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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: EasyE13 on September 04, 2020, 01:47:03 am

Title: ipac2 - player 1 joystick troubleshooting
Post by: EasyE13 on September 04, 2020, 01:47:03 am
Hi all, first time poster and very novice arcade builder, so I apologize in advance for any rookie mistakes or terminology in this post.

I decided to take on a pedestal build project, and went with an ipac2 to support player 1 and player 2 plus a trackball.  Everything seemed to be going ok for the most part, until I ran into some issues hooking up my buttons and joysticks to the ipac2.  Everything seems to map correctly when using WinIPAC as a keyboard for player 1 buttons, player 2 joystick, and player 2 buttons - notepad confirms expected keystrokes register when buttons are clicked and joystick directions are pressed.....except player 1 joystick.  Even the trackball is working fine.

Joystick 1 only registers a keystroke when pressing left, diagonal up & left, and diagonal down & left.  Here is what I have tested so far:
- I thought maybe the joystick or switches was bad, as they are cheaper placeholders for the time being.  So I tried hooking it up to a different joystick with the same result.
- Next I thought that maybe the ipac2 was defective.  I rewired the player 2 joystick into the player 1 ipac2 pins...registered fine and all keystrokes worked as mapped.
- Finally I figured it HAS to be the wiring harness, so i swapped it with another harness that I tested on a zero delay board and was working fine.  Again same result, only the left and two diagonal left directions register keystrokes.

At this point I am not sure what else it could be or what else to test out, and could really use some advice or ideas about what else to test.  I'm about at my wits end!  I'm sure it's something simple that I overlooked, but my thinking is a bit clouded in frustration at the moment....thanks in advance!
Title: Re: ipac2 - player 1 joystick troubleshooting
Post by: mahuti on September 04, 2020, 06:23:12 pm
Remove all wires from UDLR (personally I'd remove all wires) unplug trackball/spinner from the board. Wire a single microswitch into U and ground  and then test. Then test D, L, R. If the single microswitch works, then the problem isn't the Ipac, its somewhere in the wiring.

Thats the way I would begin to sort it out. Test one thing at a time.
Title: Re: ipac2 - player 1 joystick troubleshooting
Post by: EasyE13 on September 04, 2020, 11:25:33 pm
First test on L yielded DL diagonal, realized I had my wires basically backwards (ground in the wrong pin).  Thanks a bunch, i knew it had to be something simple.   :cheers:
Title: Re: ipac2 - player 1 joystick troubleshooting
Post by: mahuti on September 05, 2020, 01:20:45 am
I thought maybe it was maybe something like that. Glad you got it sorted  :cheers: