Sanwa JLW direction issue

[moon_patrol]

Hello everyone,

I'm pretty satisfied of my home made arcade cabinet, but I have a small issue that is getting annoying : one of my two Sanwa JLW (Ultimarc Jstick), which is connected to an Ipac2, has a direction (down) that works like 95% of the time. I'm pretty sure that it keeps me from becoming the next Robotron hero... I tried changing the wire that connects the down direction to the Ipac, I will try to check all the ground's daisy chain (when I'll have the courage)... It's not an Ipac shift function issue neither. It seems that the problem occurs more frequently when I do some clockwise motion with the joystick...  I don't know what is wrong with this joystick, any advice? Thanks!

[big10p]

Try replacing the micro switch.

[JDFan]

What size hole is cut in the CP and what type of material is it ?? Is the joystick mount centered in the hole ? -- could be when moving down you are rubbing the Control Panel if the hole is a bit small or the mount is a bit off center causing it to interefere with that direction. So check both the joystick itself and the mounting into the system. ( If it is working properly 95% of the time I doubt it is a wiring issue ! )

[moon_patrol]

Thanks for your help!

What size hole is cut in the CP and what type of material is it ?? Is the joystick mount centered in the hole ? -- could be when moving down you are rubbing the Control Panel if the hole is a bit small or the mount is a bit off center causing it to interefere with that direction. So check both the joystick itself and the mounting into the system. ( If it is working properly 95% of the time I doubt it is a wiring issue ! )

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I didn't think about this, but I don't think that this is the cause of my problem. My control panel is made of 5/8 inche mdf with a 1/8 inche plexiglas overlay; I don't remember the exact size of the joystick shaft hole, but it is standard, the shaft does not touch in any direction the control panel. Also, are you sure that there could not be any intermittent problem caused by a wiring issue? Can a ground daisy chain cause a problem on a specific switch, or the whole control panel would not be working?

Try replacing the micro switch.

The other directions work flawlessly and the other joystick too. Some joystick motions seem to provoke the issue, I'm starting to think that it could be a material problem. I looked quickly on google for replacement switch, are all the switches compatible or I need the specific one for my joystick?

[big10p]

Micro switches are pretty cheap. Just do a search on ebay for "arcade joystick micro switches". They're simple to replace, too. It won't be a problem with your CP - if it was was, it'd either work, or not.

[JDFan]

Can a ground daisy chain cause a problem on a specific switch, or the whole control panel would not be working?

It can but not likely to be your problem as the ground would have to be working 90% of the time and not the times when the problem occurs -- then it would also have to be the end link on the chain otherwise the problem would occur on other directions/buttons as well at the same time ( any button passed the broken link in the chain would be effected since those would not reach ground) so very unlikely that it is the problem. Much more likely the microswitch is the problem -- either because the placement is off and the switch is not always activating or the switch internals are broken and the movement of the stick is causing it to not work at times. Easiest way to check if you do not have a replacement handy is move that switch to another direction by swapping the 2 switches - if the problem persists on down then it is not the switch ( and might be the encoder - though you said it persists after changing encoder inputs so that is not likely either) if it moves to the direction that you swapped with then it is.

[moon_patrol]

Hey guys, I have changed the switch and it might have solved my problem! At least, I have played many games and the issue didn't happened. I didn't have a joystick switch with the little lever thing (actuator?), but I have been able to take the one on the faulty switch and put it on a happ button microswitch, like this guy did: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=95361.0
For now, I have a button microswitch for the down direction wich takes a little less pressure to activate, but I don't feel any difference and it looks like it is working well, so thank for your help guys!
Cheers!