TMNT jump button isn't very responsive.

VeeRay

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I just bought myself a 4 player version of TMHT (UK version) and now I noticed that Michaelangelo jump button is pretty unresponsive. If i press it rapidly a few times I can make him jump and if I keep pressing jump button rapidly 10-20 times it start registering every button press for a little while (5-10 seconds), but then it goes unresponsive again.

I'm new to this stuff since this is my first arcade cabinet. Do I need to replace the button or could this be a wiring problem? If I do need to buy a new button what kind and where should I buy it.
 
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Double check and make sure the two connectors going to the microswitch for that burron are on there solidly and not loose in some way. If they're only making the connection intermittently that could be the cause. Also, is the spring in the button still good? Does it come back up normally or does it stay halfway down? It's also possible that one of the wires going to that microswitch has something going on with it, it might be worth it to check continuity between the connectors and the pins for those buttons on the jamma edge connector or at the least looking at the wire physically to see if it's frayed/broken/whatever at some point in it. In theory could also be the microswitch itself going bad, but they don't generally go bad, swapping the switch from another button into that one would tell you whether that's the case.

For replacement parts, you can try http://lizardlick.com and http://therealbobroberts.net , there's a bunch of other places out there but those are the main ones I use.
 
The jump button acts pretty much the same as the rest of the buttons and all cords seemed to be firmly connected to their places.

I detached the control panel for futher investigation and after fiddling the button a bit I got it to work when control panel was in upright position (buttons facing my stomach and wires facing monitor). I put the table back in its place and the button is unresponsive again.
So i detached the table again and fiddle with the button some more and put the table back in its place and now it seemed to work (I only tested 1 minute of gameplay).
 
If i press it rapidly a few times I can make him jump and if I keep pressing jump button rapidly 10-20 times it start registering every button press for a little while (5-10 seconds), but then it goes unresponsive again.

Now that I "fixed" it if I rapidly press the jump button it goes unresponsive for 3-5 seconds and I can make the turtle jump by going up with the joystick. Then it goes back to working normal.

Doesn't happen with the other jump buttons.
 
change your switches around. try swapping the attack and jump button wiring going to the switches for the buttons. if jump works after doing the switch, and attack has this problem, then it's a bad switch OR it's not a problem with your input wiring, but rather the ground wiring, sometimes quick disconnect terminals can fray off the wiring and create an intermittent input. best bet to eliminate any intermittent wiring problems is to just solder the wiring to the terminals direct, but as outlined in the first part, if it's a bad switch it won't make a difference. as a last ditch though, try popping the switch out of the button and check it over to see if it's gummed up with pop or something -- in a pinch you can clean this up with windex and a toothbrush or paper towel, but let it dry first.

if the original problem with jump carries over to the attack switch, then it's a problem with your wiring, which can be narrowed down by what I said before. if you solder the wiring direct to known good switches and the problem persists, then you have to dig deeper into the actual input wire for jump. you didn't specify which player this was for. if it's for player 1 or 2, it will be in the JAMMA wiring .. if it's for player 3 or 4, then it will be in the Konami Player 3/4 harness. inspect wires in this case for stripped open insulators (see: wires that got smashed and cut open). if you find a break in the wire you can fix it easily by cutting out the affected portion, stripping each end by about an inch, and then intertwining the wires so that the wire is straight and running solder over the exposed wiring. do not twist them as this can lead to a later break (I did this for years, don't you do it too.:)) then you can wrap it in electrical tape, this is crucial.

I think that encompasses mostly everything about buttons and wires. if that doesn't solve the problem, then I don't know what else.

so... dig deeper. and good luck. :)
 
Michaelangelo is on the 2nd player controls

I tried to change the wires around on the attack and jump button switch, but found out that the jump button wires didn't reach the attack button and I didn't want to cut the black plastic that binds all the wires into a nice bundle and they were bind pretty tight so I didn't want to start pulling it out of there.

So I decided to just took out the switches and check them closer and change the switches around since it only required a screwdriver.
Like a miracle both the attack and jump now work flawlessly and I actually managed to get through the first stage without dying, feat that I hadn't yet done on the second hardest difficulty with any of the turtles :).

I'm not sure, but I think that there was something wrong with the switch. As long as it works now i'm not touching it again :)

Thanks for the help guys, if the problem returns or I'm having similar issues on another cabinet I have this thread as a guide on what to do.
 
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if the switch is being pulled because the wires are too tight and isn't secured in the button well, it will do that.

don't worry about the cable ties underneath. not like the value of the game increases because it has original ties in it. LOL

function comes first. then the cosmetics. then the OCD stuff. ;)
 
He said he needed a screwdriver to change the switch, that's those weird ass vertical buttons, I like to throw those away, lol. Buy some new buttons!

The WORST are the ones that the button and the switch are one piece, with two terminals sticking out of the bottom of the button. Those things are always bad.
 
He said he needed a screwdriver to change the switch, that's those weird ass vertical buttons, I like to throw those away, lol. Buy some new buttons!

The WORST are the ones that the button and the switch are one piece, with two terminals sticking out of the bottom of the button. Those things are always bad.

shit, I didn't catch that, wow lol I remember those, weren't they on Double Dragon originally? I remember that being a major problem with ours maaaaaany years ago.

Sega has some jacked up buttons on Wave Runner too, the ones that are like all one piece with the light built in. that was one of the worst I had to deal with.
 
Took a picture of the switch. Hope you can make something out of it. I tried to take several pics, but all turned out to be a bit blurry because of bad lighting and my cheap digital camera :/. Ended up pointing a flashlight near the switch so I could make it a little better.

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/9664/img032.jpg

What buttons do you guys recomend if I'm going to replace these someday?
 
actually your buttons look the same, it's just the switches.

you can probably just get away with replacing the microswitches.
 
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