The Saga part 2

[csp]

Phil,

Possibly BUT which one ???????

AND as it appears to be somewhat intermittent, it could/would be quite difficult to trace, especially when it happens the voltage going to the DSP board doesn't alter and this is the board that appears to be causing the problem as the Red LED goes out when the problem happens. I have observed this numerous times over the past two years !!!!

It could even be a split second voltage spike or drop-out that is causing the fail, but you woud need a very expensive volt reading print out meter to be able to determine that ---- AND I do not have such a meter/monitor.

Now that the desk is back at the Centre, working on it is nowhere near as easy and convenient as working at home, BUT I would not risk my life telling the wife that I am bringing it back and again setting it up in the spare room ---- wives are rather strange that way !!!!!

David

[csp]

Has anyone ever cut the plugs off the power plugs (especially J42 both ends) and soldered the cables directly to the male pins, because I am on a daly basis being more convinced that the problems that I am having with the donated desk are somehow related to those two plugs --- especially how the individual cables are connected to the female sockets by way of a very small/thin slicing blade and the blade not making a solid connection, especially when the board gets warm after a few hours use and definitely when it is the right way up, as there is virtually no air flow inside the desk to keep things cool as there is when the desk is upside down with the base removed.

My freezing problem seems to be worse when the desk is the right way up and the base cover plate screwed on or if it is upside down and the base plate on.

I have not been able to buy new plugs to make a new lead and the plugs that I did buy were a fraction larger than those on the desk and as such they would not fit on to the male pins.

Soldering could be the best option !!!!!!!!!

David

[csp]

Does anyone happen to have a spare J42 power lead (goes from the Power Distribution Board to the DSP Board), as I am now sure that lead (actually the plugs) are the problem (or a major part of the problem) with the desk.

The lead would need to be from a New Motherboard desk as there was apparently a possible manufacturing fault with a number of the plugs used in the quite early Old Motherboard desks. Apparently it was the luck of the draw at the time if you got a desk with good or bad plugs, or a combination of both, because when the later batch of now suspected faulty plugs were discovered it was found that when the suspect batch arrived they were simply tipped into the box containing the good plugs --- hence the luck of the draw as to what plugs were used on (say) your desk !!!!!

If I remove the cable and quite bruitally attack the cables with (say) a small screwdriver where they go into the top of the plug then re-attach the two plugs to the two boards, the desk works perfectly for some time, but then faults again --- no audio and meter freeze and this is what was discovered back in 2006 with the fault being put down to those two plugs.

I have tried to purchase new plugs to make a new cable, but I am not able to find a supplier/retailer of 5 pin Molex plugs (4, 6, 8 pin yes but 5 pin no !!!) --- at least I think that they are Molex plugs. I even purchased a couple of 6pin plugs and wired those (leaving what would be the bottom female slot vacant) but the female holes on the plugs purchased were just a fraction wider apart and as such they would not fit onto the male pin section.

If anyone does have a suitable J42 lead let me know how much you want for it (will be sent/mailed to Queensland, Australia).

David

[Phil.c]

Unless you are very lucky that someone has one for sale, I can't find one? The only alternative would be to solder the existing ribbon to the power and dsp boards, not easy but possible, that way you would definately know if your connectors had failed?

[csp]

Phil,

That is exactly what I was thinking earlier when I asked if anyone had done it. Only problem is that it would make it difficult to remove either board if needed to do so in the future.

Soldering is no real problem as I have done this all of my life and have at least one iron that is designed for printed circuit board use ---- needle pointed and low heat --- so it would not damage the male part of the plugs.

Tried the board today and it failed so flipped it again and removed the base and booted and as expected no Red LED on the DSP Board, so removed the J42 plugs at both ends and as I stated in my earlier post, I really got stuck into the two plugs and when re connected the desk worked perfectly. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow morning (about 12hrs time) when I give it anoter shot --- still upside down !!!

If it is the plugs, what is causing them to go faulty when the desk is the right way up, is what has me stumped, especially when they worked perfectly for a couple of weeks when I hot glued them, but then for no reason the old problems recommenced, then out of the blue the desk started to work perfectly again and then yesterday it went faulty again !!!!!!!

