broken ipac

[sam]

i guess i pulled the cable plugging into my ipac at an angle or something. anyway, it's broken...sort of.

by ipac is on the underside of my cabinet, so naturally the ps/2 cable hangs down, and pulls the ps/2 "box" away from the pcb board of the ipac. this was never a problem, but now the ipac doesn't work. however, if i manually hold the ps/2 "box" against the pcb, i hear an audible click and then everything works...until i let go.

i took the ipac off and the sodder points all look fine. could it be some conection within the ps/2 "box"?

is there any hope of fixing it?

sucks.

in the future, one piece of advice, especially if making a portable panel, is don't plug directly into the ipac. it's too valuable.  have an extension cable inside the box that connects to the ipac. plug your pc-to-ipac cable into the extension cable.  that way a bad tug (like i did), won't wreck your ipac hardware.

[SirPoonga]

resolder?
maybe inside the box connections are loose.  Can you hot melt glue it down?

[sam]

yeah,  it's possible. i don't have either tool and i don't know how to solder.

maybe time to learn...

the problem is also i can't really see what's wrong.  i mean, it must be a solder point, and it can't be that big a deal. after all, there only are 6 points to connect the ps/2, right?

[The Manuel]

Why don't you try jumping between contacts that seem to go together to see if the IPAC works?
This might help you pinpoint just what is disconnected.
Be careful though, not to short anything.
Good luck.

yeah,  it's possible. i don't have either tool and i don't know how to solder.

maybe time to learn...

the problem is also i can't really see what's wrong.  i mean, it must be a solder point, and it can't be that big a deal. after all, there only are 6 points to connect the ps/2, right?

[CthulhuLuke]

Hmm.. the only problem I've had with my I-pac was that the Ps/2 cord, the inside part that plugged into my PC actually broke, the little plastic centerer thing, and we had to get it out with a toothpick with some glue on the end of it.  Besides that I don't know what to say, maybe you should talk to Andy Warne yourself, and see if he knows anything of what's wrong.
  -Good Luck
    -CthulhuLuke

[sam]

maybe now is the time to learn to solder.

any leads on a good primer?

also, any ideas on how easy it would be to reconnect the ps/2 box on an ipac? it looks like there are two big sodder points that hold it down and then 6 little soldert points to connect the circuits.

is the best bet to desolder and then resolder?

[gnat3y3]

you should email andy, he is super helpful and will sort you out

good luck!

[ErikRuud]

I would recomend using an extension and a strain relief of some sort to prevent this type of problem.

In this picture, you can see where the keyboard cables loop through a calbel hold down that is screwed rto the bottom of my control panel.



This prevents any accidentl tugs from harming the IPAC

[sam]

yeah, i plan to incorporate something like your design when i get my fixed/new ipac. and, btw, nice looking underside.  this whole experience is going to get me to clean up my wiring. so not all bad :-)

[ErikRuud]

Thanks for the compliment, but personally I think it kind of messy. Especially after I added the spinner.

[Andy Warne]

If you need, we can repair it, the only cost would be return postage.

Andy