Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, Steve Wahl <steve@...> wrote:
>
> >     Posted by: "justin_s_pope" justin_s_pope@... justin_s_pope
> >     Date: Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:17 pm (PDT)
> > 
> > Thanks alot Steve!  I soldered in a AA casing and it works just 
> > fine.  3 volts and counting.  I'll probably have to change it 
more 
> > often, but it is saving my patches long enough to get it to gigs 
and 
> > back, so cheers... problem solved!
> 
> Justin,
> 
> Glad it worked for you.
> 
> Just so you know what to expect, one thing that'll probably be
> different between the original battery and hacking in two AA cells 
is
> the voltage curve over time, as the batteries age.  
> 
> The "Low Battery" warning is probably based on a voltage 
measurement,
> and since the curve won't match what the Ensoniq engineers were
> expecting, you could possibly get the low battery warning way before
> you really need to replace; or, the battery could drop dead before 
you
> get any warning at all.
> 
> And it's easy to imagine that the AA cells could last longer than a
> button cell, especially if you used Lithium AA's -- but you likely
> used alkaline cells, and I have only the foggiest notion what those
> would do (but I suspect they might last longer, also).
> 
> --> Steve
> 
> -- 
> Steve Wahl    steve@...
> 
> "The ONLY thing that I really miss is mouse edge flipping and I will
> punch Havoc the next time I see him for that." -- Dean Johnson
>

I used some R/S AAA rechargable batteries in a holder on my Vanilla 
VFX (Radio Shack was going out of business and these were cheap). It 
appears to work OK. At least the Low Bat warning is no more. Looking 
at the circuit schematics I thought the batteries may even charge 
when the power was on since there is a power connection (+VBAT)in 
between the resistor R6 and diode in the digital section. I traced 
this line back to the analog section where it goes across R89 and is 
dioded to a 12V source. I was hoping this would extend the life of 
the batteries significantly. Do you think this is a good idea?

Steve Ledo