HR-16 power supply ?

[dirtycircuits]

Hi, I have a couple of quick questions regarding HR-16 -

I've had a broken HR-16 sitting around for a few months. I haven't been able to get any sound out of it, but the LCD still works and the upper buttons still function also.

I just realized though, that it needs 9 volt AC (not DC which I've been running it on).

What happens to the machine when you try to run it off DC? Is it likely that I've actually destroyed it?

Is there an easy way to convert a DC transformer to AC, and if not does anyone know where I can buy a 9 volt DC transformer in the UK ?

thanks.

[nochtanseenspecht]

no you didn't destroy it i guess if you take out the diode bridge from the adapter, it is ac (and a few volts more)
and the hr16 eates a lot of miliamps, 800 orso..
with my hr16 that didn't work i refreshed the capacitors, and that helped
good luck!

[Gordonjcp]

The HR16 needs AC to produce the supply rails for the analogue bits.  As nochtanseenspecht says, you could remove the rectifier and smoothing cap from an ordinary mains PSU.  I modified an old ZX81 power supply to run an HR16 for a friend of mine, when its PSU failed about an hour before a gig!  It was a very temporary measure, that lasted a good ten years before he eventually sold it.  I did get him to bring it back to me once, to squirt some silicone rubber around the tranny to stop it buzzing.

[dirtycircuits]

Thanks for the advice gents.

In the end I wasn't brave enough to mod a DC adapter, but I managed to find one cheap on ebay. Sadly the plug doesn't fit either of my busted HR-16's, so I've just had to solder it straight onto the board.

But..............THEY BOTH WORK!! (well sort of - buttons busted on one, and LCD busted on the other)

I can hardly believe it - these machines have been sitting in a dusty cupboard for a long times now, and all they needed was an AC PSU.


Countdown active......commencing 'bending sequence........circuit bending sequence initiated                                             ......3......2......1.......blast off       

[Gordonjcp]

Displays are "boring" HD44780 modules, which you can get for a few quid off eBay.  Sticky buttons are caused by the little black rubber pads getting worn out and the tracks tarnished.  You can either get little surface-mount clicky switches as I have done with a few bits of my gear, or you can clean up the tracks and paint silver "heated windscreen repair" paint onto the pads.  Even just cleaning the pads and tracks can help, but in view of the three thousand screws needed to get at the bloody board, you're better to do the best job you can.

[SynTeknik]

Thanks for the advice gents.

In the end I wasn't brave enough to mod a DC adapter, but I managed to find one cheap on ebay. Sadly the plug doesn't fit either of my busted HR-16's, so I've just had to solder it straight onto the board.

But..............THEY BOTH WORK!! (well sort of - buttons busted on one, and LCD busted on the other)

I can hardly believe it - these machines have been sitting in a dusty cupboard for a long times now, and all they needed was an AC PSU.


Countdown active......commencing 'bending sequence........circuit bending sequence initiated                                             ......3......2......1.......blast off       

Why not just buy the right plug from Maplins? (I did) Less than a quid.
Better still, why not have both types of plug on the end, so it works with all Alesis gear?

[dirtycircuits]

[/quote]


Why not just buy the right plug from Maplins? (I did) Less than a quid.
Better still, why not have both types of plug on the end, so it works with all Alesis gear?

[/quote]

I probably will eventually. . . . What I'd like to know though is why Alesis chose to use a minijack as the power plug? Surely using an 'audio' style jack plug for power is just ASKING for trouble? My OS version 1.7 machine uses a standard BARREL plug, but the later revision 1.9 uses the mini-jack?? Somewhere along the line, the engineers must have deliberately decided to change the specs.Maybe they had a surplus of mini-jacks?

Now I think about it, I was powering a synsonics from an Alesis 9v ac/ac adapter about a year ago, and it died within a couple of days. At the time I didn't realise that it was AC/AC, so maybe that was the reason for the death?

[Gordonjcp]

The 1.9 machine must have been upgraded.  You should get the 2.<whatever> software, it's much better - same as the HR16B software in fact, but set up for the HR16 samples.

[kitsophrenik]

....."squirt some silicone rubber around the tranny" .....

is it just me tht giggled at that?......

=D

anyways cheers for linking me this thread paul... sounds similar to the issues im having.. currently waiting for a 1000ma ac ac adapter through the post! ....

fingers crossed an ting!

taaaa