Rhodes Chroma Polaris

Hi -

One thing that bothered me for about 2 weeks was this:

The ribbon cables on the right side were touching the output board -or- coming in close contact.  This seemed to shut down everything and lock it up.  I put a new membrane on it and it worked fine except for this.  I checked every contact at the pin level of each ribbon.  The contacts were in sync witht he specs.

The left side ribbon cables are already - or should be tucked under the board.  No problem there.  Leave them alone, unless they have come out of the connectors.

The right side ribbbons looped pretty low and I said to self "no - it can't be....".  It was.  I tucked the ribbons on the right side under the board and it fired right up, stayed on, did not lock up and I loaded 3 banks of patches into it to test it out.   This info I passed on to Paul D.  and he agreed that it was possible to short out the connections on the cable(s).  Who'da thunk it, eh?  It seems that not all Polaris have the same space between the cable loop and the output board -or- someone else fiddled with it before I got it.  Normally, a repair guy wouldn't take heed to this because the original cables looped instead of being tucked under.

Open the top and see if the ribbons on the right are looping LONG towards the output board.  If they loop almost to the board, tuck them CAREFULLY under the board.  Also make sure they are seated correctly and the connections line up.  Very easy test for a BIG return on the investment.  I ran all the diagnostics and they worked fine.

No guarantees on this, but in my case it worked flawless.  Considering me pulling every chip and reseating them and doing some other tests.  It's worth a look.  Regular and philips screwdriver is all you need to open the case.

Tracy Barber
(Novice repair guy)


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On Wed, 10/10/18, paul@paperstreetaudio.com [chromapolaris] <chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 Subject: RE: [chromapolaris] Responding to midi problem
 To: chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com
 Date: Wednesday, October 10, 2018, 10:19 PM
 
 
  
 
 
 
   
 
 
     
       
       
       Many thanks for the help
 
 I’ve come to find the problem is bigger than I realized.
 When I first turn on the Chroma Polaris I can play a few
 notes and then about 5 notes in the note gets held / stuck
 and the entire synth is locked up and unresponsive. It has
 the new membrane panels on it and had been fully restored
 about two years ago. But somewhere around 5 to 10 seconds
 after being turned on it locks up. Prior to that point all
 membrane buttons appear to work and the sounds are correct.
 I’ve tried lower function 12 to reset it but that
 doesn’t change anything. Is there anything I should
 re-seat or switch the battery out or other troubleshooting I
 could do. Recently this was working fantastically so this is
 a disappointment. 
 
     
      
 
     
     
 
 
 
 #yiv8718052850 #yiv8718052850 --