Taps start to screw up like that after getting dust inside if them. It happens more with the Turbo's than the PCE/Duo's because of the gigantic holes. After figuring this out, I taped the spare holes of my main Tap with masking tape and never had to clean it out again.
I don't know, I had the problem with my Duo Tap. As soon as I removed the extension cord it worked fine and has ever since with no cleaning. However, the dirty-tap theory does have some merit because that would explain why the problem got worse for Nat and friends as the night wore on.
Really? So.... Are the extension cables defective by design, or is it just an extremely common issue? The extension cable itself is about the same age as the 'Tap, two years old bought new from TZD.
Black_Tiger can probably clarify this further, but IIRC, my extension had a "loose-fitting" connection on the female end. As a result, the Tap / Controller would slip out if it was yanked hard. Jesus, there's no way to discuss this without it sounding pornographic.
I've only owned one extension cable, which I bought back when it was first released, so I don't know if this is a common problem. Also, there is a good chance my problem stems from stupidy (i.e. damaging the cable by stepping on it when I was dancing to the tunes in China Warrior).