Dead P360?

[shmokes]

One of my player 1 joysticks seems to be dead, but based on the amount of use it's got this is really surprising. It's practically brand new in terms of use. It's really hardly been touched. But no direction produces any response. I have multiple Player 1 sticks wired to the same Ipac 4 interface, so I know that the interface isn't dead (the other sticks are working). Since it's a P360 stick, I can't pull out individual switches (and no direction works, anyway). Any ideas for troubleshooting this thing?

As an aside, is it normal to have continuity between the NO prong on my joysticks and GROUND? Cos . . . I do. The NO on my buttons don't have continuity with ground, but the prongs corresponding to directions on my P360 sticks (working and non-working), as well as the NO prongs on all my other joysticks produce a continuity beep with Ground on my multimeter. It doesn't seem like this could be the cause of my problem, since it doesn't seem to be producing a problem with my other joysticks. But I do want to understand it.

[Gray_Area]

You sure you have power to the P360? Are the leds lit?  Did it ever work? Does it work by itself?

[shmokes]

There are no LEDs as far as I know, but it did work before. Perhaps newer models of the P360 have LEDs on them. Mine were purchased in like 2005 or 2006. So they are fairly old, but barely used. It should have power. I'm reading a steady 4.9 volts into it.

[Dekieon]

I havn't used a p360 before so I can't say this is 100% certainty, but it seems to me that you SHOULDN'T have continuity between NO and GND. If there is continuity then it is a closed circuit not open.

[mgb]

As far as reading for continuity, try using  the normal ohm scale on a meter in order to read the actual ohm between the NO & Comm

[shmokes]

I havn't used a p360 before so I can't say this is 100% certainty, but it seems to me that you SHOULDN'T have continuity between NO and GND. If there is continuity then it is a closed circuit not open.

I'll check the ohm, hopefully tomorrow, but just to be clear, I'm getting continuity not just on my p360 sticks (both the working and non-working one), but all my sticks (5 others), all the rest of which use the same cherry microswitches as my buttons (the buttons do not give me continuity between NO and GND).

[Gray_Area]

Um, it's an optical stick, yo.  Anyways, so they did work when you first hooked 'em up?

[shmokes]

Yes. Worked fine until now. Why do you point out that it's an optical stick?

I'm starting to wonder whether the encoder isn't just going haywire. I just checked the ohms and got a zero reading between the NO on the joysticks and GND. Then I checked for continuity again and I am no longer getting continuity--on any of them. Whereas before I was getting continuity on all of them--every single NO from every direction from every stick (plus from the direction prongs on the P360 sticks to GND).

On top of that, though, I just woke up my system to find that none of the joysticks was working, and one of the letters was repeating endlessly like the button was being held down (I have Notepad open). And while I say none of the joysticks is working, that's only partially true, cos if I moved the player 2 stick, the repeating letter would briefly stop repeating, though none of the letters associated with the the player 2 stick would be typed on Notepad. Then, even as I typed this message, my other player 1 sticks (not the eponymous P360) began partially working--left-right registers, but not up or down.

However, even as I say that I think it's the encoder, that wouldn't explain my original P360 problem, because the P360 isn't working at all, whereas my other player 1 sticks are working partially, but they're all wired into the same places on the Ipac.

Sigh . . .

[Dekieon]

If you suspect the IPAC, then I would suggest trying to reset the IPAC and see if it fixes the problem. If you don't know how to do that, then see this short thread about it.

[mgb]

Um, it's an optical stick, yo.  Anyways, so they did work when you first hooked 'em up?

Oh yeah, duh!
I wasn't thinking.

[RandyT]

The first thing I would do is disconnect both sticks from the encoder, and test the inputs with a short piece of wire between ground and the terminals, checking to make sure it's doing what it's supposed to.  If it is, then there's an issue with the stick(s).

The P360 is an optical stick, which means there must be LED's in there somewhere.  These sticks will need a good 5v connection to function properly.  Use your meter to make sure you see the correct voltage at the stick's power connections.  If that's good, then check the voltage at the stick terminals and ground.  If it shows close to +5v (or open...but I think it should be +5v, if memory serves me) when the stick is centered, and 0v, or a very low voltage when the stick is moved to that direction, then the sticks are doing what they should.

The other thing to keep in mind is that LED's have a limited life, and they are most likely still glowing so long as the unit is powered.  If the voltage going to them is higher than it should be, then the lifespan will be shorter.