Hi all,
First post. I know there are other posts on this but my question is relating to the metal arm/strap holding the batteries in place.
I bought my Octatrack Mk1 used from eBay around 4 years ago. It hasn’t had a lot of use and a few months ago I powered it on and noticed the “Low Battery” message so did some research to resolve that. A few days ago I switched it on, it was working fine then the screen went a bit glitchy and I got the blank screen when I switched it on again the next day. As most of you know, the Octatrack Mk1 needs 2x CR2450 Lithium cell batteries. Rather then send it off for service I picked my batteries up on Amazon from a reputed seller as eBay seem to be selling a lot of fakes from sellers with poor feedback and the batteries only last a few days, apparently. I bought a two pack of VARTA CR2450 with a date of 2029. So plenty of life in them.
REPLACING THE BATTERIES
Luckily I had a set of Hex wrenches. You’ll need the small Hex key No.2 to open the 6 Hex screws on the top panel. I’ve only seen one video on Youtube that shows this ‘surgery’ but didn’t show the replacement of the batteries. I lifted up the panel around 2 inches, it is attached to board by 3 bus ribbons so won’t lift all the way off. Looking inside I can see the battery holder which has a metal strap across the top holding the batteries in place. The strap is quite firm so without detaching the ribbons I wasn’t able to get my fingers inside to lift the strap enough and get the batteries out.
I’m wondering if there is an easy way to do this?
Note: Since moving the batteries around a bit the Octatrack powers on and is currently working fine again but I did get a message asking to enter a date when I first switched it on. I still want to put the new batteries in.
I’m guessing I will need to detach the ribbons from the board, remove the top panel to give myself some room. I don’t want to damage the metal strap holding the batteries in. There is some flexibility but not much.
The metal strap is concerning me. I couldn’t see any screw holding that in place so I’m guessing it just needs to be lifted up as much as possible to squeeze the batteries out?
Any advice appreciated. Thanks