gecko zzed
Grumpy Mod
Some years ago I bought a Firepod and enjoy many hours of trouble free recording after a painless install.
However, a couple of months ago I was just about to it record and the Firepod's power light went out. With a band all miked up and set to go, this was somewhat alarming, to say the least.
I checked that everything was plugged in okay. Everything was. I checked the power supply output; it showed a stable 15VAC (as it was supposed to). That meant the problem was in the Firepod itself. This was even more alarming.
I unracked the Firepod and endeavoured to get inside it. The rack-ears unscrew to reveal a very hard-to-get-at interior. But I found the fuse and checked it . . . it was fine. I poked around in there a bit to see if anything was loose, hot, or otherwise suspect, but couldn't find anything obviously wrong.
Somewhat despondently I put everything back together, and plugged the power back in again. Lo and behold, it fired up with a glorious welcoming blue light. I was able to finish the recording session successfully, and since then have again enjoyed trouble free recording.
Until today.
I took the Firepod out for a live on-location recording. I connected it to the laptop and all was well. Halfway through the session, Reaper told me there was problem with the audio device. I checked the Firepod . . . again it showed no power.
I poked and prodded inside it as I had done before, confirming that it was getting plenty of juice. After about half-an-hour it fired up and again I was able to finish the session successfully.
I got my gear home, and hooked the Firepod back up to the PC. No power! This time I had a bit more time to look into it. I discovered that behind the fuseholder is a short cable that connects the on-off switch to the circuit board via a plastic connector onto a couple of pins. The connector was discoloured. I prised it off and examined it a bit more closely. The pin holes were brown and burnt looking, as if they had experienced rather more current than they were designed for. But the fuse was intact.
The connector, in fact, was looking seriously sick, and I pondered both the cause and how to fix it. Other than the connector, everything else seemed to be fine. Maybe it was just a loose fitting that, through vibration or something, had generated sufficient heat to progressively cause deterioration. Or maybe there had been a power surge that affected this weak link.
Not having at hand the immediate means of replacing the connector, but having a need to get the system up and running, I decided to bypass the on-off switch, and bridge its connector pins. Fortuitously, a hard-drive jumper is exactly the right size. Fortuitously I found one and managed to slide it over the pins.
I connected up the power cable and, to my considerable relief, the Firepod came back to life. It now works fine again, though its switch is inoperative. That is no big deal, because I never use it anyway . . . whenever it is connected it is always on.
However, I expect I will have to get a better brain than mine to look into and establish the cause of the initial failure. And I better start looking for a back-up interface. It is the one item I have for which I have no replacement.
However, a couple of months ago I was just about to it record and the Firepod's power light went out. With a band all miked up and set to go, this was somewhat alarming, to say the least.
I checked that everything was plugged in okay. Everything was. I checked the power supply output; it showed a stable 15VAC (as it was supposed to). That meant the problem was in the Firepod itself. This was even more alarming.
I unracked the Firepod and endeavoured to get inside it. The rack-ears unscrew to reveal a very hard-to-get-at interior. But I found the fuse and checked it . . . it was fine. I poked around in there a bit to see if anything was loose, hot, or otherwise suspect, but couldn't find anything obviously wrong.
Somewhat despondently I put everything back together, and plugged the power back in again. Lo and behold, it fired up with a glorious welcoming blue light. I was able to finish the recording session successfully, and since then have again enjoyed trouble free recording.
Until today.
I took the Firepod out for a live on-location recording. I connected it to the laptop and all was well. Halfway through the session, Reaper told me there was problem with the audio device. I checked the Firepod . . . again it showed no power.
I poked and prodded inside it as I had done before, confirming that it was getting plenty of juice. After about half-an-hour it fired up and again I was able to finish the session successfully.
I got my gear home, and hooked the Firepod back up to the PC. No power! This time I had a bit more time to look into it. I discovered that behind the fuseholder is a short cable that connects the on-off switch to the circuit board via a plastic connector onto a couple of pins. The connector was discoloured. I prised it off and examined it a bit more closely. The pin holes were brown and burnt looking, as if they had experienced rather more current than they were designed for. But the fuse was intact.
The connector, in fact, was looking seriously sick, and I pondered both the cause and how to fix it. Other than the connector, everything else seemed to be fine. Maybe it was just a loose fitting that, through vibration or something, had generated sufficient heat to progressively cause deterioration. Or maybe there had been a power surge that affected this weak link.
Not having at hand the immediate means of replacing the connector, but having a need to get the system up and running, I decided to bypass the on-off switch, and bridge its connector pins. Fortuitously, a hard-drive jumper is exactly the right size. Fortuitously I found one and managed to slide it over the pins.
I connected up the power cable and, to my considerable relief, the Firepod came back to life. It now works fine again, though its switch is inoperative. That is no big deal, because I never use it anyway . . . whenever it is connected it is always on.
However, I expect I will have to get a better brain than mine to look into and establish the cause of the initial failure. And I better start looking for a back-up interface. It is the one item I have for which I have no replacement.