Is my HAPP Perfect 360 shot?

[Peja]

Hey everyone, just a quick question on my Happ Perfect 360.  Before when it was in its original Soul Calibur 2  cabinet it seemed to work fine.  However, now it seems to want to trigger the down command intermittently. 

I have it hooked up to an ipac4 and have tried different "ports" on the ipac.  When looking at the winipac program, it will show that joystick registering the down command.  Then it will stop the down command, then back on.  Its off and on and random.  I have tried stripping the cable and redoing the connection, even went bare wire to the terminal end.  Once I unplug the wire from the down terminal of the joystick, winipac stops showing it being used.  Hook it back up and after a few seconds it will show it being registered again.

Also when I hit the start button in windows, the windows search fills up with its keyboard command "P".  So it looks like PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP etc etc.

Am I right to think the joystick is shot and I need to replace it?  Any suggestions on what to replace it with?  As of right now, my CP has 2 U360, and 1 Perfect 360.  Just need a joy to replace this one if it needs to be replaced at all

Thanks everyone. 

Peja

[drventure]

Ugh. That's a photoelectric stick, so there's no switches per se.

Any chance you might have spilled something in it? Maybe the sensors have gotten dirty or dusty. Might be worth a shot to open it up and just blow or clean it out.

[Peja]

I can definitely say that nothing has been spilled on it as long as it has been in my possession.  Who knows when it was at the arcade before I bought it. 

I will take it apart tonight and have a look see.  I assume it comes apart after I unscrew the 4 screws on the bottom of the round part?

Thanks for the help. 

Peja

[drventure]

I'm not sure how much you'll have access to, but if it's acting up anyway, you'll end up trashing it so where's the harm 

The sensors are likely in that bottom part that the wires connect to, so the question is can you get into that part readily without destroying it.

[Peja]

I'm not sure how much you'll have access to, but if it's acting up anyway, you'll end up trashing it so where's the harm 

The sensors are likely in that bottom part that the wires connect to, so the question is can you get into that part readily without destroying it.

There is only one way to find out haha.  Like you said, its already acting up so worst case scenario is I buy a new joystick which I already have in my head anyways. 

Thanks for the help drventure. 

[chopperthedog]

You can use a cell phone camera to check for dead/intermittent infrared emitters when you take it apart (of course the stick needs power at the time of checking).


good day.

[Peja]

You can use a cell phone camera to check for dead/intermittent infrared emitters when you take it apart (of course the stick needs power at the time of checking).


good day.

Hmmmm, how would I go about that?  Not sure what I am looking for on that front.  Sounds interesting though.

Peja

[chopperthedog]

Point a tv remote at your camera and push a button and you'll see what I'm talking about. Then use the camera to check the bottom of the stick while powered on to ensure that all 4 ir led's are functioning.


good day.

[Peja]

Ahhhh, I got ya.  I knew the remote control trick but didn't know this joystick was the same type of deal.  Good to know. 

Thanks,
Peja

[paigeoliver]

happ still sells these, so you should just be able to buy the bad part for less than the cost of the entire unit.

[Peja]

Well I tore it apart last night.  I couldn't get to the board but I could see the optics and they were lit up by doing the cell phone camera trick.  I tried removing any dust out with canned air.  However, the problem still continued so I am thinking at this point it is probably shot. 

I could cover up the eyelet of the problematic optic and it would show as normal, but as soon as I removed my finger it would start to register the down command again. 


paigeoliver, I see you can get the whole hub assemble from suzo happ but that is around $86.25 while the whole complete joystick is $86.10.  Interesting pricing. 

Anyhoo, it looks like I am in need of a new joystick.  Should I stick with this joystick?  Is there a different one that is recommended at this point?  I do enjoy the stiffer feel (insert joke here), of the joystick.  It is much stiffer than my U360s which have the stiffer spring installed.  Holes lining up would be a plus as well as I don't really want to drill into the CP again. 

Thanks for the help everyone.