[YamahaDX] Just Unboxed My Old DX7 Mk1 - Battery Still Working plus forgotten Steinberg YAMRAM !

[[e-mail] [YamahaDX]]

Hey guys,


Around 30 years ago I bought a Yamaha DX7. It got relegated to a flight case about 20 years ago and I haven't opened the case until today.



Also.... I know that "somewhere" in the garage I actually have around 4-5 ROM cartridges in original cases but can't find them for the life of me. I did find one though which was loose though.

The keyboard is in immaculate condition which is awesome !!


I actually found that I had left a Steinberg YamRAM I cartridge inside the slot of the keyboard when I opened the flight case. The cartridge is an 8 bank x 32 patch cartridge that I bought in the late 80's I think. That is showing as format errors so I suspect that the battery on that one is shot and needs swapping out. I've just ordered a PCB mounted battery for that one as it's a tight fit.


I knew that the original battery in the keyboard would be dead and the patches long gone, so I had already ordered the battery and holder ready to do the work. I thought I would power up the keys just to check there was still life before doing the work and am just speechless at what I found ....


All of the patches are still there just as I left them 20 years ago. How the hell does that work ?!?!?


I went and ran a battery check and the battery is showing as 3.8 volts. It is only a 3V battery (2032) to start with isn't it?



Now I'm torn as to whether I actually should change the battery or leave sleepy dogs lie and not. Has anyone got any suggestions as to why the battery is reading high and the patches still intact when if anything I was expecting the battery to be completely dead. I certainly wasn't expecting it to read higher than the original 3V. There weren't any synths manufactured with a 6V battery were there?


Cheers,


Jay :)

[[e-mail] [YamahaDX]]

The internal battery check mechanism always shows something quite a bit higher than the actual battery voltage, from what I have seen. You can’t believe it. You will need to open it up and get a volt meter on the battery itself to get an accurate measurement. In any case, if there are any special non-factory patches in memory that you want to keep, get them onto that RAM card real soon or do a sysex dump. A brand new CR2032 might measure as high as 3.3 V. Once it gets below 3.0, it is probably going to drop quickly. It’s hard to imagine one of those batteries lasting 30 years, but I guess it can happen.
Don Backshall

From: ***@yahoo.co.uk [YamahaDX]
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2018 12:25 PM
To: ***@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [YamahaDX] Just Unboxed My Old DX7 Mk1 - Battery Still Working plus forgotten Steinberg YAMRAM !



Hey guys,

Around 30 years ago I bought a Yamaha DX7. It got relegated to a flight case about 20 years ago and I haven't opened the case until today.


Also.... I know that "somewhere" in the garage I actually have around 4-5 ROM cartridges in original cases but can't find them for the life of me. I did find one though which was loose though.

The keyboard is in immaculate condition which is awesome !!

I actually found that I had left a Steinberg YamRAM I cartridge inside the slot of the keyboard when I opened the flight case. The cartridge is an 8 bank x 32 patch cartridge that I bought in the late 80's I think. That is showing as format errors so I suspect that the battery on that one is shot and needs swapping out. I've just ordered a PCB mounted battery for that one as it's a tight fit.

I knew that the original battery in the keyboard would be dead and the patches long gone, so I had already ordered the battery and holder ready to do the work. I thought I would power up the keys just to check there was still life before doing the work and am just speechless at what I found ....

All of the patches are still there just as I left them 20 years ago. How the hell does that work ?!?!?

I went and ran a battery check and the battery is showing as 3.8 volts. It is only a 3V battery (2032) to start with isn't it?


Now I'm torn as to whether I actually should change the battery or leave sleepy dogs lie and not. Has anyone got any suggestions as to why the battery is reading high and the patches still intact when if anything I was expecting the battery to be completely dead. I certainly wasn't expecting it to read higher than the original 3V. There weren't any synths manufactured with a 6V battery were there?

Cheers,

Jay :)

[Brian [e-mail] [YamahaDX]]

Hi Jay,

your battery is on the way out for sure. They read high before they die.

Find your rom packs and you’ll be ok to reinstall the patches .. then change the battery.
If they don’t work there’s plenty of sysx files on here to get you going again if you have a computer and midi interface.

Cheers,
Brian.


From: ***@yahoo.co.uk [YamahaDX]
Sent: Sunday, 14 October 2018 8:22 PM
To: ***@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [YamahaDX] Just Unboxed My Old DX7 Mk1 - Battery Still Working plusforgotten Steinberg YAMRAM !




Hey guys,

Around 30 years ago I bought a Yamaha DX7. It got relegated to a flight case about 20 years ago and I haven't opened the case until today.

Also.... I know that "somewhere" in the garage I actually have around 4-5 ROM cartridges in original cases but can't find them for the life of me. I did find one though which was loose though.

The keyboard is in immaculate condition which is awesome !!

I actually found that I had left a Steinberg YamRAM I cartridge inside the slot of the keyboard when I opened the flight case. The cartridge is an 8 bank x 32 patch cartridge that I bought in the late 80's I think. That is showing as format errors so I suspect that the battery on that one is shot and needs swapping out. I've just ordered a PCB mounted battery for that one as it's a tight fit.

I knew that the original battery in the keyboard would be dead and the patches long gone, so I had already ordered the battery and holder ready to do the work. I thought I would power up the keys just to check there was still life before doing the work and am just speechless at what I found ....

All of the patches are still there just as I left them 20 years ago. How the hell does that work ?!?!?

I went and ran a battery check and the battery is showing as 3.8 volts. It is only a 3V battery (2032) to start with isn't it?

Now I'm torn as to whether I actually should change the battery or leave sleepy dogs lie and not. Has anyone got any suggestions as to why the battery is reading high and the patches still intact when if anything I was expecting the battery to be completely dead. I certainly wasn't expecting it to read higher than the original 3V. There weren't any synths manufactured with a 6V battery were there?

Cheers,

Jay :)