Splice keeps losing power - why?

[Minorsage]

Hi, I'm new here and to game repair. I have a tacky Midway 12-in-1. I only use it to play Robotron.

It's been working great, then the 'move left' went out. I cracked it open and found a cut in the ribbon cable. I spliced it, and it worked - yeah! Then... it didn't work - boo! So, I spliced it a different way, and it worked - yeah! Then... it didn't work --- you can see the pattern here.

Every new splice works temporarily - I can play it for a while, but when I come back, no left movement. I have no idea what's going on here.

I posted a video on YouTube when I did the first splice. It shows the setup. Any idea what's going on here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHLnzWDt-30

[VertexGuy]

I have a pretty good idea
the ribbon needs to be replaced.

[Minorsage]

I have a pretty good idea
the ribbon needs to be replaced.

The ribbon is soldered on both ends - I can't just unplug it and plug in a new one.
I'm thinking it may be a bad ground - maybe somewhere closer to the controller.

[yocke]

Good job finding out the problem!
What kind of cab is that, never seen anything like that before!!

(￣▽￣)

[mrdude]

When you reassemble it, that ribbon cable probably moves causing the splice to fail. Does it continuously work while you're testing it and then fail when you put it back together?

[VertexGuy]

you are gonna have to replace that ribbon eventually .
you can ...

A. Buy a soldering iron and hack in an old IDE cable ...
B. Find somebody that has a replacement stick with a better ribbon.
C. Buy a soldering iron and hack in an old IDE cable...


I almost bought one of those machines a few weeks ago at an auction.
they didn't seem that sturdy.

[Minorsage]

The cabinet isn't sturdy, but the splice fails with the cabinet disassembled and unmoved - and not under normal play. Under normal play, I've walked the machine out from the wall. I think that's what cut the ribbon.

I had another look at the schematics someone posted who modded their machine, and it looks like I've been splicing a ground. So there must be another wire shorting out somewhere else.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=62024.0

It's not anywhere near a real arcade game, but Clay Cowgill programmed it, so it plays like the original.

[VertexGuy]

yeah first thing I woulda did was turn the thing on.. then messed with each wire until it started screwing up.. then replaced that wire or plug.
wait til you get an old MCR machine, your really gonna hate that shit

[P-feif]

You said it yourself in your video. You need to solder it AFTER you make a good mechanicle connection which means twist them together the proper way.

VertexGuy is right, the best thing to do would be to replace the ribbon cable but if you're not going to then the best way is to correctly solder your splices.