Extending a ground wire from MiniPac daisy chain?

[Guywiththegun]

I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I need to extend a ground connection to my NovaGemCDRs on my coin door. I got the wire to the 'NO' working by butt splicing (just using the actual ground daisy chain to test). Now I need to extend a ground wire. Here's the ground daisy chain in question:



I figured I could just get some female and male disconnects and join them that way. I have the male disconnects connected to the daisy chain, and then a new female disconnect on the NovaGem. No go. Anyone have an idea of what's going wrong or what I need to do? The ground is just not reaching the button when I extend using a male/female disconnect.

[PL1]

Check for end-to-end continuity (<2 ohms) on your male-to-female ground extension using a multimeter.

If you don't have continuity, try to:

- Recrimp the QDs

- Replace the QDs (make sure you crimp onto stripped wire, not just insulation    )

If you do have continuity, check the markings on the microswitch to ensure you are on the COM and NO terminals.

If it still doesn't work, touch a piece of wire from the ground wire extension to the signal wire extension to see if the problem is a bad microswitch.


Scott

[Guywiththegun]

Thanks. So my strategy, in theory, should be working? I figured I might be doing something wrong where the connection is skipping the disconnect or something. I'll test with the multi-meter when I get home.

[PL1]

So my strategy, in theory, should be working?

Yes.

One other possibility to check is that you could have a bad connection in your pre-fab daisy-chain -- it's rare, but it has happened before.

You can narrow that down using the "divide and conquer" troubleshooting technique.

If the ground connection at the microswitch is point A and the farthest-away connector in the daisy-chain is point Z, check for continuity from A to Z.

If you don't have continuity, check from A to L.

- If it is good, the problem is somewhere between L and Z.

- If it is bad, the problem is somewhere between A and L.

Keep dividing the circuit in half until you narrow down exactly where the problem is.   


Scott

[Guywiththegun]

Well I got these working after verifying with the multi-meter and now I'm finding they don't stay connected on the switch. Think something's going on with the switches or something.