IPAC Trouble with Solution! Read Me, it could happen to you.

[JimK]

Hi guys.  Recently my IPAC quit working in my cabinet.  What I found to fix it hasn't been posted that I recall on this board so I thought I would let you all know what happened.

Basically none of my controls would respond.  I would open notepad and move the joystick, buttons etc and no dice.  I emailed Andy of Ultimarc with my symptoms (Thank you Andy for the reply.  There is no better customer service in this hobby than Ultimarc.)  I inspected my pannel and found no loose wires and no indication of damage.  When I got out my electrical meter I found that one of my micro switches had oxidized between the crimp connector and the switch.  It was reading about 250 ohms which I guess was enough for the IPAC to see it as an open circuit.  This connector was on my ground loop which basically opened all my ground circuits on my controls.  I just removed the connector, cleaned it and replaced it.  And it works again just fine.  Here's the new trick I am experimenting with.

There is a liquid paste that electricians use when connecting a electical service wires to a breaker box.  We call it Anti-Ox (brand name) but it has many different names.  You can find it at the hardware store.  Anyway, this stuff has metal in it and it insures an electrical connection while eliminating oxidation on metal.  I put a little dab on every switch terminal.  this should keep all my switches with zero resistance forever.

So if you keep your cabinet in your basement oxidation may someday be a problem for you.  Here's your fix.  Even if your basement is finished (mine is)..

Hope this info helps someone.

[planetjay]

That fixes many REAL arcade machines too.

[JustMichael]

One thing I have found that works great for cleaning contacts is pink rubber eraser (yes even the eraser at the end of the pencil you are chewing on).  I had to clean a couple of the leaf contacts on my cab (so I cleaned them all).

[CthulhuLuke]

yeah, I learned the ol pencil trick back in the day when I used to get my dad to clean the Genesis controllers.  If you open those things up after they've been used for a few monthes, they gather helllla dust and crap from your hands around the contacts, but pencil erasers clean the whole thing.  You ever have one of those old controllers that's not workin so well, open it up and bust out your No.2 pencil.
   -CthulhuLuke

[Howard_Casto]

It's also a very handy trick for cleaning your old NES as dust is murder on them.