David

[Phil.c]

I hope that's your problem but it's not logical to me, ok, yes, if there's is any movement with the connectors re gravity with the flip but I remember you saying that everything is secured not to move, however, gravity seems to be working on "something" it seems.

[csp]

Phil,

Definitely not at all logical to me and it has not been the entire time, especially after the plugs were hot glued to the sockets.

As far as I am concerned there was zero movement possible in the plug/socket connection, with the only thing that could possibly move being the actual cables where they are cut by the slicing pins where the cables enter the top of the plugs and if the cutters are not fully cutting and pressing hard on the wires in the cables, possibly with the heat generated inside the desk (especially when it is the correct way up), the heat is causing the cutters to expand and then when they become cold they contract and are not touching the wires inside the cables ---- the cutting pins not cutting correctly could possibly have been the problem with the faulty batch of plugs that I read about !!!!!

If I have problems tomorrow, on Monday (Mothers Day Sunday so can't do anything !!!) I will buy some cable, remove the current J42 lead and solder the purchased cable to the pins --- I will buy resistor colour coded cable so that I can't make a wiring error --- and hopefully this might solve the problem.

The Centre has three clients waiting to have a recording undertaken as soon as I can get the desk working long enough to undertake the recordings, so wish me luck !!!!!

David

[doktor1360]

Does anyone happen to have a spare J42 power lead (goes from the Power Distribution Board to the DSP Board), as I am now sure that lead (actually the plugs) are the problem (or a major part of the problem) with the desk.

The lead would need to be from a New Motherboard desk as there was apparently a possible manufacturing fault with a number of the plugs used in the quite early Old Motherboard desks. Apparently it was the luck of the draw at the time if you got a desk with good or bad plugs, or a combination of both, because when the later batch of now suspected faulty plugs were discovered it was found that when the suspect batch arrived they were simply tipped into the box containing the good plugs --- hence the luck of the draw as to what plugs were used on (say) your desk !!!!!

If I remove the cable and quite bruitally attack the cables with (say) a small screwdriver where they go into the top of the plug then re-attach the two plugs to the two boards, the desk works perfectly for some time, but then faults again --- no audio and meter freeze and this is what was discovered back in 2006 with the fault being put down to those two plugs.

I have tried to purchase new plugs to make a new cable, but I am not able to find a supplier/retailer of 5 pin Molex plugs (4, 6, 8 pin yes but 5 pin no !!!) --- at least I think that they are Molex plugs. I even purchased a couple of 6pin plugs and wired those (leaving what would be the bottom female slot vacant) but the female holes on the plugs purchased were just a fraction wider apart and as such they would not fit onto the male pin section.

If anyone does have a suitable J42 lead let me know how much you want for it (will be sent/mailed to Queensland, Australia).

David

Look up the part in the available BOM documents, cross-reference it on [Mouser, Digikey, etal] and order the connector. It's an IEEE standard Molex connector type, it's not something that Mackie 'made' or had tooled for them. It's production-based stock...

Again, if it were me, there isn't any way I'd be soldering wires directly to birdpost connectors on any piece of gear, let alone a mercurial D8B. Under the best of circumstances, it's gonna be nothing less than janky...

And of course, you surely knew this was coming... so here it is :
[Standard Mgmt Disclaimer] - "Your actual mileage may vary..."

[csp]

Dok,

Thank you for the information and confirmation on the plug's type. I had not bothered to look overseas, it is just that I can't find a supplier in this country that has them --- it appeaers that 5 pin types are not that common !!!!

I do have reservations about soldering directly to the pins for a number of reasons, but it was/is strictly a last resort, as I don't understand why when I work on the plugs the desk works for a period of time then enters its fault mode and then when I again work on the plugs it works again --- AND added to that there was the 2006 article by the chap that had worked at Mackie who stated that there was a suspected batch of faulty plugs, as I have detailed earlier !!!

Willl do some searching to see if I can get the plugs from overseas.

David

[Y-my-R]

Is this what you need?
(The cable that connects to the board in the upper right)

5PinMolex.jpg (Array KiB) Viewed 1102 times

On the other side of that board, is the BFC connector that sticks out of the console.

Let me know... looks like I have 1 spare (that came from a unit that was used by another Mackie employee who used it without trouble since he got it new... so, the cable should be OK).