ipac2

[lees1964]

I've searched the forums and can't find anything on this - I had a working VP cabinet with an old PC (super small hdd, i3 processor and VERY old graphics card). I carefully removed the playfield monitor and removed the old PC and put a much beefier one in its place. The pc was working flawlessly with a single monitor on a desk, but when hooked up in the cabinet, the ipac2 seems to be causing major issues with the mouse and keyboard. Even when unplugged the mouse remains in glitch mode until I restart the computer. The ipac2 doesn't actually work during these attempts (light on the board flashes for maybe ten seconds then shuts itself down). I have been unable to determine whether I need to install any kind of software prior to plugging in the USB for the ipac2, or if it is simply interfering with some other USB thing that I have plugged in. I do see Ultimarc Ipac noted in device manager when it's plugged in, so that tells me that it's not fried. The buttons on this cabinet look like they were wired by someone on CRACK, seriously (though apparently much smarter than myself). I would happily rewire every one of them with fresh wire, but I have also been completely unable to find ANY kind of wiring guide (from the button perspective). I knew this was gonna be challenging, but I have to make SOME forward progress or it's gonna become the world's largest paperweight, and I REALLY don't want that to happen :/ Any help would be greatly appreciated (apologies if I posted this in the wrong forum - I spent a good ten minutes cruising through almost every one of them to see if one fit better than the other before I ended up here).

 

[AnonTet]

I still have my ipac2 (probably same revision board as that one) but has been stopped for years. what I can tell you is that there's no reason for it to just stop working unless you have shorted it of break it which is not the case from the pictures.

You can try to install winipac that you can download from ultimarc website as it should help you sorting out the connections. You also have detailed instructions there and Andy will help you if you write to him. But do some simple troubleshooting first and let him know what you already did.

As first step i'd connect it directly to the PC usb port on the PC. Easiest method is to open notepad and press the buttons because buttons are mapped to letters.

After that, I'd suggest to leave only one button connected. Leave ground as it is a common wire to everything and connect it on one of the other "slots" in the board. Please look at winipac or wiring diagram from the website above.

 

[lees1964]

Thank you for your help with this! Though I am still having some minor issues with it, there were two things that have made a HUGE difference - For whatever reason, the front USB ports of my pc didn't like the ipac2 OR the ipac2 didn't like those ports. As soon as I switched it to a port in the back it stopped flashing and shutting down, as well as the apparent conflict with the mouse and keyboard. Downloading the software was the second huge help, that, surprisingly, unless you buy it new I suppose, I could not find ANY posts that made mention of it, nor needing it (which I thought odd). Less than ten minutes ago, I finished installing the software, and now, with it plugged into a port on the back of the pc AND the software running, it's working like it did before the big pc switch. My next hurdle is the buttons. They are working as they should, but that wiring... I would LOVE to rewire the buttons to the ipac2 (because they are such a scrambled mess and all seem much shorter than they should be, which would allow them to be zip tied and tacked along the wall of the case out of the way) but I can't even find any similar buttons out in the whole of the WWW to get any info on them. They all APPEAR to be the same, but some are marked with the "no' "nc", while others are not. The power for the bulbs is pretty consistent and standard, so that's not a problem. I'm also considering the Virtuapin plunger kit, but it comes with its own card, so I don't know if I would have to entirely rewire everything (remove from the ipac2 and install onto NEW card) or if I could just get a digital plunger that would/could work with the ipac2? I'm still pretty confused about a LOT of this, and trust me when I say that I have read SO MANY forum entries on EVERY aspect of these virtual pinball cabinets that I go to sleep every night with my eyes already nearly shut. Again, I sincerely appreciate your help on this!