Cheap and Easy Battery Replacement

[stevieb]

The recent post on the KX-88 problems reminded me...

Batteries Plus replaced the memory battery on my ESQ-1 for something like $11 or less- and that included labor! Just the battery at Radio Shaft was $11, and I figured let them do it- that way if something goes wrong, they replace my synth. Nothing went wrong, but the store personnel confirmed that if they had fried my synth, they would, indeed, have replaced it.

Took about 30 minutes, actually less, I went to lunch and came back. They even tested everything to make sure it was done right.

What service!

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by stevieb

Took about 30 minutes, actually less, I went to lunch and came back. They even tested everything to make sure it was done right.What service!

My advice to you and anyone who is about to change his battery (synth/fx/...) ... If you can't do this by yourself and already paying somebody else to do it for you. At least, use those profe$sional hands for more useful prospect : Get yourself a PCB battery holder and end this dependency on others.

It is much better way for exchanging your next batteries, not to mention, more elegant and safer for longevity of your board. Depending of what is available to your technician or your best store...holders range from generic PCB holders (mostly found on motherboards) to more precise and higher grade holders; some very unique where space is limited and restricted. Should be well soldered and checked properly.

In your particular case with ESQ's battery, make sure you tightly secure with bat. holder. I mean completely firm and robust to withstand any movement and your occasional or frequent transports without any issues. After that you are completely relaxed

I understand this is probably overkill for some users with moderate amount of gear. Specially with machines like these were battery autonomy can easily jump to next decade. But, I simply can't stand any board(s) without battery holder. No difference if we are talking economical of high-end range of equipment. This is something I do even before unpacking


.

[stevieb]

Didn't you understand? Battery ALREADY replaced, done and done. Not going back in to change it.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by stevieb

Didn't you understand? Battery ALREADY replaced, done and done. Not going back in to change it.

...and anyone who is about to change his battery

Besides, I'm sure you will live too see another battery replacement.

...

[arcaxis]

PCB battery holder is OK for coin cell batteries and worth the time to do, but apparently the ESQ-1 battery is slightly larger. Image below is from this site http://www.pic101.com/ensoniq/battery.htm on changing the ESQ-1 battery. Yellow cylinder is the battery.

11 bucks to have a soldered in battery changed is real reasonable and if you only have to do it every ten years or so is well worth the cost.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by arcaxis

PCB battery holder is OK for coin cell batteries and worth the time to do, but apparently the ESQ-1 battery is slightly larger.

In your particular case with ESQ's battery, make sure you tightly secure with bat. holder. I mean completely firm and robust to withstand any movement and your occasional or frequent transports without any issues.

I'm aware of that Arcaxis. As you can see from (again) my quote and picture link provided earlier.

[dgatwood]

The size of the factory battery isn't really important. What matters is the voltage and capacity. That said, the capacity mainly gives you an idea of how many years it will last, so the critical bit is the voltage. If you can tell us what the factory battery capacity was, that would make it easier to specify a more exact replacement, but it isn't strictly necessary to do so.

This battery should be a good substitute:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2151273

and you can use this clip to hold it:

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/Dk...?name=1029K-ND

It even has a snap-on top to keep the battery from jumping out no matter what you do to the thing. You can get similar clips for pretty much any variety of battery.

Note: depending on whether the pins happen to line up or not, you might end up running wires to the battery holder and fasten it to the inside of the case with tape or something. If you can provide an exact part for the factory battery (I've had no lucky finding that information), that would help a lot in picking a more exact substitute.