HELP! MyVolts Ripcord is not working with my Digitakt and powerbank

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#1

Hi all,

I just got my MyVolts Ripcord for Digitakt (Ripcord USB to 12V DC power cable compatible with the Elektron Digitakt Drum sampler).

I tried to power it through my Xiaomi Mi Power Bank 3 Pro. When I turned the Digitakt on, the screen started flashing couple or times and then froze. I shut the Digitakt. Then I tried again and the animation appeared but then froze again. After this I tried again and it wont power up at all. Not even if I plug it in to the original Digitakt power supply.

What is going on? Did the Ripcord broke my Digitak? How to bring it back to life?

USB powering Digitone for portable jamming
#2

Silly question but did you check the polarity of the cable? If youā€™ve reverse poled the DT you could have fried something. Most modern gear has protection diodes to mitigate against this but Iā€™m not au fait with any reverse polarity protection the DT might (or might not) have.

Iā€™m guessing here but there might be a thermal protection device of some kind in the DT. If thatā€™s the case it may reset itself once itā€™s ā€˜cooled downā€™. Leave the DT unplugged for a good few hours to make sure then try powering it up from the correct Elektron PSU.

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#3

I had a chat with the MyVolts chap, they were really helpful in trying to figure out what went wrong. According to him:

" The issue will most likely be with the battery. Sometimes they have ā€œcutoutsā€ which are there to stop over-current draw to phones. The current in rush at boot up may be triggering that. That, in turn, is causing your Digitakt power board to reset (and not turn on for a few mins)."

So the reason is my powerbank. I will return my Xiaomi and try the brand he recommended:

ā€œWhat you need is a different 5v USB power source. You may have a hub which can provide that, but most likely you want a powerbank. I recommend Anker, Ravpower or Poweradd. Iā€™ve used all of those brands and never had an issue.ā€

I will let you know if this works or not.

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#4

The polarity is positive in both so that is not the issue, I checked that with him too.

#5

Yeah that sounds like a likely scenario. Good to see you got some assistance for the guys at MyVolts.

#6

Ankerā€™s always worked well for me, but Iā€™ve also heard recommendations for Ravpower.

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#7

Thatā€™s great to hear they are offering some help in understanding the issue.

But what about your DT? Will it still not boot up?

#8

Did you smell any strange smells or see any smoke? Did anything feel really hot?

All would be signs of burnt components (which would need to be replaced). Most likely a protection diode if something did burn up.

In that case, the part is very inexpensive. Replacement should be easy for a knowledgeable skilled electronics person.

Not saying that itā€™s definitely the case but if it isā€¦
Iā€™ll look at the power section next time I have my Digitakt apart, which will be fairly soon.

#9

It worked again after waiting a few minutes with the original power brick.

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#10

No smells. It works again with the original power brick. I will try another recommended power bank later. Seems like issue is the Xiaomi Power Bank.

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#11

Good news :tada:

#12

I have about the same problem, although I am using an Anker Powercore 20100 (which should deliver sufficient output). It shows the animation like normal but as soon as all the buttons start to light up it freezes. So there would be no BPM light blink and everything is unresponsive. This morning it surprisingly worked without problem and I turned it off, but when I turned it back on a few hours later it froze again.

#13

Ok, I got to the conclusion these cable are shit quality. I ordered 2 for my digitakt/digitone.

Have a poweradd and Xiaomi powerbanks, both capable of >2.4A currents. First cable stopped working the first day, same symptoms as you. Tried a few times, DT/DN would not even power up, but fine with their adapter. Second cable was working fine, for I thought that was just a bad cable.

Second one lasted a week, after having used it 3 or 4 times. Same as the first. To try to understand whatā€™s going on, I plugged my digital multimeter at the Ripcord output:

  • for the first 30s, the cable outputs about 17V, WTF?!!
  • then it drops suddenly to about 2V

Iā€™m going to contact their support as this is totally UNACCEPTABLE, their cable are shit quality and dangerous for our gear! Clearly not advised, we can be glad that Elektron does things right and most likely added a circuit protection against overvoltages.

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#14

My Ripcord is the same, Tried x5 diff USB power banks and all the same, the DT powers on briefly, goes slow then sometimes fails to power on at all (even with mains), when you leave it for a while it can restart ok, sometimes switching the socket the mains adapter is plugged into helps, it must have a capacitor inside holding some settings with charge in it. I wish I could find a powerbank which would work form the UK?

#15

Hi all, reporting back how things went with this, too. After testing three different powerbanks (Xiaomi, Anker and Poweradd 20000mah ones) and getting two Ripcords and assistance from the MyVolts guy it wonā€™t work. The cords itself work for example to power up Push 2 but for Digitakt they do not deliver enough juice. The modern powerbanks do not work at all as they do not feed power constantly for digitakt. Poweradd works a bit better but not enough (by measuring how long it takes until the startup animation freezes).

I donā€™t know if there are any better cables with some other manufacturer or do we need to abandon the idea of portable digitakt?

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#16

Made more tests this morning, as I received one replacement cable, meaning I have 3 cables to test.

  • Cable number 1 (supposedly faulty): cannot power either DT or DN, using either power bank or wall charger. Outputs 16~16.5V with my multimeter
  • Cable number 2, that worked fine with my Poweradd Energy Cell II 10000mah battery until yesterday. Tried again with morning, after a few boot freezes on DN it worked again with both power bank or wall charger. Outputs 16.5~16.8V with my multimeter
  • Cable number 3, replacement for the first one. DN booted fine on first try with power bank, then rebooted a few sec later and seems to be working fine after (could not test for too long). Outputs 16.4~16.6V with my multimeter.

It seems the DN/DT are the very limit of what these cables can deliver in term of current power, making it a lottery to have it working. Whatā€™s more worrying is that ALL the cable outputs way more voltage that what theyā€™re advertised for, so either my multimeter is wrong (I doubt it) or they can be dangerous if the target device doesnā€™t have voltage regulation. Quality seems to vary wildly from one cable to another.

Iā€™ll try to contact their support with this data, and keep you updated.

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#17

Of the two RipCord cables Iā€™ve tried on my Digitakt neither worked. Both my USB power bricks are quality Anker ones that provide enough juice.

I wonder if itā€™s an Elektron update thatā€™s stopped them from working?

#18

Hi,
Iā€™m thinking to have Myvolts for my DT too,
But it seems like many people having a problem, now Iā€™m not sure.
And what about Bridcord 5v to 12v
Anyone have experience with this cable?
Is good and safety for DT?
For the power bank I thinking to get Anker 20100.

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#19

I wouldnt get/recommend the anker 20100 with the ripcord, it only seems to work once fully charged and 1st time, i.e once i turn off the Digitakt, it wont turn on again with the 20100 until I fully charge it again. However i have the anker 10000 and it always seems to work with the same ripcord, and get about 3-4 hours use with it. Ive order a birdcord weeks ago, but delivery is slow from austria to the ukā€¦its been in transit for about 10 days or so. Will report back once received and tested.

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#20

I have some MyVolts Ripcord and they power my Octatrack, Digitone and previously the Digitakt with no issues. I use a Anker PowerCore+ 26800mAh as the power source, never had a glitch with the machines using it. The OT at some point lasted 5 hours plugged in with still enough juice in the battery for another 2-3 hours if needed.

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