like a box header, so I'm guessing that isn't the case with the MinIpac, but even so, I think there would be variations in wire colour used and you should use the labels (on the PCB or it he manual) for placement of the harness connection to your control panel.

If you are wiring the controls direct, without a vintage harness, then each direction and button will connect to one of the MinIpac inputs, with an appropriate label (e.g. Up, Right, Button 1) and the other end of the button or switch will need to be wired to CE (Common Earth/Common Ground). You will need to establish CE and link up all the ground connections on buttons/switches to the GND point on the MinIpacPCB.

These are very easy to manage, though some basic elementary understanding of electricity and circuits will do you wonders if you don.t already have that in your mental data store. 

You should also read the MinIpac manual and documentation on how to set it up if you have issues. I presume you bought a cabinet with this installed by the former owner? You didn't specify if it was already in there...

To be simple, go ahead and wire up a CE harness that connects all the GND points on your controllers and buttons, the connect the far end of it to the CE/GND connection on the MinIpac. From there, you can connect the individual (+) wires to the correct points on your control panel devices. -GG

[BobA]

+1 for GameGeezer and using the ipac programming utility.  It works on minipacs and ipacs the same way. (at least the older minipacs)  Don't even wire it up to buttons just touch the ground to various contacts and see what shows up.  The minipac could be setup wrong or the wiring could be wrong or both.

[toneinblack]

thanks for the replies     will have a good try with it.